Keyboard shortcuts and productivity tips
Videas offers a rich set of keyboard shortcuts across its players (video, audio, image, PDF), its subtitle editor and its media library, rounded out by a dozen cross-cutting productivity tips — smart collections, saved searches, AI, drag-and-drop. This article inventories them concretely, with nothing invented.
When you spend several hours a day in Videas, these shortcuts make a difference: the video player ones follow most of the YouTube conventions, so you will be on familiar ground.
Video player shortcuts
The Videas video player implements most of the YouTube conventions — you will be on familiar ground.
Playback and navigation
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Space or K |
Play / Pause |
J or ← |
Back 10 seconds |
L or → |
Forward 10 seconds |
Home |
Go to the start |
End |
Go to the end |
0 to 9 |
Jump to 0%, 10%, 20%… 90% of the video |
Volume and sound
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
↑ |
Volume up 10% |
↓ |
Volume down 10% |
M |
Mute / Unmute |
Speed and options
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
< |
Decrease playback speed |
> |
Increase playback speed |
C |
Turn subtitles on / off |
F |
Fullscreen |
Esc |
Exit fullscreen or close an open panel |
Note: available speeds run from 0.25× to 2× in steps (
< / >moves through the scale). Very useful for long training videos you want to skim at 1.5×, or to catch a difficult passage at 0.75×.
Playlist (collections, channels)
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
N |
Next video (if playlist) |
P |
Previous video (if playlist) |
Audio player shortcuts
The audio player takes the essentials from the video player and adds playlist and loop/shuffle controls.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Space or K |
Play / Pause |
← |
Back 10 seconds |
→ |
Forward 10 seconds |
Shift + ← |
Back 30 seconds |
Shift + → |
Forward 30 seconds |
↑ / ↓ |
Volume ±10% |
M |
Mute / Unmute |
N |
Next track |
Shift + N or P |
Previous track |
L |
Turn loop on / off |
S |
Turn shuffle on / off (random playback) |
F |
Fullscreen |
Home |
First track |
End |
Last track |
Tip: on an audio collection (podcast, chapter series),
NandShift+Nspeed up moving between episodes — far faster than the mouse buttons.
Image player shortcuts
The image player, used to browse a gallery or a slideshow, offers shortcuts suited to visual navigation.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
← |
Previous image |
→ |
Next image |
Home |
First image |
End |
Last image |
Space |
Start / Pause the slideshow |
+ or = |
Zoom in |
- |
Zoom out |
Esc |
Exit fullscreen, reset the zoom, or go back to the grid |
PDF viewer shortcuts
The PDF viewer uses native mouse controls (click, scroll, trackpad pinch-zoom) for navigation. The only dedicated keyboard shortcut:
Enter(in the “page” field): go straight to the page number you typed
The other actions (zoom, fit to window, search) go through the viewer toolbar or your browser’s native shortcuts (Ctrl + F for search, for example).
Subtitle editor shortcuts
The subtitle editor (Scribe AI) stays spare on the keyboard side:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Space |
Play / Pause the video preview (when focus is not in a field) |
Ctrl + Z (or Cmd + Z) |
Undo the last change |
Ctrl + Shift + Z or Ctrl + Y |
Redo |
Most of the editing happens with the mouse for timecode adjustments (handles on the timeline) and with the ordinary keyboard for text (Tab to move from field to field, as in any web form).
Multi-selection in the media library
To handle several media items at once, Videas offers several combinations:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl + click (Windows/Linux) or Cmd + click (Mac) |
Add or remove a media item from the selection |
Shift + click |
Select a range between the last item clicked and the new one |
| Rubber-band drag (drag-select) | Draw a box around several media items with the mouse to select them all at once |
| Tick the checkbox in the corner of the thumbnail | Click to select, without modifier keys |
Once the selection is made, the bulk actions bar appears at the bottom of the screen with the available actions.
See also: the full bulk-action procedure in Run bulk operations on your media.
Productivity tips
Beyond keyboard shortcuts, several Videas features save you time once you use them systematically.
1. Saved searches
Do you regularly filter the media library on the same criteria (“videos without subtitles”, “uploaded this week”)? Save your search from the search bar: next time, one click brings the same view back. See Search and filter in the media library.
2. Smart collections
For automatic groupings by tag (for example “all videos tagged tutorial”), create a smart collection: it updates itself when you tag new media.
3. Export presets
Do you export the same data every month? Save the configuration as a preset in the Export tab — one click reruns the identical export. See Export data from a workspace.
4. Player presets
Configuring the player media by media is a waste of time. Set a default preset in the workspace settings: every new media item applies the right configuration automatically. See Customize the default video player.
5. AI assistant
On a media item’s page, the AI assistant generates titles, descriptions and keywords from the transcription. Rather than writing them by hand, start from the suggestion and adjust — a huge time saver on bulk uploads.
6. Automatic chapter generation
On long videos with speech, run AI generation from the Chapters tab: you get an outline in 30 seconds, to refine afterwards. See Add chapters to your videos.
7. Reusable invite link
To onboard a whole team onto Videas, do not type each email: generate an invite link in the invitation modal, set its duration and its max number of uses, and share it on Slack/Teams/internal email. See Invite collaborators.
8. Drag-and-drop
Many Videas operations accept drag-and-drop:
- Reorder the media in a manual collection
- Reorder the chapters or the items of a channel page
- Upload several files by dragging a whole folder into the media library
- Move a media item from one folder to another
9. Bulk uploads
Drag several dozen files at once into the media library: Videas queues them with pause/resume handling. You can prepare a batch in the morning, start it, and do something else while it runs. See Upload your videos.
10. Turn on transcription at upload
If you plan to use subtitles, AI chapters, or AI suggestions for titles and descriptions, enable automatic transcription at upload in the workspace settings. Every downstream AI feature is then instantly available on each new media item, with no manual rerun.
Are the player shortcuts the same as YouTube’s?
Largely, yes. The Videas video player follows most YouTube conventions: Space or K for play/pause, J and L to go back and forward ten seconds, M to mute, F for full screen, C for subtitles, and the keys 0 to 9 to jump straight to 0%, 10%, 20% of the video.
So you are on familiar ground from the first use. The only notable additions are N and P, which move to the next or previous item when you are in a playlist.
How do I skim a long training video?
With the < and > keys, which run through the playback speed scale, from 0.25× to 2×. An hour-long webinar becomes forty minutes at 1.5× without losing intelligibility.
The reverse is just as useful: slowing to 0.75× on a dense technical passage, or on a fast speaker. And on a chaptered video, chapters remain the quickest way to jump straight to the topic you want.
Which shortcuts work best in a podcast?
The audio player’s, which add longer skips and playlist controls to the video basics. Shift + ← and Shift + → go back and forward thirty seconds — the right step for spoken formats, where ten seconds is too short.
On the playlist side: N moves to the next track, Shift + N or P to the previous, L toggles loop and S toggles shuffle. On an audio collection, that is markedly faster than reaching for the mouse.
Can subtitles be edited entirely from the keyboard?
No. The subtitle editor stays sparse on shortcuts: Space to start and stop the preview (when focus is not in a field), Ctrl + Z to undo, Ctrl + Y or Ctrl + Shift + Z to redo.
The rest goes through the mouse for timecodes — handles on the timeline — and through ordinary typing for text, with Tab moving between fields as in any web form.
Which tip saves the most time?
Turning on automatic transcription at upload, in the workspace settings. Every downstream AI feature — subtitles, generated chapters, titles and descriptions from the assistant — then becomes instantly available on each new item, with nothing to launch by hand.
Just behind come the automations that spare repeated gestures: saved searches for recurring filters, smart collections for tag-based groupings, and presets for the player and for exports, which replay a whole configuration in one click.
How do I select several media quickly?
Four gestures, which can be combined. Ctrl + click (or Cmd + click on Mac) adds or removes an item from the selection. Shift + click selects the whole range between the last item clicked and the new one — most effective after sorting by date. The drag-rectangle frames several thumbnails at once. And the checkbox in the corner of each thumbnail allows plain click selection.
Once the selection is made, the group action bar appears at the bottom of the screen.
In short
- The video player offers the classic YouTube shortcuts (Space, ←/→, ↑/↓, M, F, C, 0-9…)
- The audio player adds playlist shortcuts (N, P, L, S) and a quick 30s jump with Shift
- The image player handles left/right navigation, slideshow (Space), zoom (+/-)
- The subtitle editor is mostly mouse-driven; keyboard shortcuts are limited to Space + Undo/Redo
- Multi-selection in the media library uses Ctrl/Cmd+click, Shift+click or a rubber-band drag
- The main productivity tips: saved searches, smart collections, export and player presets, AI, invite link, drag-and-drop, automatic transcription at upload