The [Captions] app builds captions from your draft's transcript, or from an SRT file you import, and places them on the timeline as styled clips. From there you can restyle them, translate them, and export them with your video or as a subtitle file.
Note: Captions work on drafts, and they are built from the transcript. Analyze your footage first so there are words to caption.
How to add captions
Step 1. Create the caption list
To create the caption list, open the Captions app on a draft.
Open the draft you want to caption.
In the project panel, click the [Apps] tab, then click [Captions].
Click [Add captions].
The caption list appears in the app. Nothing is on the timeline yet.
To start from an SRT subtitle file instead of the transcript, click [Import SRT] below [Add captions].
Step 2. Clean up the text
To clean up caption text, edit it right in the list.
Fix a word: Double-click the word, or select it and press Tab. Type the correction and press Enter.
Reshape lines: Right-click a word and choose [Split to next line] (Enter), [Insert line break] (Shift + Enter), or [Merge with previous line] (S). To join words, choose [Combine with previous word] or [Combine with next word]. The shortcuts work while the Captions app is active, and you can change them in your keyboard shortcut settings.
Hide text: Right-click and choose [Hide word] (Backspace) or [Hide line], or hover a line and click the eye icon. Hidden text stays in your draft and only leaves the captions.
Change a speaker: Hover a line and click its speaker badge.
Note: Edits you make here apply to captions only. Your transcript and your cut don't change.
Step 3. Set line length and cleanup rules
To set how captions break and what they leave out, click [Caption settings] (the sliders icon) at the bottom of the app.
[Max length per line]: Count by [Letters] or [Words], from 1 to 100. The first time, a caption list starts at 7 words per line. After that, new lists start from the settings you used last.
[Multi-line (up to 2 lines)]: Show two lines at once.
[Punctuation]: Show or hide periods, commas, question marks, and exclamation marks.
[Hide words]: Hide filler words, repeated words, or profanity. Filler words are detected in English and Korean.
[Letter case]: Keep the original, or switch to uppercase or lowercase.
[Silent section]: Choose [Sustain caption] to keep a caption up through a pause, or [Hide caption] to clear it.
[Speaker tracks]: Place every caption on one track, or give each speaker a track. Separate tracks need 2 or more speakers.
Step 4. Apply the captions to the timeline
To put captions on the timeline, click [Apply]. This uses the Plain white look. To pick a different look, click the arrow beside [Apply] and choose one of the 14 built-in looks, such as [Keyword yellow] or [White pill].
Each caption becomes its own clip on a new video track above your footage. With multi-line on, one clip holds both lines. With separate speaker tracks, each speaker gets a track.
Change captions after you apply them
Update the text: Edit in the Captions app, then click [Apply] again. Selects updates the captions in place and keeps their style and position.
Switch the look: Click the arrow beside [Apply] and pick a look. Choose [Replace] to restyle what's there, or [Add on another track] to keep both.
Fine-tune the style: Select caption clips on the timeline and open the [Adjust] tab. Its [Caption], [Style], [BG], [Animation], and [Speaker] tabs hold font, size, color, background, entrance animation, and speaker names.
Highlight the spoken word: In [Adjust], open [Style] and choose [By state]. Style [Spoken], [Default], and [Highlight] separately. Highlight is the word being said.
Save your look: In [Adjust], open [Caption] and click [Save as preset]. It appears under Custom the next time you pick a look.
Remove captions: Select the caption clips on the timeline and delete them.
Note: Captions are a snapshot of your draft. If you cut or rearrange the draft afterwards, the app shows "Captions are out of sync." To rebuild them from the current transcript, click the refresh icon at the bottom left of the app, choose [Rebuild from transcript], then click [Regenerate]. Regenerating resets your caption edits and translations.
Import captions from an SRT file
To import captions from an SRT file, use [Import SRT] in the Captions app. Selects places each caption where the file times it on your draft, so an SRT file you exported from Selects lines up again.
Open the draft, then open the Captions app.
If the draft has no captions yet, click [Import SRT] below [Add captions]. If it already has captions, click the refresh icon at the bottom left of the app and choose [Import SRT].
Choose an .srt file.
If the draft already has captions, Selects asks "Replace captions with this file?". Click [Replace] to swap them for the file's captions. Your caption edits and translations are reset, and you can undo the import.
You edit, style, and apply imported captions the same way. Click [Apply] to put them on the timeline.
Translate captions
To translate captions, click [Ask chat] (the sparkle icon) at the bottom of the Captions app and choose [Translate captions]. Selects writes the request into chat. Add the language you want and send it.
The translation appears beside each original line, where you can click to edit it. When you click [Apply], the translation goes on its own track and shows beneath the original captions in your video. To leave it out, set [Translation] to [Off] at the top of the app, then click [Apply] again.
[Ask chat] also offers [Spell check].
Break caption lines where phrases end
To make caption lines end where a phrase ends, click [Ask chat] (the sparkle icon) at the bottom of the Captions app and choose [Natural line breaks].
Selects writes the request into chat, along with your [Max length per line], for example up to 7 words each.
Send it as it is, or add your own instructions after it first, for example:
"Start every new sentence on a new line."
"Keep phrases like 'client feedback' on one line."
The chat always keeps to your [Max length per line]. To use a different length, change it in [Caption settings] first.
The chat moves line breaks so lines end where phrases end. Only where lines break changes: the words, their timing, and any words you hid stay the same, and no line mixes two speakers. Line breaks you made by hand may move too, so reshape lines afterward. The new lines show in the Captions app as the chat works.
To put the new lines in your video, click [Apply]. If the captions are already on the timeline, Selects updates them in place and keeps their style and position.
Tip: Ask for natural line breaks after you set [Max length per line] and before you translate. Changing the length afterward splits every line again by length, which undoes the natural line breaks. If you already translated, translate again afterward so each translation lines up with its line.
Export your captions
In your video: Captions on the timeline are burned into the video when you click [Export], then [Video].
As a subtitle file: Click [Export], then [Transcript]. If the project has more than one draft, a window asks which ones to export. The open draft is already checked, so click the export button at the bottom of that window. Then choose [Caption SRT file] and click [Export]. Selects saves one SRT file per language.
In a handoff: Styled caption clips don't carry over to Premiere, Final Cut Pro, or DaVinci Resolve. The caption text and timing do, as captions, when [Include captions] is on. If you have translations, choose which language to send under [Caption language]. In the Premiere dialog, it sits under [More settings].
FAQs
Where are the font, size, and color settings for captions?
Font, size, and color settings for captions are in the [Adjust] tab, not in the Captions app. Apply your captions first, select the caption clips on the timeline, then open [Adjust].
Can I highlight specific keywords in my captions?
The Captions app highlights the word being spoken, but not keywords you choose. Looks like Keyword yellow color the current word as it's said, and you can set this up yourself with [By state] in the [Style] tab of [Adjust]. For custom effects like highlighting chosen keywords, describe what you want in chat.
Why does Add captions say "Select a timeline to work on"?
Add captions shows "Select a timeline to work on" when no draft is open. Captions only work on drafts, not on synced timelines or source files. Open a draft and click [Add captions] again.
Does adding captions use credits?
Adding and applying captions doesn't use credits, because they are built from the transcript you already have. Translation, spell check, and natural line breaks run through chat.
Will my captions update when I edit the transcript?
Captions don't update on their own when you edit the transcript or the cut. Click the refresh icon at the bottom left of the Captions app, choose [Rebuild from transcript], and confirm with [Regenerate]. Then click [Apply] and choose [Replace].