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Use Premiere Pro in a dual-monitor setup

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  1. Adobe Premiere Pro User Guide
  2. Beta releases
    1. Beta Program Overview
    2. Premiere Pro Beta Home
  3. Getting started
    1. Get started with Adobe Premiere Pro
    2. What's new in Premiere Pro
    3. Release Notes | Premiere Pro
    4. Keyboard shortcuts in Premiere Pro
    5. Accessibility in Premiere Pro
    6. Long Form and Episodic Workflow Guide
    7. Frequently asked questions
  4. Hardware and operating system requirements
    1. Hardware recommendations
    2. System requirements
    3. GPU and GPU Driver requirements
    4. GPU Accelerated Rendering & Hardware Encoding/Decoding
  5. Creating projects
    1. Start a new project
    2. Open projects
    3. Move and delete projects
    4. Work with multiple open projects
    5. Work with Project Shortcuts
    6. Backward compatibility of Premiere Pro projects
    7. Open and edit Premiere Rush projects in Premiere Pro
    8. Best Practices: Create your own project templates
  6. Workspaces and workflows
    1. Workspaces
    2. FAQ | Import and export in Premiere Pro
    3. Working with Panels
    4. Windows touch and gesture controls
    5. Use Premiere Pro in a dual-monitor setup
  7. Capturing and importing
    1. Capturing
      1. Capturing and digitizing footage
      2. Capturing HD, DV, or HDV video
      3. Batch capturing and recapturing
      4. Setting up your system for HD, DV, or HDV capture
    2. Importing
      1. Transfer files
      2. Importing still images
      3. Importing digital audio
    3. Importing from Avid or Final Cut
      1. Importing AAF project files from Avid Media Composer
      2. Importing XML project files from Final Cut Pro 7 and Final Cut Pro X
    4. Supported file formats
      1. Support for Blackmagic RAW
    5. Digitizing analog video
    6. Working with timecode
  8. Editing
    1. Edit video    
    2. Sequences
      1. Create and change sequences
      2. Change sequence settings
      3. Add clips to sequences
      4. Rearrange clips in a sequence
      5. Find, select, and group clips in a sequence
      6. Edit from sequences loaded into the Source Monitor
      7. Simplify sequences
      8. Rendering and previewing sequences
      9. Working with markers
      10. Source patching and track targeting
      11. Scene edit detection
    3. Video
      1. Create and play clips
      2. Trimming clips
      3. Synchronizing audio and video with Merge Clips
      4. Render and replace media
      5. Undo, history, and events
      6. Freeze and hold frames
      7. Working with aspect ratios
    4. Audio
      1. Overview of audio in Premiere Pro
      2. Audio Track Mixer
      3. Adjusting volume levels
      4. Edit, repair, and improve audio using Essential Sound panel
      5. Automatically duck audio
      6. Remix audio
      7. Monitor clip volume and pan using Audio Clip Mixer
      8. Audio balancing and panning
      9. Advanced Audio - Submixes, downmixing, and routing
      10. Audio effects and transitions
      11. Working with audio transitions
      12. Apply effects to audio
      13. Measure audio using the Loudness Radar effect
      14. Recording audio mixes
      15. Editing audio in the timeline
      16. Audio channel mapping in Premiere Pro
      17. Use Adobe Stock audio in Premiere Pro
    5. Advanced editing
      1. Multi-camera editing workflow
      2. Set up and use Head Mounted Display for immersive video in Premiere Pro
      3. Editing VR
    6. Best Practices
      1. Best Practices: Mix audio faster
      2. Best Practices: Editing efficiently
      3. Editing workflows for feature films
  9. Video Effects and Transitions
    1. Overview of video effects and transitions
    2. Effects
      1. Types of effects in Premiere Pro
      2. Apply and remove effects
      3. Effect presets
      4. Automatically reframe video for different social media channels
      5. Color correction effects
      6. Change duration and speed of clips
      7. Adjustment Layers
      8. Stabilize footage
    3. Transitions
      1. Applying transitions in Premiere Pro
      2. Modifying and customizing transitions
      3. Morph Cut
  10. Titles, Graphics, and Captions    
    1. Overview of the Essential Graphics panel
    2. Titles
      1. Create a title
    3. Graphics
      1. Create a shape
      2. Draw with the Pen tool
      3. Align and distribute objects
      4. Change the appearance of text and shapes
      5. Apply gradients
      6. Add Responsive Design features to your graphics
      7. Install and use Motion Graphics templates
      8. Replace images or videos in Motion Graphics templates
      9. Use data-driven Motion Graphics templates
    4. Captions
      1. Speech to Text
      2. Download language packs for transcription
      3. Working with captions
      4. Check spelling and Find and Replace
      5. Export text
      6. Speech to Text in Premiere Pro | FAQ
    5. Best Practices: Faster graphics workflows
    6. Retiring the Legacy Titler in Premiere Pro | FAQ
    7. Upgrade Legacy titles to Source Graphics
  11. Animation and Keyframing
    1. Adding, navigating, and setting keyframes
    2. Animating effects
    3. Use Motion effect to edit and animate clips
    4. Optimize keyframe automation
    5. Moving and copying keyframes
    6. Viewing and adjusting effects and keyframes
  12. Compositing
    1. Compositing, alpha channels, and adjusting clip opacity
    2. Masking and tracking
    3. Blending modes
  13. Color Correction and Grading
    1. Overview: Color workflows in Premiere Pro
    2. Auto Color
    3. Get creative with color using Lumetri looks
    4. Adjust color using RGB and Hue Saturation Curves
    5. Correct and match colors between shots
    6. Using HSL Secondary controls in the Lumetri Color panel
    7. Create vignettes
    8. Looks and LUTs
    9. Lumetri scopes
    10. Display Color Management
    11. HDR for broadcasters
    12. Enable DirectX HDR support
  14. Exporting media
    1. Export video
    2. Export Preset Manager
    3. Workflow and overview for exporting
    4. Quick export
    5. Exporting for the Web and mobile devices
    6. Export a still image
    7. Exporting projects for other applications
    8. Exporting OMF files for Pro Tools
    9. Export to Panasonic P2 format
    10. Export settings
      1. Export settings reference
      2. Basic Video Settings
      3. Encoding Settings
    11. Best Practices: Export faster
  15. Collaboration: Frame.io, Productions, and Team Projects
    1. Collaboration in Premiere Pro
    2. Frame.io
      1. Install and activate Frame.io
      2. Use Frame.io with Premiere Pro and After Effects
      3. Integrate Adobe Workfront and Frame.io
      4. Frequently asked questions
    3. Productions
      1. Using Productions
      2. How clips work across projects in a Production
      3. Best Practices: Working with Productions
    4. Team Projects
      1. Get started with Team Projects
      2. Create a Team Project
      3. Add and manage media in Team Projects
      4. Invite and manage collaborators in a team project
      5. Share and manage changes with collaborators
      6. View auto-saves and versions of Team Projects
      7. Archive, restore, or delete Team Projects
  16. Working with other Adobe applications
    1. After Effects and Photoshop
    2. Dynamic Link
    3. Audition
    4. Prelude
  17. Organizing and Managing Assets
    1. Working in the Project panel
    2. Organize assets in the Project panel
    3. Playing assets
    4. Search assets
    5. Creative Cloud Libraries
    6. Sync Settings in Premiere Pro
    7. Consolidate, transcode, and archive projects
    8. Managing metadata
    9. Best Practices
      1. Best Practices: Learning from broadcast production
      2. Best Practices: Working with native formats
  18. Improving Performance and Troubleshooting
    1. Set preferences
    2. Reset and restore preferences
    3. Working with Proxies
      1. Proxy overview
      2. Ingest and Proxy Workflow
    4. Check if your system is compatible with Premiere Pro
    5. Premiere Pro for Apple silicon
    6. Eliminate flicker
    7. Interlacing and field order
    8. Smart rendering
    9. Control surface support
    10. Best Practices: Working with native formats
    11. Knowledge Base
      1. Known issues
      2. Fixed issues
      3. Fix Premiere Pro crash issues
      4. Green and pink video in Premiere Pro or Premiere Rush
      5. How do I manage the Media Cache in Premiere Pro?
      6. Fix errors when rendering or exporting
      7. Troubleshoot issues related to playback and performance in Premiere Pro
  19. Monitoring Assets and Offline Media
    1. Monitoring assets
      1. Using the Source Monitor and Program Monitor
      2. Using the Reference Monitor
    2. Offline media
      1. Working with offline clips
      2. Creating clips for offline editing
      3. Relinking offline medInstia

You can use Premiere Pro in a dual-monitor setup where you can set up Premiere Pro in the following ways:

Before you begin

Connect your monitor to your computer and check the display is working. Most computers have DVI or HDMI connection ports with some laptops coming with thunderbolt, USB ports and an HDMI adapter only. So, for example, if your monitor has a HDMI connection, and so does your computer, then use a HDMI cable to connect the two. 

For more information on connecting your monitor to your computer, see this article.

Display video on a second monitor

You can choose to display only the video output to a second monitor. This is particularly useful in color grading if you want to see how your colors look in a different color space, or see the video playback in full screen.

To display the output of the Program Monitor to a second computer monitor, you need to change the Playback preference setting in Premiere Pro.

Enabling preferences to display video on a second monitor
Enabling preferences to display video on a second monitor

  1. Go to Premiere Pro > Preferences > Playback (macOS), or Edit > Preferences > Playback (Win).
  2. Select Enable Mercury Transmit.
    This enables sending video to a second monitor. Then, check the  monitor on which you want the video to appear. 
    • Adobe DV: This is the FireWire option.
    • Adobe Monitor x: These are your attached computer monitors that can receive video preview data through the graphics card.
    • Third-party video hardware: These entries differ depending on what third-party hardware you have connected. AJA Kona 3G, Blackmagic Playback, and Matrox Player are typical examples.
  3. (Optional) Select Disable video output when in the background. When you switch out of Premiere Pro into another application, the second monitor reverts back to displaying the computer screen.

Now, when you playback a project, the second monitor automatically switches to video playback, allowing you to watch program video on a separate monitor.

Display the Premiere Pro interface to a second monitor

You can choose to display elements of the Premiere Pro interface to a second monitor

  1. Hover over the panel that you want to move to the second monitor.

  2. Click and drag the panel wherever you want on the second monitor.

    Moving a panel from one monitor to another
    Moving a panel from one monitor to another

  3. Take whatever panels you want and move them over to the second monitor creating a larger workspace for you to fit all your tools.

  4. (Optional) After you are done with the set up, you can choose to save it as a custom workspace . Click Window > Workspaces > Save as New Workspace. Once you have it saved, you can quickly pull it back up whenever you want.

 You can make multiple different configurations, say one for editing and one for grading, and quickly switch between them when you want.

Tips and tricks

 Consider making multiple different configurations. For example, consider making a workspace for editing, and one for color grading. You can then quickly switch between them when you want. 

Troubleshooting common issues

Are you unable to move your Premiere Pro panels to the second monitor?

This could be because of a number of issues. Check:

  • Make sure the panel is undocked first before you drag.
  • Sometimes Premiere Pro "overhangs" by a pixel or two in the second monitor preventing it from using it as a second display. 
  • Your GPU drivers may not be up to date. Update GPU drivers and check if it is compatible or is detected in File > Project Settings > General > Render. For more information, see Hardware recommendations.

Have a question?

Do you need further guidance on setting up Premiere Pro on a second monitor? Visit our community to get help from our experts.

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