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# How to Get a Full Screen Preview in DaVinci Resolve
- URL: https://davinciresolveclub.com/davinci-resolve-full-screen-preview/
- Published: 2026-10-28T07:12:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-28T07:11:59.000Z
- Description: Cinema Viewer fills the screen with your picture. Here's the shortcut on each page, how to exit, what changes on Color and Fusion, and the second-monitor options in Free and Studio.
- Author: Jason Miller
- Tags: Tutorials, Beginner Guides, #learn

To watch your video full screen in DaVinci Resolve, click the viewer you want to see and choose **Workspace > Viewer Mode > Cinema Viewer**. The picture fills the whole display with no panels around it. Press the shortcut again to get your layout back; on the Color page, moving the pointer over the image also reveals an exit button.

The shortcut is where most people get stuck. Blackmagic's manual lists **P** in its Edit and Color chapters and **Command-F (Ctrl+F on Windows)** in its interface overview and Fairlight chapters. Open the Viewer Mode submenu once and read the key printed beside Cinema Viewer: that's the one your keyboard map uses.

[Download](https://streamly.surf/c/2ebmf2MxAg6s?ref=davinciresolveclub.com)

## Pick the full-screen mode that fits the job

Resolve has several commands that sound alike. They do four different jobs:

- **Cinema Viewer:** the picture alone, edge to edge, for watching a cut or checking a grade without distractions. It works on the Media, Cut, Edit, Color, Fairlight and Deliver pages.
- **Enhanced Viewer (Option-F, Alt+F on Windows):** a bigger viewer that keeps working controls on screen. On the Cut page it takes the top half and leaves the timeline; on the Color page it fills everything above the palettes.
- **Full Page Viewer (Shift-F, Color page):** even more picture, with transport controls, timecode and page buttons still visible.
- **Workspace > Full Screen:** hides the title bar of the Resolve window. It doesn't enlarge the viewer at all.

A fifth option, **Video Clean Feed**, sends the picture to a second computer display while the interface stays on the first. It's a Studio feature; the second-monitor section below covers what the free version can do instead.

## Play the Edit page timeline full screen

1. **Click the Timeline Viewer.** Cinema Viewer enlarges whichever viewer is selected, so a click on the Source Viewer gives you the source clip.
2. **Park the playhead** where you want the viewing to start.
3. **Choose Workspace > Viewer Mode > Cinema Viewer** or press its shortcut.
4. **Press Space** to play.
5. **Press the same shortcut again** to return to the normal Edit page.

Blackmagic's [Cinema Viewer description for the Edit page](https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/DaVinci%5FResolve%5F21.1%5FReference%5FManual.pdf?ref=davinciresolveclub.com#page=817) calls it good for a test viewing of your edit without the distractions of the interface. That's how I'd use it: as a watch-down pass at the end of a session. Most editing keys stop responding while it's up, so trimming in full screen gets frustrating fast.

![DaVinci Resolve Edit page with the Timeline Viewer selected and the Workspace > Viewer Mode > Cinema Viewer menu open, beside the same rider shot filling the screen in Cinema Viewer](https://davinciresolveclub.com/content/images/2026/10/fsp-edit.webp)

Select the Timeline Viewer before you choose Cinema Viewer; the same shortcut brings the panels back.

If you see the wrong picture, you had the other viewer selected. Exit, click the Timeline Viewer and enter Cinema Viewer again. On a laptop screen, [Workspace > Single Viewer Mode](https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/DaVinci%5FResolve%5F21.1%5FReference%5FManual.pdf?ref=davinciresolveclub.com#page=30) also helps: one large viewer replaces the two small ones, and Q switches it between the source clip and the timeline.

## Cut page: one button and Escape

The Cut page has its own **Full Screen Viewer icon** at the upper right of the viewer. Click it to fill the screen and press **Escape** to return, as the [Cut page chapter](https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/DaVinci%5FResolve%5F21.1%5FReference%5FManual.pdf?ref=davinciresolveclub.com#page=688) describes. For a bigger picture you can still edit under, press Option-F (Alt+F) for the Enhanced Viewer. It takes the top half of the screen and leaves the timeline in place.

Multicam editors get one more trick. With a Sync Bin open, the manual says you can press P to see the camera selection in the Cinema Viewer at full size, with the same Sync Bin controls as the normal viewer.

## Color page: Enhanced, Full Page and Cinema

The Color page is where the three viewer sizes matter most, because each one hides a different amount of the grading interface. Blackmagic's [Color page viewer chapter](https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/DaVinci%5FResolve%5F21.1%5FReference%5FManual.pdf?ref=davinciresolveclub.com#page=3079) sets them out like this:

- **Enhanced Viewer (Option-F / Alt+F):** the viewer grows to fill the area above the palettes and Keyframe Editor. The manual suggests it for close work such as noise patterns, tricky color selections or drawing a PowerCurve.
- **Full Page Viewer (Shift-F, or Option-click the Enhanced Viewer button):** the palettes disappear, while transport controls, the onscreen controls menu, timecode and page buttons stay. It also lets you show the Effects panel at full height and toggle the Node Editor.
- **Cinema Viewer (P):** the menu bar disappears and the image fills the monitor. Move the pointer over it to reveal play, a jog bar, mute and an exit button.

Two Cinema extras are easy to miss. Right-click the image to superimpose a [video scope](https://davinciresolveclub.com/davinci-resolve-scopes-explained/) you can drag around the frame. And for timecode during a review, set it up in **Workspace > Data Burn-In**; the [manual's Cinema mode tip](https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/DaVinci%5FResolve%5F21.1%5FReference%5FManual.pdf?ref=davinciresolveclub.com#page=3081) points there.

![Color page viewer sizes compared: Enhanced Viewer above the color wheels, Full Page Viewer with a transport strip, and Cinema Viewer with play, jog, mute and exit controls](https://davinciresolveclub.com/content/images/2026/10/fsp-modes.webp)

Enhanced keeps the palettes, Full Page keeps the transport controls, and Cinema shows only the picture.

A bigger picture isn't automatically a more accurate one. If you make color decisions on the computer display, a [Blackmagic forum thread on full-screen preview](https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=58837&ref=davinciresolveclub.com) recommends calibrating it with a hardware probe and loading the resulting display LUT in Resolve. For critical grading, its regulars point to a dedicated video output feeding a calibrated monitor. I'd follow that advice before trusting skin tones in Cinema Viewer, because full screen only changes the size of the image you're judging.

## Fairlight, Media and Deliver pages

On the Fairlight page, full-screen video is mainly a sync check: lip sync, a sound effect hit, a new section of the mix. Choose **Workspace > Viewer Mode > Cinema Mode** (Command-F / Ctrl+F) and play. The [Fairlight monitoring section](https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/DaVinci%5FResolve%5F21.1%5FReference%5FManual.pdf?ref=davinciresolveclub.com#page=3772) lists two more options: a button at the lower right of the viewer that pops it into a floating window you can place anywhere, and the **Workspace > Fairlight Viewer** submenu for turning the viewer off.

The Media and Deliver page viewers use the same Workspace > Viewer Mode > Cinema Viewer command. On Deliver, that's a handy last look at the timeline before you add it to the Render Queue.

## Fusion page: use another page or Clean Feed

The manual doesn't document a Cinema Viewer for the Fusion page. To watch a composition full screen in the free version, go back to the Edit or Color page and play the clip there in Cinema Viewer. The Fusion effect plays as part of the clip.

In Studio, the [Fusion chapter's Clean Feed instructions](https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/DaVinci%5FResolve%5F21.1%5FReference%5FManual.pdf?ref=davinciresolveclub.com#page=1453) let the page send a full-screen viewer to a second computer display. Turn **Workspace > Dual Screen** off first, then choose **Workspace > Video Clean Feed** and pick the display. Each node then gets a third view button that controls what appears on that screen.

## Full Screen in the Workspace menu is a different command

**Workspace > Full Screen** changes the Resolve window, leaving the viewer untouched. The [manual's window section](https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/DaVinci%5FResolve%5F21.1%5FReference%5FManual.pdf?ref=davinciresolveclub.com#page=54) says it hides the title bar so the application covers the whole display, which some colorists and mixers prefer. Your panels and viewer keep their usual size.

Choose it when the operating system's window frame bothers you. If you want a bigger picture, use one of the viewer modes above.

## Full-screen preview on a second monitor: Free vs Studio

The quickest way to get a full-screen picture on one display and the full interface on the other is **Video Clean Feed**, and the [manual marks it Studio Version Only](https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/DaVinci%5FResolve%5F21.1%5FReference%5FManual.pdf?ref=davinciresolveclub.com#page=59). Connect the second display directly to the computer, choose **Workspace > Video Clean Feed** and select that display in the submenu. Every panel and shortcut on your main screen keeps working while the picture plays on the other one.

The free version has no Clean Feed. A [2022 forum thread asking for full-screen preview on an extra monitor in the free version](https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=156472&ref=davinciresolveclub.com) suggests Single Viewer Mode with Q and a Full Screen Timeline layout. Here's everything the free version offers:

- **Workspace > Dual Screen > On** spreads the Media, Edit, Color or Fairlight page across two displays, with more room for every panel.
- **Workspace > Dual Screen > Full Screen Timeline** on the Edit page puts one large timeline on one display and the other Edit page panels, viewers included, on the second.
- **Single Viewer Mode with Q** gives you one larger viewer on a single screen.
- **Cinema Viewer** still fills one whole display, with the rest of Resolve hidden until you exit.

![Studio Video Clean Feed with the Edit page on one display and the clean picture on the other, above free Dual Screen with a full screen timeline beside viewers and Media Pool](https://davinciresolveclub.com/content/images/2026/10/fsp-second.webp)

Studio sends a clean picture to the second display; the free version moves a big timeline to one screen and the viewers to the other.

For a free two-screen setup, I'd use Dual Screen with Full Screen Timeline. The viewer is smaller than a clean feed, but every shortcut keeps working, which the Cinema Viewer can't promise. The [workspace layout guide](https://davinciresolveclub.com/davinci-resolve-workspace-layout-presets/) covers Primary Display, saving the layout and getting it back after a monitor change. If you regularly need the clean second screen, that's one of the features worth checking in the [free version's limits](https://davinciresolveclub.com/davinci-resolve-free-version-features/) before you buy Studio.

## Why shortcuts stop working in Cinema Viewer

This is a long-standing complaint. A [feature request for full shortcut support in Cinema Viewer](https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=120056&ref=davinciresolveclub.com) has collected replies since 2020, including users who can't use the up and down arrows to jump between edits. A [2025 report from the Resolve 20 beta](https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?t=219665&ref=davinciresolveclub.com) describes shortcuts going dead after switching to Cinema Viewer on a second display with Dual Screen and Full Screen Timeline turned on. One reply in that thread explains that keystrokes are passed only to the panel that was active when you went full screen, and only for a selected set of commands.

So plan around it. Watch in Cinema Viewer, exit when you want to change something, then make the edit in the normal layout. If you need live editing beside a full-screen picture, that's the job Video Clean Feed in Studio was built for.

## When the full-screen shortcut does nothing

Run these checks in order. The first one is the quickest and often settles it.

1. **Use the menu once.** Choose Workspace > Viewer Mode and look at the key printed beside the command. If the menu command works and your key doesn't, the problem is the keyboard map.
2. **Click inside the viewer first.** The command acts on the selected viewer, and a key typed into a text field, such as a clip name or a search box, goes to that field.
3. **Check the page.** On the Fusion page there's no Cinema Viewer to switch on; on the Cut page the documented exit is Escape.
4. **Open DaVinci Resolve > Keyboard Customization.** Search the command list for "Cinema" and see which key is assigned. The preset menu at the top right shows whether you're on the DaVinci Resolve map or an emulation of another editor, which can move keys around, as described in the [keyboard preset section](https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/DaVinci%5FResolve%5F21.1%5FReference%5FManual.pdf?ref=davinciresolveclub.com#page=122).

![Keyboard Customization with cinema typed in the search field, the DaVinci Resolve preset selected and the Cinema Viewer command listed with its assigned shortcut](https://davinciresolveclub.com/content/images/2026/10/fsp-keys.webp)

Search for "cinema" to see which key your preset assigns to Cinema Viewer, and check the preset name at the top right.

I'd only change a key after that search, because a new key may already belong to another command. Our [DaVinci Resolve keyboard shortcuts guide](https://davinciresolveclub.com/davinci-resolve-keyboard-shortcuts-guide/) lists the default map and the safe way to change it.

If the picture fills the screen but stutters, the cause is playback performance, and the full-screen mode isn't to blame. The fixes are the same as in the normal viewer: lower Timeline Proxy Resolution, use proxies or optimized media, or render cache heavy effects. The [slow playback guide](https://davinciresolveclub.com/davinci-resolve-slow-playback/) walks through them in order.

## Full screen preview FAQ

### What is full screen preview called in DaVinci Resolve?

It's called Cinema Viewer, under Workspace > Viewer Mode. The Color and Fairlight chapters of the manual also call it Cinema mode. Enhanced Viewer and Full Page Viewer are larger viewers that keep some controls on screen.

### How do I exit full screen in DaVinci Resolve?

Press the same shortcut you used to enter it. On the Color page, moving the pointer over the image also reveals an exit button. On the Cut page, press Escape after using the Full Screen Viewer icon.

### Can I preview full screen on a second monitor in DaVinci Resolve free?

Not as a clean, full-screen feed with the interface on the other display; Video Clean Feed is Studio-only. The free version can spread its interface across two displays with Dual Screen, or fill one display with Cinema Viewer.

### Can I edit while the viewer is full screen?

Only in a limited way. You can play and stop, but many editing and navigation shortcuts don't respond in Cinema Viewer, and some dual-screen setups lose shortcuts entirely. For editing beside a full-screen picture, Studio's Video Clean Feed keeps the whole interface available on the other display.