Premiere Pro - Could someone identify this feature?

[Chris Cawley]

When you move a clip against another clip in Premiere, it automatically locks them together with these white down pointing arrows. If you work in Premiere you know exactly what these are, but might have a hard time identifying what this feature is called. The problem for me is that in every project I've worked in - after a week or two these things just seem to go away and I can't sync clips next to each other automatically. I have to guess and zoom in to move the clips exactly frame by frame. If anyone knows what this feature is called I'd greatly appreciate it.

[Peter Manojlovic]

It's a snap point. It allows you to know exactly what the clips will snap to...

Example, you have a cluttered timline, that's zoomed out. Rather than guessing "about" where it will snap, you can see whether you're snapping to a marker, crossfade, or audio clip....

Don't know the official name for it..

In your example, if you move it over a hair, you can snap to the top clip's dissolve feature..

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

Snapping is as official as it gets!

You can turn on or turn off the feature in the menu or with a short key, so that probably explains the 'erratic behavior'.

The manual will explain it all.

[Chris Cawley]

You guys are awesome! Thanks for responding within a half hour of my posting! It's funny how right in front of my face this was. It's called "Snap" and in Premiere Pro you can toggle it by going to Sequence>Snap or the short key, which is "S"...

I'm surprised how far I've gotten in life with just "C" and "V". Now I got "S".

Sareesh, I ALMOST had to break out the manual. Where google failed me you guys rocked it. Thanks again.

[Peter Manojlovic]

Snapping, in itself simply goes to the beginning or end of a feature...

The arrows indicate more accurately where that feature is located..I find this very useful on a zoomed out timeline..There could be a half dozen snap points, but the arrow indicates exactly where snapping occurs. Example, snap to chapter point instead of clip.
This way, you don't need to keep zooming in or out...The arrows are very handy for this...

[Chris Cawley]

Never tried chapter points. Do they help a lot? I either keep things in separate sequences and then nest them all together later or I just keep everything in the same fluid timeline.

Yeah snap is really one of the coolest ways to keep things moving quick. It's cool because I have a project due Friday and I was really sluggish with it, but now I got some renewed energy to hit the home stretch.

[Peter Manojlovic]

No....

The chapter points thing, is strictly an aid for me..it could be an in/out point, it could be a sequence in/out point. These are just aids in editing.
I'll throw down huge amounts of stuff on the timeline, and keep the bulkwork of clips down at the right end..
As i start assembling things, in the left hand, i'll lay down chapter markers for insert points..This may be tied down to a beat in a song, or a point of interest, or a cutaway shot...

Regardless, I can grab a clip from the right side of my timeline, and simply grab and drop it at the snap arrow. The snap arrow lets me know accurately, where I've dropped it, without having to zoom in and out.

Good luck with your project.