Select, edit, group, link, and disable clips

Learn to select and edit multiple clips simultaneously along with grouping, linking and disabling clips in Premiere Elements.

Premiere Elements allows you to select multiple video clips simultaneously and apply edits. It also allows you to group, link, and disable clips. You can gather clips for collective actions like moving, disabling, copying, or deleting. When you group a linked clip with others, both its audio and video components are encompassed within the group, whether you're using the Quick or Expert view timelines.

You can select multiple video clips simultaneously and apply edits to them in a few simple steps:

In the Quick view timeline or the Expert view timeline, you can group clips so that you can move, disable, copy, or delete them together. When you group a linked clip with other clips, both the audio and video portions of the linked clip are included in the group.

• To group clips, select multiple clips, and choose Clip > Group.
• To ungroup clips, click any clip in the group to select the group, and choose Clip > Ungroup.
• To select one or more clips in a group of clips, Alt‑click a single clip in a group. Shift+Alt‑click to select additional clips in a group.

Link video and audio clips

Most video includes a soundtrack. In the Project Assets panel, clips that contain both video and audio appear as a single item. When you add the clip to a movie in the Expert view timeline, the video and audio appear on separate tracks with the video directly above the audio.

The video and audio remain linked. When you drag the video portion in the Expert view timeline, the linked audio moves with it, and vice versa. For this reason, audio/video pairs are called linked clips. In the Expert view timeline, the names of linked clips are underlined and identified with a [V] for video or [A] for audio.

All editing tasks (such as moving, trimming, or changing the clip speed) act on both parts of a linked clip. You can temporarily override the link by pressing the Alt key when you initiate editing tasks. You can also place the video or audio portion separately.

Link and unlink video and audio clips

You can link a video clip and an audio clip so that they act as a unit. When you select, trim, split, delete, move, or change the speed of one, you affect the other clip as well. You can temporarily override the link as needed. In the Expert view timeline, the names of linked clips are underlined and identified with a [V] for video or [A] for audio.

• To link video and audio clips, Shift-click a video and audio clip to select them both, and then choose Clip > Link Audio And Video.
• To unlink video and audio clips, select a linked clip and choose Clip > Unlink Audio And Video. (Though the audio and video are unlinked, they are both still selected. Reselect either clip to use it separately.)
• To select linked clips individually, Alt‑click the desired clip. After selecting it, you can move or trim the clip independently of its linked clip.

Delete only the audio or video portion of a linked clip

Synchronize linked clips

Adobe Premiere Elements automatically places video and its audio on separate tracks in the Expert view timeline. However, it links the clips so that they remain in sync as you trim or move them.

If you Alt‑drag one of the clips out of sync, Adobe Premiere Elements displays the number of offset frames next to the clip name in the Expert view timeline.

Even if you unlink the clips, Adobe Premiere Elements keeps track of the offset, and displays it again if you relink them. You can have Adobe Premiere Elements automatically resynchronize the clips. Depending on the clips, you can choose between two methods of synchronizing.

Enable and disable clips

Occasionally, you might want to disable a clip while you try a different editing idea or to shorten the processing time. Disabling a clip hides it when you view the movie in the Monitor panel or when you export the movie. You can still move or change a disabled clip.