---
title: "How to Find Highlights in DaVinci Resolve Automatically"
author: Sarah Williams
category: Tutorials
excerpt: "Learn how to find highlights in DaVinci Resolve automatically. Use external AI text-based editors like Cutsio to generate XML rough cuts of your best moments."
---

To find highlights in DaVinci Resolve automatically, you must pre-process your footage using an AI text-based video editor like **Cutsio**. By generating a transcript before importing the video into Resolve, you can search for the best moments using text, highlight the sentences, and export an XML file that instantly builds a timeline of highlights in DaVinci Resolve.

## Why is it difficult to find highlights in DaVinci Resolve automatically?
Finding highlights in DaVinci Resolve automatically is difficult because standard NLEs (Non-Linear Editors) are built for manual timeline assembly, not automated content curation. Even with the paid Studio version's native transcription, you must still manually search for exact keywords or listen to the audio to determine what constitutes a "highlight." There is no native "auto-highlight" button that understands the context of a 2-hour interview.

## How do you find highlights in DaVinci Resolve automatically?
To automate the discovery of highlights, you need an AI workflow that understands the semantic meaning of your footage. Here is the best method:

1. **Upload your long video:** Import your raw footage (e.g., a podcast or webinar) into [Cutsio](https://cutsio.com).
2. **Review the AI transcript:** Cutsio uses automatic speech recognition (ASR) to generate a highly accurate, timecoded transcript.
3. **Use semantic search:** Instead of guessing where the best moments are, type a topic into the search bar (e.g., "the most important lesson learned").
4. **Highlight to extract:** Read the transcript and highlight the most engaging quotes or answers.
5. **Export an XML:** Download the `.fcpxml` or `.xml` file containing your highlighted selections.
6. **Import to DaVinci Resolve:** In DaVinci Resolve, go to `File > Import > Timeline` and select the XML. A new timeline will instantly populate with only the perfectly cut highlights, completely bypassing the manual scrubbing phase.

## What are the best tools to find highlights for DaVinci Resolve?

### 1. Cutsio: Best for semantic search and XML workflows
Cutsio is the ideal pre-editing tool for DaVinci Resolve users who need to curate highlights from massive amounts of footage.

**Why it works:**
- **Semantic Search:** It understands the context of your search, not just the exact words.
- **XML Workflow:** It generates clean XML files that link directly back to your high-resolution original media in DaVinci Resolve.

### 2. Opus Clip: Best for fully automated social media shorts
Opus Clip is an AI tool that automatically generates vertical shorts.

**Why it works:**
- It requires zero editing skills; the AI chooses the highlights, reformats the video, and adds captions.
- *Limitation:* It is a closed system. You cannot easily export the raw timeline data into DaVinci Resolve to tweak the edits or apply high-end color grading.

### 3. DaVinci Resolve Studio (Native Transcription): Best for quick keyword searches
The paid Studio version of DaVinci Resolve includes an "Audio Transcription" feature.

**Why it works:**
- You can transcribe a clip in the media pool and search for exact words using a text box.
- *Limitation:* It lacks semantic search capabilities and does not automatically curate or identify "highlights."

By utilizing Cutsio's AI transcription and text-based search, you can stop manually scrubbing through hours of footage and find the best highlights for your DaVinci Resolve projects in seconds.