A): click Crop beside Screen crop (Media crop when the current layout shows B-roll media), drag the purple frame around what you want to keep, and choose whether it applies to one layout, every layout in the clip, or every clip.
Cropping hides distractions such as browser tabs, the menu bar, or your dock without changing the original recording. Everything outside the crop frame is hidden from view.
How to crop a screen recording
-
Select the clip you want to crop
- Click on your screen recording in the timeline.
-
Set the focus point or open the crop tool
-
Click Adjust in the sidebar, or press
A. Drag the target in the Screen crop preview to choose which part of the recording stays centered. Hold Cmd on Mac or Ctrl on Windows while dragging to keep the target on a horizontal or vertical line. - Click Crop beside Screen crop to trim the frame.
-
You’ll see:
- A purple crop frame that you can drag and resize.
- Crop settings for position, size, and aspect ratio (like 16:9 or 1:1).
- A live preview of what your viewers will see.
-
Click Adjust in the sidebar, or press
-
Check the crop across the clip
- Use the timeline below the preview to check other moments without closing the crop tool.
- Click the timeline or drag the red playhead to move through the clip. The preview updates to the selected moment so you can make sure important content stays inside the crop frame.
-
Adjust the crop
- Freeform crop: Choose “Custom” from the aspect ratio dropdown to move and resize freely.
-
Constrained crop: Choose a preset aspect ratio to maintain specific dimensions. Available presets:
- 16:9: standard widescreen
- 16:10: slightly taller widescreen, common for laptop displays
- 4:3: classic standard ratio
- 1:1: square
- 4:5: portrait, optimized for Instagram and Facebook feed posts
- 9:16: full vertical, ideal for TikTok, Reels, and Stories
- Manual input: Type in exact pixel values for precision.
- Automatic zoom: When your selection gets small, the preview zooms in and centers on it so the crop handles stay easy to grab. This only changes your view of the preview. Your crop values stay exactly where you set them.
Let Tella suggest a crop
In the screen crop window, click Auto Crop. Tella detects content regions in the recording and suggests crops around them. Use the arrows beside Auto Crop to step through the suggestions, then save the one you want. Auto Crop isn’t available when cropping your camera or an image. If the clip has both screen and camera footage, use the dropdown in the crop window title to switch between Screen and Camera without closing the tool. If you have unsaved changes, Tella asks Save crop changes? first. Click Save and switch to keep them and move to the other frame, or Cancel to stay on the current frame and keep editing.Choose how far the crop reaches
In the crop window, choose a scope from the dropdown next to the save button before saving. The button names the scope, for example Crop 1 layout or Crop 3 layouts in all clips (Save 1 layout and so on when cropping the camera):- This layout only frames the active layout without changing the other layouts in the clip. Use it when you want to show a different part of the same recording at a different point in the clip.
- All layouts in this clip (the default) applies the crop to every layout in the current clip, replacing any individual layout crops there.
- All layouts in all clips applies the crop across the video, replacing individual layout crops in those clips.