Is there a way to butt one clip against another automatically?

You can set the snap to grid to MEASURES and when dragging the clip it will default to the measure's start.  

You still need to drag it.

If you have the snap to grid set to musical time, you can place it precisely where you need it. I have found this method to be the best for me if I'm cutting surgically. If it is possible to cut exactly on the measure line, then the other method works best.

I am not aware of a "move this clip automatically" function in Cake. That would seem to be a pain if it assumed that every time you delete a clip between 2 other clips that you wanted them to smash together.

To place a clip EXACTLY.... here's the way to do it. Starting with two clips separated by some blank space....drag it over with a mouse..... zoom in a bit and it's easier to see the gap...... then listen, if it's not right... right click on the clip that's off, and look at the Clip starting point. lets say it's 37:03:237 and it's a slight bit late coming in.... click the last 3 time digits :237 and change them to...say.... :200. That will move the clip slightly ahead on the time line by 37clicks (MS?) listen again. move it backward or forward as needed.

You can also use NUDGE to move only a few clicks at a time. I used to use this but I found adjusting the start time was quicker and easier. When you are under 10ms it is very difficult to hear the difference. The slight variation will enhance the human feel to the music in many cases.

Thanks for the responses. I think part of my issue is that I'm using MC to edit voice-over clips for a training video, so the timeline is set for hours-minutes-seconds rather than musical time. If I was working with music, I can see where snap-to-grid would work most of the time. Otherwise, dragging and nudging is not a big deal. Thanks again.

-Stuart

Thanks - When I edit music, I use musical time. Hours-minutes-seconds works better for this voice-over editing. I'll do very little of that, so it's not big deal.

-Stuart

I think... (I might be wrong) but even if you are in time mode.... where it defaults to the closest measure, I want to say that you could right click the clip and set the exact start point by typing in the time....and even if it's not on a measure, I'm thinking that it will go to the time as opposed to the measure.....try it.

I will often switch between musical time and the measures mode in a song...just depends on what I need to do at the moment.

If I'm removing a verse or something, I use the measures since It will cleanly remove the offending verse and when I slide the end clips up, they line up perfectly and you can't even tell something was removed.