Cannot scroll timeline horizontally

[JonnyLP]

Hi,

It seems there is no way to scroll horizontally on the timeline view? It only scrolls vertically and there is no modifier (control, alt, etc) that allows you to do that. It would be an understatement to say this is really inconvenient and it's unacceptable to have to click and drag on the bar to move my timeline around.

I understand Adobe has not provided an answer on this that I have found at least. Does anyone have a workaround for this?

Appreciate any input on this.

Best,

Jonny.

Additional info:

Running the latest version of Adobe Premiere Elements 18 on 64b - Windows 10

[Steve Grisetti]

My timeline scrolls as I move the playhead along it. I can also set the playhead to jump from cut to cut on the timeline as well as to jump to a specific spot. I can also move my view of the timeline by dragging the slider along the bottom of the timeline.

Are you trying to do something else? There's not a keyboard shortcut for sliding your view of the timeline without moving the playhead, if that's what you're asking.

[JonnyLP]

Firstly thank you very much for taking the time to respond. I don't mean mean moving along the timeline in playback. When you say "I can also move my view of the timeline by dragging the slider along the bottom of the timeline" - that's exactly what I want to do except most other video editing programs allow you to use the mouse wheel instead of having to drag the damn bar.

[Ann Bens]

I agree its a big pain scrolling horizontal.

a modifier key should be added.

[HomoHab]

You're quite right Jonny. This is an obviously serious omission from such an important GUI as PRE. Prem Pro too.

Just imagine an enlarged PDF that your can grab with a mouse-grip and move its pages around. With Visio diagrammer you hold Ctrl and Alt and similarly move the page around. XnView has a settable grip that grabs pages and moves them. More...

Computers are an analogue of our physical world, and in that we most certainly move pages around, slide canvases or shove our work to suit us.

Yes, we all know about Windows' horizontal scroll-bars and blocks within them, but they're a small target, over-sensitive and distracting.

Adobe - of all the quirkiness-for-the-sake-of-it that you implement in your products, please put a simple horizontal scroll of the timeline function into your editor. A simple benefit for users.

[floydian-pulse]

I was just checking out the free trial and saw that the timeline could not be horizontally scrolled with the mouse. That's  a deal breaker for me. I don't care if you have to use shift, control, shift+control, or whatever to enable horizontal scroll with the mouse wheel, but for goodness sake, something should enable it.

Additionally, there does not seem to be a way to easily expand each track vertically. I have grown acustomed to being able to expand or contract all tracks vertically in other software I use. The use case here is, sometimes I need to see the audio wave. For instance, suppose I want to match up an audio track with a video track. I'm working on one now where I recorded a music performance live. The performance used a backing track. That backing track didn't come out too well on the recording, so I'm adding it in as an audio track. It would be nice to be able to expand all the tracks vertically with some keyboard modifier + mouse wheel. As it was, I had to manually drag each to expand them. Then I had to drag them again to contract them.

It looks like a nice program, but I really don't want to be fighting an interface in a program that you have to pay for. So, I'll be moving on to something else.

[Steve Grisetti]

Thanks for sharing, fp. That's the purpose of the free trial -- to find out if the program fits your workflow.

[gcw87632117]

The point of a free trial isn't just to see if a program fits your workflow. It's for the company to prove "why" the program make one's workflow better. If people are not finding something as basic to a workflow as a horizontal scroll, or are having a hard time finding it, then that is a big problem. A horizontal scroll is a basic feature that should be easy to locate for any user. 

[Bill Sprague]

Anybody try grabbing the horizontal bar with their mouse?  The same mouse as the scroll wheel.  Same finger but on a different button.   Between the wheel, left button, plus key, minus key and backslash key, I don't have any trouble finding my way around in the timeline.  

All that said, it would be fun to edit with the DaVinci Resolve and the Resolve Mini Panel!

[Ann Bens]

I still think horizontal srolling should have a modifier key.

For vertical scroll I can put the mouse anywhere in the timeline.

For horizontal I need to put it exactly on the bar otherwise it wont work. Mod. key would solve that.

[GPearce10]

Using the scroll bar has some limits. I've zoomed in tight for some fine audio editing, and using that bar sends my timeline flying. A more granular method is to click on an empty track (if there is one), then drag off the edge of the screen. That scrolls the timeline in a more controlled manner.

That said, count me among those who would like the scroll wheel (with a modifier key) to scroll horizontally, and, with a different modifier key, to zoom in and out. 

I've recently 'downgraded' from Pro, which I used for years. I've retired, and while I'd like the full capability of Pro, I can't justify the expense. I work on mosly 'home movie' projects now. And I don't expect Elements to do it all. But timeline scrolling and zooming seems basic enough.

I will add a bit of a rant about too much handholding in 'expert' mode. I haven't figured out how to stop all the rippling when I move a clip along the timeline. But that's a complaint for a different thread.

[Arren5FEC]

Click on Edit -> Preferences -> Timeline
In timeline setting, change Timeline Mouse Scrolling from "Horizontal" to "Vertical" as mentioned in the image below. You're welcome. 

[Ann Bens]

That works just fine for Premiere Pro but this is Premiere ELEMENTS: no such preference.

[nilsw34581600]

I was quite happy with Premiere Elements, but the lack of this particular feature was almost a dealbreaker for me.

However, I found a solution for me that worked quite well, but it requires an external Macro Tool called "AutoHotkey". 

Install the tool and create an empty textfile with the file ending .ahk. Copy and paste the following lines into the file:

^Wheelup::
send, {+}
return
^Wheeldown::
send, {-}
return
+WheelDown::
send, {WheelRight 4}
return
+WheelUp::
send, {WheelLeft 4}
return

Run the file with AutoHotkey and now CTRL+Mousewheel will change the zoom level in the timeline. Shift+Mousewheel now controls the horizontal scrolling.

At least for me, this solution immensely increased the usability of Elements. Since there seems to be no plans of including this kind of control natively in the software, external macro tools seem to be the only option right now.

[Thérianthrope]

Thanks for the tips, it works with AutoHotKey V1 !

[Almost Aviation]

Absolute genius, I have a new favourite utility! Goodness knows why they removed the timeline scrolling in the first place.