> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/cvat-ai/cvat/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Annotation Editor Overview

> Comprehensive guide to the CVAT annotation editor interface, workspace layouts, and navigation

The CVAT annotation editor is the primary interface for creating and managing annotations. It provides a powerful set of tools for manual annotation, auto-annotation, and quality control across images, videos, and 3D point clouds.

## Workspace Layouts

CVAT provides multiple specialized workspace layouts optimized for different annotation workflows:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Standard Workspace" icon="square-dashed">
    Default annotation interface with full controls for creating shapes, tracks, and tags
  </Card>

  <Card title="Attribute Annotation" icon="list-check">
    Focused interface for rapidly annotating object attributes
  </Card>

  <Card title="Tag Annotation" icon="tag">
    Streamlined workspace for frame-level tag annotation
  </Card>

  <Card title="Review Workspace" icon="magnifying-glass">
    Quality control interface with issue tracking and commenting
  </Card>

  <Card title="3D Workspace" icon="cube">
    Specialized interface for annotating 3D point cloud data
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Interface Components

### Canvas Area

The central canvas displays your images, video frames, or 3D point clouds. The canvas supports:

* **Pan and Zoom**: Navigate large images with mouse controls
* **Grid Overlay**: Display alignment grid for precise annotation
* **Image Adjustments**: Brightness, contrast, saturation, and gamma controls
* **Rotation**: Rotate canvas for easier annotation of rotated objects

<Tip>
  Use `Ctrl+Wheel` to zoom in/out, or hold `Space` and drag to pan around the canvas.
</Tip>

### Controls Side Bar

Located on the left side, the controls sidebar provides access to annotation tools:

**Navigation Tools**

* Cursor tool (`Esc`) - Select and manipulate objects
* Move tool - Pan the canvas
* Rotate controls (`Ctrl+R` / `Ctrl+Shift+R`) - Rotate canvas clockwise/counterclockwise

**Drawing Tools**

* Rectangle (`N`) - Draw bounding boxes
* Polygon (`N`) - Draw polygonal regions
* Polyline (`N`) - Draw open polylines
* Points (`N`) - Place point markers
* Ellipse (`N`) - Draw elliptical shapes
* Cuboid (`N`) - Draw 3D cuboids (2D projection)
* Mask (`N`) - Paint pixel-accurate masks with brush tools
* Skeleton (`N`) - Annotate articulated objects with keypoints
* Tag - Add frame-level classification tags

**Advanced Tools**

* AI Tools - Interactive segmentation with SAM2 and other models
* OpenCV Tools - Semi-automatic annotation helpers
* Merge (`M`) - Combine multiple shapes
* Group (`G`) - Group related objects
* Split (`Alt+M`) - Split tracks at current frame
* Join - Connect separate tracks
* Slice - Cut objects with a line

### Objects Side Bar

The right sidebar displays all annotated objects in the current frame:

* **Object List**: View all shapes, tracks, and tags
* **Z-Order Layers**: Objects grouped by rendering order
* **Quick Actions**: Lock, hide, change attributes
* **Search & Filter**: Find specific objects by label, attribute, or ID

<Info>
  Objects are color-coded by label. The active object is highlighted with a thicker border.
</Info>

### Top Navigation Bar

The top bar provides:

* **Job Information**: Task name, job ID, frame range
* **Save Button** (`Ctrl+S`): Save annotations to server
* **Undo/Redo** (`Ctrl+Z` / `Ctrl+Shift+Z`): Reverse or replay actions
* **Finish Job**: Mark job as completed
* **Menu**: Export, settings, shortcuts reference

### Player Controls

For video and image sequence annotation:

* **Play/Pause** (`Space`): Auto-advance through frames
* **Previous/Next Frame** (`F` / `D`): Navigate one frame at a time
* **Previous/Next Filtered Frame** (`Left` / `Right`): Skip to frames with/without annotations
* **First/Last Frame** (`~` / `<tilde>`): Jump to job boundaries
* **Go to Frame** (`G`): Jump directly to a specific frame number
* **Frame Step Controls**: Configure auto-play speed

<CodeGroup>
  ```text Frame Navigation Shortcuts theme={null}
  F          - Previous frame
  D          - Next frame
  Space      - Play/pause
  Left       - Previous frame with objects
  Right      - Next frame with objects
  Ctrl+Left  - Previous empty frame
  Ctrl+Right - Next empty frame
  G          - Go to specific frame
  ```
</CodeGroup>

## Canvas Controls

### Zoom and Fit

* **Fit Image** (`F1`): Scale image to fit the viewport
* **Zoom In/Out** (`Ctrl+Wheel` or `Ctrl++/Ctrl+-`): Adjust magnification
* **Reset Zoom**: Return to 100% scale

### Image Adjustments

Access the image settings panel to adjust:

* Brightness
* Contrast
* Saturation
* Gamma correction
* Filters (grayscale, blur)

<Warning>
  Image adjustments are visual only and don't affect the underlying data or exported annotations.
</Warning>

### Grid Overlay

Enable a grid overlay to align annotations:

1. Click the grid icon in the settings
2. Adjust grid size and opacity
3. Use grid lines as visual guides

## Context Menus

Right-click on the canvas or objects to access context-sensitive menus:

**Canvas Context Menu**

* Create new shape at cursor position
* Paste copied shape
* Configure canvas settings

**Object Context Menu**

* Copy (`Ctrl+C`), Cut (`Ctrl+X`), Remove (`Del`)
* Change label or attributes
* Create object URL
* Switch to track/shape mode
* Propagate to next frames

## Status Bar

The bottom status bar shows:

* Current frame number and total frames
* Active tool or mode
* Selected object information
* Zoom level
* Cursor coordinates (when hovering over canvas)

## Customization

### Settings Panel

Access comprehensive settings via the menu (`F2`):

**Workspace Settings**

* Auto-save interval
* Default object colors (by label, instance, group)
* Text font size and position
* Show/hide interpolated tracks
* Enable/disable automatic bordering

**Player Settings**

* Frame step (for videos)
* Canvas rotation
* Reset zoom on frame change
* Show deleted frames

**Keyboard Shortcuts**

* View all shortcuts
* Customize key bindings
* Reset to defaults

<Tip>
  Press `F2` anytime to open settings, or `F3` to view the complete keyboard shortcuts reference.
</Tip>

## Multi-Monitor Support

CVAT's interface can be adapted for multi-monitor setups:

* Detach player controls to a secondary monitor
* Resize sidebar panels
* Full-screen canvas mode

## Workspace Switcher

Switch between workspace layouts using the dropdown in the top navigation:

1. **Standard** - Full-featured annotation interface
2. **Attribute Annotation** - Focus on attribute labeling
3. **Tag Annotation** - Rapid frame classification
4. **Review** - Quality control and issue resolution

<Note>
  Your workspace preference is saved per job and persists between sessions.
</Note>

## Performance Tips

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Large Images">
    * Use browser zoom (`Ctrl+Wheel`) instead of canvas zoom for very large images
    * Enable "Reset zoom" option to avoid loading full resolution unnecessarily
    * Close unnecessary browser tabs to free memory
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Long Videos">
    * Use filtered frame navigation to skip empty frames
    * Enable auto-save at regular intervals
    * Consider splitting very long videos into multiple jobs
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Many Objects">
    * Use object filters to hide irrelevant objects
    * Lock objects you're not currently editing
    * Group related objects to reduce clutter
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Next Steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Manual Annotation" icon="hand-pointer" href="/annotation/manual-annotation">
    Learn annotation workflows and techniques
  </Card>

  <Card title="Shapes and Objects" icon="shapes" href="/annotation/shapes-and-objects">
    Explore all annotation types
  </Card>

  <Card title="Auto-Annotation" icon="wand-magic-sparkles" href="/annotation/auto-annotation">
    Use AI models for automatic annotation
  </Card>

  <Card title="Advanced Tools" icon="wrench" href="/annotation/advanced-tools">
    Master interpolation, tracks, and propagation
  </Card>
</CardGroup>