How to Use Auto Edit in PowerDirector

Q: Can I keep editing the video, or is that the finished file?

You can keep editing. Export saves the cut as it stands, but Add to Timeline drops the whole thing into PowerDirector's main timeline as ordinary clips, with the full toolset available. Even without leaving Auto Edit you can swap the opening template and use Replace Media , Select Range , Crop / Rotate , Text and Volume on any clip in the strip.

Q: Do I have to choose a theme?

No. General is the plain option and it is what our run used, so the edit arrives with no styling laid over it. The twelve themes beside it, from Travel to Gaming, each add their own look and titles, and that row is labeled (Multiple) so you can try more than one rather than committing to a single mood.

Hand PowerDirector a folder of raw clips and get back a cut that is trimmed, timed and ready to post.

Updated Aug. 17, 2026 · 5 min read

In a hurry? Use the Auto Edit quick guide instead.

PowerDirector's Auto Edit is built for the folder of clips you have not opened since the trip. Give it the footage and it picks the moments, trims them, sets them to a length, and hands back a finished draft instead of an empty timeline. You still decide the shape, the length and the mood.

⚡ Quick Answer: How to Use Auto Edit in 3 Steps

In PowerDirector, open Auto Edit, add your footage with Import Media, then click Next.
Set the Aspect Ratio and the Target video length, choose a Video theme, then click Create.
Check the cut, restyle it or adjust a clip, then click Export or send it on with Add to Timeline.

Steps to Use Auto Edit

Prefer to watch? Here is CyberLink's video walkthrough of the wider workflow this tool belongs to, Auto Edit included, or you can follow the written steps below.

Step 1: Add Your Clips

Open Auto Edit from the GenAI menu at the top of the window. Auto Edit opens on an empty panel, and everything that follows is built from whatever you put in it. Click Import Media at the top left, or drag files straight onto the dashed area in the middle. The ceiling is printed right there: up to 100 clips, or three hours and twenty minutes of footage in total. That is more than most weekends produce, so there is usually no need to sit and shortlist your best material first.

The GenAI menu open in PowerDirector, with Auto Edit highlighted in the Video section. — GenAI, then Video.

Empty Auto Edit window with the Import Media button and the drag and drop area highlighted — Two ways in: the Import Media button, or dropping files onto the panel.

Once the files land, each one becomes a numbered card with its own running time, and the footer keeps a live tally. Ours read ten clips and two minutes twenty seconds. Sort by Date in the top right sets the starting order, and you can drag any card somewhere else if you want a particular shot to open the video. None of this is binding, so get the order roughly right and click Next.

Auto Edit with ten imported clips, the Sort by Date menu, the media count in the footer and the Next button all highlighted — Ten clips, two minutes twenty seconds, in the order Auto Edit will read them.

Step 2: Set the Shape, the Length and the Mood

This screen is where your taste gets its say, and every choice here is made before anything is built, not after.

Aspect Ratio comes first: 16:9 for a widescreen watch, 9:16 for a phone-first cut. We took 9:16.

Target video length offers 15, 30, 45, 60 and 90 seconds plus Auto, which hands the decision to PowerDirector based on how much footage you gave it.

Under Video theme, General keeps the edit plain, or you can take one of the twelve moods beside it, Travel through Gaming, each of which brings its own look and titles.

Both the length row and the theme row are labeled (Multiple), so you are not limited to a single pick. When it reads the way you want, click Create.

Auto Edit settings screen with Aspect Ratio, Target video length, the General theme card, the twelve video themes and the Create button all highlighted — Four decisions and one button. 9:16, Auto length and the General theme is the run shown here.

Step 3: Check the Cut, Then Export It

What comes back is a draft you can still argue with, not a finished file you have to accept. Ours ran 34 seconds out of the two minutes twenty we handed over, with each clip pulled down to roughly two seconds.

The list on the left is full of opening templates grouped by category. Clicking one restyles the video without rebuilding it from scratch.

The row of tools above the preview, Replace Media, Select Range, Crop / Rotate, Text and Volume, acts on whichever clip is selected in the strip below. A shot that landed on the wrong moment is a couple of clicks from fixed.

Export writes the file. Add to Timeline drops the whole cut into PowerDirector's full editor if you would rather keep going there.

Auto Edit result screen with the template list, the per-clip tool row and the Add to Timeline and Export buttons highlighted — Templates on the left, per-clip tools across the top, and the two ways out at the bottom right.

The Result

Here is what those ten unedited clips turned into: a vertical 34 second cut that opens on the template's own title card and runs the trip straight through. Not one cut point in it was placed by hand. It is a first draft rather than a final grade, but it is a first draft you could actually post, and that is a very different place to start from than a blank timeline.

Haven't got PowerDirector yet? Auto Edit needs a folder of clips and about a minute. If you have a trip you never cut, that is the test.

Download PowerDirector Free →

FAQ About Auto Edit

1. How much footage can I hand Auto Edit at once?

Up to 100 clips, or three hours and twenty minutes in total, whichever you reach first. Both numbers are printed in the middle of the import panel, and the footer counts your clips and total duration as you add them, so you can always see how much room is left.

2. What does Auto actually do under Target video length?

It leaves the running time to PowerDirector, which works it out from how much footage you imported rather than holding you to a number. We gave it two minutes twenty seconds of clips and got back 34 seconds. Choose one of the fixed lengths instead when you are cutting for a platform with a hard limit.

3. Can I keep editing the video, or is that the finished file?

You can keep editing. Export saves the cut as it stands, but Add to Timeline drops the whole thing into PowerDirector's main timeline as ordinary clips, with the full toolset available. Even without leaving Auto Edit you can swap the opening template and use Replace Media, Select Range, Crop / Rotate, Text and Volume on any clip in the strip.

4. Do I have to choose a theme?

No. General is the plain option and it is what our run used, so the edit arrives with no styling laid over it. The twelve themes beside it, from Travel to Gaming, each add their own look and titles, and that row is labeled (Multiple) so you can try more than one rather than committing to a single mood.