Hi folks, I’m just getting into version 2026 and I notice that by default type FX in the timeline when you click on them are in move mode. It seems that you need to enter the module and then select the edit tool with F1 before you can edit the type content. Is there any way of changing this so that selecting a segment with a type effect applied defaults to edit mode? Or, failing that, is there a keyboard shortcut to switch it to edit mode in the timeline?
Thanks, Angus
You’re using terminology from the old text module. There’s no “edit” mode and “move” mode. Also, @fredwarren will correct me if I’m wrong, and in this case I wish I were, but there is no way to edit the content of the text field in the timeline view. You can do everything else with the text, but you need to enter the module to edit the type. I believe this may have to do with the inability of the system to distinguish between the text input in the module and hotkeys on the timeline.
Once you have entered the type TLFX, there are 2 ways to select the text field. One is to simply tap it in the view port. The other, which I use, is to tap the layer in the layer window. This will highlight all the text in the layer. At this point one can easily edit attributes, position and fonts. If you have more than one layer, be sure to have your scoping set to selected layer if you don’t want to affect all layers with the attribute/axis/font change. I find that I want to perform these operations when I enter the module much more than I want to modify the content of the text so I don’t actually find this a drawback. In order to actually edit the content, one needs to double tap the text line in the viewport to establish a cursor. Once a cursor is established, it behaves like most basic text apps. Double clicking will highlight a connected string or word, triple tapping will highlight en entire line. I find this VERY finicky with a pen, so once I start editing content, I usually put the pen between my lips (it’s my pen, no one else touches it) and rely on mouse and keyboard like I would any other text app. Interestingly, once you have established a cursor, you no longer need to double tap when navigating between the text fields of other layers. I think the key take-away here, is that you need to establish a cursor on the text box, and I agree, it can be finicky. I believe the roadblock is the need to disassociate from the hot keys before typing text. Not sure where the F1 thing comes from. That doesn’t work for me, but it could be a Smoke/Flame hotkey thing or maybe a Mac/Linux thing. I’m linux with Smoke keys. I would actually welcome a single keystroke that gave me a cursor without having to tap the text field. Forgive me if this is. long winded and didn’t tell you anything you hadn’t already figured out. @fredwarren please correct me if I’ve missed anything important.
Thanks for the detailed reply - super helpful. I’m kind of the opposite though, I need to go into the module and edit text a lot, so I was hoping there was a way for the to make editable text the default on entering the module. (BTW you can also edit text by hitting F1, it just means an extra key stroke for me and given how often I have to do it it’s a bit of a bind).
Hi Angus, what you are asking for seems to be a totally legitimate request. It could be a user preference.
Please log a feature request in our Flame Feedback portal and post the ID here so that other folks can upvote your request.
I wished F1 worked for me. Not sure why it doesn’t, but I made a bunch of tests using HP remote, so perhaps that has something to do with it.