Studio 21.1.1
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SETUP & MEDIA

How to organize footage with bins

DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1 · Original practical guide

Bins organize references inside a project. A simple structure for camera, dialogue, music, graphics, and timelines makes a growing edit easier to navigate.

Before you begin

Have a project open and a short source clip on a mounted drive.

ACTUAL RESOLVE INTERFACEView full size ↗
Media Pool bins displayed in the Edit workspace
Media Pool bins displayed in the Edit workspace Reference example from the DaVinci Resolve 21.1 manual, page 798. Software screenshot © Blackmagic Design. The demonstration media and selected settings may differ from your project.

Step by step

  1. In the Media Pool, right-click the bin list and create a new bin. Give it a useful name such as Camera A.
  2. Create separate bins for sound, graphics, and timelines, then drag existing Media Pool clips into the appropriate bins.
  3. Switch to list view when you need to compare metadata such as duration or frame rate. Rename display names only when the original filename remains traceable.
  4. Open a bin, preview several sources, and confirm that each item is where another editor would expect to find it.

Check your result

You can find a particular take quickly without searching every clip in the project.

If it doesn’t work as expected

Moving a clip between bins does not move its file on disk. Do file organization before import or relink after a deliberate disk move.

BUILD THE UNDERLYING SKILL

Media, organized from the start

Go deeper with the course’s explanations, exercises, and knowledge checks.

Open module 02 →
← PREVIOUS GUIDEImport video, audio, and imagesNEXT GUIDE →Relink missing media

Technical reference: DaVinci Resolve 21.1 Reference Manual, Blackmagic Design, September 2026. Screenshot page numbers refer to that manual. Independently written guidance; specific controls may vary by platform and build. Authorship & image credits.