Label users, beware!

Beware of a nasty bug in CS6:

If you import the footage in such a way that a bin or a number of bins is created upon import, and you label your clips on the timeline, you might be in for a nasty surprise at some point.

If you choose to move your files from the bins, or sometimes even simply select them by the innocent “Reveal in Project” command or so much as click on them, you are going to loose labels in the timeline for selected footage in the given folder. *Pooof*, gone. Like this. Without any possibility of undoing it. If you have not saved your project for some time, you face either loosing the labels, or loosing the changes since your last save, because I tell you, these labels are not coming back!

Now, if you are lucky to have a saved project with your labels still applied, don’t breathe with relief yet, because they are not safe! First follow the following steps to the letter:

  1. Save the broken project under a different name
  2. If your Premiere window is maximized, click the maximize icon and set the window size as you like, just so that it is not maximized.
  3. Open the old project.

This bug propagates across projects! If you have Premiere opened in the maximized window – as most of us usually do – then the moment you open your project, the labels will evaporate as well. But if for some reason you do not have your window maximized (it might be larger than one screen, but it must not have the maximized icon turned on), you are safe for the time being. The labels will remain on the timeline until you trigger the bug again by selecting your files or moving them.

I have no idea why, but having your window non-maximized gives you a chance to save your work. This is the weirdest bug I have ever seen, and it is a nasty one.

The solution is to either import media in such a way that no folder is created, or to move them to another folder immediately after import. It does nothing to save your existing projects, but it will protect you in the future.