Transcript and Captions

The Transcript panel turns transcribed speech into an editing surface: deleting words cuts their time range from the selected track. Captions use an active caption track to display and export timed text.

Edit with the Transcript

1. Open Transcript in the media panel. If it is hidden, use Workspace → Transcript.
2. Choose Paragraph view for continuous reading or Clip view for one block per Timeline cut.
3. Select unwanted words and press Backspace or Delete. ChatCut splits at the word boundaries, removes that range, and closes the gap on the edited track.
4. Click a word to move the Viewer and Timeline to its start.
5. Use the selection menu for Delete selection, Edit text, or Change speaker.

Clip view also lets you drag a paragraph to reorder its corresponding clip. Gap controls can close empty space. The Pauses control applies one pause length across the selected transcript track; it can restore existing source pause time but cannot invent silence not present in the recording.

Choose a track and manage speakers

When several transcript-capable tracks exist, use the V1/V2 or A1/A2 selector to choose the source. If no caption source is set—or the saved source track no longer exists—ChatCut falls back to the first track containing a video or audio item. Video tracks are checked before audio tracks. Select the intended track explicitly when several speech tracks are present.

Double-click a speaker label to rename it, or open its menu to reassign selected words or merge a speaker.

Turn on and export captions

Use the split Captions control in the playback controls:

1. Select the left side to show or hide captions.
2. Select the chevron to open the Caption style menu.
3. Choose a built-in style such as Plain, Netflix, or TikTok Pop.
4. After adjusting the current caption look, use Save current style… to name it. Reusable styles appear under Saved styles, where they can be applied, renamed, or deleted.

Hover or focus a built-in or saved style to preview it before applying. When the project already has captions, the preview uses the current cue and its neighbor, including the active language and bilingual context. In an empty project, ChatCut uses a localized sample instead. Agent style-choice cards use the same previews and do not modify the project until you submit a choice.

Caption availability follows the active source and transcription state. To export timed text, open Export → Subtitles and choose SubRip (.srt) or plain text (.txt); export stays unavailable until the active caption track finishes transcribing.

Edit caption cards and individual words

With a caption track active, use its Content panel to search and replace text or split and merge caption cards. These Content editing controls are available on Web and in Desktop 0.2.25 or later.

Select words inside a caption card to apply a local color, background, font size, emphasis, stroke, or shadow without changing the rest of the caption.

Desktop 0.2.28 or later also has a direct delete action for an individual caption card. It hides that timed caption from the caption program without deleting the source video or audio.

Translate captions

1. Turn captions on and open the right side of the split Captions control.
2. Select Translate captions, then choose the target language. The same command is also available from a track header’s Captions menu when that control is visible.
3. Wait for translation to finish. The result appears as a Translation (language) caption source that you can show, style, and export separately from the original-language captions.

Translation needs an existing caption program. If the command is unavailable, first choose the correct source track and wait for its transcription to finish.

See Export Video, Audio, and Subtitles and Selection Mode.