Adobe Premiere Pro: Find and Rename Media

There are a variety of ways to find and rename media in Adobe Premiere Pro, but there is also a significant caution that goes with doing so.

FIND MEDIA IN PROJECT PANEL

To find media in the Project panel or any bin, enter some or all of the file name into the search box (left red arrow).

NOTE: To clear the search box, click the large “X” (right red arrow).

FIND MEDIA IN TIMELINE

To find media in the timeline choose Edit > Find (shortcut: Cmd + F). This displays the Find in Timeline dialog.

Enter some or all of the file name you are searching for and click Find.

The related clip is highlighted in the Timeline with the playhead positioned at the start of the clip.

ADDITIONAL SEARCH OPTIONS

The Find in Timeline search dialog has a variety of options to help you find exactly the media you are looking for. In this example, it is looking for media file names containing either “0606” OR “0597”.

NOTE: When searching, “AND” means that both search text must exist in the Timeline for the search to find them. “OR” means that either one of the names must exist for either one to be found. (OR always finds more clips than AND.) If you only enter data into the top search box, you can ignore this menu.

In this example, I am searching for files which contain “0606” but do NOT contain “0606-02”. (Notice I’m using the default “AND” for this search.)

Other search options specify whether the search text:

• Is contained anywhere in the file name
• Starts the file name
• Ends the file name
• Exactly matches the file name
• Is not contained in the file name

FIND A MEDIA FILE IN THE PROJECT

Control-click a clip in the Timeline and select Reveal in Project to show the source clip in the Project panel.

FIND A MEDIA FILE IN THE FINDER

Control-click a clip in the Timeline and select Reveal in Finder to show the source clip in the Finder.

RENAME A MEDIA FILE IN THE PROJECT PANEL OR BIN

To rename a media file, Control-click (or right-mouse-click) it and select Rename from the menu. This opens the file name for editing. Change the name as you see fit.

This changes the file name in the Project/Bin AND in the Timeline. It does NOT change the file name in the Finder.

RENAME A MEDIA FILE IN THE TIMELINE

To rename a clip in the timeline, Control-click (or right-mouse-click) and enter the new name in the floating Rename Clip dialog.

NOTE: This changes the name of that specific clip in the timeline, but does NOT change the file name in the project panel or Finder.

RENAME A MEDIA FILE IN THE FINDER

To rename a source file in the Finder, Control-click the file in either the Project/Bin or Timeline and choose Reveal in Finder.

This opens a window and highlights the name of the file. To rename the file, change the name in the Finder – the same as you do with any other file.

HOWEVER!!! When you change the file name in the Finder, this breaks its link with Premiere and the dreaded red Media Offline warning appears. Once a file is offline, changing the name back again in the Finder won’t fix it.

Instead, in this dialog – which appears whenever Premiere can’t find a file – select the file you want to relink, click the Locate button and navigate to the file you need to relink and click OK.

SUMMARY

Premiere provides a wide range of options to help you organize, find and rename media. Just remember not to change file names in the Finder for any clips that are already imported into your project.

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