🔍 Search Bar

Opening & Closing the Search Bar

Action	Default Shortcut
Open search bar	`Ctrl+Space` (while Premiere Pro is focused)
Close search bar	`Escape` (or any click outside of it)
Close on focus loss	Automatic — the bar closes if you click outside it

To change theses, go to Settings -> Search -> Bar.

The trigger shortcut is fully configurable. Go to Settings -> Search -> Bar in the app and change the "Run Search Bar" binding to whatever you prefer.

⚠️ The shortcut only triggers when Adobe Premiere Pro is the active window. It will not interfere with other applications.

The Interface

When opened, the search bar displays:

┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Search (All)...                           │
├────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  [Recent]      Cross Dissolve              │
│  [Preset]      My Color Grade              │
│  [FxVideo]     Lumetri Color               │
│  [Transition]  Film Dissolve               │
│  ...                                       │
└────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Each result shows a colored type tag on the left and the effect name on the right.

Tag Colors

Tag	Meaning
`[Recent]`	One of your 3 most recently applied items
`[FxVideo]`	Video effect
`[FxAudio]`	Audio effect
`[Transition]`	Video or audio transition
`[Preset]`	A saved preset from your Premiere Pro library

Typing & Searching

Start typing immediately after opening the bar — there's no need to click into the input field, it is focused automatically.

The search matches against all words in the effect name, in any order. Typing blur fast will match Fast Blur or Camera Blur Fast.
Up to 75 results are displayed at a time, ranked by relevance.
Recently used items always appear at the top, regardless of query.

You never need to touch the mouse to use the search bar.

Key	Action
`↑` / `↓`	Move selection up/down through results
`CTRL + ←`	Switch to previous category filter
`CTRL + →`	Switch to next category filter
`Enter`	Apply the selected result
`Escape`	Close the search bar

Category Filtering

Use ← / → when your cursor is at the beginning or end of the input field to cycle through categories. The placeholder text in the search box updates to reflect the active filter.

Category	Shows
All	Everything — effects, transitions, presets
FxVideo	Video effects only (no transitions)
FxAudio	Audio effects only (no transitions)
Transition	Video and audio transitions only
Preset	Saved presets only
Commands	Specific commands and custom user macro.

This is useful when you know the type of element you're looking for and want to narrow down a long results list.

Applying Effects & Audio Effects

Select the desired item with ↑ / ↓ and press Enter.

The app will:

Bring Premiere Pro to the foreground
Send the effect's internal match name to the plugin via WebSocket
The plugin applies the effect to the currently selected clip(s) on the timeline

No mouse interaction required.

Applying Transitions

Transitions require an extra step: choosing how the transition is applied to the clip edge.

After selecting a transition and pressing Enter, the bar switches to alignment selection mode:

┌──────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Choose alignment (Enter to apply)   │
├──────────────────────────────────────┤
│  <  At Start                         │
│  >  At End                           │
│  =  Both                             │
└──────────────────────────────────────┘

Option	Behavior
At Start	Applies the transition to the beginning of the clip
At End	Applies the transition to the end of the clip
Both	Applies the transition to both edges

Use ↑ / ↓ to select the alignment, then press Enter to confirm. Press Escape to go back and search again.

Applying Presets (Quick Apply)

Requires Quick Apply to be configured and enabled. See the main README.

When Quick Apply is enabled, selecting a preset and pressing Enter triggers the following automated sequence:

Premiere Pro is brought to the foreground
The Effects panel is opened (Shift+2 by default)
The search box inside Premiere is focused (Shift+F by default)
The preset name is pasted into the search box
The mouse moves to the calibrated preset icon position
A drag-and-drop begins from the preset icon toward your original cursor position
You release the mouse over your clip to drop the preset

ℹ️ During step 7, you must move the mouse to the target clip and release — the app initiates the drag but you control where the preset lands. This is intentional, as Premiere Pro requires an actual drag-and-drop to apply presets.

If Quick Apply is disabled, selecting a preset will simply display a confirmation in the app's console log without doing anything in Premiere Pro. Enable it in Settings first.

Recent Items

The search bar remembers your 3 most recently applied effects, transitions, and presets. These always appear at the top of results with a [Recent] tag, even when the search field is empty — making it trivial to re-apply your most used items.

Recent history is saved to Data/search_history.json and persists across sessions.

Tips & Best Practices

Leave the search field empty and press Enter — the first result (most recently used item) will be applied immediately. Great for repeat applications.
Use category filters (CTRL + ← / CTRL + →) when you have a long list and know what type you need.
Keep Premiere Pro's window position stable if you use Quick Apply. Moving or resizing the Premiere window invalidates the calibration and requires you to re-run the setup wizard.
Name your presets descriptively — since Quick Apply searches for an exact name, unique and descriptive preset names make targeting much more reliable.
If a transition or effect name looks garbled (e.g., AE.ADBE XYZ PrTr), go to the Regex Cleaner page and run Auto-Generate Rules to clean them up.

Examples

Example 1 — Instant re-apply (empty field)

Ctrl+Space  →  Enter

No typing needed. The most recently used item is pre-selected and applies immediately. Great for repeating the same effect across multiple clips.

Example 2 — Find and apply a video effect

Ctrl+Space  →  gaussian  →  ↓ (select Gaussian Blur)  →  Enter

The effect is applied to all selected clips on the Premiere timeline.

Example 3 — Apply a transition to the end of a clip

Ctrl+Space  →  cross dissolve  →  Enter  →  ↓ (select "At End")  →  Enter

After selecting a transition, the bar switches to alignment mode. Use ↑/↓ to pick At Start, At End, or Both, then confirm with Enter.

Example 4 — Filter to presets only before searching

Ctrl+Space  →  CTRL+→ (switch to Preset)  →  my grade  →  Enter

Cycling to the Preset category first narrows a long list to only your saved presets.

Example 5 — Apply a preset via keyword

Ctrl+Space  →  /P my grade  →  Enter

Same result as Example 4, but typed in one motion using the /P keyword prefix.

Example 6 — Run a Better Motion command inline

Ctrl+Space  →  /BM scale 85  →  Enter

Sets the selected clip's scale to 85 without opening any dialog. See Commands for full BM syntax.

Example 7 — Run a macro

Ctrl+Space  →  Quick Grade  →  Enter

Macros appear in search like any other item. No category filter needed — just type the macro name.

Example 8 — Re-apply a recent item with keyboard only

Ctrl+Space  →  ↓ (select [Recent] item)  →  Enter

Recent items are pinned at the top even with an empty query. No typing — just arrow key and Enter.

Back to Guides

Opening & Closing the Search Bar​

The Interface​

Tag Colors​

Typing & Searching​

Keyboard Navigation​

Category Filtering​

Applying Effects & Audio Effects​

Applying Transitions​

Applying Presets (Quick Apply)​

Recent Items​

Tips & Best Practices​

Examples​

Example 1 — Instant re-apply (empty field)​

Example 2 — Find and apply a video effect​

Example 3 — Apply a transition to the end of a clip​

Example 4 — Filter to presets only before searching​

Example 5 — Apply a preset via keyword​

Example 6 — Run a Better Motion command inline​

Example 7 — Run a macro​

Example 8 — Re-apply a recent item with keyboard only​