Scaling Changes After Rendering for 9:16 Projects

[STEMpunkED]

Hello, and thanks in advance for help on this vexing problem. I am using Adobe Premiere Elements 2022 on a Windows 11 Dell XPS 17.

I have created a new project with social media settings for a 9:16 video and selected that media added should be forced to the project settings. I drag a standard 16:9 video onto the timeline from assests and then scale the video so that it takes up the majority of the 9:16 space, but prior to editing further I click Render and suddely the video is "pinched in" at the sides and of a much lower quality. 

I can still see the sizing handles from the original scaling, but can no longer use them. If I delete the clip on the timeline and drag the clip onto the timeline again from the assets, the video is now "natively" pinched. I have tried right clicking on the media in assets and selecting re-interpret, but this does not help. I have tried several different clips from different sources in different project files and the same thing happens whenever I render the project.

Can someone please help me understand what is happening and how to stop it?

[Steve Grisetti]

What does your final output look like?

[STEMpunkED]

Here is a short video of the whole process.

[STEMpunkED]

Steve, thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to check in with me on this problem!

Ok, after 3 ridiculous days struggling with this issue, I have a solution via a very helpful Adobe rep (but not a solution intended for this particular problem, but rather for a host of problems that appear after a Windows update).

Apparently Windows Updates (whether straight from Microsoft or via things like Dell System Support I do not know) will sometimes overwrite important files ... and in this case it overwrote Adobe preferences regarding Social Media which caused my problem. The fix was:

1. Reboot computer and DO NOT start any Adobe software.

2. Press Windows Key+R, type %AppData% and click Run. This takes you to: C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming

3. Browse to Adobe ->Premiere Elements

4. Rename file 20.0 to 20.0.old

5. Reboot Computer (I don't know if you have to reboot, but I aways do when messing with system files)

6. Start Premiere Elements

Everything worked as it should have after that.

Major frustration in that:

My internet searches with the following phrases came up with no one experiencing the same problem

-"premiere elements" 2022 clips change scale after rendering

-"premiere elements" 2022 social media clips change scale after rendering

-"premiere elements" 2022 9:16 clips change scale rendering

... and a few others I can't remember

There is no "before you spend days trying to solve a problem of any sort, do this first ..." post out there that is referenced for any problem you have around application weirdness.