To drastically speed up your rough cuts, stop moving your hand across the keyboard or relying on the toolbar. By mapping your most critical tools to the left side of the keyboard, your right hand stays on the mouse while your left hand handles the heavy lifting.
Here is the ultimate "zero-travel" layout:
1 & 2 (Zoom Out / In): Instantly navigate your timeline without reaching for the default + or - keys on the other side of your keyboard.
3 (Add Edit All Tracks): Slice through your entire timeline exactly where the playhead is parked, eliminating the need to switch back and forth to the Razor tool.
Shift + 3 (Add Edit): Makes a clean cut only on your targeted tracks.
Q & W (Ripple Trim): The biggest time-savers in Premiere. Q deletes everything before the playhead up to your last cut, and W deletes everything after. Both instantly snap the gap shut.
E (Ripple Delete): Deletes a selected clip and automatically closes the empty space, saving you the long reach to the Backspace or Delete key.
How to set it up:
Press Ctrl + Alt + K (Windows) or Cmd + Option + K (Mac) to open your Keyboard Shortcuts. Search for the commands above, click next to their names to assign your new keys, and save your preset!
