Southern New Hampshire University

How to do Basic Editing in ScreenPal

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After you have finished your recording, you have the ability to

  1. Edit it by changing duration, adding or removing sections and adding highlights, text, etc.
  2. Save it as a video file.
  3. Upload it to a cloud service.
A screenshot of screenpal interface displaying with the options bar.

If you decide to edit the video file, you will be provided with the following interface.

  1. At the base of the screen, you can see the timeline for your recording. You can use this to move around to the different sections of your recording by clicking anywhere on the timeline or pressing play.
  2. Options for editing the video is under Tools. This will allow you to edit the video or insert elements (e.g. text, pauses, etc.) wherever the video cursor is.
  3. Options for how the video is displayed to viewers is under Audio. This determines if you want to add additional audio (e.g music) and/ or a voiceover and/ or if they see the mouse, etc as part of the recording.

 

Screenshot of  screenpal's video editing interface.

If you move to a part of the recording which you want to edit, you can click on the Tools item to bring up a list of available options.

Screenshot of screenpal video editing interface with the tools bar being displayed.

A useful tool for editing is the Cut tool. This allows you to remove sections of the recording. This can be useful if you have a section where you were interrupted or made a mistake, etc. If you select the Cut option, you will be provided with the option to select what can be cut by dragging the red bars in the timeline to cover a specific section of the video.

Screenshot of screenpal video editing interface with the drag bar below to select what to cut, being highlighted

When you have selected a section of the recording indicated by the red bars (e.g. a start point and end point), you will be given the option to

  1. Preview this (This will show you what the recording will look like when you cut this section out)
  2. Cancel this selection.
  3. OK this selection.

If you select OK, the area of the recording identified by the red bars will be removed.

Screenshot of screenpal video editing interface with "preview, cancel and ok" are marked as "1,2,3" accordingly

Another useful feature is the ability to add text to your recording. This can be useful if you want to provide additional guidance to learners about a specific part of the recording or on-screen item. If you select the Overlay option, you can then click on the Text item.

Screenshot of screenpal video editing interface with the tools bar and "overlay and text " being highlighted

If you select the Text option, you will be provided with the option to select what section of the recording the text should appear over, where it should appear on screen and how it should appear (fade in/ out, etc.), what it should say, and how it should look.

Screenshot of screenpal video editing interface with the text bar opened and "this is important" is being displayed

You can edit what part (e.g. from what time to what time) of the recording the text should appear over by:

1. Dragging the bars on the timeline at the base of the screen.

2. You can also increase or decrease the time by clicking on the time section.

Screenshot of screenpal video editing interface with "1,2" being highlighted

To edit the text and where it is displayed, simply click into the text box and change the text as appropriate in the text area which appears. You can also click on style to change the appearance of the text box.

Screenshot of screenpal video editing interface with the text bar opened and "this is important" is being displayed and highlighted  on the text menu

You can move the position of the text item (where it appears on-screen) by clicking and dragging on the text item.

Screenshot of screenpal video editing interface with the text  "this is important" is being displayed in the center

After editing your video, select "Done" on the right side of the screen. It will then save your video to your video library which you can then decide how you would like to share it.

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