There are several options for adding captions to a video:
- Add captions directly in the interactive captions editor.
- Upload a new captions file (you can do this in the desktop app, or in your hosting account after uploading the video to ScreenPal).
- Use the automated speech-to-text captions feature.
- Add or edit your captions in a Story, which uses your script to automatically generate a captions file.
Add new captions to a recording with no script text
First, open a video in the Video Editor.
When you have a recording or video with no script text, whether that is a story project with no script entered, a recording you created using the Screen Recorder, or a video file that you uploaded from your computer, you will see the + Captions button in the sidebar.
Click this button to view the Add Captions menu.
From here, you can upload captions from a file, use our automated speech-to-text tool (with a paid plan), or start with blank captions and dictate your own caption text.
Add captions to a Story with script text
If you used the Story feature to create your video and added script text to your story, you can quickly add captions using the script.
Just open your story in the Video Editor and select the check box next to Captions under Show
To add new captions, rather than using your script text, click the edit icon next to Captions and then click the Add New Captions button.
Next, select Captions from file, Speech-to-Text, or Blank Captions.
Edit existing captions
If a video already has captions, you can edit them at any time by clicking the edit icon next to Captions under the Show menu on the right side of the Video Editor, and then clicking the same edit icon next to the existing captions.
This opens the video in the video preview area and the Captions Text Editor is displayed on the right.
Insert your cursor in the Captions Text box, edit the caption text as necessary, and then click OK.
Replace an existing captions file
On the Captions menu, click Add New Captions.
From the Add Captions menu, chose Captions from file and selected a captions file from your computer.
Replace existing captions file for a video you have uploaded to your ScreenPal Hosting account
You can upload a new captions file (including multiple captions file in different languages) from your ScreenPal hosting account. For more information, see the article about uploading captions.
Replace captions using the Automated Speech-to-text Captions feature in the Video Editor
Open your video in the video editor and click the edit icon next to Captions and then click Add New Captions.
From the Add Captions menu, select Speech-to-Text.
Use the drop-down menu to change the language based on the language in your video's narration. Finally, click Start.
Edit your captions in a Story
If you create a story using the Stories feature, your script text is used to automatically create a captions file. You can easily change your script and the resulting captions file using Stories.
Just open your story, and edit the text in the Script sections.
Add Caption Sync Points
When you add captions, particularly using the speech-to-text caption generator, there may be sections where the app did not automatically detect silence and the captions are out of sync. You can manually sync your captions to match your video's narration more accurately. To do this, follow the steps below.
Within the captions editor, click the exact spot on the timeline where you would like the caption text to appear and click +Sync Point.
This directs your cursor to the section of text that is currently playing.
Place your cursor right before the text you want to show at this point in the video and press the ENTER key on your keyboard.
This splits the caption section and updates the time to sync up accordingly.