Turn on Advanced Tools

When you turn on Advanced Tools in iMovie, you get access to a number of controls that let you streamline your workflow, categorize and filter your video, and create interesting video effects.

With Advanced Tools turned on, you can do the following:

  • Add video to the end of a project just by selecting it in the Event browser.

  • Mark video as “favorite,” “rejected,” or “unmarked” just by selecting it.

  • Tag and filter your video with keywords.

  • Easily replace a clip in your project with an equal length of video from a selected Event clip.

  • Add chapter markers and comments to your movie projects.

  • Add cutaway, picture-in-picture, and split-screen (side-by-side) clips.

  • Use green-screen and blue-screen effects to superimpose video over other video clips or animated backgrounds.

See the topics listed under “See also” below for instructions about how to do these tasks.

To turn on Advanced Tools:

Choose iMovie > Preferences, click General, and then select Show Advanced Tools.

The iMovie menu appears in a light gray bar across the top of your computer screen.

The following new elements appear in the iMovie window:

  • The Keywords button in the toolbar gives you access to the Keywords window, which you use to tag video with keywords.

    Image of the Keywords button

  • The Comment Marker button (A, below) and Chapter Marker (B, below) button let you add chapter markers and comments to your movie projects.

    Image of the Comment Marker and Chapter Marker buttons

  • The Pointer button in the toolbar closes any tool you have open. These tools appear in the toolbar to the right of the Pointer button. They include the “Add to Project” tool and the tools used to mark video as “favorite” and “rejected.”

    Image of Pointer button

  • The Keyword Filter button, below the Event Library, shows or hides the Keyword Filtering pane, which lets you sort your video based on keywords.

    Image of Keyword Filter button