One of the biggest steps you can take to improve your editing workflow is utilizing keyboard shortcuts. In this article, we take a closer look at 10 incredibly useful shortcuts that come built-in with Adobe Premiere Pro.
As a professional video editor, I’ve worked extensively on both Mac and PC operating systems. Since many companies prefer one OS to the other, it is helpful to know how Adobe Premiere keyboard shortcuts translate between each. With both systems, the letter keys for each shortcut are going to be the same, but there are a few modifiers that will change depending on which OS you use. Before we go into our top 10 Adobe Premiere shortcuts, we wanted to take a moment to highlight two important differences between PC and Mac.
Control / Ctrl on PC = Command or Cmd on Mac
Alt on PC = Option on Mac
1 / 2. In and Out Points
Our first two shortcuts are for the “In” and “Out” functions, which are “I” and “O”, respectively. These are primarily used in the source window, when creating in and out points for a specific clip. To use these shortcuts, place your play head where you want to create your in or out point and press I or O on your keyboard. These can also be used within your timeline to designate a portion of your sequence that you would like to either render or export.
3. Razor Tool
The razor tool is used to make cuts in clips that are already in your timeline, and you access this tool with the shortcut “C”, which changes your cursor to the razor icon and allows you to make a cut by clicking on any clip in your timeline. The best way to remember this is simply, “C for Cut.”
4. Selection Tool
The selection tool is probably the most commonly used tool in Premiere. It allows you to move clips around in your timeline, shorten and extend clips, and manipulate other functions throughout your workspace. You can think of the selection tool as your “default” tool, which you can access using the keyboard shortcut “V”.
5. Ripple Edit Tool
The ripple edit tool, which is keyboard shortcut “B”, is useful when you want to either shorten or lengthen a clip in your timeline and adjust the position of the rest of your clips accordingly. For example, if I wanted to shorten a clip and still have the following clip play immediately afterwards, I can press “B”, click and drag the first clip to my desired length, and any subsequent clips will move forward to butt up against it.
6. Rolling Edit Tool
The rolling edit tool, which is shortcut “N“, is similar to the ripple edit tool. This tool is used to shift the beginning and end points of two adjacent clips, without changing their combined overall length. So, if I hit “N,” pulling up my rolling edit tool, I can click and drag the intersection of two clips, making one shorter and the other longer.
7. Slip Tool
The next and final tool we will be covering on this list is the slip tool. To access the slip tool, use the keyboard shortcut “Y.” This tool adjusts the content within a given clip, effectively shifting the clip’s in and out points without altering its length.
8. Cut
Our next shortcut is the cut function, and it does exactly what it sounds like. Put your play head on a clip in your timeline at the exact point you’d like to cut, and press “ctrl + K” on your keyboard. For my Mac users out there, this shortcut is “command + K”. If you do this with no clips selected or highlighted, a cut will be created on every selected (blue highlighted) video and audio layer at the point where your play head is located. So, if you’d like to only cut, or avoid cutting certain layers, simply select or deselect the appropriate layers before using this function. Similarly, if you select/highlight a clip or group of clips, this shortcut will only cut the clips you have selected.
9. Undo
Undo is probably my most frequently used keyboard shortcut. Just like most word processors and other software, pressing “ctrl + Z” on PC or “command + Z” on Mac will undo your most recent action. By default, Premiere Pro will store your 32 most recent actions, which can be undone using this function.
10. Redo
Much like undo, redo is an extremely common shortcut used by editors. You can redo actions by pressing “ctrl + shift+ Z” on PC or “command + shift + Z” on Mac. As the name implies, redo allows you to effectively “undo your undo”. This shortcut is particularly useful for when you need to compare the before and after of a change, because it allows you to alternate between both “undo” and “redo” commands. It also comes in handy when you undo one too many times or realize you shouldn’t have undone something in the first place.
