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Subtitles (tool_subtitles)

See also: Tools user guide · Developer reference

A two-pane subtitle workbench: edit a recording's transcription line by line next to its media player, and turn the timecoded text into subtitle blocks ready to serve as VTT.

What it's for

To publish accessible, captioned video you need subtitles that match the recording's timing. This tool gives you a dedicated surface for that: the transcript on the left as editable per-line blocks, the media player on the right with playback controls tuned for caption work — a play-speed slider, a key to pause-and-rewind, and a key to drop a timecode at the playhead. You listen, correct each line, mark where it belongs in time, and build the subtitle blocks.

Concrete scenario: an oral-history archive has digitized interviews, each with a verbatim transcription and [TC_..._TC] marks showing where each passage occurs. To caption an interview for the public site, an editor opens the transcription record, presses Subtitles, sets the pause key and the auto-rewind seconds to taste, plays the clip, corrects the wording line by line, sets characters per line to 42, and builds the subtitle blocks that become the video's VTT track.

When to use it

  • You are producing or correcting subtitles/captions from an existing timecoded transcription.
  • You want keyboard-driven playback control while you type each line.
  • Not for generating the raw transcription in the first place — use Transcription.
  • Not for shifting all timecodes at once — use Time codes.
  • Not for a printable transcript — use Print transcription.

Where to find it

The Subtitles button attaches inline to the transcription text component (the transcription field of an audiovisual record). It opens in its own window, wide enough for the two-pane editor and the player. As with any tool, you need to be authorized for it on your profile.

Using it, step by step

  1. Open the record and press Subtitles on the transcription component. The tool opens in a new window.
  2. The left pane shows the transcript as per-line editors (each line is its own small rich-text box; timecode lines appear as editable timecode blocks). The right pane shows the media player.
  3. Set your playback preferences: the play/pause key, the auto-rewind seconds (how far the player jumps back when you pause), and the insert-tag key (drops a timecode at the playhead). These are remembered for next time.
  4. Play the clip, pausing with your chosen key to correct each line in place. Use the play-speed slider to slow difficult passages.
  5. Set characters per line to the maximum length you want per subtitle.
  6. Press Build subtitles to segment the text into the per-line, timecoded blocks.
  7. Use the language selector in the header to work on another language's subtitles; the left pane reloads for that language.

Options

Option What it does
Play/pause key The keyboard key that pauses the player and rewinds it.
Auto-rewind seconds How many seconds the player jumps back when you pause.
Insert-tag key The keyboard key that inserts a timecode mark at the playhead.
Characters per line The maximum length of each subtitle line when building.
Language selector Which language's subtitles you are editing.

Tips and gotchas

Tune the rewind to your typing speed

A 3-second auto-rewind lets you catch the start of a phrase again without scrubbing. Adjust it and the play speed until you can keep your hands on the keyboard.

Revert from the header

If your profile allows it, a Time Machine button in the header lets you review and revert edits to the transcript. See Time machine.

Where the work is saved

The tool arranges existing components side by side — the transcription text, the player, and a subtitle store — and saves through them. There is no separate subtitle export step here; it produces the timecoded blocks that a published interview serves as VTT.