🟥🟥🟥 UPDATE: Importing now works with empty folders and folders with one item. This works for File: Import, Media Browser and Drag and Drop. As of Aug. 2023, it does not work with the Import Mode but will in the future. 🟥🟥🟥

Great tutorial Colin. Every day there are *new* people just starting with Premiere and this tutorial will be a life saver for them. I was there at one time, and wish this tutorial was there to help me out. Thumbs up !

You definitely have a black belt in tutorials. Good job. As always.

the best teacher i have seen so far .GOD BLESS YOU

I made a "standard folder" template with all the subfoldes i usually use, and it's as easy as copying and renaming that empty template folder every time a start a project. Just fill it up with media afterwards. Great advice as always from you Colin.

More you can remained organized, the more energy you can focus on being creative - no doubt. THANK YOU, THIS WAS A GREAT LITTLE VIDEO.

WOW! Is an understatement! Man, your tutorials makes me feel confident, that I somewhat know what the heck I'm doing now. I've found my go-to channel. And, your persona is non-intimidating. And, I never heard you brag about yourself. Just straight up easy, simple tutorials. I LOVE IT!

I have no idea how I managed to miss this for so long. This changes everything. Fantastic video mate.

OMG I do almost all of this. I feel smart today.

I have been editing for 4 years and I wish I logically organized my files this way. Thanks for this.

Nice, Mr. Smith. This is something I learned the hard way. In my earlier days of film school, I was editing a short which was over 20 minutes long and had a lot of cuts. I did not organize the folders and it became one confused and idiotic experience. I wish my editing instructors explained this to me beforehand. But they didn't. And that is why you are awesome.

Great video Colin! That media browser function is awesome! Didn't know about it. "you know who you are" Haha, that's me. Thanks!!

Sir i am final cut pro editor from 2009 live in India, as per need i am starting to learn premiere pro and watching your video i like your videos Thanks Sir, Rakesh Kale

Simple but handy trick. Glad I stuck through watching this as I was already doing most of what you described until you did the folder import at the end -- This will indeed make for a more orderly media folder inside Premiere going forward. Thank you for this tip sir.

Good advice. I actually created a batch script that creates a basic directory structure and you select the kind of projects and it creates the appropriate folders. It's really beneficial to have the same structure for every project and I even have a couple of more folders. For cache files and even for exporting. I also divide the footage into folders with regards to different scenes and Broll to organize it before even starting a project file in Premiere. Works like a charm and beneficial for transporting and backup.

this is such an important point to make. thanks fur dedicating a video to it! now for a comprehensive review if they new essential graphics panel.

Nothing to do for you but just want to encourage you. You explain things well, in short time and reveal the expert tips. More videos please!

your videos and style to explain is the most amazing of any tutorial i found on youtube...GBU

I’m rewatching as I start this new project. Repetition proves correction.😎 thanks Collin

Great idea about keeping things organized!I have found that a little program called "Post Haste" from Digital Rebelion is great for creating the folder structures for various projects. It is free and you can set up as many different structures as you want for various types of projects. When it's time to start a new one, you just tell it the main folder name and location and it populates everything else for you.

Nice work, Colin. Organizing files 'before' you start a new Premier Project saves a lot of headaches later (and broken links). Great teaching!

Been a subscriber for some time now. Love the way you explain, you make it so easy. Thanks Col, I know first hand the time and effort that goes into content creating, much appreciated.

At 8:10, he says it breaks the link. There's actually an extension called Watchtower that will keep it in sync so you never have to drag files in from explorer/finder again.

"You know who you are"...haha. Caught me there. Appreciate the help dear teacher. Subbed and Loved.

This is exactly how I've been setting up for a couple of years. I find it hard to believe people don't organise their files.... I keep meaning to look at Prelude, I'll check out you video on it shortly

Great Tutorial, Collin Smith

Sir this such a cool way to start a project thanks

Discipline discipline discipline of organising the work in proper folders!!! Collin thanks for this highly important aspects of APP work!!! 👍🏻😀

I pick up projects from client who do not organize their hard drives and Premiere Pro projects. The first thing I do after confirming all the assets are there is to go back to the hard drive and put everything into proper folders. I then restart the process to reassemble the Premiere Pro project so it sees all the folders. It's a hassle to do this, but the time spent before I start editing, especially with large projects, saves me time and confusion as I edit. On the Mac, Premiere does extremely well at automatically re-linking assets. One exception to your process is when I work on projects that have common assets (graphics, music, bumpers, AE renders, etc.) that I store in a separate location. I only make copies if I need to modify any of these assets for a specific project.

These videos are saving my college capstone one folder at a time. thank you!

I've been doing this since I started out premiere pro, hahaha I am in the right track, I feel so Smart after watching this video.

I complete do not use the project manager of Premiere Pro. When I learned how to import files directly from windows, I'll keep everything organized in windows. Plus, I use a tool called Q-Dir which helps a lot.

My Brother Abhishek mather told me about you. and God I am learning a lot from you colin, you got another loyal subscriber.

You got a Patreon subscription from me. I learn so much from your videos!

Greatest channel of them all!!! Thank you !

Didn't know about that aspect of the import feature. Cool. And thanks for all the great content. Don't know why people talk so much about using Bridge/LR/some other program to read media cards. I just use Explorer/Finder to cut & paste them. Seems pretty easy. Of course I don't rename files. I can see how they'd be handy if you want to do an auto-rename to some other naming sequence. But don't really see a point to that. On backups, the 3-2-1 system is a great one to set up to do automatically: 3 copies, 2 different media types, 1 offsite. I have a project template directory that contains: a file structure similar to what you showed already created in it, resources I use in every project, and AE and PP projects preloaded with the common resources. Starting a new project is a matter of copying that directory, renaming it, copying the media to the appropriate directories and firing up AE/PP. Cheers.

THANK YOU DUDE!!!! I really needed organization, love your videos keep it up!!!

Organizing stuff before editing is really important, I already do that.

Thanks again Collin!! I'm leaning to better project manage my work.

Thanks, Colin! Always great videos and tips! Much appreciated.

Love it. new to this. Thanks heaps. Great channel

Yet another great tip. Colin I'd love if you did a video on best practise how to set up a project using scratch disks and editing the project off an external ssd. Right now I don't do that but think it's a work flow I should start using. Thanks.

Sooooo much easier! Half the battle with Premiere comes down to the basics. Once you've got the basics down you're ahead of most non professional editors out there.

I feel so smart. I have been doing it this way for a while. Now, I need to find your tutorial- on how to open two or more projects in the timeline, and also, did you make a video on how to save text, banners and co. on Adobe? Thanks a lot.

Gorgeous key piece of advice! Congrats!

You are a great teacher. Thank you.

Love this advice. Thank you so much! I don't know how it was possible for me to edit videos without this tipp. It was always such a hastle :D Thumbs up!

I also use Post Haste by Digital Rebellion and it's free. I create custom file templates for each video type that have standard files I need already in folders. From release forms to intro clips already named with the job name. It has been able to do everything I have expected. See if you get it to do all you need. I'd love to see what you come up with. Tom

Great video, Definitely going to use the excellent tips I am watching your channel and learning a lot Thanks

Great video. this should be the number ONE video to watch. I'm happy I watched this one before starting with my first "real" prject! :-)

Watch out, though, that you have to have content in each subfolder. And that - for some reasons - means at least TWO files that are recognized by PP as valid formats. If you have a subfolder that contains zero ore one such item, the corresponding bin WILL NOT be created. In case such an ignored subfolder had contained exactly one item, this will move up to the bin that contained the missing subfolder (or even further up, for the same reasons, if it's alone there). Again (and again and again...) big usability issues with supposedly neat features. Which is the main feature of Adobe products nowadays. A workaround, when using template folders, is to place two empty TXT files into each and every subfolder. These count as valid formats and can be gotten rid of later in PP by sorting/filtering for the file format.

create a set of this empty "my project" folder which contains all the other folders you'll need(like shown in video) and keep this empty set on desktop. Now every time you have a new project to start, you just copy this empty set to your projects folder, rename it with project name And then drop the raw files which you need in respective sub-folders. now, import this main folder in premiere pro. Done.

Yo! thanks so much. I appreciate all these tutorials you make :)

Love your opening title/logo. Could you do a tutorial on how to create one please?

Great video.... thank you.... I only do short projects but this still helped me.

Thanks a lot SIR, Your Tips are very useful to simplify my workflow

Excellent tutorial as always Collin ,can you done on your favourite shot cuts and what you use them ? Keep them coming.

I use Post Haste from Digital Rebellion. Works on Mac and PC and I have made a series of folders as a template.

True organization made simple. Thank you so much!

Please accept my apologies for a previously rude comment. I need to look in the mirror before expressing my own personal frustrations. Your channel is great, I look forward to learning more from you.

Oh and Collin, thanks for all you do. Tom Cooper

Thank you sir. Your tips are very helpful. Respect from India.

Perfect Tutorials Collin. No, THE BEST! THX

This is so true 😂. Keep up the good work!

I keep project files in Dropbox - so I always have a backup. And also the finished videos are separate - because if I want to show or copy videos that are finished - it would take so much time to find them in these folders where there is also the original footage, graphics and so on. So I have a folder kind of "Finished Videos" and there are folders for each finished project. So there I can easily take files, I need to crab with me for a presentation or what ever.

Another great video, Colin. Any chance you'll do a video on the new features that came with the latest Premiere Pro 11.1.0 update? I've seen a few posted elsewhere, but no one does Premiere tutorials like you.

thanks for this important advice!!

You are so helpful with these videos! Lets get those subscribers up because you deserve much more. SUBBED!

Good video! I've also indexed my folders. So I might have something like this (1.Footage, 2.Premiere, 3.AfterEffects, 4.Audition etc.)... Btw. there's one tool that has been super useful for video production and it's free. As it's name suggests (Bulk Rename Utility) you can rename files in bulk. For an example I was delivered 1Tb of footage from various locations. I used Bulk Rename Utility to add prefix of the location to each clip. Really useful to see something that useful in the filenime while editing. Maybe you could do a video about the BRU if you find it as useful yourself.

Yo old man. your videos are really helpful! great job!

best channel for editing

Great as always !!!

Colin!! I took your suggestion and came over to this video. I am pretty good at organizing things, but you have given me great tips to save a bit of time for sure. You said never have your current project on your desktop. I tend to drag my current project onto the desktop so I can easily drag and drop back and forth from other files, or things I have downloaded, during my editing. I store it away once I'm done and get it off the desktop. But why is it not good to work from the desktop?

Man, you are my god!!!! Thank you very much!!!!

Extremely Helpful!

For meto much folders. I create one for one Film, that includes everything and for me it works good 😊😊

COlin you really need to make a tutorial on the new update of Premiere Audio Tab

I love it; but who would dislike?!

Great video and yes, I always organise my project in one folder that's the first things I do. My Q is: what is the right Sequence setting for sony XAVC-S 4k (a6300) ? When I create Seq. from video the "Editing Mode" in Seq. Setting is "RED Cinema" !! with a moving camera or panning / tilting there is some kind of jerk or ghosting, It is not smooth (I'm not talking about: Rolling Shutter), I saw this in some videos in KZfaq and some aren't having this problem. (It is like repeated edges in slow motion) (Premiere Pro 2015.3 and SSD Drive).

Why not set a standard grouping of folders and label it "Base Folders" and have it on a separate drive. Then, when you start a new project just copy to your working drive and rename the "Base Folders" to the project name. (I.e.: "Jones Wedding"). That way you always have the folder structure set up and ready to go!

OMG U ARE AWESOME. Thanks

Am I a hopeless case if I thought you literally meant to clean off my physical desktop before I started working on a project? I'm looking forward to your video "Adobe Prelude: What the heck does it do?". (My title suggestion. :--) )

Great video!

well damn. I thought I was so much more organized this time when I installed and started using premiere pro compared to how it was on my last computer, (sigh...) Prepare for a flood of thumbs ups, and watch time as I have just subbed, and will be going through all you're videos looking for the ones that will aid me in my learning the adobe softwares. I don't know if you'll still reply to a video this old, but I assume it isn't to late for me to go back and set things up in this manner? I have adobe production premium cs6 and just now have reasons to learn it all. I know there will be differences between the older software, and cc and I'm fine with that because even learning 70% of something is still better than 0%. I also wanted to mention that as a person doing research, i appreciate that you simply got to the point, and stayed on topic (There are far to many "how to" videos where the creator rambles on about things that have no bearing to the video) so thanks for that. Keep up the great work.

thanks SIR.

Very useful. Thanks.

Amen love it thanks!

Sir, since you added the complexity of different days I guess you want to have days structure at least under the audio folder and if you have images photographed every day you might also want to to consider having the days folder on top than in each day have the video, audio and images ( and maybe another 'common' or general assets folder with icons and such) Wouldn't you?

I'm about to get my feet wet editing a reality show down from hundreds of hours of footage, multiple cameras + external audio. I've only worked on smaller projects so [i'm feeling a bit overwhelmed..] this tutorial helps get me ready. I noted you have organized MyProject/Video/Day1|Day2. Would you set up your audio using MyProject/Audio/Day1|Day2 as well, rather than putting the audio along side each day's video?

Thank you for sharing this video. "Import your stuff from your cards" " stop putting stuff on your desktop" Love it!"

You can also just drag and drop your bins.

Good video, thanks. Let me know how to set up Premiere with 3 drives (1 one of them used for my windows and software, and others for Premiere cache and saving files). I mean how to set up scratch disks in the new project.

Thank you man!

I now you can change the color op the layout(workspace) of premiere pro, but how can I dot that

Your amazing! Thank you

Hey, i have done as you explained but some (not all) folders are renamed with XDROOT when they are imported in the project bin? What should i do?

Hi Colin. Excellent tutorials. I've been editing for a while, but it is always good to compare notes even on the basics and I'm pleased my folder structure mirrors yours (except I have a specific 'Project' folder for my .ppr files). One big difference is you appear to import all the full clips into your project via media browser. I can see the reason the way you do that to create bins, but I always create my own bins and use media browser to cut a subclip(s) to import instead of the full file. Is there a specfic reason for importing the full clip files or is that just a choice thing?

Hello Colin. Wonderful tips here about organizing material into bins. Thank you for this and all your kind and generous work. I am working on multiple interview projects at once. When reviewing source material for one film I l often want to put a certain subclip from it aside to combine with others for a completely different film I'm making. What is the best way to collect subclips as I go along? Can I have a running timeline that I just drop clips into? If I want to sync audio from my H5, should I do that first? I'd welcome your thoughts. Thank you!

sir your tutorials are always awesome, my question is........ if i make image slide show, and all the images clicked from different smartphones,in this case, what is the dimensions or resulation settings for the images to be applied in premiere pro for making smooth slideshow.plz help me.

Great video, thank you. On an unrelated point, is this video done with a greenscreen please? If so, it's amazing, can't see green at all. Pete