sorry not "crop", "trim"

Nicholas,
I place the clip I want shortened in the PiP track. Once there, you can hold the cursor over the clip at the edge. You will see an icon appear that has two arrows, left to shorten and right to lengthen. Simply adjust there to the duration you are seeking.
I hope this helps.
Cheers!
Kevin R. Saving the world, one goofy video and meme at a time.

Wow, thanks so so much, that works great.

now a semi related question. how do i drag clips from the master video clip to the PiP track?

I have already spent an hour chopping it up and would hate to have to do it all again

You can't really drag them from the master to the PiP. You might want to try to save the project to a folder. Re-open that and edit the part you want and save that, then import that to the main project and add in PiP track. Saving the world, one goofy video and meme at a time.

thank you again for the fast reply. I really do appreciate it.

i will try that and see how I go.

You are very welcome. I tried the prior idea about cutting and dragging to no avail, but did offer you an alternative fix I hope.
Welcome to the forum and I hope you enjoy PD8 as much as we all do.
Cheers!
Kevin R. Saving the world, one goofy video and meme at a time.