From eight keystrokes to three – for the same job in FCP X.

While logging the Road to Ra material I’m working on, I’ve developed a pattern for the Content Logging part of the process, so I can do it all with the keyboard. The process was:

1. Set a range – in the Event List View – using mostly play, I and O.
2. Command K, to open the Keyword Entry window
3. One or two keystrokes to fill in the Quote, Action or Problem keywords (those I use for the Content logging with details going to the notes field)
4. Command 1 to get me back to the Event Browser
5. Tab, Tab, Tab, Tab to get to the Notes field (because I had columns in the default order)

And then I could start typing my note!

I’m sure by now many of you will be pointing out the error of my ways, which I’ve finally caught up with.  My current workflow for the same job is:

1. Set a range – in the Event List View – using mostly play, I and O.
2. Control + 1, 2 or 6 to add the appropriate Quote, Action or Problem Keyword to the range (without opening the Keyword window or leaving the Event Browser)
3. Because I moved the Notes column adjacent to the file name field, it’s only tab, tab to the notes field.

And that’s how I better than halved the number of keystrokes I was spending on the job. When you’re doing dozens of entries per 2-5 minute clip, it feels much more fluid.