Review Before Merge
Review Before Merge adds a fast approval layer between generation and export. Preview the planned clips, refresh weak picks, replace timestamps, and curate the final sequence without rebuilding the entire edit by hand.
Best for creators who want the speed of automation but still need a quick review pass before committing to export.
Why Review Matters
Do not export blindly
Automation is more valuable when you can see what it produced before committing to a final render.
Fix only what is weak
Refresh and replacement tools let you improve the bad segments without throwing away the good ones.
Stay faster than full manual editing
You get a practical approval pass without turning every project into a completely hand-built timeline.
How Review Before Merge Works
Enable review mode
Turn on Review Before Merge in Quick Settings or Settings so Shuffle & Merge creates a planned preview instead of exporting immediately.
Inspect the planned clips
Scroll through the generated segments and preview the sequence before you decide it is ready.
Refresh or replace
Swap out weak clips, include or exclude specific picks, and use timestamp replacement when a segment needs more precise control.
Export the curated plan
Once the preview looks right, export the version you actually approved instead of whatever the first run happened to produce.
What You Can Do In Review Mode
Refresh individual segments
Replace only the clips that miss the brief instead of rerunning the full plan from scratch.
Include or exclude picks
Curate the sequence more tightly by telling Fractal which planned clips should stay or be dropped.
Timestamp replacement
Open the timestamp popup, preview the original, and choose a different source file or timing when a segment needs a targeted fix.
Reorder planned clips
Drag and drop the planned items when the content is good but the order needs a cleaner flow before export.
Where Review Before Merge Fits Best
Section-based edits
It is especially useful in Advanced Editor projects where the structure is already good and you just need to clean up weak planned segments.
Repeatable formats
For channel formats you run often, review mode helps you keep the workflow fast while still catching obvious misses.
Quality-sensitive exports
If you care more about relevance than absolute speed, this layer gives you a much safer last checkpoint.
Why It Matters
Part of the Pro control story
The docs position planned preview and clip refresh as one of the main reasons Advanced Editor feels more trustworthy than blind export.
Reduces full-manual cleanup
You can get closer to a publishable output without graduating every project into a bigger editing workspace.
Pairs with pages and clip logic
Review mode works best when the upstream structure and pacing rules are already strong, because then you are only fixing the exceptions.
What To Read Next
Pages & Ordered Merge
See the section-based workflow that often produces the planned edits you will review here.
Open pageAdvanced Editor
Go to the broader workspace that includes review mode, quick settings, image sourcing, and structure controls.
Open pageSmart Clip Logic
Improve the first pass by tightening the pacing rules that shape the planned clips before review even begins.
Open pageMain docs
Read the Advanced Editor walkthrough for the full planned preview, refresh, replacement, and export flow.
Open docsPricing
Check plan access if fast approval and pre-export QA are central parts of how you want to work.
See plansWant The Full Review Workflow?
Read the docs if you want the complete Advanced Editor review flow, or go straight to pricing if this approval layer is one of the big reasons you want Fractal.