This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Navigating in the Timeline
When you create a 90-minute video in a Timeline that measures about 4 inches by 8 inches on your monitor (smaller with notebooks), you need to be facile at zooming in and out, moving around, and arranging (and rearranging) Timeline components.
As with most panels in Premiere Pro, you can maximize the Timeline within the application by pressing the accent key (`) on the keyboard (to the left of the 1 key and directly above the Tab key). Let’s cover some of the most common navigational tools and techniques specific to the Timeline.
To zoom in and out on the Timeline
Do one or more of the following:
- Grab one edge of zoom bar at the bottom of the Timeline or Program Monitor
. The pointer turns into a pointer with two arrows. Drag the edge toward the middle to zoom in on the Timeline (and show more detail); drag out from the middle to zoom out and show less detail.
- Click the Zoom tool (Z) in the Tools panel
. Navigate to the spot on the Timeline that you’d like to zoom in on, and click as many times as necessary to achieve the desired level of zoom 
. To zoom back out, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) 
. When you’re done, click the Selection tool in the Tools panel (or press V) 
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Choosing the Zoom tool (press Z).
Choosing the Selection tool (press V). - Click the Zoom tool (Z) in the Tools panel
. Drag a marquee around the area of the Timeline you’d like to zoom in on 
. When you’re done, click the Selection tool in the Tools panel (or press V) 
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Use the Zoom tool to drag a marquee around the area you want to zoom in on. - When you’re zoomed in on the Timeline and want to quickly zoom out and see the entire project, press the backslash (\) key; press it again to return to your initial zoom level.
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The easiest way to zoom in on a specific region is to drag the playhead to that region and drag the zoom bar inward 
to the desired zoom level. I find that the Zoom tool jumps around too much when zooming in.
Adjusting audio and video track space
At various points in a project, you may want to work on video and ignore audio, or vice versa. If you have enough audio or video tracks, some will move out of view in some Timeline configurations. Let’s cover some adjustments and navigational tools designed to assist editing in these circumstances.
To reallocate space between video and audio tracks
- In the track header area of the Timeline, position the pointer over the dividing line between the video and audio tracks until the height adjustment pointer
appears.
Hover your pointer over the line between the video and audio tracks. The adjustment pointer appears. - Drag downward to hide audio tracks and maximize space for video editing
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- Drag upward to hide the video tracks and maximize space for audio editing
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To show hidden audio or video tracks
- Select the textured grab area of the vertical zoom bar to the right of the video or audio tracks
. No special pointer will appear (note on the left that only video tracks V1–V4 are showing).
Grab the vertical zoom bar in the textured grab area. No special pointer will appear. - Drag upward or downward as required
. (Note that video tracks V7–V9 are now visible.)
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You can also use the scroll wheel on your mouse to scroll up and down in the audio and video area. Click in the Timeline itself 
and scroll. Don’t click in the track header, which will adjust the height of the selected track when you scroll.
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Click in the Timeline area, and you can use your mouse’s scroll wheel to move through the tracks.
Moving around in Premiere Pro
We’re almost done with these navigational tasks, but there’s one more concept to cover: the difference between the viewing window and the location of the playhead. The viewing window is the region in the Timeline that’s open for viewing. In previous tasks, you’ve learned to expand and contract the viewing window and to show and hide the video and audio tracks within it, but not how to move within the window (though I’m guessing that you figured it out for yourself).
To move the viewing window
Grab the textured area on the zoom bar beneath the Timeline and drag it left or right 
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Premiere Pro adjusts the viewing window to the selected location.
To move the playhead
Do one or more of the following:
- Drag the playhead to the desired location.
- Use the playback controls in the Program Monitor to play the video to the desired location.
- Press the Home key to move the playhead to the start of the sequence.
- Press the End key to move the playhead to the end of the sequence.
- Press the Left and Right Arrow keys to move the playhead frame by frame (or audio time unit by audio time unit) within the sequence.
- Press the Up and Down Arrow keys to move the playhead from edit point to edit point in the sequence (essentially, clip to clip).