Skip steps

Video library

Video playback

Skip steps

Note: This page applies to both video & music playback unless specifically noted.

Skip steps is a new seeking function that has been implemented into Kodi as of v15, and is a method of additive skipping (also known as additive seeking) that applies to both videos and music. This allows the user to skip backwards and forwards with the left and right cursor keys (this is the default keyboard and remote mapping), and by pressing these keys multiple times they can skip with increasingly larger steps.

New Action ID behavior for Kodi v15

The following Action ID's are now forwarded to the new seeking function:

• StepForward
• StepBack
• SmallStepBack - note this action is going to be removed as it is now replaced with the new seek(##) built-in command.

Configuration

The settings can be found in the Settings -> Player under Videos and Music

Skip steps - This allows you to set the number of skip steps and the value for each step, the default values available here are -30 min, -10 min, -5 min, -3 min, -60 sec, -30 sec, -10 sec, 10 sec, 30 sec, 60 sec, 3 min, 5 min, 10 min, 30 min.

Note: These values can be customised, for details see Changing GUI skip step values

Skip delay: This is the amount of time Kodi waits for you to press the left or right key again (if using the default keyboard and remote mapping) , before actually performing the forward or backwards skip, can be set to None and from there in 250ms steps until 3000ms.

Additive skipping

Additive skipping (additive seeking) is a method of having increasingly larger skip steps the more times you press either the left key ← or right key →, you need at least one skip step configured for either the positive or negative direction together with having a skip delay set.

Note: If you press either the ← or → more times than there are configured steps for that direction, then the last configured skip size value will be summed up for each subsequent key press.

Example 1

Skip Steps: -30 sec, -15sec, -10 sec, 15 sec, 30 sec, 60 sec

Skip Delay: 750ms

This table shows what happens with multiple presses of either the ← key or the → key:

Key Presses	← x 5	← x 4	← x 3	← x 2	←	→	→ x 2	→ x 3	→ x 4	→ x 5
Time to be skipped	90 seconds backwards	60 seconds backwards	30 seconds backwards	15 seconds backwards	10 seconds backwards	15 seconds forwards	30 seconds forwards	60 seconds forwards	120 seconds forwards	180 seconds forwards

IMPORTANT: As there are 3 skip values in the positive direction with 60 sec being the last value, therefore a 4th right key press will take 60 sec (value for 3 key presses) and add a further 60 sec thus the skip size will be 120 sec forwards, a 5th right key press will be 180 sec, and so on. The same behaviour also applies for the negative direction.

Example 2

Skip Steps: -10 sec, 30 sec

Skip Delay: 750ms

This table shows what happens with multiple presses of either the left key or the right key:

Key Presses	← x 3	← x 2	←	→	→ x 2	→ x 3
Time to be skipped	30 seconds backwards	20 seconds backwards	10 seconds backwards	30 seconds forwards	60 seconds forwards	90 seconds forwards

IMPORTANT: As there is only 1 skip value of 30 sec in the positive direction therefore a 2nd right key press will take 30 sec (value for 1 key press) and add a further 30 sec thus the skip size will be 60 sec forwards, a 3rd right key press will be 90 sec, and so on. The same behaviour also applies for the negative direction.

It is worth experimenting with Skip Delay to find the optimal setting for your hardware and the type of response you wish, for 250ms allows use of the additive function while retaining an almost instant response however this needs very quick presses for multiple presses to be registered.

Instant skipping

With no more than a single negative or positive step configured, together with Skip Delay set to none, then Kodi will instantly skip without a delay.

Example

Skip Steps: -10 sec, 30 sec

Skip Delay: None

Key Presses	←	→
Time to be skipped	10 seconds backwards	30 seconds forwards

Note: Skip steps set to just -30 sec, 30 sec will restore the left/right behavior found in Kodi v14 and earlier.

Custom skip step values

The available skip step values can be further customised via the advancedsettings.xml file with the <seeksteps> entry. This is an optional step for users who want more granular control over what options are available.

IMPORTANT: This advanced setting only overrides the values to be listed in the GUI Skip steps setting , in order to activate them for use you need to select them in the GUI using the Skip step setting, otherwise Kodi will carry on using the previously selected values. The values you enter are integers, so they apply for both the negative and positive directions e.g. a value of 10 will result in -10 sec and 10 sec appearing in the Skip step list.

Example:

This will result in the Skip step list in the GUI of -60 sec, -50 sec, -40 sec, -30 sec, -20 sec, -10 sec, 10 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec, 40 sec, 50 sec, 60 sec

<advancedsettings>
<seeksteps>10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60</seeksteps>
</advancedsettings>

Adding seek built-in function to keymap

Applies to Video & Music playback

The built-in function Seek(seconds) is used to add custom seek (skip) values the keymap, so that when a particular key is pressed an instant seek (skip) of the specified value is performed. You are able to specify a relative amount of seconds to seek (skip) within the current playing media, where a negative value will seek (skip) backwards and a positive value will seek (skip) forwards. For details on how to modify your keymap see How to customize my keymap.

Example

This maps a -7 sec seek to the key b and a +15 sec seek to the key n

<keymap> <FullscreenVideo> <keyboard> <b>Seek(-7)</b> <n>Seek(15)</n> </keyboard> </FullscreenVideo> </keymap>

Time skipping

Applies to video playback only

These methods allow for the input a specific value during the course of video playback to either

• Skip the specified amount
• Skip to a certain point in time

When using these methods the time values are enter in the form hh:mm:ss where h is hours, m is minutes, s is seconds

Examples:

• Time value to enter is 45sec you would input 45
• Time value to enter is 1min 45sec you would input 145
• Time value to enter is 1hr 1min 45sec you would input 10145

Skip the specified amount

Using you remote or keyboard enter the skip value followed by either ← or → key, depending on which direction you wish to skip in.

Examples:

To skip 2 minute 30sec forward in the video then carry out:

230 then →

To skip 1 minute 45sec back in the video then carry out:

145 then ←

Skip to a specific time mark

Using you remote or keyboard enter time mark value followed by ↵ Enter key.

Example:

To skip to the 25 minute mark in the video carry out:

2500 then ↵ Enter

See also

• Video playback
• Keyboard controls
• Keymap
• Action IDs

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