Working with the Workspace | Premiere 6.5 Fundamentals

Efficiency is the key to improving your technique. Premiere allows you to set up whichever windows and tools you want to be visible (or hidden), depending on the editing task you are performing. This configuration of windows is called the workspace. Creating these customizable workspaces allows you to quickly access the windows necessary for specific tasks while hiding windows that are unnecessary at the current time, thus saving you a tremendous amount of time. For tasks you perform regularly, such as digitizing, editing, audio mixing, and applying effects, creating an individual workspace for each of these tasks allows you to open all the necessary windows and tools you prefer to have open (and closing unnecessary windows to avoid cluttering up the screen), all with one click of the mouse. Now that's efficiency at its best! Utilizing these types of techniques is what separates the professional editor from the novice.

You can select one of Premiere's default workspaces:

Single-track editing
A/B editing
Effects
Audio

To create a custom workspace, do the following:

Open or close the necessary windows, leaving only the ones you want displayed.
Position the windows where you would like them to appear.
Select Window > Workspace.
Select Save Workspace from the pop-up menu. The Save Workspace window appears.
Type the name of how you want to refer to the current window layout on your screen. Try to use descriptive names so that you can easily identify and distinguish between the various workspaces.
Click OK.

You can switch between workspace settings. Simply select one of the workspace names that appears under Window > Workspace. As soon as you release the mouse button, you should see the windows rearrange themselves onscreen to the positions they were in when saved. Select Delete Workspace to remove any of the custom workspace environments you create.

tip

To toggle between Premiere's default workspaces, Shift-click the F9 through F12 keys on your keyboard.