Why are Adobe Premiere’s Rulers and Guides grayed out?

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Short answer: Your options for Show Rulers and Show Guides are grayed out in Adobe Premiere because you do not have the Program window/panel selected and active. Read on for more details.


In recent years, Adobe Premiere added rulers and guides to the program’s features. As a designer, I’m thrilled because I’m accustomed to using guides and rulers in all other Adobe programs and thoroughly welcome this aligning addition.

The Trick

There is a trick to using guides and rulers in Adobe Premiere; otherwise, the View > Show Rulers or View > Show Guides are always grayed out. You must have the Program window/panel selected to use rulers and guides. You know what window is selected because Adobe Premiere highlights the active panel with a thin blue stroked line.

To drag rulers and guides, the active Adobe Premiere window must be "Program." You'll know Program is active because it has a thin blue line around it.
To drag rulers and guides, the active Adobe Premiere window must be “Program.” You’ll know the Program panel is active because it has a thin blue line around it.

In the below screen capture, you’ll see I have the Sequence Panel active (note the blue exterior panel outline) and not the Program panel (show in the top left with a red star). This is why when I go to View > Show Rulers, the options are grayed out and can not be selected.

In this screen capture, you'll see I have the Sequence Panel active (note the blue outline) and not the Program panel (top with the star). This is why when I go to View > Show Rulers, the options are grayed out and can not be selected.

If I click on the Program Panel (note the blue exterior outline below), I can now turn on Rulers and drag rulers (blue guides) onto my video. Active Show Rulers are shown as a checkmark in the View dropdown menu.

If I click on the Program Panel, I can turn on Rulers and drag rulers (blue guides) onto my video.

Where’s my Program Panel? If you can’t find your Program Panel, you can view it by selecting window> Program Monitor.

In Adobe Premiere, if you can't find your Program Panel, you can view it by selecting window> Program Monitor.

If you found learning about guides a valuable Premiere tip, you’ll probably find how to save or package an Adobe Premiere project useful.

Happy Video Editing!

About the author

Kelly Barkhurst

Designer to Fullstack is my place to geek out and share tech solutions from my day-to-day as a graphic designer, programmer, and business owner (portfolio). I also write on Arts and Bricks, a parenting blog and decal shop that embraces my family’s love of Art and LEGO bricks!

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