Bins, Collections, Tags, and Searching

Every project quickly fills up with material: imported footage, audio, stills, graphics, the sequences you build, and the many versions and selects that come from real editing. Lightworks gives you a rich, flexible set of tools for keeping all of that under control so you can always find the right clip at the right moment.

This article covers the whole picture: collections, tags, searches, bins and groups, metadata, bin views, copying and moving content between bins and projects, and deleting content - including the all-important difference between removing a log (the clip reference) and deleting the real media files on disk. Use the headings to jump to what you need.

How content is organised: the big picture

Before diving into individual features, it helps to understand the model Lightworks uses.

• The project is the top-level container. Everything you import or create lives inside the current project (see Projects).
• A clip is a "log". When you import media, Lightworks creates a log - a clip that points at the underlying media file. The log stores all the metadata (name, scene, take, comments, tags, cue markers, and so on). The log and the media file are separate things: deleting one does not automatically delete the other.
• Bins hold clips manually. A bin (sometimes called a group) is a container you fill by hand, by importing into it or dragging clips into it.
• Collections, tags, and searches organise clips automatically. Rather than moving clips around, these tools filter what you see based on the clips' properties. A clip can appear in any number of collections, carry any number of tags, and match any number of searches at once, without ever being duplicated.

The key mental shift: bins are about where you put things; collections, tags, and searches are about what things are. Most editors use a mix of both.

The Project Navigator

On the left of the Content Manager is the Project Navigator - a vertical column of collapsible sections: Collections, Tags, Searches, and Bins. Each section has a heading you can expand or collapse, and most have a + button for creating a new item. You can hide sections you don't use, and drag the divider between sections to give more room to the one you're working in.

Collections

Collections are saved filters. A collection doesn't physically contain clips; it defines a rule, and any clip in the project that matches appears when you select the collection.

The most important built-in collection is All Media, which shows every clip in the project regardless of which bin it lives in. This is the fastest way to "see everything" when you're hunting for a clip and can't remember where you filed it.

What collections are good for

• Cross-bin views - gather clips that live in many different bins (for example, "every interview clip") without disturbing how they are filed.
• Saving a search permanently - turn a search you like into a collection so it's always one click away.
• Project-wide perspectives - high-level views like "All Media", "Offline clips", or "Clips with no media".

Creating and managing collections

• From a search - run a search, then choose Create collection from search results. This is the most common route.
• Visibility - a collection can show Always, or Hide when empty so the Navigator stays tidy.
• Deleting - select a user-created collection and choose Delete selected collection. This removes only the filter; it never deletes clips or media. Built-in collections such as All Media cannot be deleted.

Tip: Think of collections as "smart folders". They're perfect for views you return to again and again, like "Selects", "B-roll", or "Needs colour".

Tags

Tags are short labels you attach to clips. A clip can carry several tags, and the same tag can be applied to as many clips as you like. Tags are stored on the clip itself as part of its metadata, so they travel with the clip wherever it's filed.

Tagging is the quickest way to mark up material as you watch it - "good take", "wide", "needs sync", "approved" - and then instantly isolate everything that shares a label.

Applying tags

• Drag clips onto a tag in the Tags section of the Project Navigator. Select one or more clips, drag them onto the tag, and the label is added to all of them at once.
• Edit the Tags field directly in a clip's metadata. The field accepts a comma-separated list, with auto-complete offering tags you've already used so you stay consistent.

Filtering by tag: OR, AND, and NOT

The Tags section header has a mode selector that controls how multiple selected tags combine:

This is what makes tags so powerful: select interview and approved in AND mode to see only approved interviews; switch to NOT to hide everything you've already dealt with.

Creating, renaming, and deleting tags

• Create - click the + (New Tag) button on the Tags heading and name the new tag inline.
• Rename - renaming a tag updates it everywhere; every clip that carried the old name now shows the new one, with no need to re-tag.
• Delete - deleting a tag removes that label from every clip that had it. The clips and their media are untouched; only the label disappears.

Tip: Keep your tag vocabulary small and consistent. A handful of well-chosen tags (such as select, sync, broll, vfx, approved) is far more useful than dozens of one-off labels.

Searches

Searches find clips by their properties. Where tags and collections are things you set up in advance, a search is something you run on demand - though you can save the ones you'll reuse.

Open the Search panel to build a search. It offers two tabs - Assets (clips and source material) and Bins (bins and sequences) - so you can target the right kind of content.

Quick search vs detailed search

• Quick search is a single text box. Type a word or phrase and Lightworks matches it against the clips' text fields. A Match whole words only option gives precise matches.
• Detailed search lets you build criteria against specific attributes and combine them. You can also set the scope - search the whole project or just the current bin.

What you can search on

Lightworks can match against a wide range of clip attributes, including:

• Text fields - Name, Scene, Shot, Take, Description, Notes, Who/Owner, Reel.
• Cue markers - marker text and marker type or colour.
• Dates - date added, media creation date, and date modified.
• Media properties - has or has no media, offline clips, media drive or location, frame rate, source format, aspect ratio, bit depth, compression, colour space or LUT, timecode, and number of video and audio tracks.
• Camera information - camera reel, audio reel, camera manufacturer and model, where the source provides it.

Text criteria support match types such as contains, starts with, ends with, and equals, so you can be as loose or as exact as you need.

Saving searches: active vs static

Saved searches appear in the Searches section of the Navigator, and come in two flavours:

• Active search (dynamic) - re-evaluates every time you select it, so it always reflects the current state of the project. New matching clips appear automatically. Use Make Search Active.
• Static search (frozen) - captures the results as they were when you froze it, so the set never changes. Use Make Search Static.

You can also sort searches A-Z or Z-A, create a collection from results, update an existing saved search, or delete one. As with collections, deleting a search never deletes clips or media.

Tip: Use an active search for ongoing views ("everything shot today") and a static search for a stable snapshot ("the 40 clips we picked in the Tuesday review").

Bins and groups

Bins (also called groups) are the manual containers you fill by hand. They're the closest thing to traditional folders, and where most editors do their day-to-day filing.

Kinds of bin

• Standard bin - a plain container for clips and sequences.
• Sync group / multicam group - a special bin that groups synchronised clips for multicam editing, shown with a sync icon (see Multicam editing).
• Logging database - a bin set up for logging workflows.

Creating bins

• Click the + button on the Bins heading to make a new bin. Right-click the + for quick creation options.
• Bin from selection - select some clips first, then create a bin from them in one step.
• Bins can be renamed at any time; the name is just a label and doesn't affect the clips inside.

Filling and arranging bins

• Import directly into a bin, or drag clips into it from another bin or from a collection or search result.
• A clip can live in more than one bin - dragging usually adds a reference rather than physically moving the only copy (see Copying and moving content, below).
• Within a bin you control how clips are sorted and displayed (see Bin views, next).

Tip: A robust structure is a few top-level bins by type (Footage, Audio, Graphics, Sequences), with collections, tags, and searches layered on top. Resist deep folder trees - Lightworks' filtering tools usually do that job better.

Metadata

Metadata is all the information attached to a clip beyond the picture and sound: its name, scene and take details, comments, cue markers, technical properties, tags, and more. Good metadata is what makes searching, tagging, and collections so effective. (Metadata is covered in full in Clip information and metadata.)

Where you see metadata

• The Info panel is the unified, context-aware metadata view. It follows the active clip - whether a source you're viewing or the clip under the playhead - and updates as you move around.
• The clip's metadata tabs give the full detail: the editable file-card fields, cues and markers, video and audio track information, associates, the per-clip audio mixer, and analyses where available.

Editing metadata

• Rename a clip at any time. Renaming changes the clip's name in Lightworks; it does not rename the underlying media file on disk.
• Edit fields inline in the metadata panel or directly in list-view columns. Changes are saved with the project and are undoable.
• Cue markers can be added, coloured, and labelled while you watch, and searched on later.

Tip: Spend a few minutes naming and tagging material when you first import it. A little metadata discipline up front pays for itself many times over once the project gets big.

Bin views and view options

You can display the contents of a bin (or any collection, search, or tag result) in the way that suits the task - a dense list for scanning names and data, or large thumbnails for visual browsing.

List view vs tile view

• List (table) view shows clips as rows with columns of metadata. Ideal for scanning, sorting, and editing fields, and for working with lots of clips at once.
• Tile view shows clips as thumbnails, great for visual selection of shots.

A single button toggles between the two.

View options in list view

• Show Tiles - show thumbnail images inside the list rows; when enabled, you can set the thumbnail height.
• Tile Size - the size of those thumbnails.
• Show Colours - show the clips' colour labels as coloured icons.
• Columns - open the column configuration panel to choose which metadata columns are visible and reorder them. A small set is shown by default; everything else is available but hidden until you switch it on. The thumbnail column is handled automatically.

Your column choices and thumbnail settings are remembered per project and per user.

View options in tile view

• Tile Size - how large the thumbnails are.
• Compact tiles - a denser layout that trims the labels.
• Tile controls / timeline - show playback controls and a time strip on each tile so you can skim a clip without opening it.
• Auto position / Tidy - automatically arrange tiles into a neat grid.

Sorting

Both views can be sorted by a chosen criterion (name, date added, scene, take, and so on), ascending or descending. Sorting affects only how clips are displayed; it never changes which bin they belong to.

Tip: Use list view with a few well-chosen columns (Name, Scene, Take, Tags, Comment) for logging and reviewing, and switch to tile view when you're selecting shots by eye.

Copying and moving content between bins and projects

As a project grows you'll want to reorganise - gather selects into a new bin, hand material to another project, or build a clean delivery bin. Lightworks handles this through drag-and-drop and the right-click context menu.

The context-menu options

Select one or more clips, right-click, and you'll find:

• Copy To - add the selected clips to another target without removing them from where they are now.
• Move To - relocate the selected clips to another target, removing them from the current bin.

Each expands to show the available targets, grouped under headings: existing bins in the current project (plus a New bin target to create the destination on the fly), and other eligible projects.

Copying vs moving: what actually happens

• Within a project, a clip is a reference to media. Copying a clip to another bin adds another reference - there's still only one underlying media file. Moving relocates the reference. Neither duplicates the media on disk.
• To another project, Lightworks copies the clip (its log and metadata) into the destination. Depending on where the media lives, it may be shared or copied - Lightworks confirms before making copies.

Drag and drop

You can also drag selected clips from one bin onto another in the Project Navigator, or onto a tag (to tag them) or a collection. Drag-and-drop mirrors the menu behaviour for the common cases.

Tip: When handing material to another project, prefer Copy To so the original project keeps its clips intact. Use Move To only when you genuinely want the material gone from the source.

Deleting content: logs vs real files

This is the most important part to understand clearly, because Lightworks deliberately separates removing a clip from a bin, deleting the clip (log) from the project, and deleting the actual media files on disk. Each goes a step further than the last.

When you delete, Lightworks shows the Remove / Delete panel, which lets you choose how far to go and summarises what will be affected.

The three levels

1. Remove from bin. Takes the clip out of the current bin only. If the clip also lives in other bins, collections, or searches, it's still there. Nothing is destroyed.
2. Remove from project (delete the log). Removes the clip - the log and its metadata - from the project entirely. The media file on disk is not deleted by this action alone. The clip disappears from every bin, collection, tag, and search, but the footage is still on your drive.
3. Delete the video/audio files. Deletes the actual media files on disk. This is the irreversible step, made an explicit, separate choice, often with options for local media, local proxies, and remote media.

Important safeguards

• Logs can often be recovered. If the project's undelete behaviour is enabled, deleted logs are backed up and can be brought back with Restore Items. Deleted media files are gone for good unless you have an archive.
• Linked originals are protected. Deleting a clip that points at your original camera files generally removes Lightworks' link to the file, not the irreplaceable original. Lightworks is most aggressive only with media it manages or copied itself. Always read the panel's summary before confirming.
• Shared material warnings. If a clip's media is used by other clips or projects, Lightworks warns you before deleting the files.
• The button label changes. It reads Remove when you're only removing references, and Delete when real files are about to be destroyed.

Danger: "Delete video/audio files" permanently destroys footage on disk. If there's any chance you'll want it back and you don't have an archive, choose Remove from project instead - you keep the media and can re-import it later.

Deleting bins, tags, collections, and searches

• Deleting a bin removes the container. You'll be asked what to do with its contents; removing the bin does not, by itself, delete media files.
• Deleting a tag, collection, or search only removes that organising tool. Clips and media are never affected.

A practical workflow

A reliable way to keep a project organised:

• On import, drop material into a few broad bins by type, and give clips sensible names.
• While reviewing, apply a small, consistent set of tags and drop cue markers on the moments that matter.
• When you need a cross-cutting view, run a search and, if you'll reuse it, save it (active for living views, static for snapshots) or turn it into a collection.
• Choose the right view - list view with key columns for logging, tile view for visual selection - and sort to taste.
• Reorganise with Copy To / Move To, preferring Copy when sharing with other projects.
• When deleting, decide deliberately between removing from a bin, removing the log, and deleting the real media files - and read the panel summary every time.

Quick reference