Premiere Pro Keyboard Shortcuts (Beginner’s Guide)

In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through the most useful Premiere Pro keyboard shortcuts, including short demo videos showing them in action.

Post-production is a major part of filmmaking — full of cuts, revisions, tweaks, and feedback. All that editing can take a lot of time.

As you get better with Premiere Pro, you’ll probably look for ways to speed up your workflow. So how can you cut down your editing time and work more efficiently?

Fortunately, Adobe built in a ton of keyboard shortcuts to help. Below, we’ve listed some of the most useful ones to help you edit faster and stay organized.

Basic Shortcuts

Before anything else, let’s talk about saving your work.

We’ve mentioned before how important it is to save regularly while editing. Saving your project—and even a backup copy—should become second nature, something you do every few minutes without thinking.

Instead of going to File > Save every time, you can simply press Ctrl + S on Windows or Cmd + S on Mac. To save a copy, press Ctrl + Alt + S (Windows) or Opt + Cmd + S (Mac).

Here are a few other basic shortcuts that’ll come in handy when you’re just getting started:

Command	Windows	Mac
Save	Ctrl + S	Cmd + S
Save a Copy	Ctrl + Alt + S	Opt + Cmd + S
Import	Ctrl + I	Cmd + I
Export	Ctrl + M	Cmd + M
Open Project	Ctrl + O	Cmd + O
New Project	Ctrl + Alt + N	Opt + Cmd + N
New Sequence	Ctrl + N	Cmd + N

Create a New Project

Create a New Sequence

Import

Clipboard Shortcuts

Next, knowing your clipboard shortcuts is super useful for copying and moving information between clips.

For instance, if you like the color grade you applied to one clip and want to reuse it, you can just copy and paste it instead of redoing every adjustment manually.

Here are a few more shortcuts you’ll use all the time. Made a mistake or pasted something in the wrong spot? Undo and redo will quickly become your best friends.

Command	Windows	Mac
Cut	Ctrl + X	Cmd + X
Copy	Ctrl + C	Cmd + C
Paste	Ctrl + V	Cmd + V
Undo	Ctrl + Z	Cmd + Z
Redo	Ctrl + Shift + Z	Shift + Cmd + Z
Clear	Delete	Forward Delete
Ripple Delete	Shift + Delete	Shift + Forward Delete
Duplicate	Ctrl + Shift + /	Shift + Cmd + /
Select All	Ctrl + A	Cmd + A
Deselect All	Ctrl + Shift + A	Shift + Cmd + A

Tool Shortcuts

When it comes to editing footage on your timeline, you’ve got a range of powerful tools. Knowing their shortcuts will save you tons of time.

Here are the main tool shortcuts you’ll want to memorize:

Command	Windows	Mac
Selection	V	V
Razor	C	C
Ripple Trim Previous	Q	Q
Ripple Trim Next	W	W
Track Select Forward	A	A
Track Select Backward	Shift + A	Shift + A
Ripple Edit	B	B
Rolling Edit	N	N
Rate Stretch	R	R
Slip Tool	Y	Y
Slide Tool	U	U
Pen Tool	P	P
Hand Tool	H	H
Zoom Tool	Z	Z

Razor + Select + Delete

Track Select Forward

Ripple Trim (Previous or Next)

Rolling Edit

Rate Stretch

Slip Tool

Navigation Shortcuts

One of the biggest time-wasters in editing is simply moving around your timeline with the mouse. It doesn’t seem like much, but all those seconds add up quickly.

Fortunately, there are faster ways to move your playhead, navigate the timeline, and switch between panels. These navigation shortcuts will help you edit more smoothly and efficiently.

Command	Windows	Mac
Toggle Play/Stop	Space	Space
Find in Source	F	F
Shuttle Left	J	J
Shuttle Right	L	L
Stop	K	K
Toggle Snap On/Off	S	S
Mark In Point	I	I
Mark Out Point	O	O
Go to In Point	Shift + I	Shift + I
Go to Out Point	Shift + O	Shift + O
Clear In & Out	Ctrl + Shift + X	Opt + X
Step Back	Left Arrow	Left Arrow
Step Forward	Right Arrow	Right Arrow
Next Edit Point	Down Arrow	Down Arrow
Previous Edit Point	Up Arrow	Up Arrow
Move Footage	Alt + Arrow	Cmd + Arrow

Find in Source

Mark In or Out Points

In short, there’s a lot you can accomplish using Premiere Pro keyboard shortcuts. With practice, you can edit an entire project without even touching your mouse.

Using shortcuts helps you work faster, finish projects sooner, and spend more time on creativity instead of clicking around.