How to Use Single Trim and Multi Trim in PowerDirector
Pick the part of a clip worth keeping, or pull several pieces out of one long take.
Updated Aug. 21, 2026 · 5 min read
In a hurry? Use the Trim & Multi Trim quick guide instead.
Dragging a clip's edge on the timeline shortens it. The trim window is a different job: you open the whole source and choose what is worth keeping, with the in and out points adjustable to the frame. Multi Trim goes further and pulls several pieces out of one long take in a single pass. Using version 24.3 or later? the guide to the new layout covers the redesigned window.
- Select the clip and click Edit > Trim, or use the scissor button above the timeline.
- Move the playhead to the start and press I, then to the end and press O. The blue stretch is what you keep.
- Switch to Multi Trim to repeat that and pull several segments out of the same file.
- Click Trim to apply.
Single Trim and Multi Trim
Prefer to watch? Here's the whole thing in a four minute video, or follow the written sections below.
Open the Trim Window
Select the clip, click Edit, then under the Video tab, in Tools, click Trim.
The scissor button in the toolbar above the timeline goes straight there, which is worth learning because trimming is something you do constantly.
Two tabs sit at the top of the window: Single Trim for one piece, Multi Trim for several. They work the same way, so learn the first and you already know the second.
Mark In and Mark Out
Move the playhead to where the keeper starts and click Mark In, or just press I. Then move to where it ends and click Mark Out, or press O. The stretch between them turns blue, and that blue is what survives.
The yellow markers at each end of the strip can be dragged if you want to nudge rather than re-mark. On the right, the panel shows the selection's duration and its start and end timecodes, and all three can be typed into when a shot has to be an exact length.
The lock next to the duration moves the selection without resizing it. Set the length once, click the lock, and dragging then slides the whole window along the clip at that fixed duration. That is how you find the best six seconds of a shot rather than rebuilding a six-second selection each time you try somewhere else.
Next to the playback controls, Original and Output decide what the preview plays. Original runs the whole source; Output plays only what you have selected, which is the one to check on before you commit, since it is the only way to hear whether your in point lands mid-word.
Pull Several Pieces Out With Multi Trim
Switch to Multi Trim and mark in and out exactly as before, then do it again somewhere else in the clip, and again. Each selection is added to the list on the right, and all of them come back to the timeline as separate clips when you finish. This is the part that dragging a clip's edge cannot do: one pass over a long take, several usable pieces out of it.
Changed your mind about one? Select it in that list and click the trash icon underneath. The magnifiers at the bottom of the strip zoom the view in and out, and you can drag the blue box along the strip to jump to the part you want to work on closely.
Mark the Bad Parts Instead
Sometimes it is far quicker to mark what you want gone. Select the unwanted stretches, then click the double arrow at the far right: it inverts the selection, so what you marked becomes the discard and everything else becomes the blue keepers. Interviews with a handful of fluffed lines go much faster this way than marking a dozen good takes.
Let Scene Detection Do the First Pass
If the clip contains several distinct scenes, Scene Detection will find the cuts for you. Click it and PowerDirector asks whether to split the video automatically. Answer No and it marks each scene change with a red line on the strip, leaving you to trim against those marks. Answer Yes and it splits the clip into separate segments there and then.
Either way, click Trim when you are done and the result lands on the timeline.
Haven't got PowerDirector yet? Multi Trim pays for itself the first time you pull several usable pieces out of one long take.
Download PowerDirector Free →FAQ About Trimming
Dragging an edge shortens a clip already sitting in your project, and the question it raises is what to do with the gap. The trim window is about choosing which part of the source you want in the first place, with frame-accurate in and out points, a preview of just the selection, and the option to take several pieces at once.
Yes. Trimming never touches the file, so reopening the trim window and moving the in and out points gives you back whatever you cut. The original stays whole in your library either way.
Multi Trim with the selection inverted. Mark only the parts you want gone, click the double arrow, and everything else becomes the segments you keep. Marking three mistakes beats marking four good stretches, and it gets further ahead the longer the take is.