'Paste onto same track' shortcut
Put the interview on V1, b-roll on V2, titles on V3 - track organisation finished! Not with PPro. You have to turn tracks on and off every time you paste something.
At least give us a 'paste onto same track it was copied from' shortcut.
Alternatively, when no track is selected make it the same as when all tracks are selected except that clips paste onto the same track they were copied from. Currently no-tracks-selected mode is useless (you can't even add edits with the keyboard) so you wouldn't be taking anything away from anyone.

62 comments
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Alex Elkins commented
"Exactly HOW does the user select a different track?"
By using shortcuts. I have shortcuts for video and audio tracks 1-8 (the number keys at the top of the keyboard for video, or shift+number for audio). I also have enable/disable all (0 and shift+0).
Or - as you say, source patching. That makes sense too.
Extra options are fine (paste onto empty track/paste onto new track etc), but frankly I just want Premiere to not make decisions for me about where my clips get pasted. That means leaving them on the track where I put them unless I specify a different track. End of story.
Your suggestion of using a global preference adds complication yet still removes that control. Premiere just needs to get out of the way of that decision making.
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TaranVH commented
@Alex Elkins
You're under-thinking it.
Exactly HOW does the user select a different track? Right now, it uses the track targeting, but that must be done by manually clicking each layer on or off, and is also used for tons of other stuff. Then the editor would paste, and then have to return the track targeting to what it was. more annoying clicking.
Source patching makes more sense. It's already used for insert/overwrite, and does not affect anything else like Q and W (ripple trim)
Top-most targeted track, and top-most empty track also make sense.
So, this can all be done wither with different dedicated shortcuts per command, by adding default pasting behavior options, or best of all, both. -
Alex Elkins commented
Guys, you're overthinking it.
Just change it so that the default behaviour is 'paste onto same track'.
If the user intervenes by selecting a different track, that is where the pasted clip should go.
It's pretty simple.
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Pierre Louis Beranek commented
An important point needs to be added here: Just changing the behavior from pasting to the lowest enable track(s) to the same track media was copied from is NOT a full solution and would actually make the workflow WORSE is many instances. For example, if a user cuts clips from V1 and wants to paste them somewhere else in the Timeline that already has clips on V1... only giving them the option to paste the cut media to V1 would be even worse than allowing them to select which track to paste to after cutting them through track patching. The ONLY way for 'paste onto same track' to be truly useful is if it's an option given IN ADDITION TO other options, as I suggest in my other FR: https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911233-premiere-pro/suggestions/41066920-new-shortcuts-to-choose-where-to-paste-on-the-fly
Sorry about the allcaps for emphasis, but it is vital that you take this into consideration when fixing timeline pasting!
Andy Lewis' idea is a good one, but by itself, it would be worse than the current behavior. His suggestion only works if it is used as one of several options. The best way to give users the option of where to paste 'on the fly' is through new keyboard shortcuts. Those who only ever want to paste to the same track, can assign the default Ctrl-V shortcut to that option. Ditto for those who only ever want to paste to the highest or to the lowest enabled track. If a user wants two or three options of where to paste 'on the fly', they can assign whatever shortcuts suit them best to the additional options. There. A solution that would suit everyone's needs, without changing the current pasting behavior, for the few that actually like how it currently works. Allowing a keyboard shortcut to be assigned to TaranVH's great idea of pasting to the Source patched tracks would be the 'cherry on top'!
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Pierre Louis Beranek commented
TaranVH, allowing source patching as an option of where to paste by default is another great idea!
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TaranVH commented
I personally had another idea for how to do this: Not with several different shortcuts, but as a global preference. This has the advantage of not requiring two or more shortcuts to be mapped, all related to slightly different "paste" functionality. Personally, I think the default behavior is stupid anyway, and it should be changed, even if we do also get additional shortcuts for different track pasting behaviors.
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Pasted video clips currently go on the lowest numbered (and unlocked) targeted track by default. This is quite annoying, since the user probably already has something there. Please give us the following option/preference:
Pasted video/audio clips go to:
⚪︎Lowest number targeted track
⚪︎Highest number targeted track
◉Source patching
⚪︎Same as copied track(s)
⚪︎ V▭ and A▭ (Choose specific tracks)
"This is item 78 on my spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dVJb7kI_ZETLavrplfARgn9gL8HUpvkq6A0jCPxqA3w/edit#gid=1133868629
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TaranVH commented
An additional shortcut has been recommended.
"Vastly improving pasting is simple: Give users the ability to choose 'on the fly' where they want their media pasted or insert-pasted:
1. on the lowest enabled track (current behavior)
2. on the highest enabled track
3. on the same track in was copied from" -
Pierre Louis Beranek commented
Here's a new Feature Request that includes the suggested 'Paste onto the same track' shortcut, as well as an option to paste to the highest enabled track. https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911233-premiere-pro/suggestions/41066920-new-shortcuts-to-choose-where-to-paste-on-the-fly
This would be the most comprehensive way to let users work, allowing users to choose on the fly if they want to paste to the lowest-enabled, highest-enabled or same track their media was copied from. Please vote and add your voice!
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TyAnn Clark commented
I've just switched from final cut and may be switching back because having to do this Is a ridiculous waste of time. I needed a better timer and premiere had one I could buy. will prob be switching back now.....
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Alex Elkins commented
Agreed. When you have tonnes of tracks a shortcut to disable all isn't good enough because you then have to go back and click a load of tracks to select them again. There aren't shortcuts for track selection beyond track 8. I want my track selection to stay as I had it without introducing a whole load of extra work every time I copy and paste.
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Mike J. commented
He means have the default, a preference or a modifier so that a clip paste from one timeline to another just pastes onto the same track as it was in the previous timeline. That simple. No disable and enable track selections involved.
It would be nice to have and it was the default in FCP 7
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Frank Koppelmans commented
Hi,
If you unselect all tracks, unmark the blue tracks. Pasting will be done to the same track it came from!
Also with up and down arrow you go from every event to every event (on all tracks).
(you can't even add edits with the keyboard) I do not understand what you mean. -
Josh Lombard commented
PLEASE make this happen! It so frustrating that it doesn't automatically paste to the same track. Toggling on and off tracks when you may have 20 audio tracks, or 15 video tracks isn't fast! So I usually just paste at the end of my timeline and then drag it, but it's not a good solution (or that much quicker).
So please if you want to keep paste goes to select tracks, that's fine, but give us an option to map paste to same track a shortcut option.
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Dan Pearce commented
After much trial and error I find these the most efficient settings for keyboard editing. If I want to paste to the same track I just hit D, then ⌘V to Paste, then I usually hit D again to enable all Tracks again ready for Trimming
D = Toggle All Video Track Selection On/Off
C = Toggle All Audio Track Selection On/Off1-9 Toggle relevant Video Track
Shift+1-9 Toggle relevant Audio TrackWhat I think would be an interesting idea would be the ability to assign a designation to all clips within Premiere. Clips could be marked Cutaway, Sync, GFX, Music, SFX etc. and each designation would have a track assigned to it. All customisable of course.
Editing a clip from the Source window track selection would be automatic.
I see it as being a mode you would switch on/off, perhaps more useful at the assembly stage than finessing.
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Pierre Louis Beranek commented
Dear Adobe, yet another PR release and copy/pasting in the Timeline continues to be a hopeless mess. When will this finally get fixed? Copy/pasting is something editors do every... single... day. Whereas needing AI to resize a 16x9 sequence to 1x1 or 4x5 is something few, if any, people need to do on a daily basis. Please focus your limited resources on fixes that would help ALL editors on a DAILY basis rather than fancy new features that only serve some people some of the time. (Especially if that fancy new feature doesn't even work. I tried using it to turn a 16x9 talking head interview video into a 1x1 format, and it created dozens of position keyframes to constantly reposition barely moving speakers within locked-off, tripod shots. Completely nuts and unusable!)
Please fix the tools we need rather than introduce new AI tools that don't even work.
Thanks! -
Alex Elkins commented
@DavidK - over 200 people have voted to say they don't want both options. We just want the default behaviour to be that clips are pasted onto the same tracks UNLESS a new track is specifically toggled on.
@Wes Howell - This is still marked as under review but a new version of Premiere has just been released. Does this mean the request has been rejected?
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Skies commented
An other way would be to automatically paste on an EMPTY TRACK or on the SELECTED TRACK. (Selected, in the sense that you only have to click on your spot in the timeline rather than mark and unmark tracks because that is ridiculous).
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Deselecting all tracks does copy/paste to the original track, but that requires extra steps for users unless they leave all tracks deselected and never need to use track targeting for anything else. Sounds like a good solution would be to offer a new command shortcut "Paste to Original Track". Users could assign Cmd+V to it if they never want paste to respect track targeting, or they could find a different key combination for it if they wanted to retain the option of both behaviors.
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Thanks for the feedback. We will consider this request for a future release.
As always, thanks for posting, thanks for voting – please stay tuned. -
AndyL commented
"Pasting to the lowest enabled track is a terrible idea since it goes against basic logic (something you and I clearly get, but Adobe still doesn't). "
When it seems to me that Adobe has made baffling design decisions I ask myself two questions:
1. Would this make sense in After Effects? 'Sequence in/out' being the default for exports might make sense for a compositor, not for an NLE.
2. Is Adobe assuming we're all using a source/record paradigm?
My guess is that this is the problem here. They don't think so much about timeline pasting behaviour as they assume we are adding clips from the source panel. I always use timelines as sources - so much more flexible, and visual. The irony is that PPro could be the greatest timeline-centric editor out there. We already have the ability to pancake multiple timelines, for example.It just seems like the basic operations are not quite there yet. And it's frustrating that so many of these are solved problems (see old FCP).