Why is my search bar grayed out and unusable?

Report · Oct 03, 2014

Hey guys, I was just wondering why is my Search box in Premiere Pro CS6 grayed out and unusable? I have about 500 assets and sequences and it is a pain to look for things with the search box grayed out like that. Please help Thank you! I am running it on Windows 7 64-bit.

Report · Jan 09, 2019

perfect, thanks!

Report · Apr 11, 2018

I never had this problem until the latest April 2018 update - I think Its a new bug. since it started happening on 2 separate machines I work on 2 separate locations.

Report · Apr 13, 2018

Yep, happening here too (on several machines) after update. This is a bug @adobe

Report · Apr 14, 2018

And for me too. Search bar grayed out, not working. Premiere Pro CC v12.0, Windows 7.

Report · Apr 15, 2018

it's a new April 2018 Update BUG, the search box crash is an old thing, it often crashes, but this time after crashing, you will never get the searchbox back, closing all project and clear cache can fix it just once, but next time you open premiere, it will be the same un-usable searchbox again

Report · Apr 21, 2018

"Close all projects" and re-opening project, worked only for seconds before it become grey again.

Report · Apr 21, 2018

Same thing for me, after installing latest update Apr18: "Close all projects" and re-opening project, worked only for seconds before it become grey again.

Report · Apr 21, 2018

But after a few seconds settling down, conforming etc, the search bar appeared again

Report · Apr 23, 2018

It's clear that it's a bug, but there was a new update of the last week I think that fixed this problem.

Now even when Premiere is still indexing, the search bar is usable at all times.

Report · Apr 23, 2018

Thanks to everyone for posting in here. What worked for me is as follows: Closed Premiere, Manually deleted cache, Start Premiere, Opened the problem project, close all projects, create new project, reset workspace, close project, reopen problem project, search bar was still momentarily greyed out but came back to life. Working now. Very odd, very frustrating

Report · May 08, 2018

This is a bit overkill think just cleaning the media database and opening a different bin should "fix"

Report · Jun 20, 2018

Actually that has not worked for me personally.

Report · Apr 23, 2018

Ironically the first time I open any project the search bar is greyed, then I "close all projects" (even though no other projects are open), reopen the project and it seems to consistently work for me...I can then search.

Yes, definitely a bug going all the way back to CS6 apparently.

I never used this search function till now.

Report · Apr 27, 2018

Just adding to the chorus. This is a bug. Yes there are some workarounds. This should not be marked "Answered".

Report · May 02, 2018

Adding my name in the hat here. I have a project I can search and one I cannot. I would rather not have to reindex the project that is searching fine as it includes my entire SFX library. How can you easily reindex just one project if they're both pointing to the same cache folder?

Report · May 18, 2018

I'm having the same problem too. I tried to use the "create search bin" as an alternative, bad idea!

It creates a folder with your search results, but if you delete that folder it deletes your files too. Adobe WHY would you make it like this? It's a search bin, it shouldn't delete the actual source files. I almost royally effed up a project and had to go back to an autosaved version when I realized a bunch of my files were gone. I was so confused until I figured out it was the search bin.

Report · May 21, 2018

The Definitive Solution To This Problem:

This was a bug introduced in one of March or April Premiere Pro updates. Based on the information shared in this post, on top of my own, here's the fix that so far has worked for me.

Close Premiere Pro if it’s open
Clear all your cache file directories
1. Media Cache Directory
2. Media Cache Database
3. C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Common\Media Cache
4. C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Common\Media Cache Files
5. C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Common\Team Projects Cache
6. C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Common\Peak Files
Open your project, wait for everything to index. Then go to File --> Close All Projects. Then reopen the project.

If it doesn’t work at this point, restart Premiere Pro.
If it still doesn’t work, try the “Import” feature inside of the project window to bring assets into the project.

Best Regards

Report · May 24, 2018

The question is why did Adobe get rid of the clear cache buttons? It's a bigger pain in the ass to have to delete it manually.

Report · May 25, 2018

They didn't removed it, go to preferences > media cache and the button is "delete unused"

Be aware that that if you delete the cache within premiere you delete only the files that premiere is not currently using, but if you do it manually with premiere closed, you can delete everything in the cache folder but If you reopen premiere it's gonna recreate all the necessary peak files.

You can read a full FAQ article here:

FAQ: How to clean media cache files?

Report · May 28, 2018

The button is removed. "Remove unused" is not the same as clearing the entire cache/media files. It's a totally different function.

Report · May 28, 2018

To clarify, I don't think there ever was a "clear" cache button that deleted all cache files. CS6 called it "clean" but meant "remove unused." 2017 called it "Clean Unused," and 2018 moved it to the top ("Media Cache Files") section from the middle ("Media Cache Database") and renamed it "Delete Unused."

2018 also added a title to the lower section ("Media Cache Management").

Report · Jun 07, 2018

same here, not working after upgrade to v12.1.1. the filter bin is greyed out.

I've created a bug in this link, https://goo.gl/7P2Y8z

If you have the same problem, vote in that link so that Adobe would take actions.

Bug report:: BIN filter greyed out in Project Window v12.1.1

After upgrade to v12.1.1, the filter bin is greyed out in Project window.

- Tried to clean up cache manually, close all project, close premiere, open premiere project, wait an hour for it to index (only one 30 second video in project) but doesn't resolve this issue.

- create Search bin works but not the BIN filter.

- All my projects have this issue. It was working normally after upgrade to v12.1.1 but somehow, it is not working now.

- Create a new project and which contain only one video file, has the same issue.

My system Win 10 x64.

Report · Jun 28, 2018

Has not worked for me. I can start a new project and have the search bar, but as soon as I open another project and try to do the clear cache trick and close all, etc, it does not work. Still greyed out.

For those joining here: fill out that form above (thanks veew26444572!) to report the bug. Let's get this fixed!

Report · Jul 11, 2018

Adobe seriously doesn't pay attention on this thread???

Everyone has this bug. Fix it.

Report · Jul 16, 2018

Me too.

This should not require a workaround. Search is an essential feature in any app that has any sort of database and it should just work.

Martin

On a Mac

Latest version:12.1.1

Too busy and too much media to try these workarounds now, but I will and thank you all for your suggestions.