Trim is Premiere Assistant's text-based editing toolkit. It transcribes your footage and displays it as a readable transcript. Use the five Cut tools to clean up your video without scrubbing through the timeline.
Step 1. Configure settings and transcribe your sequence
In Premiere Assistant, click [Trim] from the panel menu.
Configure the transcription settings:
Range: Choose which part of the sequence to transcribe.
[Whole sequence]: Generates captions for all tracks.
[Select Clip]: Generates captions for selected clips only.
[In/Out]: Generates captions between In and Out points set in Premiere.
Language: Select the language spoken in the video. Only one language can be selected at a time.
Preview: Turn preview on to review edits before applying them to the sequence.
Note: Turning on preview requires encoding time. If you are editing a long video or need faster performance, turning it off can speed up caption generation.Speakers: Choose how many speakers are in the video.
[One person]: For a single speaker.
[Multiple]: For multiple speakers. Choose how the audio is set up:
[Audio separated]: Each speaker has their own mic and audio track. Enter speaker names in the Speaker names field (separated by commas), then use Speakers per audio track to assign a speaker to each track. Deactivate any tracks not in use.
[Audio not separated]: All speakers share one audio track. Set the number of speakers in the Speakers dropdown and select the audio track. Premiere Assistant will detect and label speakers automatically using AI.
Video: Select [One camera] or [Multi cameras] based on your setup.
Click [Transcribe video] to begin processing your footage.
Step 2. Edit with Cut tools
Once your footage is transcribed, the transcript appears organized in chapters. Click [Cut tools] at the bottom of the panel to pick an editing tool.
Each tool generates a draft. Review the changes, then click [Save] to keep them or [Discard] to start over.
Remove silence
Remove silence detects and removes portions of your footage with no speech or audio. You can adjust the silence threshold and padding settings before applying.
Caution: If you plan to add captions, use Remove silence inside Trim rather than the standalone [Remove silence] tab. Using the standalone tab before transcribing can cause captions to go out of sync.
Learn more in Remove Silence.
Remove filler words
Remove filler words detects and removes interjections like "um," "uh," or "like."
When the same filler appears back-to-back, a [Select best take] button appears so you can choose which version to keep.
Remove retakes
Remove retakes detects sections where the same phrase is repeated, usually from verbal mistakes or reshoots.
Click [Select best take] to compare repeated segments and pick the one to keep.
Edit according to script
Edit according to script lets you paste a script and have Premiere Assistant trim and rearrange your footage to match it.
Learn more in Edit According to Script.
Create shortform clips
Create shortform clips reviews your footage and suggests segments that work well as standalone shortform content for YouTube Shorts, Reels, or TikTok.
Learn more in Create Shortform Clips.
Step 3. Apply to sequence
When your edits look right, click [Apply to sequence] to push the changes to your Premiere timeline.
Tip: Finish all your edits inside Premiere Assistant before clicking Apply to sequence. If you make changes directly in your Premiere sequence afterward, the transcript will no longer match your timeline. You'll need to re-transcribe, which uses another transcription hour.
Troubleshooting
Cut edits applied in Premiere Assistant aren't showing up in Premiere
If your sequence has a caption track:
Caption tracks (C1 and similar) prevent cut edits from being applied. Temporarily remove any caption tracks from your sequence, then run [Apply to sequence] again. If you're using nested sequences, check for caption tracks inside those as well.
If track targeting is turned off in Premiere:
In Premiere Assistant, click [Time Machine] to return your sequence to the state before [Apply to sequence].
In Premiere's sequence panel, make sure all track targeting buttons are on. Click the V and A track numbers next to the lock icon so they're highlighted in blue.
Go back to Premiere Assistant and run [Apply to sequence] again.
I made changes in Premiere after clicking Apply to sequence
Changes made directly in Premiere are not reflected in Premiere Assistant. You need to re-transcribe.
In Premiere Assistant, click [Transcribe video].
A dialog appears: "There is a transcript you were working on." Select [Transcribe again] and click [Next].
Transcribing again overwrites your previous transcript and cannot be recovered. After the new transcription, re-edit and apply to sequence again.
Tip: Before making changes in Premiere, create a copy of the sequence so you can go back if needed.
I accidentally clicked Time Machine
Once you click [Time Machine], there is no way to undo the revert. However, Premiere saves automatic backups of your project file.
Close your current Premiere project.
Find a previous auto-saved version (go to File > Open Recent, or check Premiere's auto-save folder on your system).
Open the auto-saved project and relaunch Premiere Assistant. Your previous edits may still be there.
I closed Premiere without saving, and my edits are gone
Premiere Assistant saves your edits automatically per sequence. If you reopen the same sequence in Premiere, your edits will be restored.
If Premiere closed unexpectedly without saving the project file, caption edits may not have been stored, and recovery is unlikely. Check if Premiere created an auto-saved version of your project: go to File > Open Recent, or check Premiere's auto-save folder on your system.
Note: If you used [Time Machine] to revert an [Apply to sequence], there is no way to undo the Time Machine action.