How Do You Select Timeline without moving the playhead from the frame you’re parked on?

Adobe Premiere Pro

How Do You Select Timeline without moving the playhead from the frame you’re parked on?

Posted by Scott Clements on April 28, 2015 at 5:57 am

Hi,

This is driving me nuts…. I play through the timeline and park on a clip. I don’t want the playhead to move a frame, but need to select the timeline so that I can zoom in. The only way I’ve been able to figure out how to do this is to VERY carefully click on the exact blue triangle of the playhead and pray I don’t accidentally move it. This is very tedious and frustrating to me, because in Avid & FCP, you just click on the chunk just above the timeline and then can do your zoom in. What is the secret to selecting the timeline (so that you can use keyboard shortcuts to zoom in) without moving the playhead?

Film Editor, London UK
http://www.scottclementseditor.com

Craig Howard replied 11 years ago 4 Members · 7 Replies
7 Replies

Tero Ahlfors
April 28, 2015 at 1:04 pm

I don’t quite understand the problem here. You can select the timeline panel by clicking anywhere in it or by pressing shift+3. If you click on the upper part of the timeline panel where you can see the sequence time the playhead will jump to that time.
Scott Clements
April 28, 2015 at 2:14 pm

Thanks, Tero.

My problem is precisely that the playhead jumps to wherever you click. So if you park on a frame and then leave the timeline and then want to go back and soon in, you move the playhead. I want to remain parked on the precise frame I stopped on. Perhaps it is shift+3 I am looking for. I will try it. Hopefully, if I press shift_f3 then I can zoom in on the timeline without moving the playhead.

Film Editor, London UK
http://www.scottclementseditor.com
Joey Gibson
April 28, 2015 at 5:52 pm

If I’m understanding your question, all you need to do to go back to your timeline without the playhead jumping from where it’s parked is to click anywhere but the area that isn’t inside the red rectangle here:

Hope this helps!
Scott Clements
April 28, 2015 at 6:18 pm

OH MY LORD! You’re right! Thanks! That was driving me nuts. I must have had a mental block about selecting anywhere else! It works differently in other systems.

Film Editor, London UK
http://www.scottclementseditor.com
Craig Howard
April 29, 2015 at 5:02 am

You do know that you can zoom in using shortcut keys “+” and “-” ?

Craig Howard
Shooter Film Company
Auckland
New Zealand

Adobe CS6 Premiere Pro Production Premium Suite
Windows 7-64 bit:Assus P6T Deluxe Mob, 24 GB BM SDI Decklink, . HD Workflows
Scott Clements
April 30, 2015 at 5:51 am

Thanks, Craig. I actually have my keyboard set up for modified Avid settings (to maintain muscle memory across multiple platforms) so I zoom with command + [/] You can’t zoom in without selecting the timeline first though.

Film Editor, London UK
http://www.scottclementseditor.com
Craig Howard
April 30, 2015 at 8:48 pm

Hey Scott

Clicking anywhere in the Sequence except the “time bar” will leave the play head where it is located.

I also use a short cut to focus to the Sequence Pane (F4 custom)

I also use the Navigation Bar at the bottom of the Sequence Pane to expand / contract the timeline.

Craig Howard
Shooter Film Company
Auckland
New Zealand

Adobe CS6 Premiere Pro Production Premium Suite
Windows 7-64 bit:Assus P6T Deluxe Mob, 24 GB BM SDI Decklink, . HD Workflows

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