Troubleshooting & FAQs

[00:00:00] Hi, I'm John Noll, software trainer for

[00:00:00] Adobe, and let's talk troubleshooting.

[00:00:00] In this video, I'm going to outline some

[00:00:00] issues you may run into with Premiere

[00:00:00] Pro and give you some tips and

[00:00:00] techniques for how to deal with them.

[00:00:00] Let's dive right in.

[00:00:00] When you import media into Premiere, it

[00:00:00] creates little helper files to improve

[00:00:00] performance and playback. It also

[00:00:00] generates little graphic files for your

[00:00:00] audio waveforms. All of these go into

[00:00:00] your media cache, which by default is

[00:00:00] stored in your system library.

[00:00:00] Occasionally, these files can misbehave

[00:00:00] or get corrupted. You might have

[00:00:00] playback issues or see the wrong

[00:00:00] waveforms, for example. So, a good first

[00:00:00] troubleshooting step is to delete the

[00:00:00] media cache and let it rebuild. You can

[00:00:00] do this one of two ways. Launch Premiere

[00:00:00] and immediately go into the preferences

[00:00:00] without opening a project, choose the

[00:00:00] media cache panel, and click the delete

[00:00:00] button.

[00:00:00] Quick note here, if you find yourself

[00:00:00] running out of disk space often when

[00:00:00] you're editing in Premiere Pro, it's

[00:00:00] probably because your media cache has

[00:00:00] not been emptied in a long time. And if

[00:00:00] you haven't moved the media cache

[00:00:00] location from your startup disk, it's

[00:00:00] going to just sit there and build up

[00:00:00] over time. So, while you're in this

[00:00:00] panel, go ahead and choose a method for

[00:00:00] automatically deleting the media cache,

[00:00:00] either based on time or the amount of

[00:00:00] storage threshold you want to set.

[00:00:00] There's also a way to do this right at

[00:00:00] startup with the reset options pop-up

[00:00:00] menu. You can hold down any of these

[00:00:00] three keys, shift, control, or alt on

[00:00:00] Windows, shift, option, or command on

[00:00:00] Mac when you launch Premiere, and you'll

[00:00:00] see this box when you can select clear

[00:00:00] media cache files.

[00:00:00] If you've ever changed the media cache

[00:00:00] location, be sure to check those folders

[00:00:00] and manually clear them out as these

[00:00:00] auto-delete methods will only clear the

[00:00:00] current cache location.

[00:00:00] While we're on this pop-up box, let's

[00:00:00] talk about another troubleshooting step,

[00:00:00] which is resetting the app preferences.

[00:00:00] If the program is behaving strangely,

[00:00:00] you may have corrupted application

[00:00:00] preferences. Just like the media cache,

[00:00:00] Premiere will rebuild the preferences

[00:00:00] when you select this option. Note that

[00:00:00] you'll have to go into the app

[00:00:00] preferences and reset them to your

[00:00:00] preferred settings and reconfigure your

[00:00:00] button bars in the source and program

[00:00:00] monitors, as well as your timeline track

[00:00:00] headers, as those will all be reset to

[00:00:00] defaults.

[00:00:00] Finally, this menu also gives us the

[00:00:00] option to reset our plugin cache, as

[00:00:00] well as disable third-party plugins. The

[00:00:00] plugin cache holds data from your

[00:00:00] installed plugins, and clearing may help

[00:00:00] with any issue you suspect are caused by

[00:00:00] a certain plugin. You can also

[00:00:00] temporarily disable all third-party

[00:00:00] plugins on your system to see if this

[00:00:00] helps fix the issue you're having. This

[00:00:00] is often the problem when Premiere Pro

[00:00:00] fails to launch. You'll see the list of

[00:00:00] plugins start to load on the opening

[00:00:00] splash screen, and then it will crash.

[00:00:00] This usually indicates an outdated

[00:00:00] plugin that hasn't been updated to run

[00:00:00] on your version of Premiere Pro. If

[00:00:00] Premiere is crashing at startup and

[00:00:00] disabling third-party plugins fixes the

[00:00:00] issue, then remove all your plugins and

[00:00:00] restore them one by one until you

[00:00:00] identify the culprit.

[00:00:00] If the program is behaving strangely and

[00:00:00] you're using a custom workspace, a good

[00:00:00] troubleshooting step is to reset your

[00:00:00] workspace layout. Go to the workspaces

[00:00:00] menu and select one of the stock layouts

[00:00:00] like editing, and make sure to select

[00:00:00] the reset to save layout option as well.

[00:00:00] If that clears up the issue, then your

[00:00:00] custom workspace was probably the

[00:00:00] culprit. Go ahead and delete it, then

[00:00:00] recreate it.

[00:00:00] Incidentally, if you're opening shared

[00:00:00] projects from other users and seeing

[00:00:00] random panel configurations or a messy

[00:00:00] interface, you probably have this option

[00:00:00] turned on here, import workspaces from

[00:00:00] projects. This means you're inheriting

[00:00:00] the custom workspace the previous editor

[00:00:00] was using when they closed the project,

[00:00:00] and this can cause a bit of chaos,

[00:00:00] especially if they had multiple monitors

[00:00:00] and you do not. Go ahead and deselect

[00:00:00] this option so that you don't inherit

[00:00:00] workspaces in the future.

[00:00:00] If you're having issues with one

[00:00:00] project, but other projects are working

[00:00:00] fine, then it's possible the file has

[00:00:00] become corrupted. We see this happen

[00:00:00] most often with big project sizes due to

[00:00:00] large amounts of imported media or

[00:00:00] sequences.

[00:00:00] As a quick fix, you can try importing

[00:00:00] the project into a new empty project.

[00:00:00] You should also consider turning that

[00:00:00] large project into a production and

[00:00:00] splitting the media and sequences across

[00:00:00] several projects within that production.

[00:00:00] These smaller, lighter projects are less

[00:00:00] likely to get corrupted, and this is a

[00:00:00] great way to work on big projects with

[00:00:00] lots of footage and sequences, even if

[00:00:00] you're working on your own.

[00:00:00] Avoid updating while in the middle of a

[00:00:00] project. Dot releases can be fine,

[00:00:00] especially if there's a documented fix

[00:00:00] for a bug you're experiencing, but in

[00:00:00] general, it's a good idea to avoid

[00:00:00] upgrading to a new year release while

[00:00:00] you're still working on a project. If

[00:00:00] you definitely need to update, create a

[00:00:00] blank project and import your old

[00:00:00] project into it, and use this new

[00:00:00] project going forward. Note that you can

[00:00:00] always have multiple year releases of

[00:00:00] Premiere installed on your system, plus

[00:00:00] the public beta. Just make sure to

[00:00:00] uncheck the option to remove old

[00:00:00] versions when you update Premiere.

[00:00:00] If your computer is more than a couple

[00:00:00] years old, make sure it still meets the

[00:00:00] minimum system specs listed on the Adobe

[00:00:00] website. Each new release of Premiere

[00:00:00] adds new features and technology that

[00:00:00] sometimes require the latest computing

[00:00:00] hardware to work efficiently. It's not

[00:00:00] uncommon for an older computer that was

[00:00:00] working fine with the previous version

[00:00:00] of Premiere to struggle with the latest

[00:00:00] release. In that case, consider

[00:00:00] upgrading components or the entire

[00:00:00] system.

[00:00:00] Now, if you're seeing random glitches,

[00:00:00] color blocks, or weird issues with

[00:00:00] playback, but your source clips are

[00:00:00] okay, that could indicate an issue with

[00:00:00] your computer's GPU. You can try

[00:00:00] bypassing the GPU by going to your

[00:00:00] project settings and changing the video

[00:00:00] renderer to software only. If that

[00:00:00] solves the issue, then see if there's an

[00:00:00] updated driver available for your

[00:00:00] graphics card, or else roll back to an

[00:00:00] earlier driver version and see if that

[00:00:00] helps. Note that if you're on a Mac, the

[00:00:00] GPU drivers are installed through OS

[00:00:00] updates and not separately. And if you

[00:00:00] have one of the latest M-series Macs,

[00:00:00] the option to disable the renderer is no

[00:00:00] longer available. You can also try

[00:00:00] turning off the option to enable

[00:00:00] hardware accelerated decoding in the

[00:00:00] media section of the preferences.

[00:00:00] Also, if you experience problems with

[00:00:00] multiple monitors, make sure you have

[00:00:00] enough GPU RAM to support the extra

[00:00:00] displays. If not, consider upgrading

[00:00:00] your graphics card before using more

[00:00:00] than one display.

[00:00:00] You can increase the efficiency and

[00:00:00] stability of Premiere Pro by using

[00:00:00] certain drive configurations. Your main

[00:00:00] drive or boot drive should contain the

[00:00:00] OS and applications, while your project

[00:00:00] files and media will work best on a

[00:00:00] separate drive that's fast enough to

[00:00:00] stream your footage. An external SSD or

[00:00:00] fast RAID drive are great options for

[00:00:00] storing your files, and many users

[00:00:00] report good results from moving their

[00:00:00] media cache and database to a third fast

[00:00:00] drive separate from the others. To do

[00:00:00] this, simply plug in the new drive and

[00:00:00] point the media cache and database

[00:00:00] locations to it in the preferences.

[00:00:00] While Premiere Pro is very versatile and

[00:00:00] can import many types of video files

[00:00:00] without having to transcode, not every

[00:00:00] file is good for editing. Footage from

[00:00:00] professional cameras like ARRI and RED

[00:00:00] are often 4K and higher and shot in a

[00:00:00] raw format that can be difficult to work

[00:00:00] with. Often, the best solution is to use

[00:00:00] the proxy workflow in Premiere to batch

[00:00:00] create and attach proxies, then do all

[00:00:00] your editing with the proxies to switch

[00:00:00] on until it's time to master and export

[00:00:00] your finished video. Also, many prosumer

[00:00:00] cameras and drones record to highly

[00:00:00] compressed video codecs like H.264 and

[00:00:00] H.265 to save on storage space, but

[00:00:00] these formats are not great options for

[00:00:00] editing. Even with the hardware

[00:00:00] acceleration and media cache, Premiere

[00:00:00] has to work harder to display compressed

[00:00:00] frames, and playback may not be smooth.

[00:00:00] In this case, your best option would be

[00:00:00] to transcode those clips to a better

[00:00:00] editing codec like ProRes, which is much

[00:00:00] less taxing on your system. The same

[00:00:00] methodology applies to compressed audio.

[00:00:00] Convert your MP3 files to a format like

[00:00:00] AIFF or wave for the smoothest editing

[00:00:00] experience.

[00:00:00] And another quick troubleshooting step

[00:00:00] is to simply restart your computer.

[00:00:00] Now, in this next section, I want to

[00:00:00] cover some frequently asked questions

[00:00:00] about Premiere Pro, and these usually

[00:00:00] come up because the user is unfamiliar

[00:00:00] with the program, and they often have a

[00:00:00] very simple solution.

[00:00:00] What if I have no audio or video after

[00:00:00] dragging a clip to a timeline?

[00:00:00] Well, make sure your track patching is

[00:00:00] correct. If you have the patch for the

[00:00:00] video side on, but not the audio, your

[00:00:00] inserted clip will have no sound.

[00:00:00] And vice versa for the video.

[00:00:00] My clip is not pasting to the track I

[00:00:00] targeted.

[00:00:00] You're probably used to the way Premiere

[00:00:00] used to handle cutting and pasting on

[00:00:00] the timeline, which always respected the

[00:00:00] track targets. The default behavior was

[00:00:00] recently changed, and clips will now

[00:00:00] paste to the same tracks they were

[00:00:00] copied from. There are new keyboard

[00:00:00] commands to paste to target track and

[00:00:00] paste insert to target track. Be sure to

[00:00:00] assign a keyboard shortcut to these

[00:00:00] commands if you are used to this

[00:00:00] functionality.

[00:00:00] Why is my video blown out or washed out?

[00:00:00] Premiere Pro is capable of importing

[00:00:00] clips shot in the log color space or in

[00:00:00] HDR color. Those clips will look washed

[00:00:00] out or have the highlights blown out if

[00:00:00] you place them in a typical sequence,

[00:00:00] which is usually set to the Rec. 709

[00:00:00] color space. To fix this, make sure you

[00:00:00] turn on the options for display color

[00:00:00] management, auto detect log video color

[00:00:00] space,

[00:00:00] and auto tone map media.

[00:00:00] These controls can all be accessed in

[00:00:00] the new Lumetri color settings tab. This

[00:00:00] will ensure that your log and HDR media

[00:00:00] will look correct when you import them.

[00:00:00] My projects are gone.

[00:00:00] If you don't see the expected list of

[00:00:00] recent projects on the home screen when

[00:00:00] you open Premiere, it's no cause for

[00:00:00] panic. This list is just a shortcut to

[00:00:00] access project files, and if they're not

[00:00:00] listed, it just means that the program

[00:00:00] did not find them in their previous

[00:00:00] location. If the projects were saved to

[00:00:00] an external drive, server, or a cloud

[00:00:00] folder that was not mounted when you

[00:00:00] launched Premiere, that would cause them

[00:00:00] to disappear from this list. Simply plug

[00:00:00] in the drive or mount the server, then

[00:00:00] use the open projects command to

[00:00:00] navigate to the project. Note that when

[00:00:00] you reset your application preferences,

[00:00:00] it will also wipe this list clean.

[00:00:00] Why is my playback choppy? This is a

[00:00:00] common complaint, and there could be

[00:00:00] several reasons for this, including some

[00:00:00] of the issues mentioned previously. But

[00:00:00] if you've tried all these

[00:00:00] troubleshooting steps already, then try

[00:00:00] the following fixes.

[00:00:00] Go into your audio hardware preferences

[00:00:00] and set the input to none. And while

[00:00:00] you're there, make sure your audio

[00:00:00] sample rate is set to 48 Hz, which is

[00:00:00] the standard for video editing. Use the

[00:00:00] setting shortcut there to make sure your

[00:00:00] system is also set to 48 Hz. It may seem

[00:00:00] odd, but these settings have cleared up

[00:00:00] playback issues for many users. You can

[00:00:00] also try lowering the playback

[00:00:00] resolution in the source and program

[00:00:00] monitors, as your computer may be

[00:00:00] struggling to playback your footage at

[00:00:00] full resolution. Disabling the

[00:00:00] high-quality playback option may help

[00:00:00] here as well.

[00:00:00] You should also close any panels you're

[00:00:00] not using, such as the Lumetri scopes if

[00:00:00] you're not doing color correction or the

[00:00:00] text panel if you're not working on

[00:00:00] captions or text-based editing. Panels

[00:00:00] like these often take up system

[00:00:00] resources even when they're not active.

[00:00:00] Also, make sure you're not overtaxing

[00:00:00] your computer by having too many

[00:00:00] programs open simultaneously while

[00:00:00] you're editing in Premiere. Web browsers

[00:00:00] in particular are notorious memory hogs.

[00:00:00] Why did my export fail?

[00:00:00] We've all been there. You're under a

[00:00:00] tight deadline, you go to export your

[00:00:00] timeline, but the export fails for some

[00:00:00] reason, and you want to rip your hair

[00:00:00] out. But fear not, there are some quick

[00:00:00] fixes to try.

[00:00:00] Premiere often gives you an error report

[00:00:00] with a timecode stamp of where the

[00:00:00] render issue occurred. Go to that

[00:00:00] section of your timeline and see what's

[00:00:00] there.

[00:00:00] Is it a heavy effect like Warp

[00:00:00] Stabilizer or perhaps a dynamically

[00:00:00] linked After Effects composition?

[00:00:00] Consider doing a render and replace to

[00:00:00] create a simplified video file in that

[00:00:00] section so that Premiere won't have to

[00:00:00] work as hard to export it. You may also

[00:00:00] have to do this in several spots if

[00:00:00] there are similar clips with the same

[00:00:00] issue.

[00:00:00] You may also be running out of room on

[00:00:00] your hard drive, so make sure there's

[00:00:00] enough storage to export the size of

[00:00:00] file you're expecting.

[00:00:00] Finally, if you're exporting to a

[00:00:00] heavily compressed codec like H.264,

[00:00:00] your computer may be having issues with

[00:00:00] that compression, especially on a

[00:00:00] complex timeline with lots of graphics

[00:00:00] and effects. Consider doing a two-step

[00:00:00] output. Export to a less compressed

[00:00:00] codec like ProRes, and then drop that

[00:00:00] file into Media Encoder to make the

[00:00:00] H.264 version. Media Encoder can

[00:00:00] transcode a single video file much

[00:00:00] quicker than a Premiere sequence, and in

[00:00:00] many cases you'll find this two-step

[00:00:00] export is still faster than that single

[00:00:00] compressed export.

[00:00:00] Where can I go for more help?

[00:00:00] If I haven't solved your issue with any

[00:00:00] of the troubleshooting steps here,

[00:00:00] please visit the official Premiere Pro

[00:00:00] community forum at community.adobe.com.

[00:00:00] These forums are staffed by Adobe

[00:00:00] employees as well as Adobe community

[00:00:00] experts who are there to help. That's it

[00:00:00] for troubleshooting in Premiere Pro.

[00:00:00] Hopefully you picked up some useful tips

[00:00:00] and techniques in this video for

[00:00:00] avoiding issues, and maybe I even solved

[00:00:00] a problem or two for you. Thanks for

[00:00:00] watching. I'll see you in the next one.