Yesterday, I was invited to speak about advanced Premiere Pro editing at the annual convention of Home Video Studios in Clearwater, Florida. At the awards banquet that night, I asked my table mates what I could teach at future events that they would find most helpful.
Instantly, they replied: “Anything that helps me edit faster.” So, with that advice still echoing in my ears, here are five keyboard shortcuts that help make trimming clips in Premiere fly. (Plus an “Extra Speedy Bonus!”)
To enable the cursor to automatically select the correct trim tool based on position, go to Premiere Pro > Settings > Trim and check the top check box (red arrow). Now, drag the cursor over an edit point to select roll trim, drag near the Out to select a ripple trim of the Out, or drag near the In to select a ripple trim of the In.
To quickly toggle between the five trim selections for an edit point – roll, ripple, and trim – select an edit point, then type Control + T. Each time you type, the trim mode changes.
NOTE: Ripple moves the In or the Out of a clip and does not leave a gap. Trim moves the In or the Out and does leave a gap.
To trim a selected edit point (roll, ripple or trim) one frame at a time, type Option + Left/Right arrow. To trim five frames at once, type Shift + Option + Left/Right arrow/
NOTE: To adjust the number of frames trimmed when pressing the Shift key, go to Premiere Pro > Settings > Trim and change the Large Trim Offset (top red arrow).
To move a clip up or down a track, select the clip, then type Option + Up/Down arrow.
NOTE: If a clip lands on a track that already has a clip, it overwrites the overlap.
To trim the Out (tail) of a clip to the position of the playhead in that same clip, type W. To trim the In (top) of a clip to the position of the playhead, type Q. (This is also called “Top & Tail trimming.”)
EXTRA SPEEDY BONUS
To move a timeline clip and insert it elsewhere on the same track, without overwriting any clips, press and hold Option + Command while dragging the In of the clip to a new location.
