Wait for a click at a stop, and play just the work area.
A stop is a point where the scene’s clock pauses and waits for the presenter’s click. The work area is the part of the clock that actually plays when you present. Both show on the ruler at the top of the timeline.
Wait for a click with a stop
Start in Animation mode with a scene that has two or more moves. For example, a scene where a title appears at 0–1 seconds and a circle at 1–1.5 seconds. If nothing moves yet, see Your first animation first.
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Pick the time to stop
On the ruler at the top of the timeline, click the time where the first move ends. In the example, that’s 1s. The blue playhead moves to that time.
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Add a stop
In the timeline’s button row, click Add stop point. It’s the hollow, downward-pointing triangle to the right of Play the work area only. The stop appears right under the playhead, so it’s hidden at first. When you move the playhead, a hollow triangle with a dotted line running down from it shows at that time.
After clicking Add stop point with the playhead at 1 second, moving the playhead away reveals a hollow triangle and a dotted line at 1 second. Video: After a click at 1 second on the ruler and a click on the Add stop point button, the playhead moves to 0.5 seconds, revealing a hollow triangle at 1 second with a dotted line running down from it. -
Play it in the editor
Click Jump to start. Then click Play. Playback halts at the stop. Click Play again, and it continues to the next stop or to the end of the clock.
Playing from the start halts the playhead at the stop at 1 second, and another click on Play carries it to the end. Video: After clicking Jump to start and Play, the playhead moves while the title appears and halts at the stop at 1 second. Clicking Play again brings in the circle and continues to the end. -
Start presenting
In the button row at the top right, click the triangle-shaped Present from this scene button. The presentation screen opens, and the scene waits for a click, looking just as it does at the start. In the example, the title and the circle aren’t visible yet.
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Click to advance
Click the screen. It plays up to the stop and halts. Click again to play the rest. The click after that moves to the next scene, or ends the presentation if there’s no next scene. Press esc to go back to editing.
A click on the presentation screen brings in the title, and playback halts; the next click grows the circle into view. Video: Clicking the blank presentation screen, which is waiting for a click, brings in the Q3 results title, and playback halts. Another click grows the circle into view.
The scene you start presenting from waits for the first click
When you start presenting with Play from This Scene or F5, the first scene waits for a click, looking just as it does at the start. When you arrive at a scene from another one, it starts playing right away with no click and halts at its first stop. To make any scene wait for the first click, put a stop at the start of its clock. If you’ve shortened the work area, put the stop at the start of that instead. In Play settings, turning on Loop back to the beginning makes the first scene play right away too.
Move and delete stops
Drag the hollow triangle on the ruler left or right to change the stop’s time. Hold ⇧ while you drag to snap to tick marks, keyframes, other stops, the playhead, both ends of the work area, and the start and end of the clock.
Click the triangle to select the stop, and it shows darker. Then press Delete to delete it. Right-click the triangle for a menu with Move Playhead Here and Delete.
If nothing changes between the previous stop and this one, the presentation doesn’t halt separately at this stop. This rule keeps you from spending a click on a stretch where nothing changes.
Set what plays with the work area
When you shorten the work area, only that span plays in presentations, play links, and exported videos. Keyframes outside the span aren’t deleted; they stay as they are.
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Set the start
Put the playhead at the time where the span should start. Press B. The thin bar at the very top of the ruler becomes a thick band from that time, and everything before it dims. You can also drag the bar’s left end.
Pressing B turns the bar into a band from the playhead, and the part before it dims. Video: With the playhead at 0.5 seconds, pressing B turns the thin bar at the top of the ruler into a band from 0.5 seconds to the end, and the part before it dims. -
Set the end
Put the playhead at the time where the span should end. Press N. The band ends at that time, and everything after it dims too. The length shown on the thumbnail in the Scenes list also changes to this span’s length. You can also drag the bar’s right end.
Pressing N ends the band at the playhead, and the length in the Scenes list changes to the span’s length. Video: With the playhead at 1.5 seconds, pressing N shrinks the band to 0.5–1.5 seconds and dims the part after it, and the length on the Scenes list thumbnail becomes 1s. -
Play just that span
In the timeline’s button row, turn on Play the work area only. You can also press W. Click Play, and it plays only within the span and halts at its end. If the playhead is outside the span or at its end, playback starts from the span’s start. If there’s a stop inside the span, it halts there too. Click Play again to continue. Turn on Loop as well to repeat the span.
With Play the work area only on, the playhead sets off from 0.5 seconds and halts at 1.5 seconds. Video: Turning on Play the work area only and clicking Play sends the playhead from 0.5 seconds to a halt at 1.5 seconds. -
Go back to the whole clock
Double-click the band. The work area goes back to the whole clock. You can also right-click the band and choose Reset Work Area.
The work area is what plays when you present, not a practice range
In the editor, Play keeps to the span only when Play the work area only is on, but presentations, play links, and exported videos always play just the work area. If you shortened it to practice one part, double-click the band when you’re done to go back to the whole clock. In Animation mode, B sets the start of the work area; it doesn’t pick the Pen tool. If a band appears unexpectedly, press ⌘Z to undo.
Stops when presenting and exporting
Clicking mid-motion. It doesn’t wait: it jumps to the end of that span, that is, to how things look at the next stop. Even when you’re in a hurry, animations don’t hold up your presentation.
Going back. Within a scene, ← first rewinds to the previous stop or to how the scene looks at the start. When there’s nothing left to rewind, it goes to the previous scene, which appears fully played.
Exporting to video. No one is there to click, so at each stop the video holds for the time set in Stop points (s) in the export settings. The default is 1.5 seconds, and at 0 it doesn’t hold. Export explains it.
Shortcuts on this page
| To the previous keyframe or stop | J |
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| To the next keyframe or stop | K |
| Delete the selected stop | Delete |
| Set the work area start to the playhead | B |
| Set the work area end to the playhead | N |
| Turn Play the work area only on or off | W |
Updated 10/12/2026 · The videos on this page were recorded in the current editor.