Guide, updated October 19, 2026
Remove filler words and silences from a screen recording
Nobody records a tutorial without an "ehm", a pause to find the menu, or a sentence said twice. Cutting them by hand on a timeline takes longer than the recording did. Here is how Ciakko finds them for you on Windows, why it proposes instead of cutting, and what it leaves alone on purpose.
In one glance
- Pauses: silences of 0.8 seconds or more, shortened to 0.3 seconds, not removed whole.
- Filler words: ehm, uhm, er and the like, and a word said twice in a row.
- Retakes: the sentence before each Ctrl+Shift+X you pressed while recording.
- You decide: every one is a proposal you can play, accept or reject.
Three kinds of dead time
A pause is a stretch with no voice. A filler is a sound that carries no meaning: "ehm", "uhm", "er", "mm", or the same word said twice because you were thinking. A retake is a sentence you got wrong and said again. Each needs a different rule, so Ciakko treats them apart and shows them in different colors on the timeline: pauses and fillers in red, retakes in orange.
Shorten pauses, do not remove them
Cutting every silence to nothing makes a video that reads as sped up, the speaker never takes a breath. So a pause of 0.8 seconds or more keeps 0.3 seconds and loses the rest. One more rule matters for screen recordings: if you were moving the pointer during the silence, you were showing something, and that silence is not proposed at all.
Filler words come from the transcript
To find the fillers, Ciakko needs to know what you said. It writes the transcript on your PC with Whisper, the same pass that makes the captions, with the time of each word. Every hesitation and every word repeated within a second becomes a proposal with its exact start and end. Because the transcript is there, you can also cut by text: in the Script tab, select words, press Del, and they leave the video.
Retakes you marked while recording
When a sentence goes wrong, press Ctrl+Shift+X and say it again. Ciakko looks back from that mark to where the failed attempt started and proposes that stretch as a cut. On a demo without voice it goes back to your last click. The retakes are already on the timeline the first time you open the take.
How to do it, step by step
- Open the take in the editor.
- In the timeline toolbar press Clean up and choose Shorten pauses, Remove filler words or Both.
- Click a proposal: Play the part plays what would go, Play without it plays the result.
- Press Enter to accept or Del to reject, or use Accept all when you trust the list.
- Export. Captions, zooms and chapters follow the cuts on their own.
Why it proposes and does not cut
A pause can be the moment the viewer reads the screen. An "uhm" can be the start of a word the model heard wrong. A tool that cuts silently is right most of the time and wrong in the places you notice. Proposals cost you one listen and keep the final word with you. Each cut also lands on the quietest instant nearby and gets a short fade, so the joins are clean.
What it does not do
It does not clean recordings made with another program, because it relies on the voice and pointer tracks recorded with the picture. It does not rewrite what you said: for a sentence you want to say differently, type a line of voice over instead. And it runs on Windows 10 and 11 only.
Questions about the cleanup
How do I remove ums and uhs from a video automatically?
In Ciakko, open the take, press Clean up in the timeline and choose Remove filler words. The transcript is written on your PC, every ehm, uhm and word said twice in a row becomes a proposed cut, and you accept them all or one by one.
How do I remove silence from a video on Windows?
Choose Shorten pauses. Every silence of 0.8 seconds or more becomes a proposal that keeps 0.3 seconds of it, so the speech still breathes. A silence where you are moving the pointer to show something is left alone.
Will the cuts make the audio click?
No. Each cut moves to the quietest instant nearby and gets a short fade, so the voice joins without a click or a jump in level.
Can I undo a cut I accepted?
Yes. Ctrl+Z undoes the last step, and in the Script tab Restore brings back any stretch you cut. The recording itself is never changed.
Does it work on a video I recorded with another program?
No. The cleanup works on recordings made with Ciakko, because it uses the voice track and the pointer track recorded with the picture.
Which languages does it understand?
The transcript comes from Whisper, which writes in the language you choose or detects it. The filler list covers the common hesitations of English and Italian; other languages still get the pauses and the repeated words.