Add captions

Tention transcribes your in-app recording and builds a timed caption track from it. Captions appear on the video you see in your library and, when you turn the switch on, they are burned into the video that goes to your social channels.

Before you start

• You need a filmed take. Captions come from the audio of your recording. A take that is still uploading has no transcript yet.
• Web users who upload a finished video from outside the app do not get captions. Captions only work on takes recorded inside the mobile app.
• Captions take a few seconds to a minute to appear after a recording is uploaded. If you open the take straight away, you may see "Preparing captions..." while the transcript is being generated.

View captions on the web

1. Open your library and tap a filmed take to open the detail panel.
2. Press play on the video. If a caption track exists, words appear on the video synced to what you are saying.
3. To turn captions on for publishing, find the Captions row below the video and flip the switch to on. The label changes to "Burned into the published video."
4. To turn captions off, flip the switch back. The label changes to "Off. The video posts without captions."

Edit caption words on the web

1. Open a filmed take in the library panel.

2. Below the video, find the Captions row and tap Edit captions.

3. The caption editor opens. A word chip appears for each transcribed word.
4. Tap a chip to edit that word inline. Type the correction, then press Enter or click away to commit.
5. Corrected chips show a green dot. Tap them again to re-edit.

6. When you are happy with the words, tap Save. Changes apply to this take only and take effect instantly without a re-render.

Edit caption style for one take on the web

1. Open Edit captions from the filmed take detail (see above).

2. On the right side of the editor, adjust the style controls:

   • Position - Top, Middle, or Bottom. Drag the caption block on the preview to place it exactly.
   • Typeface - System, Grotesk, Editorial, or Technical.
   • Size - a slider from Small to Large.
   • Caption colour - White, Ink, Moss, or a custom hex.
   • Highlight word - colours the word being spoken. Toggle on or off and pick a colour.
   • Words per caption - 1 word at a time (karaoke) up to 5 words visible at once.
   • Box fill - Dark, Light, or None, with an opacity slider.
3. The preview updates live as you change controls.

4. Tap Save. A prompt asks if you want to make this style your default for future takes. Choose Make default or Not now.

Set the default caption style on the web

1. Go to Settings (top right) and open the Captions tab.

2. The same style controls appear alongside a live 9:16 preview.
3. Adjust the controls. The preview updates as you go.

4. Tap Save default. New takes you record from this point on will start with this style. Existing takes keep their current style unless you edit them individually.

Mobile: view and edit captions

1. In your library, tap a filmed take to open the detail sheet.
2. The video preview shows captions synced to playback if a track exists.
3. Use the Captions and Auto-edit toggles to turn burning on or off.

4. To edit words or style, tap the overflow menu (three dots) on the take and choose Edit captions.

5. To set the default caption style, go to Settings and look for Auto-caption defaults.

You'll know it worked when

• The web Captions switch shows "Burned into the published video" and the video preview shows words at the position and colour you chose.
• After saving a word correction, the word chip no longer shows a green dot and the corrected word plays on the video.
• After saving a new default style, the Settings - Captions tab shows your chosen font, colour, and position.