The Ultimate Guide to Premiere Keyboard Shortcuts (& a Special Treat for Old FCP7 Users)

Ultimate Premiere Pro Keyboard Layout Cheat Sheet
Credit: Vashi Nedomansky
I often harp on the importance of keyboard shortcuts in editing, and for good reason. They will save you so much time in the long run.

If you're one of the many editors that have made the jump over to Premiere Pro in recent years, Emmy-winning editor Dylan Osborn has created some really handy cheat sheets that give you a birdseye view of every shortcut that you could ever need. First up, the default Premiere keyboard layout. Click the image to download the larger version, which you can print out and keep on your desk.

Adobe Premiere Pro Default Keyboard Shortcut Cheat Sheet

Also, if you're one of the many folks who spent years with FCP7 and still have those keyboard shortcuts burned into your muscle memory, Dylan is also sharing a custom keyboard preset that you can add to Premiere that will give you a much better experience than the FCP7 preset that is built into the software. 

When you download the "FCP7 Advanced" layout (again by clicking the giant image below), you'll not only get the full-size image of the keyboard cheat sheet, but also a .kys file that you can add to your list of keyboard mappings. To make sure that the new mapping shows up in Premiere, copy the .kys file, navigate through this file structure — Documents/Adobe/Premiere Pro/(version #)/Profile-(computer name)/Mac — and copy it into that last folder. It should show up in Premiere after a restart of the program.

FCP Advanced Keyboard Layout for Premiere Pro - Dylan Osborn

So there you have it, two handy resources for those looking to be more efficient with their editing inside of Premiere. Thanks Dylan!     

Your Comment

12 Comments

Whoa. Busy.

December 6, 2015 at 8:33AM

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Jack Hextall
Videographer
223

Nowadays people do not only work in one app. Learning keyboard shotcuts for various apps can be confusing for a lot of people. I use a Wacom tablet and a stylus for a number of reasons:

1. evading the risk of RSI (e.g. rotoscoping in After Effects, Mocha)
2. ease of use in any app
3. nearly as fast as the use of shortcuts

Working with a stylus on sliders can be inaccurate though. Worst case, you can type in the number.

December 6, 2015 at 11:21PM

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Thanks for this!

December 7, 2015 at 5:32AM, Edited December 7, 5:32AM

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Mauricio Tinoco
Videographer / TV Producer
202

Thank you!

December 8, 2015 at 8:58AM

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Sean Voysey
Creative Director
316

I am setting this as 1 of my background images. Super useful! While I agree that learning shortcuts for different programs can be challenging, when your livelihood is based on working quickly and efficiently in a handful of programs shortcuts are key. There is something so rewarding about discovering new shortcuts to replace time consuming tours through deep menu sets. Lots to discover with this list!

December 8, 2015 at 12:26PM

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Thanks for sharing NFS! Happy editing to all, and be sure to check out http://www.dylanosborn.com/ for more Premiere Pro keyboard layouts in the new year.

December 10, 2015 at 7:37AM

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Dylan Osborn
Adobe Premiere Pro Trainer/ Editor
168

Beautiful

December 10, 2015 at 1:45PM, Edited December 10, 1:49PM

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Great!
Do you have one of these for PC keyboards?

December 10, 2015 at 1:47PM

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Not yet but good feedback, will put that on my list. Plenty of PrPro users on PCs out there...

December 10, 2015 at 6:13PM

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Dylan Osborn
Adobe Premiere Pro Trainer/ Editor
168

x2, I'd love a PC version.

December 14, 2015 at 9:32AM

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Themore
Amateur Videographer
74

April 4, 2016 at 7:21AM

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Dylan Osborn
Adobe Premiere Pro Trainer/ Editor
168

New shortcuts were added in CC 2015 (like Cmnd+` and Shift+S), so I revised my default keyboard layout to reflect them. And for editors on Windows, there is now a PC version of the diagram! Both plus my custom FCP7 keyboard available here:
http://www.dylanosborn.com/training/keyboard-layouts/

April 4, 2016 at 7:22AM

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Dylan Osborn
Adobe Premiere Pro Trainer/ Editor
168