The Interface
SequenceSuite is a single window with a three-pane layout:
- Sidebar (left) - open files, sections, and a live status badge.
- Main table (centre) - the report, plan, or duplicate list for the current mode.
- Inspector (right) - context detail for whatever you’ve selected.
Both side panes are resizable, and either can be hidden - see the keyboard shortcuts.
First launch
Section titled “First launch”The first time SequenceSuite opens, a welcome panel gets you started: drop a sequence straight onto it, or click Select a File to browse. On the direct download it also shows where your trial or licence stands, with licence entry right there.
After your first sequence opens, a short guided tour points out the mode switcher, the sidebar, the inspector, and the export controls. You can bring the welcome panel - and the tour - back any time from Help → Welcome to SequenceSuite.
Mode switcher
Section titled “Mode switcher”The toolbar at the top of the window has three pills - Sheet, Gather, and Dupe - colour-coded blue, green, and purple. Click a pill or use ⌘1 / ⌘2 / ⌘3 to switch. Each mode is self-contained; the open files and selection persist when you switch.
Toolbar
Section titled “Toolbar”From left to right:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Mode pills | Switch between Sheet, Gather, and Dupe. |
| Search | Filter the visible table. Mode-aware placeholder (e.g. “reel · clip · TC” in Sheet). ⌘F. |
| Sidebar toggle | Show or hide the left sidebar. ⌘0. |
| Density | Cycle the table row height - Compact, Comfortable, Spacious. ⌘D. |
| Inspector toggle | Show or hide the right inspector. ⌘I. |
| Help | Opens the help page for the current mode in your browser. |
| Thumbnails | Toggle poster-frame embedding for Sheet and Dupe exports. Off by default; the choice sticks between sessions. Hidden in Gather. |
| Export | The primary action for the current mode (Export XLSX in Sheet, Gather in Gather, Export PDF in Dupe). The chevron opens quick formats, Copy Table, and Custom Export where available. |
Opening files
Section titled “Opening files”Drag-and-drop .xml, .fcpxml, .fcpxmld, .fcp, .edl, or .otio files onto the window. Multiple files at once are fine. You can also use File → Open… (⌘O), reopen a recent file from File → Open Recent, or open files from Finder (“Open With” → SequenceSuite).
A supported file wearing the wrong extension is recognised by its content and opened as its real format, with a notice telling you what happened.
When you drop a multi-sequence XML (one file containing several timelines), a picker sheet lets you choose which sequences to import.
When you drop EDLs, a sheet asks you to set the frame rate for each file - EDLs don’t carry rate metadata. See Timecode & Frame Rates.
Sidebar
Section titled “Sidebar”- All Open Files / top row - Sheet uses All Open Files to browse every loaded sequence. Gather uses Gather Plan for the set it will copy. Dupe uses Selected Files for the comparison set.
- Open Files list - one row per sequence. Multi-sequence files collapse into a parent group you can expand. Multi-track EDL sets appear as one cut parent with the child EDLs nested underneath.
- Section navigator - the in-mode sections (All Reels, Reel Summary, Cross-Episode, Matrix, etc.).
- Status badge - bottom of the sidebar. Shows whether SequenceSuite is idle, currently reading your files (with file count and progress bar), or finished and ready (with clip, reel, and marker totals).
To remove a file, hover its row and click the ✕, press ⌘⌫ with the row selected, or right-click and choose Remove from Open Files. To close everything you’ve loaded, use Sequence → Close All Files (⌥⇧⌘W) or right-click the Open Files heading; SequenceSuite confirms first when more than one file is open. A row’s right-click menu also has Close Other Files when you want to keep that file or cut and close the rest.
If a restored session includes files that no longer exist at their saved paths, the Open Files heading can show Remove Missing Files after SequenceSuite checks them. It only clears those missing entries from the sidebar; it never deletes media, XMLs, EDLs, or anything else from disk.
The tables
Section titled “The tables”The main table works like any macOS list. Arrow keys move the selection; Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down cover long clip lists. In Sheet and Gather you can select more than one row - ⇧-click for a range, ⌘-click to add or remove individual rows, ⌘A for everything, and ⇧↑ / ⇧↓ to extend from the keyboard.
Select two or more clips in Sheet and the bar above the table shows a running duration total for just that selection, added up at the sequence’s frame rate - useful for answering “how much of this is archive?” without exporting anything.
Right-click everywhere
Section titled “Right-click everywhere”Nearly every row in SequenceSuite has a right-click menu - copy commands in the tables, rename and re-parse in the sidebar, relink and exclude in Gather. The table menus end with an Across the suite section that jumps to another mode with the answer already loaded: find a Sheet clip’s duplicates in Dupe, gather a duplicate group’s media, or trace a Gather file back to the clips that use it. See Right-Click Menus for the full list.
Status bar
Section titled “Status bar”The status bar runs along the bottom of the main panel. It shows the current loading state, a one-line summary of the active scope (clip / reel / marker counts; selected file count and bytes; or sequence and duplicate-group counts), the active density, and a hint strip of the most common shortcuts.
Display names
Section titled “Display names”Sequence rows can carry an app-only display name - right-click a sequence and choose Rename Display Name… (the file on disk is never renamed; Reset to Original Name undoes it). Display names flow into Sheet headers, Gather logs, and especially Dupe, where they become the episode labels. Dupe also derives a short Episode Code from each name. See Dupe Overview.