Subtitle editor

The subtitle editor is where you write a video's subtitles cue by cue: the text, when each cue appears and disappears, and how it looks. You reach it from the asset manager — select a video, then click a language in its Subtitles list.

Everything you change stays with you until you save, so you can try things out and back away from them.

The editor's layout

Opening a subtitle sets the storyboard aside and gives the window over to one video in one language:

• The cues, on the left — all of them in order, each with its start time. Click one to work on it; + adds a cue where you are in the video.
• The preview, in the middle — the video as a learner will see it, driven from the timeline below rather than from controls on the video itself.
• The cue you're editing, along the bottom — its text, timings and style, under a timeline of the whole video.
• The video's properties, on the right — the same ones as in the asset manager, including its subtitles in the course's other languages. Clicking one of those switches the editor to that language.

Closing the editor returns you to the asset manager, on the video you were subtitling.

Building a subtitle

A language with no subtitle yet opens an empty editor, and there are two ways to fill it.

Cue by cue. Play the video and add a cue wherever one belongs. A new cue starts at the current position in the video and runs for two seconds — or stops earlier if the next cue would begin sooner. Type its text, adjust the timings, and carry on.

From a prepared file. Import an .srt or .vtt you already have. Its cues open in the editor rather than going straight into the course, so you can read them through, correct them, and then save. Anything the file carries that a course can't use is removed as it comes in.

Editing cues

Click any cue in the list or timeline to work on it. You can change its text, its start and end time, and its style; you can add cues and delete the one you're on.

• Text. Write the cue as a normal sentence. Only <i>, <b>, <u> and <br> have any effect — see Text formatting. Pressing Enter doesn't create a line break; use <br> where a cue genuinely needs one.
• Timings. Type a time as hh:mm:ss.mmm, or take the current position in the video instead of typing it — usually quicker and always exact.
• Style. Overrides the course-wide subtitle style for this one cue. Leave it on Course default unless this cue needs something different.

INFO

The cue you're editing isn't always the cue on screen. The one you're working on is highlighted in the list and on the timeline; the preview shows whichever cue covers the current position in the video. Selecting a cue brings the two together.

Timings that need attention

Two problems are flagged as you work, and they're not equally serious.

A broken cue blocks saving. A time that isn't a valid hh:mm:ss.mmm, or an end that isn't after its start, is marked in red and has to be fixed before the subtitle can be saved.

Overlapping cues are only a warning. Two cues covering the same moment are marked in amber and can be saved as they are. Cues are shown one after another, so an overlap is usually a mistake worth a look — but it's yours to judge.

Previewing your changes

The preview shows the cue covering the current position in the video, drawn from your unsaved work — so text, timing and style changes appear as you make them.

Anything that moves the position in the video brings the preview with it:

• Clicking the timeline jumps to that point.
• Selecting a cue, in the list or on the timeline, jumps to where it starts — the quickest way to look at one you've just changed.
• Adding a cue places it at the current position and takes you there.

Playback runs from the buttons under the timeline. Typing in a cue's text or timings pauses it, so the video doesn't run on while you work.

Saving and leaving

Cues you've changed are marked until you save, so you can always see what you've touched.

Saving writes the whole subtitle file for that language. Leaving with unsaved work asks first — whether you close the editor, move elsewhere in the course, or close the browser tab — and discarding returns the subtitle to its last saved state.

To remove a subtitle entirely, use the trash icon on its language row in the video's Subtitles list.

When something looks off

• Save is unavailable. Either nothing has changed yet, or a cue has a broken timing — look for the cue marked in red.
• A cue doesn't show while previewing. Check its start and end times: a cue with an end before its start never plays, and neither does one timed past the end of the video.
• Formatting disappeared after saving. Only <i>, <b>, <u> and <br> are kept — see Cleanup when a subtitle is saved.
• Your line breaks became spaces. Cues are re-wrapped to fit the video, so breaks you type aren't kept. Use <br> for a break that must stay.
• The editor is empty after coming back to it. Opening the subtitle again from the video's Subtitles list reloads the saved file.

See also

• Subtitles — what formatting survives, the four subtitle styles, and how cues display.
• Asset manager — the video a subtitle belongs to, and where you open the editor.
• Translation tool — translating finished subtitles into the course's other languages.