How to change, export and reset Premiere Pro shortcuts

How do I change keyboard shortcuts in Premiere Pro?

Change them inside Premiere, and follow Adobe's keyboard shortcuts help for Premiere Pro for the version you run. Adobe's help lists a page titled Customize keyboard shortcuts. That page is the source to trust for the menu path and the exact steps.

Here is what we checked. On 3 November 2026 we fetched Adobe's default keyboard shortcuts page and its keyboard shortcuts page for this guide. Both returned only Adobe's site navigation, not the article text. The navigation titles show the pages exist. They don't give a menu path, a default key or a file location we could verify, and we won't print one from memory. Adobe also now calls the app Adobe Premiere, so newer pages and older tutorials may use different names.

Adobe's page covers the clicks. What it doesn't cover is the order of work that keeps a live edit safe. Use this order whichever version you have:

1. Write the plan down first. List each command you want to move, its old keys and its new keys. If something breaks mid-edit, a list is the fastest way back.
2. Check the new combination is free on your computer. Another app may already use it. On Windows, Ctrl+Alt+F12 stops mouzeclick at once, so leave it out. Also read your mouzeclick hotkeys: a hotkey puts an action on a key combination, per app.
3. Change one command in Premiere. Don't rebuild the whole keyboard in one sitting.
4. Test it on a copy of a sequence, not the edit you are about to deliver.
5. Move on only when the first change works. Then do the next one.
6. Update anything that pressed the old keys: mouse buttons, wheel slots, gestures and macros. The table further down lists each case.
7. Keep the list with your project notes, so you can set up the same keys on another computer.

If you're deciding which keys to move, start from the defaults. Our full list of Premiere Pro keyboard shortcuts and the guide to cut, razor and ripple delete shortcuts cover the commands editors remap most.

Where is the Premiere Pro keyboard shortcuts file?

Premiere keeps custom shortcuts in its own shortcut file. The Adobe pages we could read for this check did not give the folder, so we don't print a path. Use the location Adobe's help gives for your version and system.

We know the file exists because mouzeclick writes to it. The Premiere Pro Tool wheel puts all sixteen label colours on one wheel, in a 4 × 4 grid. For those, mouzeclick writes the sixteen label shortcuts into Premiere's own shortcut file. It does this only with Premiere closed, and it keeps a backup.

Two habits follow from that:

• Close Premiere before anything touches the file. mouzeclick writes only with Premiere closed. Do the same if you copy or replace the file yourself.
• Keep the backup until you have checked. Open Premiere, apply a few label colours from the wheel, and confirm your other custom keys still work before you delete any backup.

Copy the file before any big change, whatever tool you use. It costs nothing and gives you a way back that doesn't depend on remembering every key.

How do I export Premiere Pro keyboard shortcuts to another computer?

Adobe's export and copy steps weren't in the pages we could read, so check Adobe's keyboard shortcuts help for your version. A shortcut setup has two halves, though, and you have to move both: Premiere's keys and whatever presses them.

Cloud sync is Windows only. On a Mac, set up the buttons again on the new computer, using the list you wrote down.

A mouzeclick key runs on one computer at a time, Windows or Mac. To move it, release the old computer from the account page or inside the app, then activate it on the new one.

Move Premiere's keys first, then the mouse setup. If the buttons arrive before the keys, they press combinations the new Premiere doesn't know yet.

Why are my Premiere Pro keyboard shortcuts not working?

Check two things first: whether something else takes the keys, and whether a mouse button still sends the old combination. Then work through the rest in order.

1. Did you change the shortcut recently? A mouse button, wheel slot, gesture or macro set to the old keys still presses the old keys. Re-record it with the new ones.
2. Does another app use the same combination? If a tool running in the background listens for those keys, it may act before Premiere does. Close background tools one at a time to find it. In mouzeclick, a hotkey can also block a combination an app keeps stealing.
3. Is it Ctrl+Alt+F12 on Windows? That combination stops mouzeclick at once. Pick something else for Premiere.
4. Is Premiere running as administrator on Windows? Apps running as administrator ignore apps that are not elevated, so mouse-button shortcuts won't reach Premiere. Pick Restart as administrator in mouzeclick's tray menu.
5. Has the internet dropped? mouzeclick needs a connection while it runs, because the licence and profiles live in your account. If it drops, the button shortcuts pause and the mouse acts as a normal mouse until the connection returns. Keys you type straight into Premiere are Premiere's own and don't go through mouzeclick.
6. On a Mac, did you grant the permissions? mouzeclick needs Accessibility and Input Monitoring. Turn both on, then quit mouzeclick and open it again. Our Mac install guide walks through all four steps.
7. On a MacBook keyboard, do the wheels fail to open? mouzeclick's wheels use Fn+F8 and Fn+F9 there. You can also turn on “Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys”.
8. Still failing with no mouse involved? Compare your keys with Adobe's default list for your version, and look in Premiere's shortcut settings to see whether the command still has the key you expect.

If a mouse button fails only in Premiere, check that it is set in the Premiere profile and not only as the action for every other app. Buttons work per app, and they switch the moment you change windows.

How do I put custom Premiere Pro shortcuts on mouse buttons?

Record the new keys onto a button in mouzeclick's Premiere Pro profile. We make mouzeclick, so this section is ours. Read it as one option, not the only way.

mouzeclick's mouse app runs on Windows and Mac and works with any mouse your computer sees: wired, wireless or Bluetooth. It uses up to five standard buttons (left, right, middle, Mouse 4 and Mouse 5) plus scroll and tilt. There is no driver, and it doesn't touch DPI, polling rate or the mouse's firmware. Those stay with the mouse maker's software.

1. Install the app and enter your key. The 3-day trial needs no card. On a Mac, follow the four install steps, because Apple has not notarized the app yet and macOS asks you to allow it the first time.
2. Press each mouse button once. The settings page is built around the buttons your mouse really has.
3. Open the Premiere Pro profile. Each app gets its own profile, and the editors come with ready-made ones.
4. Pick a button and a slot. Each button has eleven slots: tap, hold and move in four directions, a chord with another button, or hold and scroll.
5. Choose the action. For a key you changed, record the shortcut so the button presses your new keys. For a default key, pick it from the built-in library: 309 shortcuts on Windows, 153 of them for Premiere Pro.
6. Test it in Premiere, then switch to another app and check the button does that app's job there.

A library entry is a fixed key combination. If you moved that command to new keys in Premiere, the library entry still sends the old ones. Record the new keys instead. Macros work the same way: they chain keys, clicks, waits, typed text and launches, so a macro built on old keys needs the same update.

For more buttons, open the Options wheel with F8, Ctrl + right click or a side button. It holds 48 favourites per app on three rings of 12, 16 and 20, and the app has ready-made wheels for Premiere Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, Photoshop and CapCut. The guide to Premiere Pro mouse shortcuts has full layouts, and MX Master for Premiere Pro covers that mouse in particular.

What should I update after changing a Premiere shortcut?

Update every button, wheel slot, gesture and macro that pressed the old keys, the moment you change them in Premiere. Each case below needs a different fix.

The second row is the risky one. A button that used to add an edit could start doing something else entirely. Before you swap keys between two commands, update the button first.

A quick audit takes a minute. Open the Premiere profile, read down each button's slots, and compare them with your written list. Then open the Options wheel and check each ring the same way.

What runs on Windows and what runs on Mac?

The mouse app, the wheels, the mouzeclick Toolbar, Search effects, Studio's Silence, Timeline and Guides tabs and the 8 Premiere Pro extensions run on both. Cloud sync, in-app updates, Studio captions, Retakes and the workspaces are Windows only. Adobe says its Premiere free trial works on both macOS and Windows.

We quote the 309-shortcut library for Windows. On a Mac, record any shortcut you need. The workspaces are part of mouzeclick on Windows; the Mac app does not include them.

Can I use fewer shortcuts in Premiere Pro?

Yes. A wheel or a search box can replace the shortcuts you keep forgetting, so you only remap the ones you use every few seconds. All three of these run on Windows and Mac.

• The Premiere Pro Tool wheel holds 112 tools in 12 segments: your installed effects, all sixteen label colours, all eight marker colours, nine anchors, Fill frame and punch in. Open it with F10 or a held right button. A quick right click still opens Premiere's own menu. It needs the bridge: press Install Premiere bridge on the app's Tool wheel page once, restart Premiere, and keep mouzeclick running while you work.
• The mouzeclick Toolbar has 14 tools. Pin them to keys 1–9, or press / or Ctrl+F to find one.
• Search effects finds every installed effect and transition, audio and plug-ins included. Enter applies it; Shift+Enter applies it and pins it to the Tool wheel.

The Premiere Pro and After Effects tools page shows both Tool wheels, and the all-in-one Premiere Pro extension guide lists every panel with what runs on Mac. For a wider plan, read how to edit faster in Premiere Pro.

Questions people ask

Sources

Checked on 2026-11-03. Prices and features change: each link goes to the maker's own page.

1. Adobe: Premiere product page (name change to Adobe Premiere), checked 3 Nov 2026
2. Adobe: Premiere free trial (works on macOS and Windows), checked 3 Nov 2026
3. Adobe Help: Premiere Pro keyboard shortcuts page (body text not readable on 3 Nov 2026)
4. Adobe Help: Premiere Pro default keyboard shortcuts page (body text not readable on 3 Nov 2026)

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