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Use Spools with Premiere

First, install the Spools Mac app.

Settings

Change these before importing, so Premiere does not download whole files in the background. On Mac, open Premiere Pro → Settings:

  • Media Cache: click Browse and choose a folder on your Mac. Turn off Save Media Cache files next to originals when possible.
  • Media Analysis & Transcription: turn off Analyze all imported media and Automatically transcribe files.
  • Audio: turn off Generate waveforms automatically during import and Auto-tag audio types.
  • Media: turn off Automatically refresh growing files.

Keep the project, autosaves, and scratch disks on your Mac. Only footage goes on Spools.

Import

Import files from ~/Spools as you normally would. Playback speed depends on your connection.

Edit with proxies

Experimental: turn on Proxy folders in the Spools app under Settings → Experimental.

On a slow connection, edit against small proxies and switch back to the originals to finish.

  1. In the Spools app, open Drives and turn on Proxies under the Drive. A read-only folder named after the Drive with (Proxies) appears next to it in ~/Spools. Each video there is a proxy named like its original, ending in .mp4. A folder’s proxies start being made when you first open it, and each file appears once its proxy is ready.
  2. Import the originals from the Drive as usual.
  3. In the Project panel, select the clips, right-click, and choose Proxy → Attach Proxies…. Keep File Name matching on with File Extension off, and keep Relink others automatically on.
  4. Click Attach and choose the first clip’s .mp4 in the (Proxies) folder. Premiere finds the rest by name.
  5. Turn proxies on or off in Settings → Media → Enable proxies, or add the Toggle Proxies button to the Program monitor.

Exports use the originals unless you turn on Use Proxies in the export settings.

Premiere attaches a proxy only when its audio channels match the original’s. Proxies keep up to eight channels, so Premiere will not attach the proxy of a source with more than eight. It also will not attach the proxy of a source with exactly seven channels: Premiere reads seven-channel proxy audio as eight channels.