Insert clips and sort them order based on timestamp.

Replying here because it’s the first thread that comes up in a Google search for “premiere pro arrange clips by timecode” and having just worked out how to do this, I want to write it down as much for myself as everyone else. This is how to automatically arrange clips that were shot in one session but with gaps between them on a timeline in Premiere Pro CC (I’m using v14).

The timecode stamped on your clips in camera will need to be continuous based on time of day (free run) not with the clock stopping at the end of each clip and starting on the next clip (rec run). This is the default with most cameras now, I think. To check, scrub to the end of your first clip in the Source monitor, look at the timecode below (or on the overlay), then compare the timecode at the beginning of the next clip (assuming they weren’t shot back to back). There should be a gap in the time. If your timecode is rec run, you’re screwed, unless you have dual audio (both in-camera audio and a simultaneous recording from a Zoom or similar) – if so, get PluralEyes and use it to sync everything. Even for semi-pro shooters, PluralEyes is totally worth the money.

Assuming your sync is OK, select all your clips in the bin, right-click and choose Create Multi-Camera Source Sequence. This opens the Create Multi-Camera Source Sequence dialog. In the first menu at the top left, choose Custom, then enter a name at the top right, such as “Timecode sequence”. Under Synchronize Point, choose Timecode. Tick Create single multicam source sequence. Important: set Track Assignments to Camera Label. (This is the step you’re most likely to miss, and if you do, you’ll get a multicam sequence with every clip assigned to a different camera, which won’t play, won’t flatten and will confuse the heck out of you.) Don’t worry about the fact that you haven’t assigned any camera labels.

Leave all the other settings the same unless you have a reason to change anything for audio. Click OK. Nothing visible will happen. Check in your bin and you should have a new multi-cam sequence with the name you entered. This isn’t a sequence as such, so you can’t open it in the timeline by double-clicking. Instead, right-click it and choose New Sequence From Clip. Open this sequence. You’ll see a single nested clip (green). If you scrub through it, all your clips should be there in order with correct time gaps between. You can now right-click it and choose Multi-Camera > Flatten to break it up into separate clips (blue) arranged on the timeline with gaps.

If you have a dual audio track and add it to this timeline, it should roughly sync, but may drift off. Either fix it manually or access PluralEyes via Window > Extensions > PluralEyes to resync from the timeline.