The Mac and Windows app

What the app is for

A livestream is a compressed copy of your service. It often has lower thirds, lyrics, a countdown or a watermark on the picture, and all of that ends up in your clips.

The original file on your computer has none of it. The app makes clips straight from that file, and your full recording stays on your computer. The camera's own file also has none of the dropped frames a livestream can have.

The app is a free public beta. You use your usual ReelUse account, plan and allowance, and every run appears in the same Library as on the website.

Will it work on my computer?

• On the Free plan, clips are always made online, whatever your computer can do. Everything else in the app works the same.
• A YouTube link needs free disk space. When your computer makes the clips, the app downloads the whole video first and deletes it when the run is done. A long service in good quality can take several gigabytes.
• Making clips works your computer hard. A laptop gets warm and uses battery, so plug it in for a long service.

Download and install

1. Go to reeluse.com/downloads and choose Download for Mac or Download for Windows. Enter your email when asked and the download starts.
2. On a Mac, open the downloaded file and drag ReelUse Desktop into your Applications folder. Open it from there. The Mac app is signed and checked by Apple, so it opens without a warning.
3. On Windows, run the installer. The first time you open the installer, Windows may show Windows protected your PC. Choose More info, then Run anyway. You only do this once.

Sign in

The sign-in screen offers three ways in. Each one signs the app in to the account you prove in the app, whatever account your browser is signed in to.

• Email and password. Type the email on your ReelUse account and your password, then press Sign in.
• A code by email. Type your email and press Email me a code instead. We email you a 6-digit code that works once, for 10 minutes. Type it in to sign in. Use this if you have no password or have forgotten it. If the email has no ReelUse account yet, the code sets one up.
• Google. Press Continue with Google, choose your Google account in the browser, and allow Open ReelUse Desktop?. The app comes forward, signed in. If nothing happens, press Open the ReelUse app on the page.

The first time you use Google on an account you made with an email, ReelUse may email you a code to type in once. That connects Google to your account for next time.

The first time the app has news for you, your computer asks whether it may show notifications. Allow it. A run made in the app tells you its clips are ready with a notification, not an email.

Your first video

1. Choose your file. On the Your file tab, drop the file in or click to choose it. MP4, MOV, MKV, AVI, WebM and M4V all work. The video must be at least 5 minutes long, and at most 6 hours.
2. Or paste a link. On the Link instead tab, paste a YouTube link. Livestream links that start youtube.com/live/ work too.
3. Use the chips under it if you want to:
   • Choose the section: drag the handles to the start and end of the part you want. Only that stretch is used, and it's what counts toward your allowance: one video covers up to 60 minutes.
   • Look: on Pro, pick which of your team's Looks this video uses.
   • Moments: on Growth and Pro, describe a part you hope to see clipped. Clips that match are marked.
   • Audio: tick Reduce background noise to clean up the speech. It works on every plan, and your choice is saved for next time.
   • Length: on a paid plan, choose Short, Standard or Long clips. Your choice is saved for next time. See Clip length.
4. Press Start for a file, or Add video for a link.

While it works

The app shows each step as it goes: Reading, Fetching, Transcribing, Finding moments, then Rendering. A full video usually takes a few minutes.

Each clip made on your computer shows how far along it is, for example Rendering 64%, then Done. It reaches your Library on its own. Several clips are made at once, and a percentage can move unevenly because some steps take longer than others.

You can start another video while one is still being made, for example your second service straight after the first. Each run has its own line at the bottom of the sidebar, so you can go back to it. Your computer makes a few clips at a time across all of them, and the video you started first finishes first. Canceling one run leaves the others going.

Keep the app open while it works, because the work is happening on your computer. The app keeps working when its window is behind other windows or minimized. When the clips are ready, you get a notification that says Your clips are ready.

The bottom of the sidebar shows how many videos you've used this month and how many are left. On a team, each run in the Library shows who ran it.

If it stops

• The app closed or the computer slept. Open the app again. It picks the run up by itself and tells you with a notification.
• The Library shows Stopped. Press Finish it. The transcript and the chosen moments are saved, so only the clips still to make are made. For a run from a file, the app finds the video where it was and carries on. If the video has moved, it asks you to choose it in its new place. A run from a YouTube link fetches the video again by itself. Clips your computer already made are sent to your Library, not made again.
• Clips are made but not in your Library yet. They're sent one at a time in the background, which can take a while on a slow connection. Keep the app open, or open it again later, and it carries on sending where it stopped. A run that is still sending its clips doesn't show as Stopped.
• You're on the website and the app isn't to hand. An app run with no progress for about 20 minutes shows Recover in your Library on the website. Recover closes the run and keeps any clips that finished. If none had finished, the video goes back to your allowance.

Getting your clips

Open the run from the Library in the app and press Download on a clip. It's saved in a ReelUse folder inside your Downloads folder. After a download, Show in Finder (Mac) or Show in folder (Windows) in the clip's ··· menu takes you to it.

While a run is still making clips on your computer, each finished clip has a Save button. It puts the clip in the same ReelUse folder in Downloads. Press it again to see the file.

The same clips are in your Library on the website, so anyone on your team can download them there too.

Fixing a clip

Everything is in the clip's ··· menu. None of it uses your allowance.

• Edit captions. Correct a misheard word, remove one with ×, or add a missing one with +. The preview under Captions will read shows the result. Press Save and update clip. More in fixing a caption.
• Trim / extend. Pick the first and last word to keep. The faint words on either side are extra footage you can pull in. Press Apply and update clip. More in trim or extend a clip.
• Set music… picks a track for that clip alone. It appears when your account has music tracks.
• Post kit has the titles and captions written for the clip, each with a Copy button.

Made here or Online

Each clip is labeled Made here (your computer made it) or Online (it was made online). The finished clip looks the same either way.

In Settings, under Rendering, Render clips on this computer is on by default, with a line saying what your computer can do. On a computer that can't make clips, the switch is off and can't be turned on. On the Free plan, clips are made online whatever the switch says.

For a clip made from a file on your computer, the finished clip and the footage around it for trimming share the same framing. So the camera position stays the same when you trim or extend it.

If your computer can't finish a clip, or takes more than 15 minutes over it, that clip is made online and the run carries on. If YouTube won't let your computer download a linked video, the whole run is made online. It shows its current step in the app's Library, the same as on the website, and its clips appear as they finish.

Free up space

While it makes a video, the app keeps working files on your computer: the audio it listened to and each clip before it uploads. When a video's clips have all uploaded, the app clears its files on its own, when it opens and every hour while it is open. To clear them yourself, open Settings, then Storage, and press Free up space. Your clips stay on your account.

Files still uploading are kept, and so is anything from the last two hours. While a video is being made, space is freed once it finishes.

What is sent to ReelUse

Your full recording stays on your computer. To make clips, ReelUse processes your video's audio, keeps the transcript and stores your clips. This is everything that is sent:

• the audio of the part you chose, compressed, so it can be turned into text,
• your finished clips, so they appear in your Library,
• a copy of each clip without captions, so its captions can be fixed later,
• the footage around each clip, 12 seconds on either side, kept for 30 days so the clip can be trimmed or extended,
• one still frame from the video, used as the picture in the Branding preview,
• the short piece of video for each chosen clip, whenever that clip is made online: always on the Free plan, and on a paid plan when your computer can't make it,
• the app's version and details of any error, so a fault can be traced.

What the app does, and what opens the website

In the app: your Library, Branding, Looks (Pro), Usage, Plan & billing, your team under Settings, and all of the app's own settings, including Sign out and Delete account.

A Look you make or change on the website shows in the app when you press Refresh in the Library, open Looks, or come back to the app.

These open the website in your browser:

• changing your plan, paying, and invoices (Manage in browser),
• editing what is inside a Look (Edit on the website),
• changing your password or email (Open account settings).

The app has no Run again button. To make a fresh set from a video you ran in the app, start it again from the same file or link. A run that failed has a Try again button.

Menus on a Mac

• ReelUse Desktop: Check for Updates… and Settings… (Command-comma).
• File: New Video… (Command-N) and Library (Command-L).
• Help: ReelUse Help, What's New and Troubleshooting, which open those pages in your browser.

Updates

The app keeps itself up to date. It checks a few seconds after it opens and every few hours after that. When a new version is ready, you see Update available, with what the new version brings. Press Install and restart, or Later.

To check yourself, open Settings and press Check for updates under About.

To see what changed in every version, press See what's new under About in Settings, or open What's new in ReelUse for Mac and Windows.

Getting help

Press Support at the bottom of the app's sidebar. Use Chat for a question, or Report a problem if something broke. The run you have open is attached to your report.

The troubleshooting page lists the app's messages word for word, with what to do about each.