How to edit faster in Premiere Pro: 12 methods that work.

1. Proxies. If playback stutters, you lose time on every scrub. Create proxies on import (right-click > Proxy > Create Proxies, 1024×540 H.264 or ProRes Proxy preset) and turn on the Toggle Proxies button in the Program Monitor. You edit smoothly, you export at full quality.

2. Media cache on a dedicated SSD. Preferences > Media Cache: point it to your fastest drive, not to a full system drive. And clear it every month.

3. Playback resolution. At the bottom of the Program Monitor, set playback to 1/2 or 1/4. It changes nothing in the export and makes everything else smoother.

4. J-K-L and audio scrubbing. L plays forward (twice for 2x, three times for 4x), J plays backward, K pauses. Hold K + L to play forward in slow motion. Turn on audio scrubbing in the preferences: you hear the voice sped up, and you spot hesitations without listening in real time.

5. I, O, Q, W. I and O set the in and out points. Q ripple-deletes everything from the playhead back to the previous edit, W everything from the playhead to the next edit. Together, they replace half your rough-cut clicks.

6. Cmd/Ctrl + K and Shift + Delete. Cut at the playhead, then Ripple Delete: the segment goes and the timeline closes the gap. Never Delete alone, which leaves a gap to fill. Remap these shortcuts to comfortable keys if yours aren't (Keyboard Shortcuts, under Edit on Windows or Premiere Pro on macOS).

7. A project template. Bins already created (Footage, Audio, Graphics, Sequences, Exports), preset sequences, named tracks. You duplicate the template, you import, you edit. Ten minutes saved per project, forever.

8. Presets and templates. Every effect you apply twice becomes a preset (right-click the effect > Save Preset). Every title, lower third and graphic transition becomes a .mogrt in your Essential Graphics panel. Libraries like Motion Array replace hours of After Effects.

9. Export presets and Media Encoder. One preset per destination (YouTube, Reels, client). Send everything to Media Encoder and keep editing while it encodes.

10. Text-based editing. Premiere transcribes your sequence (Window > Text, then Transcribe in the Transcript tab). You can then delete all detected pauses and filler words at once, and cut by selecting words in the transcript. Free, native, and already a real gain on dead air and the “ums.”

11. An automatic rough cut with a plugin. The native tools stop at the surface of the sound. An AI plugin like Rushly analyzes what your sentences mean to also catch repeated lines and retakes, keeps the best take, and hands you a new clean sequence in Premiere. You review each proposed cut and approve it in one click. For scale: 15 minutes of footage analyzed in a little over a minute. On talking-head videos and podcasts, it's the lever that gives back the most hours. Our guide to the automatic rough cut walks through the method.

12. Short clips on autopilot. If you turn every long video into Reels and Shorts, stop hunting for them by hand. Rushly spots the highlights and assembles vertical Smart Clips ready for graphics. Details in viral clips with AI.

Piling up transition packs you'll never use. Switching software every six months. Editing without watching the footage once all the way through, which costs more in back-and-forth than a viewing. And skipping auto-save: a crash without a save wipes out every shortcut in the world.