When you first open CapCut, you'll see a clean, organized workspace. It might look like a lot at first, but it's broken down into three main areas that are easy to understand.

1. Media & Effects Panel: This is your library. It's where you'll find all your imported videos, images, and audio. CapCut also includes its own library of effects, transitions, and text styles here.
2. Preview Window: This shows you what your video looks like as you edit. You can play your project, pause it, and scrub through to see your changes in real-time.
3. Timeline: This is your main workspace. It's a visual representation of your video from start to finish. You'll arrange your clips, make cuts, and add effects here.

Let's start putting a video together. The first step is to bring your raw footage into the app.

To import your files, look for a button that says "Import" or a plus (+) symbol in the Media Panel. This will open your device's file browser, allowing you to select the videos and images you want to use. Once imported, they'll appear as thumbnails in the panel, ready for you to use.

Now, drag your clips from the Media Panel down into the Timeline. As you add them, they'll snap together in the order you place them. You can easily rearrange clips by clicking and dragging them to a new position on the timeline.

To see your work, press the play button in the Preview Window. As the video plays, you'll see a white vertical line, called the playhead, move across the clips in your timeline. You can click and drag the playhead to jump to any point in your video.

Most of the time, your raw clips will have extra footage at the beginning or end that you don't need. Getting rid of this is called trimming. To trim a clip, click on it in the timeline and drag its start or end point inward. The part you drag over will be removed.

Sometimes you need to cut a clip right in the middle, perhaps to remove a mistake or create two separate scenes. This is called splitting. Move the playhead to the exact spot where you want to make the cut, select the clip, and find the "Split" button (it often looks like a razor or scissors). This will slice the clip into two independent pieces.

A hard cut from one clip to the next can sometimes feel jarring. Transitions are effects that smooth the change between two clips. CapCut has a library of transitions, but for now, we'll stick to the basics.

To add a transition, go to the Transitions tab in the Media & Effects Panel. Find a simple one, like a "Fade" or "Dissolve." Drag it from the panel and drop it directly onto the cut between two clips in your timeline. You'll see a small icon appear, indicating the transition is in place.

Now let's review the main concepts before you test your knowledge.

Ready to check your understanding?

With these fundamentals, you're ready to start assembling your own video projects. Practice importing, trimming, and arranging clips to get comfortable with the workflow.