The best and most useful Adobe Premiere Pro keyboard shortcuts, and how to make your own

Ennica Jacob

Feb 27, 2021, 00:52 IST

The best and most useful Adobe Premiere Pro keyboard shortcuts, and how to make your own

Adobe Premiere Pro has a host of keyboard shortcuts to speed up your video editing.okugawa/Getty Images

Adobe Premiere Pro has keyboard shortcuts that let you navigate the app, select new tools, and more.
You can also create your own Adobe Premiere shortcuts for commands that aren't included in the defaults.

Adobe Premiere Pro is the video editing software program in Adobe's Creative Suite. With its wide variety of editing tools, it's one of the most popular editing programs around.

If you use Adobe Premiere often, you can navigate through the app even faster by using keyboard shortcuts.

becoming adept at keyboard shortcuts adds efficiency to your workflow.

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To help with using shortcuts, Adobe detects the device's operating system and attributes default shortcuts.

How Adobe Premiere Pro shortcuts work

Premiere Pro has two types of shortcuts: application and panel. Panel shortcuts work on specific panels, while application shortcuts function across the entire program.

There are some cases when a shortcut key or sequence can be used for different commands. For example, the Razor Tool or C key is used to cut segments, unless you switch to the "Titler" or text panel. Then the C key becomes a Vertical Type Tool.

Shortcuts can be sorted into smaller groups to distinguish between their functions. There are four sub-groups of shortcuts.

Command Shortcuts: Tasks dealing with starting, saving, and closing projects
Clipboard Shortcuts: Standard or advanced copy/paste commands
Tool Shortcuts: Actions for built-in Premiere Pro tools
Navigation Shortcuts: Keys to help review your video

Quick tip: Navigation and Tool shortcuts in Adobe Premiere are mostly the same for Mac and Windows.

Here's a list of shortcuts for Mac and Windows you should know when using Adobe Premiere Pro.

Adobe Premiere Pro keyboard shortcuts for Windows

Here's a complete list of command and clipboard shortcuts for Windows users working in Adobe Premiere Pro.

Command Shortcuts

These shortcuts are for tasks that involve Premiere Pro's File menu options. They cut down on time spent searching for the action you need within the drop-down menu. These actions will make saving projects, creating new ones, and importing media easier.

New Project/Production: Ctrl + Alt + N

New Sequence: Ctrl + N

New Bin: Ctrl + B

Title: Ctrl + T

Open Project/Production: Ctrl + O

Browse in Adobe Bridge: Ctrl + Alt + O

Close Project: Ctrl + Shift + W

Close: Ctrl + W

Save: Ctrl + S

Save As: Ctrl + Shift + S

Save a Copy: Ctrl + Alt + S

Import from Media Browser: Ctrl + Alt + I

Import Media: Ctrl + I

Export Media: Ctrl + M

Get Properties for Selection: Ctrl + Shift + H

Exit/Quit Premiere Pro: Ctrl + Q

Clipboard Shortcuts

These shortcuts help with making large-scale changes to your project. They function similarly to Microsoft Word's shortcuts.

Undo: Ctrl + Z

Redo: Ctrl + Shift + Z

Cut: Ctrl + X

Copy: Ctrl + C

Paste: Ctrl + V

Paste Insert (Insert copied clips): Ctrl + Shift + V

Paste Attributes (Insert effects from another clip): Ctrl + Alt + V

Clear: Delete

Clear In & Out: Ctrl + Shift + X

Ripple Delete: Shift + Delete

Quick tip: This lets you delete clips and keep the space in your sequence untouched, or fill it with another clip.

Duplicate: Ctrl + Shift + /

Select All: Ctrl + A

Deselect All: Ctrl + Shift + A

Find: Ctrl + F

Edit Original: Ctrl + E

Adobe Premiere Pro keyboard shortcuts for Mac

Here's a complete list of command and clipboard shortcuts for Mac users working in Adobe Premiere Pro.

Command Shortcuts

New Project/Production: Option + Command + N

New Sequence: Command + N

New Bin: Command + B

Title: Command + T

Open Project/Production: Command + O

Browse in Adobe Bridge: Option + Command + O

Close Project: Shift + Command + W

Close: Command + W

Save: Command + S

Save As: Shift + Command + S

Save a Copy: Option + Command + S

Import from Media Browser: Option + Command + I

Import Media: Command + I

Export Media: Command + M

Get Properties for Selection: Shift + Command + H

Exit/Quit Premiere Pro: Command + Q

Clipboard Shortcuts

These shortcuts help with making large-scale changes to your project. They function similarly to Microsoft Word's shortcuts.

Undo: Command + Z

Redo: Shift + Command + Z

Cut: Command + X

Copy: Command + C

Paste: Command + V

Paste Insert: Command + Shift + V

Paste Attributes: Option + Command + V

Clear: Forward Delete

Clear In & Out: Option + X

Ripple Delete: Shift + Forward + Delete

Duplicate: Shift + Command + /

Select All: Command + A

Deselect All: Shift + Command + A

Find: Command + F

Edit Original: Command + E

Adobe Premiere Pro tool shortcuts for both Mac and Windows

These shortcuts are used for editing your videos and are a necessity for a seamless workflow.

Selection Tool: V

Track Select Forward Tool: A

Track Select Backward Tool: Shift + A

Ripple Edit Tool: B

Ripple Trim Previous: Q

Ripple Trim Next: W

Ripple Delete: Shift + Del

Rolling Edit Tool: N

Rate Stretch Tool: R

Razor Tool: C

Slip Tool: Y

Slide Tool: U

Pen Tool: P

Hand Tool: H

Zoom Tool: Z

Render Effects in Work Area: Enter (Windows) / Return (Mac OS)

Here's a breakdown of what each shortcut command here does.

Selection Tool: Choose specific points of your video to trim or for selecting sections of your video
Track Select Tool: Select clips within a single sequence
Ripple Edit Tool: This allows you to trim a clip and ripple the effect to any remaining clips before filling in gaps.
Ripple Edit Delete: Moves all following clips to the left, filling the space.
Ripple Edit Previous: Moves the previous clip to the left.
Ripple Edit Next: Moves to the next clip to the left.
Rolling Edit Tool: Keep the duration of a specific clip while moving around the edit points.
Rate Stretch Tool: Changes the speed of a selected clip on your timeline while the duration remains the same.
Razor Tool: This splits a clip from the point you selected, allowing you to create multiple clips from a single one.
Slip Tool: Modify in and out points simultaneously on a clip without changing the clip's length.
Slide Tool: Move your clip from the right or left while keeping its duration the same. It will adjust the surrounding clips.
Pen Tool: Add or fix details on your clips. It can be used to blur parts of your video or precision for color correction.
Hand Tool: Let's you move your position on the timeline.
Zoom Tool: This allows you to zoom in and out.

Adobe Premiere Pro navigation shortcuts for both Mac and Windows

Navigation controls help you review the playback of clips and your timeline sequence.

Play/Stop Toggle: Space

Zoom In: =

Zoom Out: -

Step Back: Left Arrow

Step Forward: Right Arrow

Go to Next Edit Point: Down Arrow

Go to Previous Edit Point: Up Arrow

Mark In Point: I

Mark Out Point: O

Clear In & Out: Ctrl + Shift + X (Windows) / Option + X (MacOS)

Shuttle Left: J

Stop: K

Shuttle Right: L

Snap (Turn On/Off): S

Insert: , (Comma)

Overwrite: . (Period)

How to make custom keyboard shortcuts in Adobe Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro offers customizable shortcuts depending on how you want to control your workflow. Using these shortcuts will prompt a virtual keyboard to open. This is where you can add, delete, change, or sync shortcuts through a drag and drop feature.

You can search for functions to change or to create new shortcuts for existing functions. Practicing keyboard shortcuts and adjusting them will help make video editing more comfortable and more enjoyable.

Here are the custom shortcut commands for Windows and Mac.