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Shorts are short, upright videos for phones, like YouTube Shorts, TikTok or Instagram Reels. Cutaway can find the best 30 to 60 seconds of your video and turn it into one. Your main video is never changed.
The Shorts page with a suggested short on the left, an upright preview in the middle, and frame and caption choices on the right

Make a short

1

Open Shorts

Click Shorts in the top bar.
2

Press Find shorts

Cutaway suggests the strongest moments. Each suggestion appears on the left. Want more ideas later? The same button then says Find more.
3

Keep the ones you like

Press Keep on a suggestion. Press Dismiss to drop it.
4

Adjust it (optional)

On the right you can change:
  • Title: a name for the short.
  • Range: where the short starts and ends. The minus and plus buttons under Starts and Ends move the start or end by one sentence, so a short never cuts you off mid-word.
  • Frame: Vertical 9:16 or Square 1:1. Choose Face to follow your face, Stack to put your screen above your face, Screen follow to follow your mouse, or As edited to keep the views from your main video, fitted into the new shape.
  • Captions: pick a caption style. The word you’re saying lights up. Use Where (High, Middle or Low) to move the captions, and Size to make them bigger or smaller.
You can only change a short after you press Keep.
5

Export it

Press Export this short. Each short is saved as its own video file. Made several? Export all saves them all at once.
Want to pick the moment yourself? Press By hand instead of Find shorts.

Keep everything on your Mac

If the AI helper is set up, Find shorts uses it to pick the best moments. Press Rules only instead to use Cutaway’s built-in rules. Nothing leaves your Mac.
You only see Face, Stack and Screen follow when they make sense. For example, Face needs a camera recording in that part of your video.