Premiere Pro - Auto Save is Killing me

[AtonMusic]

I work with a lot of professional applications which have had auto save features included since a decade.

Those fine apps simply save everything in the background, the user senses nothing different going on.

I think that is the way - ANY Auto Save should behave.

In Premiere Pro

1) If the Auto Save starts while I am dragging a clip - I will loose the drag

2) If I am playing back a sequence, showing a client my work, if Auto Save kicks in, Playback stops

3) If I am entering a name into a clip and hit enter and Auto Save kicks in I loose the naming dialog.

Am I doing something wrong or is this feature simply just there to annoy the user ,-)

The feature works i.e. it does what it is supposed to do (Backing Up) but why on earth cant it do it in the background.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Dan,

dan3430 wrote:

How is that coming along???? and why did you not patch it for past releases of Premier?

Very sorry you're having trouble. We are still working on improving the Auto Save function. Unfortunately, new features are not added to previous versions of our software. That's always been the case. We are still providing bug fixes for CS6, however.

dan3430 wrote:

I would be THRILLED if Adobe didn't release a single new feature for 5 years if they could just get their f*ing act together and release some bug free professional grade software!

I can understand how frustrating that might be. Sorry about the inconvenience. Unfortunately, it is not advantageous to lock down features for years at a time. Consider that new camera formats and codecs are constantly being released and we must support them. That is only one reason we must constantly innovate and create new versions of Premiere Pro.

Software that contains, say, 30 million lines of code (as Premiere Pro has), cannot ever be completely "bug free." See this post for some perspective: programming practices - Is it possible to reach absolute zero bug state for large scale software? - ...

I know how frustrating bugs can be, I have been editing for 25 years, the last 16 on digital. All NLEs have issues. The important thing is to fix the issues that affect the most users first. We use a number of methods to determine which bugs need fixing first, the most important of which being our own bug report form filled out by customers like you.

Thanks,

Kevin

[dan3430]

I update adobe LR with every new release, and so when there are some new bugs I'm never too surprised.... still frustrated, but not too surprised. When I experience a bug that costs me multiple hours of work and within 30 seconds of searching I find out that it's been a known bug for over 2, that's a little more infuriating.  Okay, maybe we'd all appreciate if you continued to support new cameras, but if you spend some time in the forums you'll notice that especially in the last 2-3 years adobe has lost a lot of respect from long term users.  There is a good chance that there will not be any serious competition to Adobe in the near future for desktop photo and video editing software, but if Adobe expects customers to keep paying for upgrades or joining CC they need to focus on what their professional customers actually care about. 

[Stewart Shevin]

I also find that when I leave working in the program to do something else, the autosave functionality stops. This is even though Premiere is open. Then when I return to the program and interact with it, it begins an autosave. Why does it wait to do that? Please fix.

[Stan Jones]

This thread started in 2012, and there have  been significant changes to Autosave since. What specific dot version of PR are you running? Autosave should no longer interrupt you unless you have unsaved changes beyond to time interval you set. Yes, it will do odd things sometimes, but I can remember the last time it happened to me.

I just tested, and, in 2019.0.2, PR makes an autosave in the background if I leave it to work in something else.

I'll also say, that I would never leave PR with unsaved changes to work in something else. In fact, I would save and do a "save a copy" (to a different drive).

I have autosave set, but it would provide a useful background in only the most extraordinary circumstances.

[GreenView]

Absolutely! This is a constant frustration for me at work. Autosaves kicking in mid-drag can be excruciatingly annoying.

I spoke to someone at Adobe support and he replied saying that they had actually written it into CC NOT to auto-save whilst something is in transit, ie. being dragged. However, I've seen no difference in the frequency of what I would honestly refer to as a bug!

Premiere, I love you, but small things like this shouldn't still be happening!

[Mark Mapes]

@ greenview: Exactly what version are you useing, as displayed in Premiere's About box?

[kevn86]

I'm using Premiere Pro CC 2014.2 (8.2.0 [65] Build) on a Mac with OS X Yosemite 10.10.3

Preface: I love Premiere, I love Adobe, this is not a complaint, I am not angry or upset, your products are far more valuable to me than any amount of money, I am more than pleased with your software, I am more than pleased with your services, I am more than pleased with your prices.  Unfortunately, I can relate to the issues attached to the auto-save function.  So I'm sharing my experiences and my suggestions in order to possibly help make this amazing software even better for all of us.

I've been interrupted by auto-save countless times, sometimes it's a minor inconvenience that requires me to repeat whatever action was interrupted.  Other times, depending on the action that it interrupts, it causes Premiere to crash...  Today I've decided to go ahead and disable auto-save until I see improvements made to the way that it works, because in its current state, for me anyway, it DOESN'T work... It's caused me far more frustration and time lost than it has saved me from anything.

My most recent encounter with an auto-save interruption DID cause a crash.  This time, the auto-save kicked in while I was adjusting the width of the tools panel in the title editor window, meaning, I had my left-click held down and was currently dragging to my desired tools panel width to more effectively edit the title in which I currently had open in the title editor window.

Anyway, I've submitted a bug report and feature suggestion but I figure it can't hurt to share the suggestions here as well... Not to mention, the 2000 character limit for those forms...

MY IDEAL SOLUTION: If the auto-save timer "reaches zero" while premiere is actively completing a task, OR while the user is actively sending commands to premiere in any way, force the auto-save to wait until the next instance of complete NON-activity from both the user and premiere itself, then initiate the auto-save and reset the timer upon completion.  This would cut out the possibility of such collisions, and any crashes that may result.  I know I'm not the only person who has been interrupted by auto-save, I also know that the auto-save interruption has caused crashes for me in the past (although I don't recall exactly what actions I was doing when the interruptions and crashes occurred in the past), most times it simply interrupts my current action, requiring me to repeat the action if desired, which is fine I suppose.  I just see this solution as a way to eliminate the concern altogether.

BONUS SUGGESTION: It would also be awesome if while auto-save is active, user commands cannot be made.  This would prevent users from accidentally interrupting and/or canceling the auto-save.

ALTERNATE SOLUTION:  Perhaps have an optional timer somewhere on the interface of premiere that shows a live countdown to the next auto-save so that users can keep an eye out for the interruption.  Maybe even have clickable options within the timer to do things like, "Skip upcoming save, reset the timer", and "Save now, reset the timer".  That way if someone is about to get pretty deep into an edit, and doesn't want to be interrupted, let's say they glance at the timer and see that the next auto-save is less than 3 minutes away, they can then choose to save now, and not worry about the auto-save interruption for another X minutes (X being whatever their auto-save interval is set to).  Same is true for the skip and reset, although someone may want to use this instead if they know that they haven't changed much since the last auto-save (or manual save) and are trying to save space when possible.

Obviously my vote is for my ideal solution + bonus suggestion.  I realize that may be asking for a lot, which is why I also suggested the alternate solution.  I would be more than happy having the added control over auto-save that it would provide.

I manually save quite often, but I'd like to keep auto-save enabled as a safety net.  I honestly don't mind at all that it is not a background operation, but the interruptions and crashes have gotten to the point where I have a mini-panic attack every time it pops up while I'm working on something...  Thinking to myself, "PLEASE don't crash..."

[WebOfWebs]

Over 3 years later, numerous versions later, many complaints, features requests and bug reports later, and...

STILL NOT FIXED (vCC2015.0)

This is STILL bothering me, along with numerous other irritations, and some of the fanbois wonder how i can have the audacity to complain.

3 years?!?!?!

But then, the Acrobat Reader updater is stuck in your face while downloading, and has annoyed *everyone* for what SIX years now?!?!?!

sometimes i think there are very few people actually working for adobe.

[Derjis]

WebOfWebs wrote:

Over 3 years later, numerous versions later, many complaints, features requests and bug reports later, and...

STILL NOT FIXED (vCC2015.0)

3 years?!?!?!

sometimes i think there are very few people actually working for adobe.

Based on some of the conversations I've had on these forums and seeing how bug-riddled Adobe's releases are, I'd say you hit the nail on the head...

[BartonGarrett256]

‌Ah, basic stuff may not be fixed, but look at the bright side-  we now have Adobe Stock-  and get reminded about it ever time we open Pr!

[Jim_Simon]

I just want to say to every poster in this thread, there is a better way.  But we will never get this better way unless everyone tells Adobe they want it.

FR: Instant AutoSave

[WebOfWebs]

Interesting idea.

However, where i live, the local business owners and managers, take an active interest in their livelyhoods. Sometimes they improve their products/venues without *anyone* complaining. It gives them a leg-up on the competition, better customer relations, and a stronger image...

oh, why am i bothering. You do it your way. Wait until *everyone* points out something is broken...

[Jim_Simon]

It's not my way.  I don't work for Adobe.  If I were the PP project manager, my first order of business after becoming aware of this idea would have been a mandatory staff meeting to say "Everyone, drop whatever you're working on.  This get's done NOW".

To my thinking, Instant AutoSave is the single most important new feature that could possibly be added to any piece of software, not just Adobe's.

[WebOfWebs]

I do not understand why anyone who "does not work for adobe" would spend time defending their actions, or lack of, and make suggestions that annoy both customers and staff. But then again, i dont understand why there are annoying bugs in the software - for years.

Yippee - Adobe Stock. I might use it, if i can see past the autosave and acrobat-updater...

[Jim_Simon]

I do not understand why anyone who "does not work for adobe" would spend time defending their actions

Have I done that here?  Somehow I missed it.  I actually thought I was criticizing Adobe for still not having the Instant Autosave feature, even though the original suggestion was over a year and a half ago.

and make suggestions that annoy both customers and staff.

You seem to be the only customer whose annoyed, although I honestly don't see how anyone could possibly be annoyed with this particular feature request.  I thought it was absolutely brilliant the second I first read about it on the Lightworks web site.

I've gotten no feedback from staff to suggest they're annoyed.  In fact, in the original feature request thread, the one staff member who posted seemed to really like the idea.

But then again, i dont understand why there are annoying bugs in the software

Because it's simply not possible for any program with over a million of lines of code to be entirely bug free.

[Guest · Accepted solution]

Go to Edit > Preferences > Auto Save > Uncheck "Automatically save projects.

[NemoRoman]

This isn't a solution. It's a work around and not a good one since autosave is a smart function to keep on, it's saved me more times than I remember, and in more ways than one. But, maybe there's no need for it? That's the only way I could see this as being presented as a "correct answer".

The problem is Premier brings itself to the front every time it autosaves. So if I'm working in After Effects, or writing something, it interrupts and that's a really bad thing to do to the creative flow.

[barrys36211072]

I'd probably never scroll all the way down here on a forum to find an answer but I was having this issue today and found out what may have been causing the hang up. Thought it might be helpful to share.

Premiere 2017 was crashing out on me when it would go to autosave as I was working - which just always seemed like a really risky move for a program to do to begin with imho. Turns out, I was using "Morph Cut". If you've used this effect, try deleting it and see if it performs better.

[lcagaiden]

6 years later... still the same exact problem...  I have a huge project (which is about to grow even larger) and autosave dialogue will sometimes lock up my for for 20-30sec uggghhh...  That's despite having a solid, expensive, high end workstation...  Turning it off completely is like russian roulette (and i lost a few times before when i had to redo few hours of work just cause i forgot to turn it back on) - but seriously - this issue is infuriating!

[Stewart Shevin]

I also find that when I leave working in the program to do something else, the autosave functionality stops. This is even though Premiere is open. Then when I return to the program and interact with it, it begins an autosave. Why does it wait to do that? Please fix.

[vixykat]

This should not be marked as "SOLVED".

I was just searching the web for an answer to this problem, and it's a little disheartening to learn that this has been an issue for so long. I know I might be writing into the void since I'm adding to a thread that is almost 10 yrs old, but I feel the desire add my complaint, and underscore that this problematic functionality flaw has never been fixed.

I don't mind it quite as much when Autosave interrupts me while I'm working in Premiere (tho I relate to people who object to that and don't fault anyone for getting disturbed by it; it is an enemy of being "in the zone"). I am usually able to remind myself (and my clients) how many times Autosave has saved my hide, and then all is forgiven, at least for the moment. However, I truly hate it when Premiere's Autosave progress bar pops to the foreground when I'm using other programs. My kneejerk reaction is to shove it aside, but I've trained myself to short-circuit that urge because I know from bitter experience that clicking on the progress bar window throws you into Premiere, and that is an even bigger distraction, and once in awhile actually disrupts what I was doing in another program.

One of the worst cases for me is when I'm in Photoshop, because the autosave progress bar always pops up in the exact middle of the screen, usually blocking a crucial part of whatever I'm working on, so I just have to wait it out. At best it's distracting and can derail my train of thought, at worst it can actually mess up what I was doing and I have to start some process or other over again. Especially if I forget to control the aforementioned urge to move the darn thing, and then I'm jettisoned out of Photoshop and into Premiere.

The advice to turn Autosave OFF is no solution at all.  1) I'm not going to turn it off and then back on every time I leave Premiere temporarily to do something in another program, and 2) as someone else pointed out, it's too easy to forget to turn it back on. 

Likewise the other suggestion to customize the time between Autosaves to make them happen much less often is almost as problematic. Frequent Autosaves are the preference of most Premiere users, since the whole point of Autosave is to have a recent backup if your project crashes or a drive fails or any other incident that causes you to lose work you've done that was never saved. Anyone who's ever had to try and remember the last chunk of work and redo it can attest that this can really set you back. And before anyone says it, recovery projects don't always work – it's a great feature but it's not foolproof.

At the very least, could the Autosave progress bar window appear in a corner of the computer screen instead of the middle, where most things tend to be happening?  Or, alternatively, can the Autosave progress bar window be changed so you can move it out of the way without sending you to Premiere?

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi, vixycat,

I am sorry for the disruptive behavior. It bothers me too. I would upvote a feature request and advocate for it. Just make it here.

Thanks,
Kevin

[juliad1203686]

This also drives me insane.  NO need for it.  This should absolutely happen in the BG, NOT freeze the workflow.  My mac is plenty fast, and has no trouble autosaving in AVID. 

And for the record - turning OFF autosave is not the solution some here think it is.  You autosave for a reason, and the function itself should happen in the BG - period.

This is a software design problem, where a later developer can't use previous competitors' program designs that work mre efficiently due to copyright infringement,  and so must design something clunkier to get the job done.

This alone is driving me back to AVID, though there are a couple of other bugs (such as slow large file management) that have cost me time and data that neither AVID nor FCP ever did.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Agree. Please make a feature request here. I will upvote gladly.

Cheers,

Kevin