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Mark Used Source Ranges

After editing a long interview, event, or documentary source, it can be hard to see which passages are already in the cut and which source ranges remain available. This workflow turns selected source clips into a visual usage map for the active Premiere Pro sequence.

New to Automation Agent?

This recipe uses Automation Agent for Adobe Premiere. The finished tool runs directly from the panel's Library and does not require Workflow AI or a Runtime Pack. To build a customized variant, use the agent workflow via MCP.

Fastest Path: Run The Library Script​

  1. Activate the sequence whose source usage you want to inspect.
  2. In the Project panel, select one or more footage or audio clips directly.
  3. Open Library > Examples > Marker Utilities > Usage and run Mark Used Ranges On Selected Project Clips.
  4. Open a selected source clip in the Source Monitor and inspect its duration markers.

The tool follows enabled placements from the active sequence through supported ordinary nested sequences, maps them back to the selected sources, merges the resulting source ranges, and writes color-coded clip markers. Run it again after the edit changes: markers previously created by this tool are refreshed, while unrelated manual markers and markers from other tools are preserved.

Video Walkthrough​

Run the Library utility, inspect color-coded source markers, and trace nested-sequence usage back to the active edit.

Read The Source Usage Map​

  • Blue means the source range contributes video.
  • Green means it contributes audio.
  • Violet means it contributes both video and audio.
  • Unmarked means the scan found no supported use from the selected active sequence. It does not prove that the range is unused everywhere in the project.

Marker comments identify where the source range is used, including the occurrence path through supported ordinary nests. Use those comments to move from a long source recording back toward the relevant edit context.

When This Is Useful​

Use the workflow when:

  • you want to avoid repeating a source passage already present in the cut;
  • you need to find unused interview or event material for an extended edit;
  • one source contributes through both the active sequence and ordinary nests;
  • you want to distinguish audio-only use from combined video-and-audio use;
  • you need a refreshable usage snapshot without deleting unrelated markers.

What Counts As Used​

Here, used means that an enabled Timeline placement contributes through the active sequence or a supported ordinary nested sequence. Disabled clips and muted tracks are ignored.

The scan maps placements, not final rendered perception. It does not decide whether video is hidden by another layer or made invisible by opacity and effects. It also does not evaluate gain automation, effects, or mixer routing to decide whether placed audio is effectively audible.

Review And Limitations​

  • Treat the markers as a snapshot and rerun the tool after relevant edit changes.
  • The selected Project clips are the only marker targets; the workflow does not mark every source in the project automatically.
  • Multicam usage is not marked because Premiere does not expose the selected camera and audio routing reliably enough for an exact result. If the scan encounters that ambiguity, it stops before refreshing the existing usage markers.
  • Nonlinear time remapping and other ambiguous composite-source relationships are outside the supported scope.

The tool changes only the usage markers it owns on the selected source clips. It does not change the active sequence, source media, or unrelated markers.

The workflow reads the active sequence and supported ordinary nests, then writes markers only on the selected source Project Items. If Project writes are restricted, allow marker writes for those selected sources. It needs no filesystem, network, Workflow AI, or external-program access.