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lsco7ta
lsco7ta
Participant
January 31, 2026

Project Panel audio preview does not play via Space or Play button (Premiere Pro 26.0)

  • January 31, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 42 views

Premiere Pro 26.0 – Windows

Audio preview in the Project Panel does not play when pressing Space
or clicking the Play button in the Preview Area.

Audio plays correctly on the Timeline and in the Source Monitor.

Preview starts playing only after manually dragging the preview playhead.
After switching to another audio clip, the Project Panel loses focus
and Space stops working again.

This worked correctly in Premiere Pro 25.x.
 

1. Select audio file in Project Panel
2. Press Space – audio does not play
3. Drag preview playhead manually – audio starts
4. Select another audio file
5. Press Space – audio does not play again
 

    2 replies

    IanB_360
    Community Manager
    IanB_360Community Manager
    Community Manager
    February 2, 2026

    Hi ​@lsco7ta 
    Welcome to the Premiere Pro Forum community. Thank you for taking the time to report a problem. It would help us if you could use the link " How to Report a Problem," which provides steps to provide more information that can help us identify the issue. Have you noticed this behavior in brand-new projects? Or is the problem occurring in a specific project? 

    Here to help.  

    Ian

    lsco7ta
    lsco7taAuthor
    Participant
    February 3, 2026

    Thanks, the problem affects all projects. I found a temporary solution: if I check this box, the problem goes away. The spacebar works in the preview as well.

    lsco7ta
    lsco7taAuthor
    Participant
    January 31, 2026

    Important note:
    This issue affects AUDIO FILES ONLY.

    Video files preview and play correctly via Space or Play button.
    Audio files in the Project Panel do not start playback unless the preview playhead is manually moved.

    After selecting a different audio file, playback via Space stops working again.

    This is a Project Panel focus / preview initialization issue specific to audio.
    Likely regression introduced in 26.0 Project Panel preview refactor.
     

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