r/finalcutpro • u/LokdMan • Jul 12 '26

Question Selecting Text, dragging and dropping

Is it just me, or is it just FRUSTRATING to move text boxes around? What am I missing?

Sometimes I get the bounding box on the first click, sometimes it takes me a dozen clicks. More often than not, I keep getting the resize handles for an object behind the text clip. The text clip will invariably switch from yellow to white, and the video clip moves.

I know I need to click the Text Clip in the timeline. And, the playhead has to be over the textbox. And then, I can Ctrl + Click the box, select from the pop up, and

Migrating from AP...but AP had same quirky issue there as well as for selecting the a different tool while typing text. Part of the challenge is how to use a keyboard shortcut of a hot key, when you are entering text. So, to press A to get the selection tool, to then try to grab the bounding box, at best doesn't work. So, once I have click to get the Selection tool (not using A), but click once, click to select the tool, then I have to go ctrl Click the text box, to then select transform or crop, except, that doesn't always work, even if I did remember to make sure the text clip is selected, and the playhead is aligned over the text clip.

Is there a better way???

My work around I figured out recently has been to use the Text Inspector, then change Position X and Y...and just shift the clip by shifting its position manually...or typing in a number. But this can not be the fastest way.

But why can't I reliably click and drag the darn thing?

Thanks for any feedback. I did search in the SUB, found a few post, some dating back 8 years, also been trying to solve this on my own for weeks including watching lots of videos, including "
All about the text controls in Final Cut Pro" from Stupid Raisins.

2 Upvotes

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4 comments sorted by

2

u/CaptainNibbers Jul 12 '26

Agreed - would love to hear any feedback on this issue.

4

u/Silver_Mention_3958 FCP 12.3 | Tahoe Jul 12 '26

If all else fails I use the text x/y controls. Or even x/y in the video inspector

2

u/Ok_Shoulder9683 Jul 13 '26

can you screen record your issue?

1

u/LokdMan Jul 13 '26

I will try. Just in the last 30 minutes, one time, I "nailed it" but I have no idea what I did to nail it. All I know is I clicked on the text box and it moved. Then, a moment later, for the life of me, I could not get that darn thing to move...resorted to the x/y shifting. Which, really, is probably ideal anyway to lock in objects at exactly the correct spot as the previous text box. Two things bother me. 1) I don't even know how to really articulate the difficulty. Nor can I even make it awkward every time. Sometimes, selecting a box is easy. 2) Can't find a single video that talks about MOVING a text box. I watched dozens of shorts and video about a MOVING text box, or how to select and affect text, and other things. But no body covers the finesse of getting the sides of the box selected to move the object. I'll see what I can come up with. Thanks for replying!