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Rearrange and move clips

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Learn how to set the order in which clips should appear in a video.

Try it in-app

Practice and learn how to move and rearrange clips easily in Premiere Pro.

  1. Select the clip you want to rearrange.

  2. Press Ctrl + Alt (Windows) or Cmd + Opt (macOS) as you drop it to a new location.

    When you perform a rearrange edit, the Rearrange icon  appears.

  3. Release the clip to insert it into the new location.

Note:

Only clips in the destination track are shifted; other tracks are unaffected.

Move clips

You can place clips in playback order to create a sequence in a Timeline panel. You can also change the order of clips once they are there, replace them, remove them, or insert additional clips.

Move clips in a Timeline panel

You can drag a clip and place it in an empty spot or snap it to another clip. You can also insert and overwrite clips that you move. Watch the translucent rectangle that represents the clip’s duration as you drag it. To move multiple clips, select a range of clips, or move a group of clips. A tool tip displays the amount of time moved as you drag. The window displays a negative number if you drag the clip toward the beginning of the sequence, and a positive number if toward the end.

Overwrite is the default mode and is indicated by the Overwrite icon when dragging clips. Pressing Ctrl (Windows) or Command (macOS) as you drop a clip performs an insert edit. The Insert icon appears when you drag clips while pressing Ctrl (Windows) or Command (macOS).

By default, you can change the track location of either portion of a clip, audio or video, by dragging that portion. The other portion will remain in its original track. You can change this behavior, however, either by pressing Shift while you drag, or by dragging vertically across the bar that separates the video tracks from the audio tracks. When you drag a part of a clip vertically into a new track, it will snap to its original time location in the new track, if Snap is turned on.

  1. Do one of the following:
    • To move the audio portion of a clip to a different track, drag the audio portion of the clip vertically to the destination audio track.

    • To move the video portion of a clip to a different track, drag the video portion of the clip vertically to the destination video track.

    • To move the video portion of a clip to Video 1 and move the audio portion to a different audio track, drag the video portion downward past the bar separating video and audio tracks. The video portion will remain in Video 1 while the audio portion will land in the audio track where you drop it.

    • To move the audio portion of a clip to Audio 1 and move the video portion to a different video track, drag the audio portion upward past the bar separating video and audio tracks. The audio portion will remain in Audio 1 while the video portion will land in the video track where you drop it.

    • To place the video and audio portions of a clip into tracks you specify, drag the video portion to the destination video track. Press and hold Shift. This will pin the video portion to the specified video track. Continue holding Shift and drag downward past the bar separating video and audio tracks. Release the mouse and release Shift when the audio portion of the clip lies over the destination audio track.

    • To overwrite other clips, drag one or more clips and drop them on the track where the other clips are located.

    • To move only one track of a linked clip, press Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and drag the part of the clip, audio or video, you want to move. You don't need to hold the Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) key after you initiate the edit. The video and audio will lose sync.

    • To insert, drag one or more clips, and press Ctrl (Windows) or Command (macOS) as you release the mouse button and drop the clip or clips into a new location. Clips in all tracks to the right of the drop point shift to the right of the inserted clips. A gap remains in the track from which you move the inserted clips.

Move clips using the keypad

You can change the position of a clip in a sequence by typing the number of frames that you want to move.

  1. Select the clip in the sequence.
  2. Using your numeric keypad with Num Lock on, type + (plus) and the number of frames that you want to move the clip to the right, or type (minus) and the number of frames you want to move the clip to the left. Then, press Enter (Windows) or Return (macOS).

    If any gaps exist between clips, those gaps are filled first. Then, the selected clip overwrites adjacent clips by the remaining number of frames.

Drag the audio or video portions of a clip up or down into the track you want. Only the portion of the clip you drag will move into a new track.

Nudge clips

You can move clips forward or backward in the timeline by one frame at a time, or by a large frame offset. This command is called "nudging". When you are nudging a clip, you are moving it forward, backward, or up and down, in the timeline. When the clips being nudged are next to another clip, it overwrites clips as you nudge.

To nudge clips, select a clip, or multiple clips, and then use one of the following keyboard shortcuts.

Action

Keyboard shortcut

Nudge clip selection 5 frames to the left

Windows: Alt + Shift + Left
macOS: Command + Shift + Left

Nudge clip selection 1 frame to the left

Windows: Alt + Left
macOS: Command + Left

Nudge clip selection 5 frames to the right

Windows: Alt + Shift + Right
macOS: Command + Shift + Right

Nudge clip selection one frame to the right

Windows: Alt + Right
macOS: Command + Right

Nudge clip up or down

Windows: Alt + (Up arrow or Down arrow)
macOS: Opt + (Up arrow or Down arrow)

Note:

Things to keep in mind while nudging clips up or down

  • The selected clips move one track vertically if all selected clips can be moved; otherwise, no clips are moved. All clips keep their same start and end time horizontally. For video clips, moving up increases the track number (for example, V2 to V3), whereas for audio clips, moving up decreases the track number (for example, A2 to A1). Moving down decreases video track numbers and increases audio track numbers. If you move a clip beyond the current set of tracks, a new track may be added.
  • A clip can overwrite any part of another clip on the track it's being moved to. If you want to move a clip to a different track without overwriting other clips, drag the clip to the new track instead of using keyboard shortcuts.

This command does not move any clips if any of the following are true:

  • The move would place the clip before track 1 (for example, you can't move a clip on Video 1 on a lower track, or move a clip on Audio 1 to a higher track). If you attempt to move a clip this way, a tooltip will appear in the middle of the Timeline panel: "Media limit on V1" or "Media limit on A1".
  • The move would place the clip on a locked track. If you attempt to move a clip this way, a tooltip will appear, indicating "Media limit" on the track that cannot be moved because of an adjacent locked track.

Lift and paste frames

You can remove or lift frames from a specified area of one or more tracks in a sequence, leaving a gap in their place. You specify the area with sequence In and Out points. If only a part of a clip appears between the sequence In and Out points, that part will be lifted from the sequence while the rest of the clip will remain. You can then paste the lifted frames anywhere in a sequence.

  1. Use the controls in the Program Monitor to specify sequence In and Out points.
  2. In the Timeline, click the headers of the tracks from which you want to lift frames to target them.
  3. In the Program Monitor, click the Lift button .

    The frames that are lifted are placed on the system clipboard.

  4. Click the header of the track into which you want to paste the lifted frames to target it.
  5. Move the playhead to the location where you want to paste the lifted frames.
  6. Select Edit > Paste.

Extract and paste frames

You can extract frames from a specified area of one or more tracks in a sequence, leaving no gap in their place. You specify the area with a sequence In Point and Out point. If only part of a clip appears between the sequence In point and Out point, Premiere Pro will extract only that part of the clip from the sequence, letting the rest of the clip remain. After extracting, you can paste the extracted frames anywhere in a sequence.

  1. Use the controls in the Program Monitor to specify sequence In and Out points.
  2. In the Timeline, click the headers of the tracks from which you want to extract frames to target them.
  3. Click the Sync Lock boxes in the headers of all tracks you want to shift when the gap is closed. The clips in tracks where Sync Lock is disabled will not shift.
  4. In the Program Monitor, click the Extract button .

    The frames that are extracted are placed on the system clipboard.

  5. Click the header of the track into which you want to paste the extracted frames to target it.
  6. Move the playhead to the location where you want to paste the extracted frames.
  7. Select Edit > Paste.

Copy and paste at the playhead

You can copy and paste one or more clips at a time. The relative spacing (both horizontal spacing in time, and vertical spacing in tracks) of clips is maintained. You paste and paste insert copies of clips into tracks you first target, at any new playhead locations.

  1. Select one or more clips in the sequence, and choose Edit > Copy.
  2. Click one or more tracks you want to target in the track header area of a Timeline panel.
  3. In the Timeline panel, position the playhead at the point in the sequence where you want to paste a copy of the clips.
  4. Do one of the following:
    • To overwrite the pasted clips, choose Edit > Paste.

    • To insert the pasted clips, choose Edit > Paste Insert.

    The clip or clips are pasted into the sequence, and the playhead jumps to the end of the pasted clip or clips.

Copy and paste clips by dragging in the Timeline

You can copy and paste clips by dragging them and holding down a modifier key to a different place in the Timeline.

To copy and paste clips to a new place in the Timeline, do the following:

  1. Press the Alt (Windows), or Option (macOS) key.

  2. Select one or more clips in the sequence, and then drag them to a new location in the Timeline. You can drag them horizontally or vertically.

    After dropping the clips in a new location, they are duplicated.

    When dragging clips with the Alt or Option key modifier in the Timeline, you can do the following:

    • You can duplicate either the video or audio portion of clips if you Alt-click (Windows), or Option-click (macOS) the clips, and then drag them to a new place in the Timeline.

    • You can hold down the Alt key (Windows) or Option key (macOS) as you're dragging to copy and paste clips to a new place in the Timeline.

    • If a clip is already selected, clicking Alt key (Windows) or Option key (macOS) will no longer select the audio or video portion of a clip, the clip must be deselected first.


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