i butt them together on the timeline.
what do i do now?
what key do i need to press to actually merge it into one file and save it to 'my document' folder?

Yeah, you need to do this before your uncle gets back, right?
Tor

The timeline is where you assemble different elements into a programme. It's bascically a list of instructions.

To make into a single file you need to use File > Render As .... and choose from the many formats that are available.

and when i want to split, what do i do after pressing '"S"?

i pressed S and it just highlights... no actual file created.
do i have to click on "render as"?

If you click an event in the timeline to highlight it then hit S it will split that event only, at the cursor position.

If you click in an open area, then all clips at that point will be split.

It will not create a file, it will make a "virtual split" in the event, which is a reference to a file sitting on your hard drive.

Create a looped region by dragging along the timeline from your beginning to your end point - this creates a blue shaded area. Now, "File > Render as ...." will create a new file on your hard drive, the exact length of the area you have defined.

ok thanks for the help, but big problem.

when i do render as, the file becomes so large in size.

for example, if i put 6 small clips (each is about 1 mb only) together then click 'render as' to merge into 1 file, it creates a file but it's size is 300 mb!!!
shouldn't it be 6 mb only since 6 X 1 = 6 mb...
why does the file become so large?

Look at all the options you have for rendering, particularly file format and screen resolution.

For instance, DV avi at 720 x 576 will be many times larger than say MPEG 1 at 320 x 240.

One of the best formats in terms of quality/file size is WMV9.

It all depends on what you want to do with the finished product - broadcast? webstreaming? CD Rom? DVD? etc etc.

ok, all I want is the same quality as the original file.
but I don't know how to find out the format of the original file.

so if I have 6 files of 1MB each, I want the merged file be 6MB in size and the same quality as the original... how would I do this?

There are freeware or shareware programs that will let you do what you want without having to render. It's overkill to use Vegas for it. However, if you took the time to learn it you could probably make your videos look even better than they do now. But maybe your uncle is not away for so long.

Take a look at this link

Tor.