Stack titles, shapes and stickers and set their order

Titles, shapes and stickers share a set of rows above the video tracks. In the exported video, the row decides which element draws in front. That is how a label sits on a plate, an arrow crosses a sticker, or a dim panel hides behind a headline.

How the rows work

• Title bars are purple, shapes and stickers are magenta, and effects are teal.
• In the exported video, the top row draws in front and each row below it sits under the one above. The live preview does not follow the rows: it paints overlapping elements in the order they were added to the project.
• All of these rows draw over every video track, including clips on upper video tracks.
• An effect gets a row of its own. It filters the footage and every row below it, and leaves the rows above it untouched.

A new title, shape or sticker goes onto the first row that holds titles, shapes and stickers. If its spot in time is taken, it slides right to the next free slot. Press T twice at the same playhead and the second title arrives after the first one ends. Two elements overlap in time only when they sit on different rows.

Put one element behind another

This recipe puts a dim panel behind a headline.

1. Press T and type the headline in the Text tab.
2. In the left panel, open Elements and drag the Rectangle tile onto the timeline at the headline's start. It lands after the title on the same row.
3. Drag the rectangle's bar downward past the last row. A dashed row opens below. Slide the bar sideways until its left edge snaps to the title's left edge, then release.
4. With the rectangle selected, pick a dark Fill color and lower Fill opacity. Drag its corner handle in the preview until it covers the frame.
5. Scrub across the overlap. The preview paints overlapping elements in the order they were added, so the panel, added second, draws over the headline there. The exported video follows the rows and draws the headline on top of the panel.

The rectangle sits on the lower row, so the headline is in front in the exported video. If a panel covers a headline in the exported video, drag the headline's bar up past the top of the stack to open a row in front of it. The preview will not reflect that change if the panel was added after the headline.

Change the order later

Drag any element bar up or down to move it between rows.

• Drag past the bottom row to open a new row at the back.
• Drag past the top edge to open a new row in front.
• A row that ends up empty disappears on its own.

Edges and starts still snap while you drag, so a bar keeps its timing as it changes rows.

Hide, group and select

• Right-click an element bar and choose Hide. The bar turns gray and the element leaves the preview and the export until you choose Show.
• The eye in the gutter beside a row has the tooltip Hide track and hides every element on that row.
• Shift-click several bars to select them together. In a title's Transform tab, or in a shape's or sticker's panel, press the button that reads Group with the count, such as Group 3 elements. Cmd+G on a Mac or Ctrl+G on Windows does the same.
• A group selects as one and moves as one. The Ungroup button breaks it apart, and so does Cmd+Shift+G on a Mac or Ctrl+Shift+G on Windows.

Groups suit an arrow with its caption, or a sticker with the title beside it, since the pair stays in step when you move it.

Give each row a job

Put panels and other shapes on the lower rows and text on the upper ones. The purple and magenta bars then show at a glance what each row holds, and in the exported video a headline on a higher row is never hidden under a panel on a lower row.

Check the order

Scrub across a moment where several elements overlap, then export and confirm in the file that the one you want in front is in front. The preview stacks overlapping elements in the order they were added, not by row. Open DepCut and try the dim panel recipe on a headline.