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How to add text in Premiere Pro

Press T for the Type tool, click in the Program Monitor, and type. Premiere creates a graphic clip on the track above your video. Style it in Window > Properties. That covers titles and lower thirds; for spoken dialogue, use captions instead.

Adding a title

1. Park the playhead where the text should start.
2. Select the Type tool (T) and click in the Program Monitor.
3. Type, then press Escape. Drag the clip's edges on the timeline to set how long it stays.

Styling

With the graphic selected, Properties shows font, size, fill, stroke, shadow and background options. Align to the frame with the alignment buttons at the top so text sits centered or on the safe margins.

Animating

Open the Effect Controls panel, toggle the stopwatch on Position, Scale or Opacity, and set keyframes. For a quick fade, right-click the clip and Apply Default Transitions.

When to use captions instead

If the text is what someone is saying, don't type it as titles. Transcribe the sequence and create captions; it's automatic and stays in sync with the audio. Titles are for names, headings and words that aren't spoken.

Text that follows the speech word by word

Use the native Single Word caption layout for one word at a time. For moving highlights and graphic animations, compare manual graphics with a caption plugin.