This may be the most simple thing in the world for everyone on this board, except for me (I told you I was a bit thick). So if you find this insulting, I apologize.

Last night I was adding some simple transitions in Premier Pro when I inadvertantly hit some button on the left of the timeline (I thought I was collapsing Video Line #4), watching in horror as the whole timeline disappeared.

Not one to panic too quickly, I hit the "Undo" button and nothing happened. I looked into every dropdown menu file that I could and nothing remotely mentioned the timeline.

I looked in "HELP" and immediately figured that the person who wrote the HELP topics and answers should be shot. They may as well be in Latin. Lookus to no availus.

I called my brother who has P6.5 and his interface is different. He has a menu drop down that actually has TIMELINE on it. PPRO doesn't. Go figure. I went to the FAQ page on ADOBE's website. It spoke to the issue directly and the person that wrote that answer should be also be shot . . . after the help guy is shot. Let's be organized about this.

I finally went to the online forums for PRO and found the answer, but this silly mistake of mine cost me 90 MINUTES of searching and trying different things!

So, if you ever lose your timeline in PREM PRO, go to the Bin and find the SEQUENCE 01 file and double click on it, and it magically comes back.

Again, if this is so simplistic it insults someone, I'm sorry, but if I could have found this answer last night, I might have paid for it!!!

(smiley face, just for BIG MOVIE!)

adobe, making the simplist things way too complex. glad you got it back.

If it makes you feel any better Mark i was a little confused where my sequence went away after i switched to pro. But i figured it out a little faster lol. And yes...the help files are written like a 18 yr old intern wrote them on minimum wage. Its like a features list.

By the by...it dissapeared because you closed the sequence, which in turn closes the entire timeline window if it is the only sequence you have open. And also, its only sequence 1 b/c you didnt rename or create new sequences...which i am guessing means you have never created nested sequences? You should learn it, theyre a great feature. When i switched from mac back to pc before PPro was out, i sorely missed the nested sequences of FCP. Thankfully they were back quickly with Pro. You can create an entire timeline, then drop it into a new sequence and work on that original timeline as a single clip. Great stuff.

Thanks, Jeff. You are correct, I don't know a d**n thing about sequences. I just import clips, drop them on the timeline and edit! I've had PPRO for a year now, but have using Pinnacle 9 Plus (as it's much easier), but now need more flexibility and power to finish my documentary, therefore I'm learning as I go!

I should surf around the net and grab all the tutorials I can find. I've found some and saved them on my HD, but haven't watched them yet.

As for closing the timeline, I assumed that I would have to hit the "X" in the upper right corner to close it. I pressed some button on the left (near the triangle that collapses a video line).

Oh well. Thanks again for the info. I'll look into the 18 year old's HELP file and see what I can find!

just an fyi - the premiere pro classrooom in a book series from adobe press is a great starting point for PPro. I've always liked adobes books, and the current edition is pretty comprehensive for seeing the stuff you can do that you didnt even know you wanted to. Spend a few weeks with it and you be flying through it. You can probably pick one up real cheap from half.com or something. Happy editing

Thanks for that info. I'll look for it!