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Trimming clips

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Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro

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  1. Adobe Premiere Pro User Guide
  2. Beta releases
    1. Beta Program Overview
    2. Premiere Pro Beta Home
    3. Beta features
      1. Audio Category Tagging
      2. Interactive fade handles
      3. Share for review with Frame.io
      4. Invite collaborators to co-edit a project
  3. Getting started
    1. Get started with Adobe Premiere Pro
    2. What's new in Premiere Pro
    3. Best practices for updating Premiere Pro
    4. Keyboard shortcuts in Premiere Pro
    5. Accessibility in Premiere Pro
    6. Frequently asked questions
    7. Release notes
  4. Hardware and operating system requirements
    1. Hardware recommendations
    2. System requirements
    3. GPU and GPU Driver requirements
    4. GPU Accelerated Rendering & Hardware Encoding/Decoding
  5. Creating projects
    1. Start a new project
    2. Open projects
    3. Move and delete projects
    4. Work with multiple open projects
    5. Work with Project Shortcuts
    6. Backward compatibility of Premiere Pro projects
    7. Open and edit Premiere Rush projects in Premiere Pro
    8. Best Practices: Create your own project templates
  6. Workspaces and workflows
    1. Workspaces
    2. Import and export FAQs
    3. Working with Panels
    4. Windows touch and gesture controls
    5. Use Premiere Pro in a dual-monitor setup
  7. Frame.io
    1. Install and activate Frame.io
    2. Use Frame.io with Premiere Pro and After Effects
    3. Integrate Adobe Workfront and Frame.io
    4. Frequently asked questions
  8. Import media
    1. Importing
      1. Transfer files
      2. Importing still images
      3. Importing digital audio
    2. Importing from Avid or Final Cut
      1. Importing AAF project files from Avid Media Composer
      2. Importing XML project files from Final Cut Pro 7 and Final Cut Pro X
    3. File formats
      1. Supported file formats
      2. Support for Blackmagic RAW
    4. Working with timecode
  9. Editing
    1. Edit video
    2. Sequences
      1. Create and change sequences
      2. Set In and Out points in the Source Monitor
      3. Add clips to sequences
      4. Rearrange and move clips
      5. Find, select, and group clips in a sequence
      6. Remove clips from a sequence
      7. Change sequence settings
      8. Edit from sequences loaded into the Source Monitor
      9. Simplify sequences
      10. Rendering and previewing sequences
      11. Working with markers
      12. Source patching and track targeting
      13. Scene edit detection
    3. Cut and trim clips
      1. Split or cut clips
      2. Trim clips
      3. Edit in Trim mode
      4. Perform J cuts and L cuts
      5. Create and play clips
      6. Adjust Trimming and Playback preferences
    4. Video
      1. Synchronizing audio and video with Merge Clips
      2. Render and replace media
      3. Undo, history, and events
      4. Freeze and hold frames
      5. Working with aspect ratios
    5. Audio
      1. Overview of audio in Premiere Pro
      2. Edit audio clips in the Source Monitor
      3. Audio Track Mixer
      4. Adjusting volume levels
      5. Edit, repair, and improve audio using Essential Sound panel
      6. Enhance Speech
      7. Enhance Speech FAQs
      8. Automatically duck audio
      9. Remix audio
      10. Monitor clip volume and pan using Audio Clip Mixer
      11. Audio balancing and panning
      12. Advanced Audio - Submixes, downmixing, and routing
      13. Audio effects and transitions
      14. Working with audio transitions
      15. Apply effects to audio
      16. Measure audio using the Loudness Radar effect
      17. Recording audio mixes
      18. Editing audio in the timeline
      19. Audio channel mapping in Premiere Pro
      20. Use Adobe Stock audio in Premiere Pro
    6. Text-Based Editing
      1. Text-Based Editing
      2. Text-Based Editing FAQs
    7. Advanced editing
      1. Multi-camera editing workflow
      2. Set up and use Head Mounted Display for immersive video in Premiere Pro
      3. Editing VR
    8. Best Practices
      1. Best Practices: Mix audio faster
      2. Best Practices: Editing efficiently
      3. Editing workflows for feature films
  10. Video Effects and Transitions
    1. Overview of video effects and transitions
    2. Effects
      1. Types of effects in Premiere Pro
      2. Apply and remove effects
      3. Effect presets
      4. Metadata effect in Premiere Pro
      5. Automatically reframe video for different social media channels
      6. Color correction effects
      7. Effects Manager
      8. Change duration and speed of clips
      9. Adjustment Layers
      10. Stabilize footage
    3. Transitions
      1. Applying transitions in Premiere Pro
      2. Modifying and customizing transitions
      3. Morph Cut
  11. Titles, Graphics, and Captions    
    1. Overview of the Essential Graphics panel
    2. Graphics and Titles
      1. Create a title
      2. Linked and Track Styles
      3. Working with style browser
    3. Graphics
      1. Create a shape
      2. Draw with the Pen tool
      3. Align and distribute objects
      4. Change the appearance of text and shapes
      5. Apply gradients
      6. Add Responsive Design features to your graphics
      7. Install and use Motion Graphics templates
      8. Replace images or videos in Motion Graphics templates
      9. Use data-driven Motion Graphics templates
    4. Captions
      1. Speech to Text
      2. Download language packs for transcription
      3. Working with captions
      4. Check spelling and Find and Replace
      5. Export text
      6. Speech to Text FAQs
    5. Best Practices: Faster graphics workflows
    6. Retiring the Legacy Titler FAQs
    7. Upgrade Legacy titles to Source Graphics
  12. Fonts and emojis
    1. Color fonts
    2. Emojis
  13. Animation and Keyframing
    1. Adding, navigating, and setting keyframes
    2. Animating effects
    3. Use Motion effect to edit and animate clips
    4. Optimize keyframe automation
    5. Moving and copying keyframes
    6. Viewing and adjusting effects and keyframes
  14. Compositing
    1. Compositing, alpha channels, and adjusting clip opacity
    2. Masking and tracking
    3. Blending modes
  15. Color Correction and Grading
    1. Overview: Color workflows in Premiere Pro
    2. Color Settings
    3. Auto Color
    4. Get creative with color using Lumetri looks
    5. Adjust color using RGB and Hue Saturation Curves
    6. Correct and match colors between shots
    7. Using HSL Secondary controls in the Lumetri Color panel
    8. Create vignettes
    9. Looks and LUTs
    10. Lumetri scopes
    11. Display Color Management
    12. Timeline tone mapping
    13. HDR for broadcasters
    14. Enable DirectX HDR support
  16. Exporting media
    1. Export video
    2. Export Preset Manager
    3. Workflow and overview for exporting
    4. Quick export
    5. Exporting for the Web and mobile devices
    6. Export a still image
    7. Exporting projects for other applications
    8. Exporting OMF files for Pro Tools
    9. Export to Panasonic P2 format
    10. Export settings
      1. Export settings reference
      2. Basic Video Settings
      3. Encoding Settings
    11. Best Practices: Export faster
  17. Collaborative editing
    1. Collaboration in Premiere Pro
    2. Get started with collaborative video editing
    3. Create Team Projects
    4. Add and manage media in Team Projects
    5. Invite and manage collaborators
    6. Share and manage changes with collaborators
    7. View auto saves and versions of Team Projects
    8. Manage Team Projects
    9. Linked Team Projects
    10. Frequently asked questions
  18. Long form and Episodic workflows
    1. Long Form and Episodic Workflow Guide
    2. Using Productions
    3. How clips work across projects in a Production
    4. Best Practices: Working with Productions
  19. Working with other Adobe applications
    1. After Effects and Photoshop
    2. Dynamic Link
    3. Audition
    4. Prelude
  20. Organizing and Managing Assets
    1. Working in the Project panel
    2. Organize assets in the Project panel
    3. Playing assets
    4. Search assets
    5. Creative Cloud Libraries
    6. Sync Settings in Premiere Pro
    7. Consolidate, transcode, and archive projects
    8. Managing metadata
    9. Best Practices
      1. Best Practices: Learning from broadcast production
      2. Best Practices: Working with native formats
  21. Improving Performance and Troubleshooting
    1. Set preferences
    2. Reset and restore preferences
    3. Recovery Mode
    4. Working with Proxies
      1. Proxy overview
      2. Ingest and Proxy Workflow
    5. Check if your system is compatible with Premiere Pro
    6. Premiere Pro for Apple silicon
    7. Eliminate flicker
    8. Interlacing and field order
    9. Smart rendering
    10. Control surface support
    11. Best Practices: Working with native formats
    12. Knowledge Base
      1. Known issues
      2. Fixed issues
      3. Fix Premiere Pro crash issues
      4. Unable to migrate settings after updating Premiere Pro
      5. Green and pink video in Premiere Pro or Premiere Rush
      6. How do I manage the Media Cache in Premiere Pro?
      7. Fix errors when rendering or exporting
      8. Troubleshoot issues related to playback and performance in Premiere Pro
  22. Extensions and plugins
    1. Installing plugins and extensions in Premiere Pro
    2. Latest plugins from third-party developers
  23. Video and audio streaming
    1. Secure Reliable Transport (SRT)
  24. Monitoring Assets and Offline Media
    1. Monitoring assets
      1. Using the Source Monitor and Program Monitor
      2. Using the Reference Monitor
    2. Offline media
      1. Working with offline clips
      2. Creating clips for offline editing
      3. Relinking offline media

Once you have built a “rough cut” sequence on the timeline, you can trim clips to refine the edits and timing. 

  1. Select the clip you want to trim.

    Select a clip

  2. Hover your mouse over the edge of the clip until the trim icon   appears.

    Hover your mouse over the clip

  3. Select and drag the edge of the clip to the desired length for clipping.

    Drag to trim the clip

Adobe Premiere Pro deeplink
Adobe Premiere Pro deeplink
Adobe Premiere Pro deeplink

Try it in Adobe Premiere Pro
Practice and learn how to edit and trim clips easily in Premiere Pro.

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Open Premiere Pro

Other trimming tools

Ripple Edit Tool

Use Ripple Edit Tool   to trim the edge of a clip and automatically close the gap with the clip next to it. 

  1. Select the clip you want to edit in the timeline.

  2. Press B on your keyboard to activate Ripple Edit Tool.

  3. Click and drag the end of the clip to the left or right to shorten or lengthen the clip respectively.

Rolling Edit Tool

Use Rolling Edit Tool   to move the cut point between two clips. 

Rolling Edit Tool lets you adjust the cut position between two clips without changing the combined duration of the two clips. Clicking the edit point with the Rolling Edit Tool selects both sides of the edit point.

  1. Select the clip you want to edit in the timeline.

  2. Press N on your keyboard to activate Rolling Edit Tool.

  3. Select and drag the edge of the clip left or right to adjust the timing.

Keyboard shortcuts

Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (macOS) on the edit point with Ripple Edit Tool to bring up Rolling Edit Tool. To trim only one track of a linked clip, press Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) as you perform a split edit (L-cut or J-cut). 

Slip Tool

Use Slip Tool   to adjust a clip's In and Out points without changing its position in the timeline. This kind of edit is a great way to adjust the timing of footage within a clip without affecting its overall length or the position of surrounding clips in the timeline.

A slip edit shifts a clip’s In and Out points forward or backward by the same number of frames in a single action. By dragging with Slip Tool, you can change a clip’s starting and ending frames without changing its duration or affecting adjacent clips.

In this slip edit, a clip is dragged left, moving its source In and Out points later in time.
In this slip edit, a clip is dragged left, moving its source In and Out points later in time.

  1. Select the clip you want to edit in the timeline.

  2. Press Y on your keyboard to activate Slip Tool.

  3. Drag left or right over the clip to change its in and out points. The overall duration of the clip will remain the same.

Keyboard shortcuts

When performing a slip edit with keyboard shortcuts, place the playhead on the clip you're slipping so you can see the slip edit being performed. You can use this method to align a video action with an audio cue.

Action

Keyboard shortcut

Slip clip selection left five frames

Windows: Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Left

macOS: Opt + Shift + Cmd + Left

Slip clip selection left one frame

Windows: Alt + Shift + Left

macOS: Opt + Cmd + Left

Slip clip selection right five frames

Windows: Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Right

macOS: Opt + Shift + Cmd + Right

Slip clip selection right one frame

Windows: Alt + Shift + Right

macOS: Opt + Cmd + Right

Slide Tool

Use Slide Tool   to adjust the position of a clip in the timeline without changing its in and out points.

A slide edit shifts a clip in time while trimming adjacent clips to compensate for the move. As you drag a clip left or right with Slide Tool, the Out point of the preceding clip and the In point of the following clip are trimmed by the number of frames you move the clip. The clip’s In and Out points (and hence, its duration) remain unchanged.

In this slide edit, a clip is dragged left to start earlier in the sequence, shortening the preceding clip and lengthening the following clip.
In this slide edit, a clip is dragged left to start earlier in the sequence, shortening the preceding clip and lengthening the following clip.

  1. Select the clip you want to edit in the timeline.

  2. Press U on the keyboard to activate Slide Tool.

  3. Click and drag the clip left or right to slide it to a new position in the timeline.

Keyboard shortcuts

Action

Keyboard shortcut

Slide clip selection left five frames

Windows: Alt + Shift + , 

macOS: Option + Shift + ,

Slide clip selection left one frame

Windows: Alt + ,

macOS: Option + ,

Slide clip selection right five frames

Windows: Alt + Shift + . 

macOS: Option + Shift + .

Slide clip selection right one frame

Windows: Alt + .

macOS: Option + .

Learn more

Watch this 60-second video to learn more about editing clips in Premiere Pro.

Related resources

Talk to us

If you have questions about editing on the timeline, reach out to us in our Premiere Pro community. We would love to help.

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