Managing multiple color operations

Last updated on Apr 15, 2026

Learn how using multiple operations helps you build flexible, organized, and layered color adjustments in Color mode.

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Using multiple operations lets you build your grade in layers, combining different adjustments to achieve the final look. Instead of making all changes in a single operation, you can separate corrections, creative looks, and targeted edits, making it easier to experiment, compare variations, and refine specific parts of your image. This approach gives you more control and flexibility, especially when working across multiple clips or creating more complex grades.

Why use multiple operations?

While it’s possible to make all the corrections that are necessary to a clip within a single Adjust or Style operation’s controls, it’s also possible to add multiple operations to a grade and have them all work together to affect the image. There are a variety of reasons you might do this:

You want to use Adjust and Style together to affect the image.
You’re happy with the changes you’ve made using Adjust, but you want to try out some other changes in a separate instance of Adjust that you’re not sure if you’ll like, so it’s easy to disable or delete.
You’re organizing multiple tweaks to the image across multiple operations so you can mix and match them via copy and paste based on the needs of each clip.
You have two variations of the same set of image adjustments applied via two Adjust operations. Toggling them on and off alternately lets you keep two versions of the adjustment if you’re unsure which you like better.
You can create isolated operations (also called secondary corrections) by applying masks to make targeted changes to an image. Doing so requires you to apply the mask to an additional operation dedicated to that correction.
You can also apply operations at different levels of your grade, applying some operations to specific clips, and applying other operations to different and potentially overlapping groups of clips, so that the final grade is comprised of multiple operations working together at different levels to create the final look of your program.

Methods of using multiple operations

Whatever your reasons, adding and managing multiple operations is simple. The following procedures describe all the ways you can create, use, and organize multiple operations.

Add a new operation

Select the Plus icon (+) to the right of the last operation within any level and choose the operation you’d like to create from the menu. Once the operation is created, it’s automatically selected so you can begin editing it using the controls exposed below.

Color Tools panel showing plus icons next to clip, group, and sequence levels for adding operations. — Use the plus icon to add a new operation at any level of your grade.

Rename an operation

Double-click any operation to select its name, type a new name to identify the operation, and press Return.

Right-click any operation, choose Rename from the contextual menu, type a new name to identify the operation, and press Return.

Duplicate operations

Right-click one or more selected operations and choose Duplicate from the contextual menu.

Rearrange one or more operations

Select an operation to drag it to another position before or after other operations. While you drag, an indicator appears to show where the operation will show. Release the button to drop it into the new position.

Select multiple operations, then drag them to another position before or after other operations. If you’re dragging multiple dis-continuous operations, they will all be reinserted to the new drop location.

Toggle one or more operations off and on

Select one or more operations, then right-click on the selection and choose Toggle Operation(s) from the contextual menu.

Select one or more operations and click the Toggle Selected Operations control at the upper right corner of the Color Controls panel.

Tip

When you toggle an operation, you invert its state. That means if you have one operation that’s enabled and one operation that’s disabled, toggling them both will reverse which operations are enabled, making this useful for situations where you’re using two operations that are different versions of the same operation and you want to quickly preview what one or the other looks like.

Reset one or more operations

Select one or more operations and select the Reset Selected Operations button at the upper right corner of the Color Controls panel.

Move one or more operations to a different level

To move one or more operations to a different level (for example, from Clip to a Custom Group), do one of the following:

Drag the operation from one level to another; in this example you would drag the operation from Clip to Group 1. An indicator line shows where the operation will go when dropped.

Right-click one or more selected operations and choose the desired destination from the Move To submenu.

Delete one or more operations

Select one or more operations and press the delete key.

Select all the operations you want to delete, then right-click the selection and choose Delete from the contextual menu or select the Delete button at the right of the Color Controls panel.

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