Why mouse shortcuts work so well for video editing
The editing workflow has a natural rhythm. You scrub the timeline with the mouse, find the frame you want, then hit a keyboard shortcut to act on it. Cut. Ripple delete. Trim left. Add a transition. Every one of those actions requires you to lift a hand off the mouse, find the right key (or key combination), press it, and return to the mouse. That round trip happens hundreds of times per session.
Putting the most frequent editing shortcuts on your mouse buttons collapses that round trip to zero. You scrub to the right frame and click a button. The cut happens instantly. You don't move your hand, you don't look at the keyboard, and you don't lose your place on the timeline. For repetitive actions like ripple trimming through an interview or cutting dead space out of screen recordings, the time savings compound fast.
MouseKey makes this work with any mouse using click cadences. Each button supports up to 6 actions: one each for 1x through 5x clicks, plus a 2-second hold. That means you can put your entire cutting workflow on a single side button, with different click counts triggering different shortcuts. You can also set up per-app profiles so your editing shortcuts only activate when your editor is in the foreground.
Premiere Pro
Premiere Pro has the largest shortcut ecosystem of any editor. Here's a setup that puts the core editing actions on two mouse buttons, covering the actions you use every few seconds during a rough cut.
Back button (cutting and deleting)
1x click: Add Edit / Razor at Playhead (Ctrl+K). This is the single most-used action in a rough cut. Position the playhead where you want the cut and click once.
2x click: Ripple Delete (Shift+Delete). After making a cut, double click to remove the selected clip and close the gap in one motion. No more right-clicking and selecting from a menu.
3x click: Ripple Trim Previous Edit to Playhead (Q). Deletes everything between the playhead and the previous edit point, closing the gap automatically. Essential for trimming interview clips.
4x click: Ripple Trim Next Edit to Playhead (W). Same as above but trims forward. Between Q and W you can clean up a timeline in a fraction of the time it takes with the mouse alone.
Hold: Undo (Ctrl+Z). Quick safety net when a trim goes too far.
Forward button (navigation and tools)
1x click: Play/Pause (Space). Scrub, click, review. No reaching for the spacebar.
2x click: Add Default Transition (Shift+D). Drop a cross dissolve (or whatever your default transition is) at the nearest edit point.
3x click: Mark In (I). Set the in point for a clip or a selection range.
4x click: Mark Out (O). Set the out point. Combined with In, you can mark a range and extract or lift it.
Hold: Save (Ctrl+S). Premiere doesn't auto-save reliably in all configurations. A quick hold to save every few minutes is cheap insurance.
This setup gives you 10 actions on two buttons. The most frequent ones (cut, ripple delete, play/pause) are on the lowest click counts so they're fastest to reach. The less frequent actions (in/out points, save) are on higher cadences and the hold slot.
DaVinci Resolve
DaVinci Resolve uses different default shortcuts than Premiere, but the core editing actions are the same. The blade tool is on B, split clip is on Ctrl+B (or Ctrl+\), and ripple delete is on Ctrl+Backspace (Windows) or Cmd+Delete (Mac). Here's a setup tuned to Resolve's defaults.
Back button (cutting and trimming)
1x click: Split Clip at Playhead (Ctrl+B). Equivalent to Premiere's razor. Splits whatever clip is under the playhead without changing your current tool.
2x click: Ripple Delete (Ctrl+Backspace). Removes the selected clip and closes the gap.
3x click: Trim Start (Shift+[). Deletes everything before the playhead on the current clip and closes the gap. Resolve's version of Premiere's Q trim.
4x click: Trim End (Shift+]). Deletes everything after the playhead. These two trims are what Resolve calls "top and tail" editing.
Hold: Undo (Ctrl+Z).
Forward button (playback and tools)
1x click: Play/Pause (Space).
2x click: Blade Tool toggle (B). Switch to the blade cursor for quick multi-cut passes, then double click again to toggle back.
3x click: Selection Tool (A). Returns you to the normal pointer. Useful after a blade pass when you want to go back to moving clips.
4x click: Mark In (I).
Hold: Save (Ctrl+S).
If you work across both the Edit and Color pages in Resolve, you can use automatic profile switching to maintain separate button layouts for each. The Edit page profile handles cutting, and the Color page profile can map buttons to node operations, still navigation, or grade copying.
CapCut
CapCut's desktop editor has become the go-to for short-form video. Its default keyboard shortcuts are simpler than Premiere or Resolve, which makes it even easier to map them to mouse buttons. The core editing loop in CapCut is: split with Ctrl+B, delete left with Q, delete right with W, and quick delete with D.
Back button (split and clean up)
1x click: Split (Ctrl+B). Cuts the clip at the playhead.
2x click: Delete Left (Q). Removes everything to the left of the playhead and closes the gap. This is your primary cleanup tool for removing dead space at the start of clips.
3x click: Delete Right (W). Removes everything to the right. Between Q and W you can trim a clip from both ends without touching the keyboard.
4x click: Quick Delete (D). Deletes the selected clip entirely.
Hold: Undo (Ctrl+Z).
Forward button (navigation)
1x click: Play/Pause (Space).
2x click: Jump to Start of Clip (Up arrow). Snaps the playhead to the beginning of the current clip.
3x click: Jump to End of Clip (Down arrow). Snaps to the end.
Hold: Save (Ctrl+S).
CapCut's editing model is deliberately streamlined compared to Premiere or Resolve, so you don't need as many cadence slots. The 4x and 5x cadences on the forward button are open for additional shortcuts as your workflow evolves. Some editors assign text insertion (T) or export (Ctrl+E) to those spare slots.
Recording the shortcuts in MouseKey
All of these keyboard shortcuts are set up the same way in MouseKey. Open the app, add a button slot, select the button (Back, Forward, Middle, or any other), choose the click cadence number, and select "Create Hot Key" from the action dropdown. The macro recorder captures whatever key combination you press. Hit Ctrl+K and it records that exact shortcut. Name it something recognizable like "Razor at Playhead" and save.
For single-key shortcuts like B (blade tool) or Space (play/pause), the process is the same. The recorder captures single keys just as easily as multi-key combinations. For the hold slot, assign the action and MouseKey handles the 2-second hold detection automatically.
Typed strings for editing too. If you do screen recordings or tutorials, MouseKey's typed string playback is useful for inserting repeated text like title cards, channel names, or lower-third labels. Record a string like Subscribe for more and assign it to a cadence. One click and the text is typed out wherever your cursor is. See the macro recorder guide for details.
Tips for editing setups
Put your most-used action on 1x click. For almost every editor, that's either cut/split or play/pause. Single click is the fastest cadence, so it should be the action you reach for most.
Group related actions on the same button. All the cutting and deleting shortcuts go on one button. All the navigation and tool switching goes on another. This keeps the mental model clean: back button destroys, forward button moves.
Use the hold slot for safety actions. Undo and save are important but not rapid-fire. They fit naturally on the 2-second hold because you want a slight pause before triggering them accidentally. Nobody wants to accidentally undo a cut because they held a button too long.
Consider a middle button setup for less frequent actions. If your mouse has a clickable scroll wheel, that's a third button with 6 more cadence slots. You can put zoom controls (Ctrl+= and Ctrl+-), snap toggle (N in Premiere), or timeline zoom (Ctrl+scroll in Resolve) there.
Set up per-app profiles. If you edit in more than one application, create a separate MouseKey profile for each and link them to the apps. Your Premiere shortcuts activate when Premiere is in the foreground, your CapCut shortcuts activate when CapCut is active, and your default profile handles everything else. No manual switching required.
What if your mouse only has 3 buttons?
You don't need a gaming mouse with a dozen side buttons to use this approach. A basic office mouse with left click, right click, and a scroll wheel click gives you 3 usable buttons. Left and right click should stay as they are (you need those for timeline interaction), but the middle click (scroll wheel press) is fair game.
With 6 cadence slots on the middle button alone, you can cover the essentials: split, ripple delete, play/pause, trim left, trim right, and undo. That's the core editing loop on a single button. It won't be as fast as spreading actions across 3 or 4 buttons, but it's significantly faster than reaching for the keyboard every time.
If your mouse has tilt-left and tilt-right on the scroll wheel (many office mice do), MouseKey can capture those too. That gives you 3 buttons with 18 total actions on a mouse that cost $15. For more on getting the most out of a basic mouse, see the click cadence explainer.
Getting started
Pick whichever editor you use most, set up the back button with 3 or 4 actions, and edit a project with it. The first session will feel a little unfamiliar as you build the muscle memory. By the second session, you'll stop thinking about it. That's when the speed gains start compounding.
MouseKey works with any mouse on Windows. You don't need a specific brand, model, or driver. Install from the Microsoft Store and your first button can be configured in under a minute.
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