Premiere shows you one clip at a time.
Trace shows all 9.

Trace finds every use of a clip, in every sequence, with timecodes.

Get Trace, free

The download and the install guide land in your inbox.

Trace Free Premiere plugin
Project
Brand Film v04
Aerial_Drone_02.mov
Interview_A_Take3.mov
Broll_Factory.mov
Music_Cue_01.wav
Brand Film v04
V2
V1
A1
A2
Trace
Select a clip in your
Project panel.
Interview_A_Take3.mov
Footage / Interviews
9 uses · 2 sequences · 3m 12s
Brand Film v047 uses
00:00:02:111sV2
00:00:14:038sV2
00:00:26:182sV1
00:00:41:073sV2
00:00:52:001sV1
00:01:03:125sV2
00:01:26:044sV2
Select all 7 in this sequence
Social Cutdown 9x162 uses
00:00:08:222sV1
00:00:19:14via Nest A3sV2
7 uses in this sequence Selected 7 clips in Brand Film v04 Marked 7 uses — press again to clear Moved 7 clips — one undo step
Selected7 clips, one press
9 USES

Free, for good. No account, no licence key.

Pr
Designed forAdobe Premiere Pro

Requires Premiere Pro 25.6 or newer · macOS & Windows

Demo

Watch it find every use of a clip
in one click.

No setup, no account. Install it and press the button.

Free, for good. Premiere Pro 25.6 or newer.

Get Trace free

No more asking, where did I use that clip?

The Video Usage column tells you a clip is used nine times. It won’t select those nine, won’t total them, won’t follow one into a nest, and won’t ignore the four old cuts in your _PREVIOUS bin. Trace does all four — so replacing a shot everywhere it appears is one press, not an afternoon of hunting.

ProjectVideo Usage
Interview_A_Take3.mov 9
Brand Film v0400:00:02:11
Brand Film v0400:00:14:03
Brand Film v0400:00:26:18
Brand Film v0400:00:41:07
Social Cutdown 9x1600:00:08:22
…and four more
Off by default, and every line is one instance — click one and it takes you to that one.
Select all nine Total the time Follow into a nest Ignore _PREVIOUS

Select

Nine uses. One selection.

Press Select all and every use becomes one real Premiere selection. Nudge them, replace them, colour them, delete them — one action instead of nine round trips. This is the part Premiere has never been able to do.


Follow

It follows the clip. Even into a nest.

A clip buried in a nest that’s cut into your master? Trace reports both — the use inside the nest, and where it lands in the sequence you’re actually in, labelled via Nest A. Native reports the first and never mentions the second.


Ignore

Your old cuts. Out of the way.

Keep old versions in a _PREVIOUS bin and every native usage list is full of them, with no way to filter. Trace hides them by default — and tells you how many it hid, so it is never quietly deciding for you.

Markers over every use

One press drops a marker on all of them, in a colour you pick. The same press takes them off again.

Straight to the Source Monitor

Shift-click a use and the clip opens with in and out already set to that use.

Totals, added up

Uses, sequences and screen time in one line — nine uses, four sequences, 3m 12s — so “how much of this is in the film?” has a number.

Repeats, told apart

“Nine uses” and “nine different bits of footage” are opposite facts about a job. Trace says 9 uses · 4 sections when they differ, and badges every use that is a repeat of one you have already counted.

Old cuts, by number

Brand Film_v04 retires _v03, _v02 and _v01 wherever they live — they no longer have to be filed in an archive bin for Trace to know they are done with. One tick box hides them, and says how many.

Colour it from here

Premiere’s own label colours, on the bar at the foot of the panel. Pin them open and work down a list of clips without leaving the panel you are already in.


How it works

Four clicks, and you have never left the timeline.

Press a step — the panel follows.

Project
Brand Film v04
Aerial_Drone_02.mov
Interview_A_Take3.mov
Broll_Factory.mov
Music_Cue_01.wav
Brand Film v04
V2
V1
A1
A2
Trace
Select a clip in your
Project panel.
Interview_A_Take3.mov
Footage / Interviews
9 uses · 4 sections · 2 sequences · 3m 12s
Brand Film v047 uses Select all 7
00:00:02:111sV2
00:00:14:038sV2
00:00:26:182sV1
00:00:41:073sV2
00:00:52:00repeat1sV1
00:01:03:12repeat5sV2
00:01:26:04repeat4sV2
Social Cutdown 9x162 uses
00:00:08:22repeat2sV1
00:00:19:14via Nest Arepeat3sV2
Select all 9
7 uses in this sequence Selected 7 clips in Brand Film v04 Marked 7 uses — press again to clear Moved 7 clips — one undo step
WatchingBrand Film v04 · 2 more
LIVE

Why do I need this?

“Is that shot still in?”

Four things every editor needs to answer. Premiere has a native answer to one of them.

NeedPremiereTrace
Find where a clip is usedWhich sequences it appears in Video Usage column one click, no hidden column
Select all nine uses at onceTo replace, nudge, colour or delete them in one go one at a time one button
Follow it into a nestWhere a nested clip lands in the cut you’re actually in stops at the nest reports both
Ignore your _PREVIOUS binSo old cuts stop filling up every result no filter exists hidden, and counted

Free, and it installs in a minute. Next time someone asks whether a shot is still in, you’ll answer in seconds — and you’ll be right.


Currently in beta

Your whole project,
in one click.

Trace+ reads your entire project, not just an individual clip. See everything you’ve used and have left on the cutting floor.

Join the Trace+ list →

Trace+ showing a project: 37 clips not used, 128 GB of 342 GB on no timeline.

FAQ

Good questions

How about nests & subclips?

It follows clips into nests, subclips and audio. A clip buried inside a nest that’s cut into your master? Trace reports both — the use inside the nest, and where it lands in the sequence you’re actually working in, labelled via Nest A. Native reports the first and never mentions the second.

What Trace isn’t

It isn’t a media manager — it never moves, renames or deletes a file. It doesn’t find unused media or export a report. It won’t reveal a clip in your Project panel, because Premiere’s plugin API simply doesn’t allow it, and it can’t resolve merged clips for the same reason — it tells you so rather than quietly reporting a number that’s too low.

What about multicam and merged clips?

Trace finds every place the multicam or merged clip itself is cut in. What it can’t do is look inside one — the camera angles in a multicam clip, or the video and audio that went into a merged one, aren’t listed.

That isn’t a shortcut, it’s a wall. Premiere hands a plugin the sequences in your project, and a multicam source isn’t one of them — tested, not assumed. No plugin can do it. Trace says so on screen rather than reporting a number that’s quietly too low.

It costs you nothing here, because Trace never moves a file. It starts to matter when you archive unused media at the end of a job: a clip used only inside a merged one is on no timeline any plugin can see, so it looks unused. Trace+ marks those clips and refuses to file them away.

Is it really free?

Yes. No account, no key, no trial, no expiry. If you need more power and to solve a deeper problem with Premiere, check out Trace+.

Trace vs Trace+

What’s the difference between Trace and Trace+?

Trace scans a clip. Trace+ scans the entire project.

Both search your entire project. Select a clip and Trace shows every place it’s used — every sequence, every timecode, including inside nested sequences — then selects every instance at once. Trace+ asks the same question for every clip in the project simultaneously, and adds the one Trace can’t: what’s used nowhere at all, and how much of your project folder that’s costing you.

I already use Trace. Why would I upgrade?

Because Trace makes you name the clip first. That’s fine mid-edit, when you know what you’re looking for. It’s no help at the end of a job when the question is “what can I throw away?” — that’s four hundred clips, one at a time.

Trace+ does that pass in one go: unused media, duplicate imports, empty bins, and the number that matters — “610GB of your 840GB project is unused.” Then it files it all into _UNUSED for you. It never deletes anything.

Is Trace a trial? Will it stop working?

No. Trace is free, complete and permanent. No account, no licence key, no expiry, nothing locked behind an upgrade prompt. It does one job properly and it will keep doing it.

Do I need both installed?

They’re separate panels and they sit side by side happily, but you don’t need both — Trace+ does everything Trace does. Every feature in the free panel is in the paid one, so nothing you’re used to disappears when you upgrade.

Which one should I start with?

Trace. It’s free and it’s the one you’ll reach for mid-edit. If you find yourself wishing it would scan the entire project rather than one clip at a time, that’s exactly the moment Trace+ is for.

Join the Trace+ list to see everything it adds.

Compatibility. Works on Mac and Windows. Compatible with Premiere Pro 25.6.0 and later.

Terms & conditions. For licence, refund and terms, please refer to the terms and conditions page.

Help & documentation. Read the official help & documentation.


Get Trace, free

Pop your email in the form at the top of this page and the download lands in your inbox, with the install guide.

SEND ME TRACE
Pr
Designed forAdobe Premiere Pro

Free, for good. No account, no licence key.
Requires Premiere Pro 25.6 or newer.

Trace Free Premiere plugin
Project
Brand Film v04
Aerial_Drone_02.mov
Interview_A_Take3.mov
Broll_Factory.mov
Music_Cue_01.wav
Brand Film v04
V2
V1
A1
A2
Trace
Select a clip in your
Project panel.
Interview_A_Take3.mov
Footage / Interviews
9 uses · 4 sections · 2 sequences · 3m 12s
Brand Film v047 uses Select all 7
00:00:02:111sV2
00:00:14:038sV2
00:00:26:182sV1
00:00:41:073sV2
00:00:52:00repeat1sV1
00:01:03:12repeat5sV2
00:01:26:04repeat4sV2
Social Cutdown 9x162 uses
00:00:08:22repeat2sV1
00:00:19:14via Nest Arepeat3sV2
Select all 9
7 uses in this sequence Selected 7 clips in Brand Film v04 Marked 7 uses — press again to clear Moved 7 clips — one undo step
Selected7 clips, one press
9 USES
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