Video editing is a highly detailed, time consuming task. Keyboard shortcuts can help you speed up the process quite a bit. Video editor Derek Lieu shares his own tips and tricks for faster editing in Premiere, along with Final Cut equivalents.
We’ve given you some basic Premiere shortcuts before, and Lieu covers some of the basics, but he also gets into more detailed shortcuts. Best of all, he tells you what the equivalent function is in Final Cut and Avid. A couple of highlights include:
Deselect-All (Shortcut)
Right now you’re probably saying: “Come on, is it THAT BIG A DEAL to deselect something by clicking the mouse?” Yes, when you consider how often you’re selecting things. If you have to go to your mouse and click off the screen to deselect stuff every single time, then having a shortcut will save time. This one is so second nature to me I almost forgot to include it.
My Setting – (Cmd-D)
Default Setting – (Shift-Cmd-A)
Final Cut Pro 7 – Same
Final Cut Pro X – Same
Avid Media Composer – Not really applicable because Avid uses in/out points for all it selection based functions.
Replace with clip – from source monitor, match frame (aka Replace Edit) (Shortcut)
...This incredibly useful shortcut should be right alongside Overwrite and Insert. This is very useful when you want to replace a clip in the timeline with one in the Source monitor by lining up the playheads to a specific frame in both clips.
For example, you have a clip in the timeline with a punch that syncs to the music beat, but you want to replace it so that instead there’s an explosion syncing to the music beat instead. You just put the playhead for each clip at the appropriate frame, select the timeline clip and use the shortcut.
My Setting – (N)
Default Setting – (none)
Final Cut Pro 7 – Referred to as “Replace Clip.” Does not require selecting the clip first (yay!)
Final Cut Pro X – Closest equivalent is “Replace at Start” and “Replace at End” but in my opinion is not comparable in utility.
Avid Media Composer – Referred to as “Replace Edit.” Does not require selecting the clip first (yay!)
There’s a lot more where that came from, so you’ll definitely want to check out Lieu’s video above, then head to his full article at the link below.
26 Simple Tricks For Faster Editing (Premiere Pro CC) | Derek Lieu