Copy and paste objects

Copy and paste objects in the Timeline

As in other applications, in Motion you can copy and paste objects. Copying leaves an object in place and copies it to the Clipboard for later pasting.

When you paste an object, it’s placed at either the position of the playhead or at the beginning of the project (see If it’s your first import). For the purposes of simplicity, the remainder of this section assumes pasted objects are placed at the playhead position.

Objects with applied filters, behaviors, keyframes, and other effects retain those effects when cut, copied, and pasted. You can also copy or cut filter and behavior objects from one media layer and then paste them into another media layer, effectively transferring the effect to a different media item.

In addition to ordinary pasting, Motion lets you paste as an insert, overwrite, or exchange edit. These three commands appear in the Paste Special dialog:

  • Insert into time region: Pastes the Clipboard contents into the project, pushing existing objects farther down in time.

  • Overwrite into time region: Pastes the Clipboard contents into the project, deleting any existing objects at the same point in time.

  • Exchange media with existing object: Replaces the selected object in the project with the Clipboard contents.

Note: Paste Special can also be used with selected regions in the Timeline to perform a special type of paste. For more information, see Make changes to a region (range of frames).

Copy an object to the Clipboard

  1. In the Timeline, select an object to copy.

  2. Choose Edit > Copy (or press Command-C).

Paste an object into the Timeline

  1. In the Timeline, select a group to paste into.

  2. Position the playhead at the desired time position.

  3. Choose Edit > Paste (or press Command-V).

The pasted object is placed in a new track at the top of the other layers in the active group. If no group is selected, the object is pasted into the group it was copied from. If it was copied from outside the current project, a new group is created. Pasting multiple objects retains the relative object and layer order of the Clipboard contents.

Paste an object, pushing other objects farther ahead in the Timeline

  1. In the Timeline, select a group to paste into.

  2. Position the playhead at the desired time position.

  3. Choose Edit > Paste Special (or press Option-Command-V).

    The Paste Special dialog appears.

  4. Select “Insert into time region.”

  5. Click OK to confirm your edit.

The object is inserted at the selected position, splitting other objects in the same time region and pushing them to the right in the Timeline.

Paste an object, deleting other objects in the same time region

  1. In the Timeline, select a group to paste into.

  2. Position the playhead at the desired time position.

  3. Choose Edit > Paste Special (or press Option-Command-V).

    The Paste Special dialog appears.

  4. Select “Overwrite into time region.”

  5. Click OK to confirm your edit.

The object is pasted at the selected position, overwriting other objects in the same time region.

Paste an object, replacing another object

  1. In the File Browser, select an item, then choose Edit > Copy (or press Command-C).

    Note: This task works only for items copied from the File Browser.

  2. In the Timeline, select an object to replace.

  3. Position the playhead at the desired time position.

  4. Choose Edit > Paste Special (or press Option-Command-V).

    The Paste Special dialog appears.

  5. Select “Exchange media with existing object.”

  6. Click OK to confirm your edit.

The object is pasted at the selected position, replacing the other object.