Timeline jumps back to playhead anytime I click while playback / I press play or stop

[Anton W]

PP2022

I am not sure if this has always been like that, or if it's a new thing but it's driving me nuts.

For example:

I watch my edit in the timeline and then in some part I zoom in to inspect some detail while it keeps playing. If I now hit pause the timeline automatically jumps to where the playhead has moved to while I was inspecting and away from the section I was looking at.  I would like the timeline to stay on the section I was looking at.

If I click in the timeline in order to relocate the playhead while it's playing, it will always jump to the current playhead's position and not where I clicked.

In order to achieve this I always have to zoom out, so that the playhead is visible, then stop, move the playhead to where I want to be and zoom out. 

This has cost me so much time and I am about to lose my mind about it. I really can't remember ever having this problem in 15 years of editing. 

I hope I am making myself understand. I have been searching extensively on the internet but I don't even know how to name this problem. 

For a moment I thought that "selection follows playhead" was the solution but it really wasn't. I am also under the impression, that sometime for some reason it will work just as I want and remember it, but then it will go back. Maybe I am hitting some secret key without knowing it.

Your help is highly appreciate. If you don't understand please ask,

Thanks

[Mefuji605]

This is driving me insane as well!! Adobe please fix this!

[Jeff Bellune]

What happens if you stop the play head when it gets near (before or after) the section you want to inspect and then zoom in?

I don't see the usefulness of letting playback continue when you want to work on a particular section of the timeline.

Now, I may be missing out on a good editing technique and if I am please go into more detail.

[Anton W]

Hi, I don't understand your question very well and also don't appreciate the underlying sarcasm of your comments. 

Just one example:

I am working on a timeline and so now I want to watch it. I press play and in minute 8:41 I just want to prolong a transition so I zoom in and do it while the playhead keeps advancing. It takes me two seconds to do it but  then I notice something that I have to fix right next to the transition and now I want to stop the playhead but it has gone on and I am really zoomed in...so it jumps and I have to zoom out, search for the sequence I was looking at

Most of all I am a documentary editor so I am constatnly searching for footage that I have stowed away somewhere in my timeline.

[gerikp]

I'm trying to understand your problem. One question I have is in your Preference > Timeline..., what is your "Timeline Playback Auto-Scrolling:" set to?

[Anton W]

Mine is in german but I think the translation would be "no scroll"

[gerikp]

Ok, I believe I understand what you are trying to do. Unfortunately, I don't think there's a different way to change the behavior to do what you want are wanting. You could add a feature request to the Premiere Pro user voice site where the developers monitor suggestions https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911233-premiere-pro

Other ideas might be getting familiar with quick shortcuts to help you navigate the timeline faster. Some are in the default set of shortcuts and others you can customize. Here are some of my favorites you can find within the Keyboard Shortcuts settings.

- Move Playhead to Cursor

- Go to Previous Edit Point

- Go to Next Edit Point

- Zoom to Frame

- Zoom to Sequence

Just a few ideas.

[Anton W]

Hi, thanks for your answer Gerikp.

I mean I have been dancing around this. I think what made this a problem recentely and why I really havent stumbled upon this is that for the first time I am editing a 13 episode documentary series where I jump between material, sequences and even episodes looking for curtain footage.

I know all the short cuts you mentioned exept of "move playhead to cursor". That one really might solve my problem. I'll give it a try. Also I will put in the suggestion for Adobe. 

Thx

[gerikp]

Whew, big job. Wish I knew a way to make it easier on you. But, that's why you're getting paid the big bucks... am I right? 😉

[Anton W]

Yeah, right...big bucks hehehe...

You acctually did help a lot. That shortcut is working fine for me...

[Anton W]

"Move playhead to cursor". I had to come back and share how it did not only solve my problem but really added a powerfull new tool to my box. Let's say I am searching for a clip or sequenz in my timeline and I just want to have a quick overall scroll through  the edit while watching it in my programm monitor,  Now I can hold the shortcut down and wherever in the timeline I move my mouse,  it will drag the playhead along. I never acctually have to go up with my mouse and grab the blue playhead thing to do this anymore. This saves me a lot of time.

So thanks again.

[Anton W]

*or just click anywhere in my timeline with this shortcut to quickly jump around.

[malowens]

Yep, for me too! It's brilliant! I found this thread whilst searching an answer to the problem you also experienced during playback/pause and the timeline snapping back to the playhead when stopped when working on a different section of the timeline. And now have this great shortcut! So good!

[jakes21841624]

@gerikp This problem has been killing me. But I set move playhead to cursor as an  ALT Space Short cut and it has been great. Had to rewire myself a bit but now everytime I stop the video I hit ALT Space and it works perfect. You are a GOD. Thank you so much for solving this issue.

[joel21954078em27]

Our only shot for them to an an option to new software is to let adobe know what our issue is, this can be done via the online support (unfortunatly is can not as i am on a university lisence and support is restricted)

https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/support/support-new/support-apps.html#ppro

Adobe support > Contact Us - Real help from real people.

[Jeff_Croghan]

This is not the correct answer, please remove the "Correct Answer" check so people at Adobe actually look at this problem.

[joel21954078em27]

MOVE BACK TO 2021 VERSION (in using 15.4.2)

Also driving me crazy, ive spent hours looking for a fix, ive had to move back to 2021 version again which is such a shame

[Anton W]

Really? Is this acctually a new feature and I am not crazy? In 2021 it doesn't happen?

[gerikp]

That's strange. Your post had me doubting so I opened up 15.4.2 and did a test and when I stop the play head the timeline reorientates itself to the CTI. 

[distillednoise]

I confirm that in older versions it worked like you would like. It's driving crazy me too. When I do jump cuts on my videos I need to do it while the video plays and then rewatch the cut. Super annoying. Also doesn't work if I click on the timeline to place the playhead on a frame as the video is playing. It jumps to where the playhead was playing in that moment.
Will definitely consider going back to the older version!

[mannarlevo]

Have you found a fix for this? I'm going nuts 

[danield25437812]

Update it! It's fixed in the newest version. Only took three years!

[davidpayne1981]

not fully fixed sadly. Only when you mouse click and not pause with the space bar., If you do that it still jumps back.

[Jeff_Croghan]

Please remove the "Correct Answer" check so people at Adobe actually look at this problem.

[terysimSFI]

I am wondering how to do this.  Adobe no longer makes past versions available, just 2022 & 2023.  I am running Mojave on an old MacPro, and was encountering severe memory leaks on my PP 15.4.5  So I cavalierly uninstalled it and tried to re-install from Creative Cloud.  NOT available.  Talked to Support and he could send me an install of 15.0--none of the "minor" updates.  And we all know how buggy the ".0" versions of Premiere are.  So now I am in worse shape and the memory leak is worse (it runs for about 90 minutes before I have used all 96GB of the RAM plus 90GB of swap memory and the whole computer jams up.  Also, even if I exit Premiere before it has used, say 80GB or Swap memory, the Premiere is still red in  Acivity Monitor, and I have to Force Quit it, before it lets go of the RAM.   BTW, somehow I amde a copy of the 15.4.5 app in the /Applications folder, but cannot just copy it into the "Active" 2021 app--it crashes, must be other Library thingy's that can't use the 15.0. Any help would be appreciated.

Heads up, NEVER uninstall your legacy versions of Premiere!