EFFICIENT EDITING
As you get more confident working in Premiere, you may want to start using some more advanced keyboard shortcuts. Here are some that I use all the time:
↑ and ↓ – In the Timeline, the up and down arrow keys move the playhead forward or backward to the next clip on a highlighted track. A track is highlighted when the name of the track (V1, V2, etc.) on the left side of the sequence is blue. Click on the name to highlight or unhighlight a specific track.
⌘K – This makes a cut at the playhead. If a clip is selected, only that clip will be cut; otherwise, everything under the playhead on a highlighted track will be cut. This is basically a faster way to use the razor tool.
Q and W – These are my absolute favorite shortcuts. Pressing Q will make a cut through any clips under the playhead, delete the parts of those clips to the left of the playhead, then ripple everything back to the previous cut point, deleting the gap. Pressing W will do the same thing, but to the parts of the clips to the right of the playhead. That probably sounds confusing, so you should just experiment for yourself to see the results. Trust me, once you know how to use this shortcut, it will save you tons of time.
Home and End – Home brings the playhead to the very beginning of the sequence, ignoring in and out points. End brings the playhead to the end of the last piece of media in the sequence.
= and – – The “equal” key and the “dash” (which are also “plus” and “minus”) key zoom the view of the Timeline in and out, respectively.
\ – This is the key above Enter. It resets the zoom level to fit the entire sequence on the screen.
` – This is the key next to the number “1” on the top of the keyboard – it’s also the ~ key. Pressing this key will make whatever window you have selected (Timeline, Program Monitor, Effect Controls, etc.) fullscreen. This is great for checking detail on the Program Monitor or making fine adjustments in other windows. Pressing it again will return to the standard view.
There are many more useful keyboard shortcuts and you’ll probably find yourself relying on them more and more as you become a more efficient editor. For a more complete list and a downloadable cheat sheet, check out this link.