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The playhead chooses the composition frame evaluated by the canvas, inspector animation values, captions, effects, and audio. Drag the playhead for exploratory seeking, click the timeline ruler or time surface to jump, or use transport controls for exact stepping.
Tessact timeline with the timecode jump control open

Jumping to a precise timeline timecode

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Timecode to frame

At frame rate fps, a time in seconds maps to a frame near:
Displayed timecode is a human-readable view of an integer frame. Because decimal seconds may not land exactly on a frame boundary, the editor normalizes navigation to a whole frame.

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Current-time input grammar

Click the Time readout to replace it with an input. The parser accepts absolute positions and signed offsets: Two-part clock input is MM:SS with an optional frame suffix on seconds; three-part input is HH:MM:SS with the same optional suffix. The suffix separated by ., :, or ; is a frame count within the second, not a decimal fraction. It must be less than the rounded FPS. Minutes/seconds are range-checked where the grammar requires them. Every result is rounded and clamped to [0, durationInFrames - 1]. An invalid value stays in the field and shows examples rather than seeking. While editing, Up/Down steps the draft value by one frame and Shift+Up/Shift+Down steps by one rounded second. Enter or blur commits; Escape cancels and restores the existing playhead.

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Boundary inspection pattern

For a cut at frame F, inspect F - 1, F, and F + 1. The outgoing clip should own the expected last frame and the incoming clip the expected first frame, with no accidental gap or overlap artifact.
At an exclusive clip end, the layer is no longer active. Seeking to the number shown as its end can therefore display the next clip or the composition beneath it.

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Playback and editing focus

Seeking can also change which animated value the inspector displays. If an inspector control has a keyframe toggle and a track already exists, editing at the new playhead frame can update or create a point there. Seek deliberately before changing an animated property. See frame math and keyframe navigation.