Add Dynamic Captions
Learn how to automatically transcribe audio into customizable, onscreen caption text in Camtasia Editor.
Caption Types
In Camtasia Editor, you can create and publish two common video caption types:
Closed Captions
- Viewers can turn captions on or off in the video player controls.
- Help meet video accessibility guidelines.
Dynamic Captions
- Always display onscreen as part of the video.
- Stylistic captions often used in social media videos or as a visual effect to enhance the video content or message.
Note: This tutorial covers how to add dynamic captions to your video. To learn how to add closed captions, see Add Closed Captions to a Video.
1. Generate Dynamic Captions
To generate dynamic captions based on the audio on the timeline:
- In Camtasia Editor, select Captions tab > Dynamic Captions subtab.
- From the Dynamic Caption Styles, drag a style onto a track above the audio clip on the timeline.
- In the message dialog, click the Enable button to allow AI audio transcription.
- If media on the tracks below contain voice-overs, Camtasia Editor transcribes the audio and generates dynamic captions.
To change the duration the captions appear in the video or to generate captions for other media on the timeline, drag the end of the dynamic caption on the timeline.
- Complete the following to position the dynamic captions on the canvas:
- To move the captions, click and drag the dynamic captions to the desired location.
- To change size of the caption box, click and drag a white handle in or out.
Note: You must enable AI audio transcription to generate dynamic captions. If you click the Disable button, you can access this setting again by selecting Edit > Preferences > Program tab (Windows) or Camtasia menu > Settings > General tab (Mac) and enable the Enable AI audio transcription option.
2. Edit Dynamic Caption Text
To review and edit individual words in the auto-generated dynamic captions:
- Click to select the media on the timeline. If the media contains a voice-over, the dynamic caption text appears in the Dynamic Caption Transcription area on the Dynamic Captions subtab.
- Complete any of the following edits:
- Edit a Word: Click the text box and edit the selected word.
- Add a Word: In Camtasia Editor version 2025.0 or later, hover your cursor over the desired location on the purple transcript bar. A plus icon appears. Click to add a new word.
In the Caption Transcription area, click the yellow text box and type the desired text.
- Delete a Word: Click to select the word on the transcript bar and press the Delete key.
- Convert to Gap: If you want to keep the transcript, but not display a word in the onscreen caption text in the video, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) a word on the transcript bar and select Convert to Gap.
Note: If you delete the Dynamic Caption Style on the timeline, Camtasia Editor saves the edits to the caption transcription with the audio media on the timeline. If you drag another Dynamic Caption Style onto the timeline, Camtasia Editor retains your previous caption transcription edits.
3. Edit the Word Transcription Timing
Complete the following to adjust when a word appears on the screen in Camtasia Editor version 2024.1.0 or later:
- Click to select the audio media on the timeline.
- Drag the Timeline Zoom slider to the right until you see the individual words in the purple transcript bar.
Note: If you do not see words in the purple transcript bar, in the Timeline Tray dropdown, select Transcript or press Ctrl+T or click the purple transcript bar for the media on the timeline.
- To change when the word appears and highlights on the screen, drag the word along the transcript bar on the media.
Note: If you see a transcript gap indicator 
, you cannot drag the previous word beyond this point. Camtasia Editor automatically inserts these transcript gaps to separate the previous word from the next word in your captions.
4. Customize the Dynamic Caption Style
To customize the look and style of the dynamic captions:
- Click to select the dynamic caption on the timeline.
- Click the Properties button to open the Properties panel.
- Customize the properties on Text Properties tab.
- As you edit the properties, the canvas shows a preview of the changes in the video. You can click the
Reset button to restore any property to the original setting.
Tip: Save your custom style as a preset.
Click the + icon to save the custom properties as a new Dynamic Caption Style to reuse across your videos.
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