◉Sync Timeline

What it does

• Sync by Timecode lines every camera clip up with the recorder file(s) it overlaps in timecode. Recorder files stay put; camera clips move. A camera clip that spans two recorder files lines up with both.
• Sync by Audio is for cameras and recorders that weren't jammed. Each camera clip's own scratch audio is matched against the recorder audio and the clip slides into place. Where clips sit on the timeline doesn't matter.
• Trim Heads & Tails cuts each take down to the stretch where camera and recorder both have material.
• Preview and Preview Audio Matches show what a sync would do without changing anything.

Requirements

• Adobe Premiere Pro 2025 (version 25.2) or newer, on Windows or a Mac. Syncing was built and tested on Premiere Pro 2026 on Windows 11.
• The Creative Cloud desktop app, open and signed in. It does the actual installing, even with the Windows installer.
• For Sync by Audio, each camera clip needs its own audio (a scratch mic or a feed). Compressed camera audio, such as .mp4, also needs Adobe Media Encoder installed.

Install

Windows

1. Make sure the Creative Cloud app is open and signed in.
2. Run SyncTimeline-Setup-1.1.1.exe.
3. Windows shows "Windows protected your PC", because the installer isn't code-signed. Click More info, then Run anyway.
4. Click through the installer. The last screen says Sync Timeline is installed.
5. Open Premiere Pro (restart it if it was already open) and choose Window → UXP Plugins → Sync Timeline. Dock the panel wherever you like.

If the installer says Sync Timeline couldn't be added, check that the Creative Cloud app is open and signed in, then run it again.

Mac

A Mac doesn't need an installer. Use the .ccx file:

1. Double-click SyncTimeline-1.1.1.ccx.
2. The Creative Cloud app warns that the plugin isn't from the Adobe Marketplace. Click Install.
3. Open Premiere Pro and choose Window → UXP Plugins → Sync Timeline.

If double-clicking only opens Creative Cloud, or opens a different plugin manager (aescripts + aeplugins, for example), install it from Terminal. Open Terminal, paste this line, type a space, and don't press Return yet:

"/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Desktop Common/RemoteComponents/UPI/UnifiedPluginInstallerAgent/UnifiedPluginInstallerAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/UnifiedPluginInstallerAgent" --install

Then drag the .ccx file from Finder into the Terminal window, so its location appears at the end of the line, and press Return. It should say the installation was successful.

Using it

1. Click into the sequence you want to sync so it's the active one.
2. Choose Whole sequence, or select some clips and choose Selected clips only.
3. Click Preview (timecode) or Preview Audio Matches (audio) to see the plan. Nothing moves.
4. Click Sync by Timecode or Sync by Audio. A new "… SYNCED" sequence opens with the result.
5. After a timecode sync, you can click Trim Heads & Tails.

The log shows what happened and ends on the summary. Lines with a timecode are clickable and move the playhead there.

How it decides

• The recorder file anchors each take and stays where it is; everything else in the take is placed around it.
• If a take would land on top of the one before it, the whole take slides later to make room. Clip order is kept.
• Clips with no match are kept in order and listed, never guessed at.
• The result is a new sequence named "… SYNCED", opened for you. Your original stays exactly as it was.

Trim Heads & Tails

Trimming works from timecode, so it's meant for right after Sync by Timecode. If the sequence was last synced by audio, or not with the plugin at all, it asks before trimming.

Sync by audio

• It searches all the recorder audio for each camera clip, so a match is found even when a clip is far from its audio or only partly overlaps it.
• Every match has to clearly beat chance before it's used. If fewer than half the camera clips match, it shows the result and asks before moving anything.
• Clips are lined up as heard. A camera's mic hears sound a little later than a mic on the talent, so audio-synced camera clips sit a frame or so earlier than timecode would put them. That's normal.
• Very long clips can drift a few milliseconds end to end, because the devices' clocks aren't identical. That's well under a frame.
• Uncompressed camera audio (Blackmagic RAW, most .mov) and recorder WAVs are read straight from the files. Compressed camera audio, such as .mp4 with AAC, is converted by Adobe Media Encoder first, which opens on its own.
• Those converted files are kept between Preview and Sync and removed after a successful sync. Clean Up Audio Files clears anything left over, for example after a cancelled sync.

Undo

• A sync never changes your original sequence. To undo one, delete the "… SYNCED" copy.
• Trim Heads & Tails edits the sequence you run it on. Undo it with one Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac).

Other settings

• Repair Sequence: if clips flicker in and out or the preview goes black after a sync, this makes a clean, working copy of the sequence.
• Gap when sliding: space left between takes that had to slide later.
• Min. overlap to match: how much timecode two clips must share to count as the same take.
• Developer tools: diagnostics for troubleshooting. Leave it off.

Troubleshooting

Update / uninstall

• Update: run the newer installer (on a Mac, double-click the newer .ccx). It replaces the old version.
• Uninstall on Windows: Settings → Apps → Installed apps → Sync Timeline for Premiere Pro → Uninstall. That removes it from Premiere too.
• Uninstall on a Mac: Creative Cloud app → Stock & Marketplace (or Plugins) → Manage plugins → ••• next to Sync Timeline → Uninstall.