Participant

Answered

Program monitor blank, no image or graphics, sound still works. How do I fix?

Forum|Forum|8 months ago
July 24, 2025
3 replies
716 views

Hi, I have about a 10 minute-long video in Premier Pro (I'm editing on MacBook Pro with external hard drive - MyPassport ultra is the brand). The program monitor is completely black no matter where I am in the timeline. I still have audio, but no graphics or video.

I saw clearing my cache could help but will clearing it effect/erase my project? Is the external hard drive a factor?

Some things I've already tried:

- Reducing playback resolution

- checked playback renderer in file > project settings > general. (for some reason I can't change the renderer, like its grayed out so I can't click drop down)

- checked systems compatibility report (no issues showing up)

I'm 60 hours deep into these projects, I really can't lose them. Any help would be immensely appreciated.

Correct answer Ann Bens

You need to put your project in a dedicated folder.

You are now saving all in the auto save folder, which is not ideal.

S

Sumeet_Kumar_Choubey

Community Manager

Hi CHLOE35137939b19g,

Welcome to the community! As our experts suggested, we would need a few more details to troubleshoot it properly. Please let us know the format & frame size of the media files you are working with. Also, have you tried moving the media to internal storage to see if the previews are being generated properly?

Thanks,

Sumeet

C

CHLOE35137939b19gAuthor

Participant

Frame size is 1920 x 1080, and they are in .mov format with 59.94 fps.

I haven’t tried moving them, I'm not sure how to. Do you have a tutorial on how to move media internally and see previews?

I'm a beginner so I'm sure my file size/organization is atrocious

JonesVid

Community Expert

If you open up the passport folder in your Media window and look for one of your video files.
if you then double click on that file does it open up the Source video window and play it ?

Let us know the type of video files media you are editing on the Passport hard drive.

By the way - always ensure you have another back up to your projects on another drive somewhere as insurance !

Ensure each project is in its own folder as Ann suggests. Then all the scratch folders like video previews , audio previews are in separate sub Folders under the main project folder.

Please also let us know the type of video files you are using.

C

CHLOE35137939b19gAuthor

Participant

Hi! They are jpeg image files, and if size matters its 5568 × 3712. I just saved my projects to a folder on my computer, and also the things on my hard drive as you suggest! Should I also havea folder in my premier pro program for all the video files too? If you know of any helpful videos I'd be happy to watch those too for a more in-depth explanation of files

JonesVid

Community Expert

So if you are just starting out on Premiere Pro we all know there is a lot to get your head around !

Are you still having issues with the blank program monitor?.

Firstly, on Folder organisation I have just attached an example of a Project Folder I am currently working on for a travel video

I have a separate internal fast disk for the Projects. As Ann says - you create a Folder for your specific Project.

The Actual .prproj file is generated and saved in there.

Along with that (in sub folders) are Video Previews, Audio Previews, Motion Graphics Templates etc.

You define places for those in File\Project Settings\Scratch Disks

The Auto Save Folder saves the project state momentarily and you can select how often it does this in Edit\Preferences\Auto Save.

For actual Media you are working on that is best copied to an Internal disk drive. Your Passport Ultra has a theoretical 5GBs transfer rate but it may be much slower than that through standard USB-C 3.2 and the computer is very busy.

On your main internal harddrive, Create a Media Folder (not in Project Folder)

Create Subfolders for the Videos, Images, Graphics, Music etc.

Simply copy files from your passport and paste into your media folder and arrange in these subfolders.

When the project is finished you can back up all those folders on your PAssport Drive.

For safety save on two separate drives if you have them !.

As I work, I always save the project folder before close down onto an external drive - so if anything horrible happens to the project Folder whilst editing then you always have a previous backup and not lose valuable work.

This is just how I work as a hobbyist but other people have different ways to work.

In an enterprise you might use redundant networked servers etc.

Now - On your blank program monitor issue - get your folders all organised as above and then create a new test project with just a few images to start with.

Set your sequence settings to the video format you want - 1920 / 1080 HD - 59.94fps.

Can you see the images when you play timeline?

B

Bill Sprague

Community Expert

I don't have experience with a MacBook Pro but is the OS current? I think video drivers are built into the OS.

Are you using the external drive for your project files? Or just the media files? Where are the project's scratch disk files? How full are your drives?

C

CHLOE35137939b19gAuthor

Participant

iOS is current. I believe the external drive is just for media files - honestly I am not well-versed in the different between them. The screenshot is what my scratch disk says - I don't really know what it means. Do you mean my external drive? That is not very full.

Ann Bens

Correct answer

Community Expert

You need to put your project in a dedicated folder.

You are now saving all in the auto save folder, which is not ideal.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded