To add captions in Premiere Pro, transcribe the sequence with Speech to Text, then turn the transcript into a caption track. Open Window > Text, transcribe in the Transcript tab, choose Create captions from transcript, style the captions in the Properties panel, and pick burn-in or a sidecar file when you export. That's the whole workflow, and it's built in.
As of 19 October 2026, Adobe's help pages describe this for version 26.x, and they now call the desktop app Adobe Premiere. One addition is worth knowing: since version 26.3 (June 2026), Premiere can create single-word captions, one word on screen at a time, from the same dialog. The steps below use Adobe's current menu names.
Transcribe with Speech to Text
From Adobe's Speech to Text help page (updated 2 June 2026):
- Open your sequence and select Window > Text.
- In the Transcript tab, select the transcribe icon to open the transcription dialog.
- Set Language, and download the language pack if Premiere asks. English is included with the install; other languages are added from the Download icon in the Language menu.
- Choose Speaker labeling if more than one person talks.
- Under Audio analysis, transcribe clips tagged as Dialogue, or pick the specific audio track that holds the voice.
- Tick Transcribe In point to Out point only if you want just a range.
- Select Transcribe.
A shortcut for next time: turn on Automatic transcription in the Import settings when you bring media in, and the transcript is ready before you start cutting.
Adobe's supported languages list (page dated 22 August 2025) has 18 entries, counting English and English (UK) separately: Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese (European), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, and Cantonese.
Create captions and fix the transcript
- Switch to Window > Workspaces > Captions and Graphics.
- Choose Captions > Create captions from transcript, or use the same button in the Text panel's Captions tab.
- In the Create captions dialog, set the Caption preset (Subtitle default suits most videos), Format, Style, character length, minimum duration, the gap between captions, and Lines (one or two).
- For one word at a time, expand Captioning Preferences and set Layout to Single Word.
- Select Create captions. A caption track appears in the timeline, aligned to the dialogue.
The Format setting is the one people skip. Premiere's caption formats include Subtitle, CEA-608, CEA-708, Teletext, EBU and Australian OP-47. For social video and web players, Subtitle is the usual choice. The others are broadcast standards, so pick one only when a broadcaster or platform's delivery spec asks for it.
Then read the captions against the audio and correct them in the Text panel. Names, brand terms and numbers are where any transcription slips, so check those first. Then play the sequence once at normal speed with captions showing and watch for lines that flash by too quickly or break in an odd place; adjust the length and line settings and recreate the captions before you start correcting individual lines. Adobe's own tip is to caption when the edit is finished or close to it: if you delete caption segments later, you have to recreate them by hand.
Style, resize and reposition captions
Select a caption in the timeline and use the Properties panel:
- Fill for text color, Stroke for outer, inner or center outlines (several at once if you like), and Shadow.
- Align and Transform to move the captions. This is where you change the caption position, for example lifting them above a lower third or away from the buttons on a vertical video.
- Responsive Design - Position to keep captions placed correctly if the frame or another layer changes.
To reuse the look, select the plus icon in the Track style menu, choose Create style, and save it to the project or to Local styles. To push a change to every caption on the track, use Redefine style and choose All captions on track. For vertical video, check placement against the platform's buttons with our YouTube Shorts safe zone tool.
Translate captions or bring in an SRT
Premiere can add a second language track. In the Captions tab, select the Translate captions icon, choose the target language and select Translate. Adobe's translation help page (2 June 2026) says the text goes through a cloud service using Google Translate and Microsoft Translator, and the result lands on a new caption track. Use the eye icon on each track to choose which language shows in the Program Monitor, and have a fluent speaker read the translation before you publish.
If someone has already made a caption file, you don't need Speech to Text at all. Import the SRT into the project like any media, drag it into the sequence, and Premiere creates a caption track you can edit and style in the Text panel.
Burned-in captions vs a sidecar file on export
Open the Export workspace from the header bar. Adobe's caption export page (7 January 2026) lists the options:
| Export option | What viewers get | Formats | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burn-in | Text drawn into the picture, always visible | Any caption track | Short-form feeds watched with the sound off |
| Embed in the export file | Captions viewers can switch on | CEA-608, CEA-708, OP-47 | Broadcast and some player deliveries |
| Sidecar file | A separate caption file next to the video | SRT, SCC, MCC, XML, STL | YouTube, Vimeo and LinkedIn uploads |
| Text panel export | The caption text only | SRT, TXT, CSV | Handing captions to another tool |
You don't have to choose just one. A common setup is two exports from the same caption track: an MP4 with the captions burned in for Reels and Shorts, and an SRT next to a clean MP4 for YouTube, where viewers can switch captions on or off. An SRT holds one caption stream per file. For the plain file without rendering video, go to the Text panel's Captions tab, open the ellipsis menu, choose Export, then Export to SRT file. Our guides on burned-in vs closed captions and SRT vs VTT vs TXT help you pick.
Animated word-highlight captions: plugin, template or browser tool
Premiere's Single Word layout is included, but Adobe's pages describe no per-word color highlight. Besides keyframing it by hand, there are three ways to get one:
- Plugin: read what it does inside Premiere, not only in After Effects. Subtitle Pro on aescripts, listed at $49.99 on 19 October 2026, imports an SRT in Premiere Pro, but its page says the animation templates work only in After Effects for now.
- MOGRT template: a Motion Graphics template made for captions. Check that it works with Premiere's caption track before you buy.
- Browser tool: export the edit and caption it with a highlight style. CapsAI costs from $4 (₹49 in India, €4 in the euro area), paid once, and returns an MP4.
Steps live elsewhere: word-by-word captions, karaoke-style captions in Premiere Pro and the Hormozi-style look.
Auto captions not working: fixes
Most failures trace back to settings Adobe documents:
- No captions appear. There's no transcript yet. Adobe's steps always transcribe first, then create captions.
- Wrong words everywhere. The Language setting doesn't match the speech, or the pack isn't installed. Pick the right language and download its pack; Premiere can't transcribe a language missing from its list.
- Only part of the video has captions. Transcribe In point to Out point only was on, or In and Out points were set. Clear them and transcribe again.
- Music or a second mic got transcribed. Under Audio analysis, choose the dialogue track, or tag the voice clips as Dialogue in the Properties panel.
- The language guess is wrong. In Media Analysis & Transcription preferences, language auto-detection falls back to your default language when it can't tell. Set the default to the language you record in, or turn auto-detection off and pick the language yourself.
- Captions broke after a re-edit. Deleted caption segments don't come back on their own. Recreate them, or re-run captions on the finished cut.
If your speech is in a language Premiere doesn't list, such as Bengali, Tamil or Telugu, no setting will fix it. CapsAI transcribes English plus 10 Indian languages, including those three, and returns a burned-in MP4. It can't send captions back into Premiere: there is no SRT export and no Premiere plugin.
What to do next
If you finish motion graphics in After Effects, our guide to auto captions in After Effects picks up from the Premiere transcript.
Captions for accessibility or a platform that takes files: stay in Premiere, transcribe, create captions and export an SRT. A one-word-at-a-time look: try Premiere's Single Word layout first. A styled, animated social version of a finished edit: export it (up to 10 minutes; 3 free minutes to start, files up to 500 MB, or 10 GB with a pack) and run it through the animated caption generator, where 8 of the 37 styles are free and the rest come with any paid pack.
