Premiere_RightClick.ahk

This script only gets constantly tested on the version of Premiere Pro listed at the top of the prem { class in my repo.

• It should work on most versions beyond at least v22.3.1 but development on those versions is not active nor verified

Warning

This script may not always function correctly if multiple sequences are open.
Unfortunately, attempting to highlight the timeline while it's already active will cycle through sequences. The script uses multiple methods to focus the timeline without this occurring but sometimes Premiere can just act up.

This function also makes use of WinEvent { by Descolada to avoid some of these edge cases. Ideally you'll never come across any of them, but this is simply a warning that it can occur.

Caution

This script is very particular about where it's placed within other scripts. Other mouse scripts can interfere with it causing issues. Take note of where I have placed it within My Scripts.ahk for reference ⚠️

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❗This script also requires you to: ❗

• Properly set the colour values within the script if you don't use the default dark mode for Premiere Pro (or use a different version as Adobe is constantly slightly tweaking things)
• Properly set all KSA values the script uses (all variables that start with KSA.x need to be set within Keyboard Shortcuts.ini)
  • Those KSA values need to correctly correspond to keyboard shortcuts set within Premiere
• Properly set all Premiere_UIA.ahk values correctly. Check UIA for more details.
• For proper functionality:
  • Set Preferences > Timeline > Timeline Playback Auto-Scrolling within Premiere to No Scroll
  • Ensure Play In to Out with Preroll/Postroll isn't set to Shift + Space (which it is by default) if you use Shift + anything for hotkeys like Ripple Delete. Not doing so won't break this script in any way, it just makes your timeline navigation infinitely less annoying. Setting Shift + Space to Play-Stop Toggle is my preferred hotkey to avoid Premiere not being able to keep up with the flow of inputs properly.

For a version of this script that doesn't use UIA. Take a look at the script here. Just be aware that this version is an older version and as such may be missing future bug fixes/features.

The initial idea to do this was thought up by TaranVH a previous editor for LTT. I have since heavily edited it to be more useful for myself.

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The most important/frequent thing you do while video editing is moving around on the timeline. Ideally you want this to be fast, functional and most of all, accurate. This script aims to do all three.

The biggest bottleneck with timeline navigation is always manipulating the playhead (that's the blue line that runs vertical on the screen to signify what frame of footage you're looking at). By default in Premiere, the only ways to move the playhead are;

• Moving the mouse to it, being in the exact right position so the cursor will change and then you can grab it with a left click on the mouse.
• Moving the mouse to the top of the timeline where it shows a lined timecode and left clicking on it to move the playhead to the cursor position.

These methods are fine, but they're slow and awkward - they require too much movement from the user before anything can happen. It might not seem like that big of a deal by itself but overtime these wasted movements add up.

This script takes advantage of a wonderful hotkey within Premiere Pro, move playhead to cursor. This hotkey is an absolute game changer and is the only reason this script is so powerful. With it we can create a loop that occurs while the user holds down another button (RButton by default) that will warp the playhead to the cursor position at the click of a mouse button! awesome!

But that wasn't enough for me, I wanted to manipulate playback even further. I often watch footage in 2x speed to work faster so letting go of RButton to then either press Space + l to get to 2x speed or double tap l was moving my hands around way too much, way too often and wasting a tonne of time (as well as making them sore). So with this in mind I added functionality to this script so that;

• If the user presses the LButton while holding RButton and the loop is active, once the user lets go of RButton the script would automatically restart playback on the timeline
• If the user presses XButton2 while holding RButton and the loop is active, once the user lets go of RButton the script would automatically restart playback on the timeline at 2x speed

Awesome!

As I have premiere set to not follow the playhead during playback (if the playhead moves off my screen during playback, the timeline WON'T warp to it to make sure it's always on screen) I also added functionality to check to see if the playhead is on the screen before starting the loop. If the playhead IS on the screen, it will pause playback first, if the playhead ISN'T on screen, it won't. This stops the timeline from warping all over the place after attempting to move the playhead.