P: Unable to freely move clips and audio around on my timeline. Glitch, bug or setting?

[Lloyd_Allen3612]

If anyone is able to wave a magic wand and help me fix this issue then I would be so very grateful! 

I am using Premier pro 25.1 on a windows PC, I opened up my project the other day to start work and I was unable to freely click on a clip and drag the clip about on the timeline with the same thing happening with audio. When I do click on a clip to move or drag it I am presented with the picture I have attached, in my program window. 

I have tried everything on nearly every forum page I can find, reset all settings from splash, cleared cache, uninstalled and reinstalled softwear, new project, everything I can think of but I can't find anything anyway with someone with this same fault. 

Thank you if anyone can save me!

(mod edit title)

[Lydia Yee]

not sure what key i accidentally pressed but my cursor have changed to an arrow pointing downwards with two bars on each slide.  now, even though i have snap enabled, it does ot snap to clip and it is so hard to move the clips. 

things i have tried:

- new sequence/project

- restarting

- resetting premiere pro preferences

- uninstall and reinstall pp without transferring old preferences, new sequence/project 

- moved the windows around

- i'm using a mac with no additional monitors so i can't disconnect the monitor like other people have done in other post

highly highly highly appreciate any help and inputs....

[MarekMularczyk]

Your cursor will look like that when you use Selection tool and when you click and start dragging a clip on the Timeline. It's supposed to look like that 😉

[Lydia Yee]

oops. sorry my bad. never noticed it until 2 days ago. 

i noticed it because i was having problems with moving the clips (occurred suddenly so i thought i accidentally pressed a shortcut key or stg).

the snapping is already enabled but

it doesnt snap next to clips and always either land in the previous clip's space or land few frames away. so i alway have to zoom in to ripple delete the gaps/move clips out again. have to constantly zoom in everytime i move clips to make sure it lands in place.

even when i move clips up and down (to different layers), it tend to move the clips a few frames over, rather than keeping it in the same timeframe. 

not sure if anyone else is facing problems with moving clips because my friend is having issues with premiere pro the past two days like me too. 

[MarekMularczyk]

Are you saying that you have Snapping enabled in the Timeline but clips don't snap?

[MarekMularczyk]

oops. sorry my bad. never noticed it until 2 days ago.

Yes, it's little things which we don't notice sometimes 😉

[Lydia Yee]

sorry for my late response. did not notice the reply.

Yes, it just doesnt snap even though snapping is enabled. at times, i thought it snap but it actually went few frames into my previous clip (so my previous clip got cut off early) or few frames away (so i have a blank black screen). so now i just zoom in each time i'm near the clip to ensure it snaps properly next to my previous clip. 

I've reset all preferences and settings and reinstall without transferring old preferences but am still having the problem. hopefully it'll get fixed with the next update.

[default1j3qujr8y4c9]

Same exact thing here, the only way it fixes is if I zoom in more then it will start to work. But it was able to snap stuff prior not being that zoomed in and this symbol never showed up for me till now. If you found any solutions that would be amazing.

[Peru Bob]

See here:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro/premiere-pro-down-arrow-with-bars-on-either-side/td-p/87...

[default1j3qujr8y4c9]

Your sending me to a form that has no solved answers for me.

[Lydia Yee]

unfortunately not. few months later, still having the same problem. its extremely annoying but my friend and I have learnt to deal with it. it only started after the last update for us. so hopefully it'll be fixed at the next. wish you all the best in fixing yours!

[debora324456930vwe]

Buenas!

Me paso hace un rato, tengo instalado el Premiere Pro. El programa no me esta permitiendo arrastrar ningún elemento (imagen, video, audio) a la linea de tiempo. Estuve buscando soluciones por acá y ya verifique que estan en azul las V1 y también hice lo de hacer click en la parte superior de la linea de tiempo y borrar entrada y salida. Pero  nada de eso funciono. También intente abrir nuevas secuencias y proyectos. Pero sigue todo igual. Alguien tendria alguna idea de cual puede ser el motivo? o más bien, como puedo solucionarlo. Desde ya muchas gracias!! 

*Adjunto algunas fotos para graficar lo que comentaba*

[Robert38142802bol8]

I got the same thing, but the clip still won't go on the timeline.

[Robert38142802bol8]

Yes, at least for me.

[Bill_Duran6241]

lograste solucionarlo? tengo el mismo problema

[Nickolas24852066msmx]

My mouse does not line up with the timeline in Premiere Pro. Issue started about 2 weeks ago. Only present when working in Premiere on an extended monitor. My laptop is my primary editing machine when extended onto my Ultrawide Dell display (great for editing). I haven't found any solution to work so far...

Solutions explored:

- Reset Adobe Premiere Pro (hold down Alt when launching)

- Updated Adobe Premiere Pro and Creative Cloud

- Uninstalled and Reinstalled Adobe Premiere Pro

- Double checked all monitor settings in preferences.

Current Hardware:

- Microsoft Surface Studio Laptop

- Windows 11 updated to 24H2

- 11th Gen. Core i7

- 32 GB Ram (28GB dedicated to editing when using Premiere Pro)

- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics

[Rach McIntire]

Hi @Nickolas24852066msmx ,

 Welcome to the forums. Thanks for the message and the video. What version of Premiere are you working in?
Also, just to confirm, if you were editing just on your laptop monitor, there would be no lag, but when using the extended one, it does lag.
Please give the team a few more details, if you have time. See, How do I write a bug report?

I hope we can help you shortly. Sorry for the pain points.
Best,
Rach

[Nickolas24852066msmx]

Adobe Premiere Pro v25.0

I typically edit in extended mode. If I edit just on my laptop screen, the mouse lines up with the timeline and clips just fine. If I move the editing window over to the extended monitor - any extended monitor - the timeline panel and mouse are offset, but just the timeline panel. I honestly have no clue how this started, but it came to be about 2 weeks ago. There is no lag when in extended mode, just a terrible offset between the mouse and any timeline clips that I'm working with. Same camera clips, different camera clips, audio tracks - it's all offset.

[E36775843lo3m]

Me pasó lo mismo. Estaba editando sin problemas y sin motivo aparente (quizás una tecla que no sé cuál es) deja de permitirme mover cualquier cosa en la linea de tiempo. Puedo borrar archivos, acortarlos o alargarlos, pero no moverlos. Tampoco puedo insertar nuevos videos. Creería que es un problema del proyecto, no de Premiere porque lo abrí en la versión beta y pasa lo mismo. Quizás algo de la secuencia? 🤔

[Peru Bob]

Try creating a new project and import the old one into it.

[ContentLearner]

Hi, I need some urgent help because Adobe Premiere Pro is acting weird. Nothing can be moved or repositioned in the timeline and it's not locked.

Problem:

- Anything including clips/audio cannot move left or right/reposition in the timeline.

- When I want to reposition Clip 1-2-3 to Clip3-2-1 it cannot be done.

- Transition cannot be done too. I can slide,

- I can shorten the clip, but I cannot move them.

- I can add clips but I cannot reposition them.

- Video is a short one minute video

- I have storage in the computer.

What has been done to resolve not still not working:

- Tried to Alt Windows to reset media cache etc, it does not work.

- I also reset workspace and it did not work as well.

- I also shut down my laptop a few times it cannot work too.

As seen in the screenshot the tracks are not locked. I do not know what happened, I have edited hundreds of video, this is the first time I have encountered this. Dear Community please help me, I can't edit anything its affecting my livelihood...

[ContentLearner]

Nothing can be moved or repositioned in the timeline and it's not locked.

Problem:

- Anything including clips/audio cannot move left or right/reposition in the timeline.

- When I want to reposition Clip 1-2-3 to Clip3-2-1 it cannot be done.

- Transition cannot be done too. I can slide,

- I can shorten the clip, but I cannot move them.

- I can add clips but I cannot reposition them.

- Video is a short one minute video

- I have storage in the computer.

What has been done to resolve not still not working:

- Tried to Alt Windows to reset media cache etc, it does not work.

- I also reset workspace and it did not work as well.

- I also shut down my laptop a few times it cannot work too.

As seen in the screenshot the tracks are not locked. I do not know what happened, I have edited hundreds of video, this is the first time I have encountered this. Dear Community please help me, I can't edit anything its affecting my livelihood...I can't continue editing anything because nothing can be repositioned or moved. The move tool is not working.

[rahul_5960]

I can't move clips in my timeline at all. This started happening after I did a normal update on my Windows laptop. I can't move clips and get a red circle with a line through it diagonally whenever I try to move clips. I've restarted my computer, reset my preferences by holding shift + alt as the app is launching (splash screen), opened the current sequence into a new project and also uninstalled and reinstalled Adobe Premiere Pro 2025.

None of this has helped fix the issue, is anyone able to help?

Before this I also somehow split video and audio into two different sections (top and bottom). I don't know how to put them back together like I had originally. Having to select both to move them on the timeline is so annoying. I miss having audio and video in one clip as a single entity.

If anyone can help fix this too it would be greatly appreciated. 🙂

[rahul_5960]

I got help from a support person via online chat and it turns out there's a hardware issue. You can't move clips when using a laptop plugged to an external monitor via HDMI. I was able to use Adobe Premiere Pro 2025 completely fine before with the application on my monitor and not my laptop screen. But now I can't move clips when using Premiere Pro window on my monitor. This is so inconvenient, I hope they fix this soon. 😞

[rahul_5960]

I figured out a temporary fix, Windows Display Settings: Show only on 2nd Monitor and it lets me move clips again. What a rollercoaster of emotions haha.

[hermaj]

I changed the scale of the second screen (from 100 to 125) and it worked now