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Captions workflow in Premiere Pro | Adobe

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  1. Adobe Premiere Pro User Guide
  2. Beta releases
    1. Beta Program Overview
    2. Premiere Pro Beta Home
    3. Beta features
      1. Translate captions
      2. Generative extend overview 
      3. Generative extend FAQs
      4. Color management system
  3. Getting started
    1. Get started with Adobe Premiere Pro
    2. What's new in Premiere Pro
    3. Best practices for updating Premiere Pro
    4. Keyboard shortcuts in Premiere Pro
    5. Accessibility in Premiere Pro
    6. Frequently asked questions
    7. Release notes
  4. Hardware and operating system requirements
    1. Hardware recommendations
    2. System requirements
    3. GPU and GPU Driver requirements
    4. GPU Accelerated Rendering & Hardware Encoding/Decoding
  5. Creating projects
    1. Start a new project
    2. Open projects
    3. Move and delete projects
    4. Work with multiple open projects
    5. Work with Project Shortcuts
    6. Backward compatibility of Premiere Pro projects
    7. Open and edit Premiere Rush projects in Premiere Pro
    8. Best Practices: Create your own project templates
  6. Workspaces and workflows
    1. Workspaces
    2. Import and export FAQs
    3. Working with Panels
    4. Windows touch and gesture controls
    5. Use Premiere Pro in a dual-monitor setup
  7. Frame.io
    1. Install and activate Frame.io
    2. Use Frame.io with Premiere Pro and After Effects
    3. Integrate Adobe Workfront and Frame.io
    4. Share for review with Frame.io
    5. Invite collaborators to co-edit a project
    6. Frequently asked questions
  8. Import media
    1. Importing
      1. Transfer files
      2. Importing still images
      3. Importing digital audio
    2. Importing from Avid or Final Cut
      1. Importing AAF project files from Avid Media Composer
      2. Importing XML project files from Final Cut Pro 7 and Final Cut Pro X
    3. File formats
      1. Supported file formats
      2. Support for Blackmagic RAW
    4. Working with timecode
  9. Editing
    1. Edit video
    2. Sequences
      1. Create and change sequences
      2. Set In and Out points in the Source Monitor
      3. Add clips to sequences
      4. Rearrange and move clips
      5. Find, select, and group clips in a sequence
      6. Remove clips from a sequence
      7. Change sequence settings
      8. Edit from sequences loaded into the Source Monitor
      9. Simplify sequences
      10. Rendering and previewing sequences
      11. Working with markers
      12. Add markers to clips
      13. Create markers in Effect Controls panel
      14. Set default marker colors
      15. Find, move, and delete markers
      16. Show or hide markers by color
      17. View marker comments
      18. Copy and paste sequence markers
      19. Sharing markers with After Effects
      20. Source patching and track targeting
      21. Scene edit detection
    3. Cut and trim clips
      1. Split or cut clips
      2. Trim clips
      3. Edit in Trim mode
      4. Perform J cuts and L cuts
      5. Create and play clips
      6. Adjust Trimming and Playback preferences
    4. Video
      1. Synchronizing audio and video with Merge Clips
      2. Render and replace media
      3. Undo, history, and events
      4. Freeze and hold frames
      5. Working with aspect ratios
    5. Audio
      1. Overview of audio in Premiere Pro
      2. Edit audio clips in the Source Monitor
      3. Audio Track Mixer
      4. Adjusting volume levels
      5. Edit, repair, and improve audio using Essential Sound panel
      6. Enhance Speech
      7. Enhance Speech FAQs
      8. Audio Category Tagging
      9. Automatically duck audio
      10. Remix audio
      11. Monitor clip volume and pan using Audio Clip Mixer
      12. Audio balancing and panning
      13. Advanced Audio - Submixes, downmixing, and routing
      14. Audio effects and transitions
      15. Working with audio transitions
      16. Apply effects to audio
      17. Measure audio using the Loudness Radar effect
      18. Recording audio mixes
      19. Editing audio in the timeline
      20. Audio channel mapping in Premiere Pro
      21. Use Adobe Stock audio in Premiere Pro
    6. Text-Based Editing
      1. Text-Based Editing
      2. Text-Based Editing FAQs
    7. Advanced editing
      1. Multi-camera editing workflow
      2. Editing VR
    8. Best Practices
      1. Best Practices: Mix audio faster
      2. Best Practices: Editing efficiently
      3. Editing workflows for feature films
  10. Video Effects and Transitions
    1. Overview of video effects and transitions
    2. Effects
      1. Types of effects in Premiere Pro
      2. Apply and remove effects
      3. Use FX badges
      4. Effect presets
      5. Metadata effect in Premiere Pro
      6. Automatically reframe video for different social media channels
      7. Color correction effects
      8. Effects Manager
      9. Change duration and speed of clips
      10. Adjustment Layers
      11. Stabilize footage
    3. Transitions
      1. Applying transitions in Premiere Pro
      2. Modifying and customizing transitions
      3. Morph Cut
  11. Titles, Graphics, and Captions
    1. Properties panel
      1. About Properties panel
      2. Edit text
      3. Edit shapes
      4. Edit audio
      5. Edit video
      6. Mask with shape
      7. Create, apply, and redefine text styles
    2. Essential Graphics panel (24.x and earlier) 
      1. Overview of the Essential Graphics panel
      2. Create a title
      3. Linked and Track Styles
      4. Working with style browser
      5. Create a shape
      6. Draw with the Pen tool
      7. Align and distribute objects
      8. Change the appearance of text and shapes
      9. Apply gradients
      10. Add Responsive Design features to your graphics
      11. Speech to Text
      12. Download language packs for transcription
      13. Working with captions
      14. Check spelling and Find and Replace
      15. Export text
      16. Speech to Text FAQs
    3. Motion Graphics Templates
      1. Install and use Motion Graphics templates
      2. Replace images or videos in Motion Graphics templates
      3. Use data-driven Motion Graphics templates
    4. Best Practices: Faster graphics workflows
    5. Retiring the Legacy Titler FAQs
    6. Upgrade Legacy titles to Source Graphics
  12. Fonts and emojis
    1. Color fonts
    2. Emojis
  13. Animation and Keyframing
    1. Adding, navigating, and setting keyframes
    2. Animating effects
    3. Use Motion effect to edit and animate clips
    4. Optimize keyframe automation
    5. Moving and copying keyframes
    6. Viewing and adjusting effects and keyframes
  14. Compositing
    1. Compositing, alpha channels, and adjusting clip opacity
    2. Masking and tracking
    3. Blending modes
  15. Color Correction and Grading
    1. Overview: Color workflows in Premiere Pro
    2. Color Settings
    3. Auto Color
    4. Get creative with color using Lumetri looks
    5. Adjust color using RGB and Hue Saturation Curves
    6. Correct and match colors between shots
    7. Using HSL Secondary controls in the Lumetri Color panel
    8. Create vignettes
    9. Looks and LUTs
    10. Lumetri scopes
    11. Display Color Management
    12. Timeline tone mapping
    13. HDR for broadcasters
    14. Enable DirectX HDR support
  16. Exporting media
    1. Export video
    2. Export Preset Manager
    3. Workflow and overview for exporting
    4. Quick export
    5. Exporting for the Web and mobile devices
    6. Export a still image
    7. Exporting projects for other applications
    8. Exporting OMF files for Pro Tools
    9. Export to Panasonic P2 format
    10. Export settings
      1. Export settings reference
      2. Basic Video Settings
      3. Encoding Settings
    11. Best Practices: Export faster
  17. Collaborative editing
    1. Collaboration in Premiere Pro
    2. Get started with collaborative video editing
    3. Create Team Projects
    4. Add and manage media in Team Projects
    5. Invite and manage collaborators
    6. Share and manage changes with collaborators
    7. View auto saves and versions of Team Projects
    8. Manage Team Projects
    9. Linked Team Projects
    10. Frequently asked questions
  18. Long form and Episodic workflows
    1. Long Form and Episodic Workflow Guide
    2. Using Productions
    3. How clips work across projects in a Production
    4. Best Practices: Working with Productions
  19. Working with other Adobe applications
    1. After Effects and Photoshop
    2. Dynamic Link
    3. Audition
    4. Prelude
  20. Organizing and Managing Assets
    1. Working in the Project panel
    2. Organize assets in the Project panel
    3. Playing assets
    4. Search assets
    5. Creative Cloud Libraries
    6. Sync Settings in Premiere Pro
    7. Consolidate, transcode, and archive projects
    8. Managing metadata
    9. Best Practices
      1. Best Practices: Learning from broadcast production
      2. Best Practices: Working with native formats
  21. Improving Performance and Troubleshooting
    1. Set preferences
    2. Reset and restore preferences
    3. Recovery Mode
    4. Working with Proxies
      1. Proxy overview
      2. Ingest and Proxy Workflow
    5. Check if your system is compatible with Premiere Pro
    6. Premiere Pro for Apple silicon
    7. Eliminate flicker
    8. Interlacing and field order
    9. Smart rendering
    10. Control surface support
    11. Best Practices: Working with native formats
    12. Knowledge Base
      1. Known issues
      2. Fixed issues
      3. Fix Premiere Pro crash issues
      4. Unable to migrate settings after updating Premiere Pro
      5. Green and pink video in Premiere Pro or Premiere Rush
      6. How do I manage the Media Cache in Premiere Pro?
      7. Fix errors when rendering or exporting
      8. Troubleshoot issues related to playback and performance in Premiere Pro
  22. Extensions and plugins
    1. Installing plugins and extensions in Premiere Pro
    2. Latest plugins from third-party developers
  23. Video and audio streaming
    1. Secure Reliable Transport (SRT)
  24. Monitoring Assets and Offline Media
    1. Monitoring assets
      1. Using the Source Monitor and Program Monitor
      2. Using the Reference Monitor
    2. Offline media
      1. Working with offline clips
      2. Creating clips for offline editing
      3. Relinking offline media

Learn how to work with captions in Premiere Pro. See Speech to Text to learn how to create transcripts.

Note:

Starting with Premiere Pro version 25.0, the Essential Graphics panel is no longer included. You can now edit titles, captions, audio, video, and graphics more efficiently using the new Properties panel and browse Motion Graphics and Stock Audio using the Graphics Templates panel.

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 If you are using Premiere Pro versions 14.9 or earlier, see the Captions documentation for these releases.

Speech to Text and the Captions workflow in Premiere Pro

Captions and subtitles add value to videos, making them more accessible for more people – and helping to drive viewer engagement.

Premiere Pro provides a comprehensive toolset that lets you create edit, stylize, and export captions and subtitles in all supported formats.

Start by creating a transcript of your video. Edit the transcript in the Text panel and then use Create captions to add your captions to the Premiere Pro timeline. There you can adjust them like any other media using the editing tools. Edit the text in the Text panel or right on-screen in the Program Monitor. Stylize captions using the design tools in the Essential Graphics panel.

When your video is ready, you can export the captions as stylized, burned-in subtitles, a .srt sidecar text file, or embedded in a QuickTime or MXF file.

Where do Captions fit in the workflow?

Captions workflow in Premiere Pro

Usually it’s best to add captions when your edit is finished, or close to finished. You can fine-tune and edit along with a caption track.

However, if you delete caption segments, you will need to recreate them manually if you need to restore a part of a clip to your final edit.

The Captions and Graphics workspace

To access the Captions and Graphics workspace: On the header bar, click Workspaces > Captions and Graphics.

Elements of the Captions workspace
Elements of the Captions workspace

The Captions and Graphics workspace consists of (A) the Text panel where you can edit text. You can see the captions displayed on (B) the Program Monitor, and you can edit the appearance of the captions in (C) the Essential Graphics panel. Captions have their own (D) caption track on the timeline where you can edit them.

Add captions to your sequence

You have a few options for creating captions: Automatically transcribe speech to text, import a caption file from a third-party service, or add them manually. 

Use a third-party service

If you already have a workflow that uses a third-party transcription service, you can bring in that file. 

  1. Import the SRT file into your Premiere Pro project just like any piece of media.
  2. Drag the SRT from the Project panel into your sequence and drop it anywhere in the sequence.

Premiere Pro creates a new caption track, and the captions are placed on the track.

Manually transcribe captions

If you have short sequences, you can choose to manually transcribe sequences.

  1. Open the Captions and Graphics workspace (Window > Workspaces > Captions and Graphics).  This opens the Text panel (where you create and edit caption text) and the Essential Graphics panel (where you stylize your text).  In the Text panel, click Create new caption track (macOS: Opt + Cmd + A | Win: Ctrl + Alt + A).

  2. In the New Caption Track dialog that opens, you can choose your caption track format and style.

    The default format option is Subtitle that allows you to create nice looking stylized subtitles that get burned into the video image, or can be exported as a sidecar.

     Optional: If you have created and saved any text styles previously, you can choose a style from the Style drop-down list.

    Click OK to create the track.

    Premiere Pro adds a new caption track to your current sequence.

    You can change your track format later if needed.

    Creating a captions track
    Creating a captions track

  3. Place the playhead at the beginning of your first piece of dialog.

     Use the waveforms in the audio to help align the text caption to the audio.

  4. Click the + icon in the Text panel to add a blank caption. Or use these keyboard shortcuts (macOS: Opt + Cmd + C | Win: Ctrl +Alt + C).

  5. Double-click New Caption in the Text panel or the Program Monitor to start editing the caption. Then type in the caption text.

  6. Trim the end of the caption in the timeline to align with the end of the spoken dialog. Continue adding captions in the same way to the rest of the audio in the sequence. 

 Check out the keyboard shortcuts at the bottom of this page to find out how you can make manually transcribing captions a breeze.

Working with captions in the timeline

Captions have their own track on the timeline where you can edit them like any other video track. Additionally, you can modify the display of the caption track.

Toggle the eye icon to turn the caption track on or off.

Click the CC icon to see options to hide or show all caption tracks, or to show just the active caption track.

Set label colors with captions.

To set label colors for all the caption items in a Captions track, select the track in the Project panel, then select Edit > Label and choose a label color.

To set a label color for an item(s) in the Captions track, select the track(s) in the timeline, then select Edit > Label and choose a label color.

 

Trim video tracks along with their linked caption tracks simultaneously.

Just select the caption track and its linked audio or video track and move it to trim both tracks at the same time. 

To turn off linking, click the Linked Selection tool in the Timeline panel.

Caution:

Unlike video or audio clips, if you remove a Captions item during an edit, it is deleted from the Captions track. You will need to recreate it manually if you restore that clip or clip section.

Stylize captions

You can stylize your captions using the various styling options (such as font, size, and location) in the Essential Graphics panel or the Properties panel (version 25.0 and later).

  1. In the Captions and Graphics workspace (Window > Workspaces > Captions and Graphics), select a caption on the captions track.

  2. Change font. 

    Use the Text options in the Essential Graphics panel to change the font, text alignment and tracking for your caption.

    • Font: Set font, font style and font size.

    • Paragraph Alignment: For horizontal alignment use Left align text, Center align text, Right align text and Justify. For Vertical alignment, use  Top align text, Center text vertically and Bottom align text. This defines how a caption grows when adding additional lines. 

    • Tracking: Loosen or tighten the space between characters.

    Change font properties
    Change font properties

    • Leading: Loosen or tighten the vertical space between lines.

    • Faux Styles: Bold, Italic, All Caps, Small Caps, Superscript, Subscript, Underline.

  3. Change text position.

    Align and transform text
    Align and transform text

    Use the Align and Transform options to align your text and change its position.

    • Position captions with zones: You can choose from different zones to position your caption in different areas on screen.

    • Fine tune position: Through Set Horizontal and Set Vertical Position you can add an offset to your zone setting.
       Vertical and horizontal text alignment are automatically set according to the zone position as well. 

    • Change the text box size: If you want to shrink or expand the text box size you can do this through Set Horizontal Scale and Set Vertical Scale. This will affect text wrapping and paragraph align settings. You can also change the text. box size using the text box controls on the Program Monitor.

  4. Change text appearance.

    Options to change text appearance
    Options to change text appearance

    Change the appearance of your text by playing around with the fill and stroke, background, and shadow.

    • Fill: Change the color of your captions.

    • Stroke: Add single or multiple strokes. The Graphics Properties menu under the wrench menu gives you more control over stroke styling.

    • Background: Add a background box. You can choose the color, add additional padding and change the opacity.

    • Shadow: You can add a shadow and fine tune with controls such as opacity, angle, distance and more.

  5. Upgrade captions to graphics.

    For more advanced edits, such as animating your captions, or adding effects to them, convert your captions to source graphics (Graphics and Titles > Upgrade Caption to Graphic). You can also set a keyboard shortcut to speed up this process.

    This option is available if the timeline or the Essential Graphics panel is in focus.

    • You can upgrade a single selected caption, a multi-selection, or select all of them and upgrade them at once.
    • You can upgrade captions on multiple caption tracks at the same time. 

    After upgrading your captions, you can edit them like any other graphic.

Learn how to format all captions at once with track styles in Premiere Pro.

Create styles for your captions

Create Track Styles for consistent styling across the entire captions track. A style saves all the settings made in the Essential Graphics panels, including font, alignment, color and more. Setting a Track Style to one caption applies it to all captions on the track. You can have different styles for different tracks.

To create a style:

  1. Edit the style of the caption text.

  2. Creating a style
    Creating a style

    Save it as a new style.

    In the Track Style section of the Essential Graphic panel, select Create Style.

    In the New Text Style dialog box that opens, give your style a name. Click OK.

    Premiere Pro saves your changes as a new text style and it is available for you to apply from the Track Style drop down list.

  3. Use the Push and Pull options when you want to make changes to a style.

    Push style to all captions on track
    Push style to all captions on track

    If you need to make changes to the style, this is easy.  First adjust the settings to your new desired look.

    Then push this style to all captions on track by clicking the Push to Track or Style icon.

    You can then choose to push to:

    • All captions on track: Only updates the captions on this track.
    • Style in project: Updates all uses of this style in project. This affects every use of the style in your project, even in other sequences.

  4. Use Sync from Style when you have made changes and want to revert those changes back to the saved style.

    Sync from Style
    Sync from Style

Supported file formats

Closed captioning

Sidecar files

  • SCC
  • MCC
  • XML
  • STL
  • SRT
  • DFXMP

XML files

  • W3C TTML (also known as DFXP)
  • SMPTE-TT
  • EBU-TT
Note:

For XML files, besides viewing the captions in the Captions panel, the captions are also viewable from a text editor.

Premiere Pro supports embedding into and decoding from the following file formats:  

  • MOV
  • DNxHD MXF Op1a
  • MXF Op1a

Keyboard shortcuts

Command

macOS

Windows

Create new captions track

Opt + Cmd + A

Ctrl + Alt + A

Add a new caption segment at the playhead

Opt + Cmd + C

Ctrl + Alt + C

Go to previous caption segment in the timeline

Opt + Cmd + Up

Ctrl + Alt + Up

Go to next caption segment in the timeline

Opt + Cmd + Down

Ctrl + Alt + Down

Related resources

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If you have a question on working with text or graphics, ask away in our Premiere Pro community. We would love to help.

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