Video editing · Stream Deck plugin

iMovie Studio Controller

Most of iMovie's transport vocabulary has no menu item to click: the J, K and L shuttle keys, edit point and marker hops, frame steps, the selection range keys. Every shortcut here is read from iMovie's own command set and live menu bar, so those land on keys too, and the deck sends what iMovie is already listening for.

135commands
9categories
6dials
6bundled profiles

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What it does

135 commands on 9 category keys: Transport, Navigate, Select, Edit, Audio, Adjust, Mark, View and Project. One key per category opens its page, and you pick what each key sends in the property inspector. The 60 commands iMovie ships with no menu item at all are here too, from the J, K and L shuttle keys to frame and ten frame steps.
Six dials. Filmstrip Browser steps the playhead between edit points, a whole clip at a time when you turn faster. Playback Shuttle has stop in the middle: each click plays one speed faster, and turning back slows down and stops. Clip Trim moves the selected clip's start or end a frame per detent, pulling the edge in until a press flips it to push out. Clip Volume rides the clip's own level, not the system volume. Timeline Zoom and Marker Hop make six. The Stream Deck + XL seats all six; the Stream Deck + seats four, with Zoom and Marker Hop as keys there.
Keys that know when iMovie will refuse them. While iMovie is in front the plugin reads which of its menu commands are enabled for the current selection, and a key whose command is greyed out wears a dimmed face. Press it anyway and it sends, then shows an alert, so a no-op is never silent.
A T9 keyboard types clip and project names from the deck, phone style: tap 2 for a, again for b, then c. A Mode key turns it into a plain number pad and the faces swap to show which. It types into whichever iMovie field has focus, fills the left of the Stream Deck + XL hub, and has its own page on the 15-key Stream Deck and the 32-key Stream Deck XL. It chirps on every press so you can type without looking down, and a Pad sounds switch quiets it.
Six bundled profiles, all 135 commands in every one. The 15-key Stream Deck, the 32-key Stream Deck XL and the Stream Deck + XL open on a nine door hub; the Stream Deck +, the Stream Deck Neo and the Stream Deck Mini chain their pages with Next and Previous. Easy Link is on the first page of each: hold it about a second with iMovie in front and the deck follows the app, then hands your previous profile back when you leave.

What you need

iMovie 10.4.4 on macOS 13 or later, and Stream Deck software 6.9 or newer. Keys send only while iMovie is in front.

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Support

Good to know

Built for iMovie 10.4.4 from the Mac App Store, on macOS 13 or later, with Stream Deck software 6.9 or newer. Profiles are bundled for six decks: the 15-key Stream Deck, the Stream Deck +, the Stream Deck + XL, the 32-key Stream Deck XL, the Stream Deck Mini and the Stream Deck Neo. The dials need one of the two Stream Deck + models.
Click OK when macOS asks to let Elgato Stream Deck control System Events. Accessibility has no prompt: add Elgato Stream Deck under System Settings, Privacy and Security, Accessibility, then quit and reopen the Stream Deck app.
Keys send only while iMovie is in front. With another app in front nothing is sent, and the key shows an alert rather than firing into the wrong window.
A dimmed key means iMovie has that command greyed out for what is selected, Split Clip with nothing selected for one. The reading is taken only while iMovie is in front; when it cannot be read, keys keep their normal face rather than guess. Clip Volume's strip shows the level iMovie reports after each turn and Clip Trim's the edge's timecode once a nudge lands. The other strips show what the deck sent, a speed or a count, and start over from rest when you change pages.
Nudge Up and Nudge Down are left off every profile and the inspector: iMovie 10.4.4 accepts them and moves nothing. A key is remapped by picking another command in its property inspector; this plugin has no field for typing your own key combination.
Runs entirely on your Mac. Nothing here talks to the internet.

True of every plugin we make

Every key carries the app's own shortcut for that command, and every key is remappable. Type your combination into the key's property inspector (its settings panel in the Stream Deck app) or click Capture and press it once. Where an app leaves a command unbound, the key still reaches it by the route that app exposes.
Keystrokes go to the front window and nothing steals focus, so keep the target app in front when you press.
Every command has its own drawn key art, so the deck reads at a glance instead of listing shortcuts.

Read the full quick fixes, or see this plugin on the support hub.

Still stuck? Email [email protected] with the plugin name, your Stream Deck software version, and what you pressed versus what happened. A human answers.