# Review cuts by category and confidence

> The grouped review mode — what each group holds, why low-confidence rows come first, and how to run a fast risk-focused pass.
>
> Verified against the current RoughCut app on 28 August 2026
> https://www.roughcuteditor.com/docs/review-by-category

Switching the review picker from Timeline to By category regroups the same decisions by why each cut was made, in a fixed order: Removed Silence, Removed Retakes, Removed False starts, Removed Tangents and filler, Removed Other, then Kept Segments. This mode adds a Low confidence first checkbox that is on by default and resets each launch, plus an Expand all and Collapse all control that changes visibility only and never touches a decision. Kept Segments starts collapsed on purpose, because it is usually the longest group and the least interesting. Silence and micro-island rows that Timeline mode hides are fully visible and reversible here. Use Timeline to follow the flow of your recording, then switch to this mode for a fast pass over the riskiest calls before you export.

## What this mode is for

`Timeline` answers "what happened to my recording, in order". `By category` answers a different question: "what kinds of call did the editor make, and which ones is it least sure about".

The rows are identical in both modes. Only the grouping and the sort change — switching modes never alters a single decision.

## Switching modes

Use the segmented picker above the review list and choose `By category`. Your choice is remembered for the next job you open; `Timeline` is the default until you change it.

Two controls appear only in this mode: the `Low confidence first` checkbox and the `Expand all` / `Collapse all` button.

## The groups, in order

| Group | What it holds |
|---|---|
| `Removed: Silence` | Pauses removed by silence detection |
| `Removed: Retakes` | Verbatim and reworded retakes |
| `Removed: False starts` | Sentences abandoned part-way |
| `Removed: Tangents & filler` | Digressions and filler speech |
| `Removed: Other` | Noise, micro-islands, and spans flagged as unreliable |
| `Kept Segments` | Everything that survives into the exported timeline |

Each group header carries a count pill. **Groups with nothing in them are omitted entirely**, so a silence-only cut shows no retake or tangent groups at all, and a job with no AI pass shows little beyond `Removed: Silence` and `Kept Segments`.

## Rows that `Timeline` mode does not show

`Timeline` hides every `silence` and micro-island row to keep the chronological read focused on editorial decisions. **This mode shows them.**

That matters when silence trimming was too aggressive for your recording — a stutter-step delivery, a language with long natural pauses, a deliberate dramatic beat. Open `Removed: Silence`, audition the suspicious ranges, and click `Keep` on any pause that should stay. If you find yourself keeping many of them, the real fix is a gentler setting on the next job: see [Recording environments and silence thresholds](/docs/recording-environments).

## `Low confidence first`

The `Low confidence first` checkbox is **on by default** in this mode.

- **On** — rows sort by confidence ascending inside each group, so the editor's least certain calls sit at the top. Rows with no confidence score sort last.
- **Off** — rows sort chronologically inside each group.

This setting is not persisted across launches. It returns to on every time you open RoughCut, which is deliberate: the riskiest decisions should be the first thing you see.

Combined with the confidence pill colours — red below 70%, green at or above — this turns review into a short, bounded task. Read the red pills, audition them, and stop.

## `Expand all` and `Collapse all`

The link button beside the checkbox expands every group, or collapses every group once they are all open.

> `Expand all` and `Collapse all` change **visibility only**. They never keep, remove, or accept anything. Collapsing a group does not exclude its rows from the cut.

## Why `Kept Segments` starts collapsed

On first open, every group is expanded **except** `Kept Segments`, which starts collapsed by design.

It is normally the longest group by far — for most recordings it is the majority of the video — and reading it end to end tells you little. It is there for two specific jobs:

- confirming that a passage you care about actually survived
- clicking `Remove` on something the editor kept but you do not want, including a [Second Look](/docs/second-look) suggestion

Expand it when you have one of those questions, not as a routine step.

## A fast risk-focused pass

A practical order for a job you have not seen before:

- Skim `Timeline` top to bottom. You are checking that the *flow* of the cut makes sense — that nothing structural was lost.
- Switch to `By category`. With `Low confidence first` on, work down the red pills in the removed groups and audition each one.
- Open `Removed: Silence` only if the pacing felt wrong in the first pass.
- Expand `Kept Segments` only to act on something specific.
- Click `Recompute Cuts` if you changed anything, then export.

For most clean recordings this is a few minutes, not a full review of every row.

## Common mistakes

- **Skipping `Timeline` entirely.** Grouped rows lose the sense of continuity; a cut can be defensible one row at a time and still read badly end to end.
- **Expecting `Low confidence first` to stay off.** It resets to on at every launch.
- **Reading `Collapse all` as a decision.** It hides rows; it changes nothing about the cut.
- **Ignoring `Removed: Silence` when the pacing felt wrong.** That group is where the pacing lives, and it is invisible in `Timeline` mode.
- **Forgetting to recompute.** Changes made here are pending until you click `Recompute Cuts`.

## Next steps

- [Review the cut on the timeline](/docs/review-timeline)
- [Recompute after review changes](/docs/recompute)
- [Second Look, the optional refine pass](/docs/second-look)