Hey Mark. I agree that if you have access to a video editing tool, it is probably easier to get the video into the format you need first, and then insert it into Storyline for use with your e-learning. But what do you do if you've already inserted and edited? Let me give you a hand!
When you edit or remove a video that has significantly lengthened your timeline, there's a quicker way to get your slide timeline under control. Click and hold the end of the timeline, press your left arrow key, and then start dragging your timeline to the left. You should see it snap back to the endpoint of the latest-appearing object on the slide.
The timeline will always adjust to accommodate objects' durations when they're inserted, but it won't shorten once you've edited objects. Tip: you may find that your objects default to "Show until end" of the timeline when you right click on them in the timeline. Uncheck this option to better manipulate object duration.
Finally, I wasn't clear on your last question:
Does it follow that the zero point of the edit automatically goes to the first frame of the timeline after editing?
Are you asking if a video file will always start at 0 seconds on the timeline, even after editing? If so, and you haven't moved the file further down the timeline, then yes, it will remain at the 0 second mark.
Let me know if I can help further!
