This is a follow on from my gearshift question below. The nature of the forum has changed from one specifically about gearshift to one about timeline management.

Stuart Campbell helpfully suggested that instead of dumping 10 hours of HDV footage into the timeline to edit, I should edit in the trimmer first. I played around in the trimmer and liked it, but the problem I have with it is that it only takes one media file at a time. I have to sync my sound with an external source, so it seems that the best way is just to put footage gradually onto the timeline and edit the rushes one tape at a time. Of course, using DV proxies through gearshift speeds up the timeline too.

If you're syncing multiple clips - drop them on the timeline, sync them up, and then edit as needed. The trimmer is good for some things but editing multiple clips that must be synced is not one of them.