How to Create a Video Clip

A clip is a short, saved excerpt of a recorded case. You create clips in the Theator video editor, a full-page editor that opens over the case, and the clips you save appear in the Snapshots & Clips panel on the case page, where you can play, rename, download, or add them to a collection.

Before you start

• Clips are created on desktop. The Snapshots & Clips panel is available on mobile for viewing, but clip creation is not.
• You need permission to view the case. Anyone who can watch a case can make clips of it, even if they can only view it anonymously. Video download permission is needed to save a clip to your device as a video file, and it also lets the editor play the full-quality recording. Read Without download permission at the end of this article for what changes without it.
• The case must have finished recording. A live case cannot be clipped until the recording ends.

Step 1: Open the video editor

There are three ways in, and all of them open the same editor:

• From the video player. Click Create clip in the player control bar, under the video.
• From the Snapshots & Clips panel. Open Snapshots & Clips in the case page side panel. If the case has no clips yet, click Create Clip. If it already has clips, use the round scissors button in the bottom-right corner.
• From the download panel. Click Download at the top right of the case page, choose Download specific sections, then click Open in video editor. This route needs video download permission, since the case page's Download button appears only with it.

On a case with an unusually large number of separate recordings (more than 20), the editor cannot start a new clip spanning the whole case. Create clip is not shown under the video, and Create Clip in the Snapshots & Clips panel opens a small dialog on the case page instead, where you type a clip title and use the marker on the progress bar under the video to set the start and end points. Clips that already exist on such a case still open in the editor with Edit.

The editor opens spanning the whole recording. You are not asked for a start and end time up front: you trim the timeline down to what you want. If the case was recorded in more than one part (for example the camera restarted mid-procedure), all of its recordings are laid out end to end on one continuous timeline.

Step 2: Trim the clip

The bottom of the editor is the timeline. The Video lane holds your clip as one or more segments.

• Trim the ends. Drag either edge of a segment inward to cut footage off the start or the end.
• Cut out a section in the middle. Move the playhead to where you want the cut and click Split clip (or press S). Do that again at the other end of the unwanted stretch, select the middle piece, and click Remove (or press Delete).
• Reorder. Drag a segment along the Video lane to change the order it plays in.
• Change the pace. Select a segment and use the Speed slider in the inspector panel to speed a stretch up or slow it down, between 0.25x and 8x.
• Fine-tune by timecode. With a segment selected, type exact Start and End timecodes into the inspector instead of dragging.

The Steps lane above the video shows the procedure's AI-detected surgical steps, so you can find the moment you want by name rather than by scrubbing. Use [ and ] to jump to the previous or next step.

Use the zoom controls, ⌘/Ctrl + scroll, or Fit to change how much of the timeline you see at once.

Remove only appears once there is something to remove, so you will not see it until you have split the clip or the timeline already has more than one segment.

Step 3: Name the clip

The clip's name is the title in the editor's top bar. Click it to rename, then press Enter (or click elsewhere) to commit. Press Escape to cancel.

When you open the editor on a fresh session the title shows the procedure's name. It is not editable yet, because no clip exists until you make your first change. As soon as you do, the clip is created and takes a name like New Clip (Sep 17, 2026), the title becomes editable, and a Clip created message tells you where it went, with a View in Snapshots & Clips button and a Rename clip button.

Give it something a colleague would recognize, for example "CVS confirmation" or "Difficult adhesiolysis".

Step 4: Your work saves itself

There is no "save clip" step. The editor saves automatically as you work, and the clip itself is created on your first edit.

• The chip beside the title always says where the work is going and whether it has landed. It reads Auto-saves to Clips before your first change, Saving to Clips… while a change is being written, and Saved to Clips once it is safe.
• The Save button beside it is there when you want to be sure rather than because saving needs you. It reads Save, Saving…, then Saved. Clicking it pushes through anything still pending and shows a receipt naming the clip and the case. Pressing ⌘S / Ctrl+S does the same thing.
• If a save fails, the chip stops claiming the work is safe and says Save failed, retrying, and the editor keeps retrying. Leaving the editor with changes it could not save prompts you to confirm first.

Step 5: Download the clip (optional)

Click Download at the top right of the editor. A progress panel shows what the editor is doing and roughly how long is left. Downloading needs video download permission; without it the editor has no Download button, and the clip is still saved to the case.

Simple trims are copied straight from the recording and are quick. A clip with annotations, a voiceover, or a changed speed has to be rendered: most browsers render it locally, which means keeping the tab open until it finishes, and a small progress dialog tells you when the file has been saved to your device.

You do not have to download to keep a clip. It is saved to the case either way.

Step 6: Find the clip afterwards

Click the back arrow at the top left of the editor to return to the case, then open the Snapshots & Clips panel. Each clip card shows a preview, its start and end times, and its duration, and gives you:

• Download the clip as a video file, if you have video download permission
• Add to collection, the collections icon
• Edit, which reopens the clip in the video editor
• Full screen playback
• Rename, by clicking the clip name or the pencil beside it
• Delete, from the More options menu that appears when you hover the clip's thumbnail

Clips made in the editor carry an Edited badge. Playback in this panel reflects your saved edit, so a trimmed and annotated clip plays as edited, not as the raw footage.

You can click Edit on any clip in the panel, including one a colleague made. Their clip is never changed: your first change saves your version as a new clip of your own, named like New Clip (Sep 17, 2026), and the Clip created message tells you where it went. Rename it as in Step 3.

Doing more than trimming

The editor also draws annotations on the video (text, arrows, shapes, freehand), blurs regions for de-identification, and records voiceover narration over your edit. See Using the Theator Video Editor, in this same section of the Help Center, for the full tour.

Without download permission

Download permission decides whether you can save video files to your device, and which version of the video the editor plays. If it is not enabled for your role, everything above still works: you open the editor the same ways (except from the download panel), trim, annotate, narrate, and your clips save to the case, where you can play them, add them to collections, and reopen them in the editor. What changes:

• Download buttons are hidden, for example in the editor's top bar, on the clip cards in the Snapshots & Clips panel, and when you play a clip full screen.
• The editor plays the video at standard streaming quality instead of the full-quality recording.

To change this, contact your Theator administrator. See Theator Permissions Overview.

What's Next?

• Using the Theator Video Editor — Annotate (add text, draw arrows and shapes), blur for de-identification, voiceover, and the full editor reference
• How to Download a Case Video, Recording, or Clip — Full recordings, custom cuts, and download permissions
• Photo-documentation with Theator — Capture and manage surgical snapshots
• How can I share a case with other users? — Share cases with colleagues inside your organization