Drag & Drop

[abgtc]

Moving a clip should be easy: “To move a clip and insert it so all tracks shift after insertion, drag the clip to the desired location. When the pointer changes to the Insert icon, release the mouse button.”

But when I do that, the pointer never changes to an Insert icon. Then, when I release the clip, it’s near-impossible to get it to insert cleanly. Worst of all, there’s a gap where the selected clip was.

I’ve found a fairly time-consuming workaround: put the clip on another track, then move and insert it. But clip-moving is a basic video editing function and should be pretty straightforward -- am I missing something?

On a related note, the User Guide says you can “drag a rectangle (Marquee selection)” but I don’t see any rectangle and it’s never explained what a “Marquee selection” is.

[abgtc]

Worth noting that there's an easier workaround: cut & paste (though even then the insert point has to be made exact manually). Still, I'm curious why dragging doesn't work for me.

[Steve Grisetti]

Have you looked at our free 8 part Basic Training tutorials for Premiere Elements?
http://muvipix.com/products.php?searchp ... 1&btn.y=14

Part 3 shows you how to use the Insert and Ripple features.

[abgtc]

Thanks -- I'd looked at the tutorials before. They're really well done but I checked again and while #3 does talk about Insert and Ripple, it doesn't cover dragging, which is my problem: when I drag (or alt-drag or ctrl-drag) an edit to the left, I can easily insert it in the clip... but it leaves a gap at the edit's former position on the right. And it can't be fixed by "Delete and Close Gap", which is grayed out.

[Steve Grisetti]

Assuming you're working on Video 1/Audio 1, Delete and Close Gap will not be available if you have audio or video on a parallel track (say on the Music track) which keeps the gap from being an actual gap in the entire timeline.

Can you post a screen capture of your timeline? That will help us better direct you to the reason your gap isn't closing.

[abgtc]

Here are two screenshots: the top one shows the clip I intend to drag; the bottom shows the dragged clip dragged one clip to the left and a gap on the right. There are default texts on the timeline but not over the clips in question.

[Steve Grisetti]

And are you saying that when you double-click on the gap to select it and then right-click you don't see the option to Delete and Fill Gap?

[abgtc]

Nope -- like I say, this is all about dragging. When I drag the clip to the left, a gap appears on the right. (Select/Right-click works fine and, as I mentioned before, I've been doing it. But it's easier to drag and in any case, I'm curious why dragging isn't working.)

[RJ Johnston]

If I may add some confusion by injecting some of the results of my experiements. When dragging, it depends on the order that you hold down CTRL and press the mouse button . If you hold down CTRL and then click and drag, that's one thing. If you click and hold the mouse button first, then hold down CTRL, then drag, that's something else. One moves and overwrites with ripple, and the other moves and overwrites without ripple. If you don't hold down any keys, but just drag and drop, that's an ripple insert, which looks like your screenshots. Also, it might matter if the CTRL key is released before or after releasing the mouse button. I don't remember all the iterations, which is why I sometimes end up doing things the hard way.

[abgtc]

Well, I'm officially confused: "If you don't hold down any keys, but just drag and drop, that's an ripple insert, which looks like your screenshots." It does? I thought a ripple insert meant that the changes rippled along the rest of the clip, meaning there wouldn't be any gap!

Anyway, that's what I'm trying to get, and the two CTRL-drag methods you mention won't work, since they overwrite. I just want to drag a clip to a new position, without overwriting and without leaving a gap and, for me at least, drag-and-drop doesn't do it.

[RJ Johnston]

You're right. Maybe I shouldn't have said "ripple insert." But everything to the right of the insertion point, including gaps, is rippled to the right. What you want can be done, but it's actually two steps. Either you have to click in the gap and right-click to get the popup menu so you can select to delete the gap, or use a more complicated keystroke combination. Hold down the CTRL and the ALT keys, then click and drag the clip, then release the CTRL key (icon next to mousepointer will turn into shape of "J"), then release the mouse button. The gap should close up. See if that works for you.

[abgtc]

The keystroke works, though not exactly as RJ describes. I hold down CTRL and ALT, click and drag the clip then release CTRL, but the icon next to the pointer doesn't turn into a J, and when I release the mouse, the clip appears to overwrite rather than be inserted.

But if I hold down CTRL and ALT, click and drag, release both CTRL and ALT then the mouse... voila! Insert, no gap. But, as RJ says, it's a bit involved for what I would think is a pretty basic function.

As for "Delete and close gap", I mentioned in an earlier post that after dragging a clip, that command was grayed out. I just checked again, though, and it appears to be active. I have no idea why, but it's a gift horse whose mouth I won't examine.

Still, I don't understand why drag-and-drop, a very simple, basic command, doesn't work as advertised. From the User Guide: To move a clip and insert it so all tracks shift after insertion, drag the clip to the desired location. When the pointer changes to the Insert icon, release the mouse button. Nothing about keystrokes, holding some keys down while releasing others, nothing about overwriting and, most important, a straightforward declaration that after drag-and-drop, "all tracks shift after insertion." Which appears to be simply not true.

In Adobe's tiny defense, when I drag a clip and move it to insert, the pointer doesn't change to the Insert icon. (It does with the CTRL/ALT maneuver above.) That kinda explains why it doesn't work but it doesn't explain why the pointer doesn't change to the Insert icon.

[abgtc]

I guess no one can explain the disconnect between the User Guide's description of drag-and-drop and what drag-and-drop actually does. Oh well.

One thing, though; I mentioned that the Guide says you can “drag a rectangle (Marquee selection)” but never says what a “Marquee selection” is. Can someone tell me?

[Steve Grisetti]

A Marquee selection is when you drag across several clips on your timeline to select a group.

[abgtc]

Ahh -- thanks.