43 Combine Multiple Clips into One

Before You Begin

29 Add Clips to the Storyboard

42 Split a Clip into Multiple Clips

See Also

45 Nudge a Clip to Adjust Its Start Time

If you want to combine two or more clips into one, you can. The only requirement is that the clips are contiguous ”that is, next to each other in the Contents pane, storyboard, or timeline. The single clip that results will have no break or indication where the combination operation occurred; it will appear that the clip was always a single clip once combined.

You cannot combine clips that are noncontiguous, such as the first and final clip in a multiclip video, unless you move those clips together.

The name assigned to the combined clip is the same name as the first, left-most clip on the storyboard/timeline before you combined the clips. All remaining clips in the project retain their original names . Movie Maker truly combines the clips; you cannot split a clip where you combined it from other clips without going through the manual process of splitting the clip into its original parts ( see 42 Split a Clip into Multiple Clips ). Actually, you can select Edit, Undo Combine (or press Ctrl+Z ) to reverse the combination operation, as long as you perform the Edit, Undo Combine command within the same editing session. If you've performed other commands since you combined the clips, click the down arrow on the toolbar's Undo button to scroll through the list of items to undo and select the Combine entry.

NOTE

If you combine clips on the storyboard/timeline, the clips are not combined in the Contents window. If you combine clips in the Contents window, they are not combined on the storyboard/timeline if the separate clips were there before the combination operation.

1. Click the First Clip
   
   Click to select the first clip. The first clip to be combined must be the left-most clip of all the clips you want to combine. You can select the clip in the Contents window or on the storyboard/timeline.
   
   
2. Hold Ctrl and Click Additional Clips
   
   Press and hold the Ctrl key as you click to select the other clips to combine into a single clip. Remember that the subsequent clips must be contiguous to each other and to the first clip.
   
   
3. Select Clip, Combine
   
   From the main menu, choose Clip, Combine . You can also press Ctrl+M to combine the selected clips. Movie Maker combines the clips into one single clip. The name assigned to the combined clip is the same name as the first, left-most clip you selected in step 1.