Ripple Delete

A ripple delete removes a clip or a gap and immediately pulls everything downstream earlier to fill the space, leaving no blank section in the timeline. It contrasts with a plain delete, which leaves a gap where the clip was. Editors use ripple delete to cut out a bad take, trim dead air between answers, or remove a section while keeping the rest of the sequence tight and continuous. It is one of the fastest ways to shorten a rough cut. The caution is sync: rippling one track can shift it out of alignment with audio or graphics on other tracks, so editors either ripple all targeted tracks together or watch sync indicators. Bound to a quick keystroke, it is central to efficient pacing work.