Captions from speech and Cut pauses
How to transcribe speech in a manual project into word-by-word captions — in the cloud or free on iPhone, iPad and Mac — and cut pauses for free.
On this page
In an Edit it myself project speech isn't transcribed when the project is created, so at first there are no captions. Two tools help you get such a reel in shape:
- Captions from speech — AI transcribes speech in the sources you pick, and word-by-word captions appear on the clips by themselves. In the cloud — at cost; in the app — free, on the device itself.
- Cut pauses — removes silences longer than a threshold. Free, no AI.
In a project with the AI director, speech is transcribed during the montage. There these tools only appear when there is something to transcribe — for example, a file added in the editor — or on a clip without speech.
The demo will appear here
Step 1 of 6
- In the main set of a manual project press “Text” — the sheet starts with “Captions from speech” and the price per minute
- Press “Captions from speech” — sources with sound are checked, the language is “Detect”, the “Transcribe” button shows the price
- Press “Transcribe” — a minute later “Captions are ready”: phrases on the captions track and in the preview
- Press “Cut pauses” in the main set — a sheet with the threshold and “The reel gets … shorter”
- Pick “1 s” — the estimate updates
- Press “Cut pauses” — “Pauses cut”, the clips on the strip are split and close up
Captions from speech
Where to find it
- Text → Captions from speech. Under the row — the price of a minute of transcription.
- Transcribe in the main tool set of a manual project.
- Transcribe in the tools of a selected clip — the sheet opens with just that clip's source.
- Text → Edit caption, if the reel has no phrases yet, opens Captions from speech right away.
The buttons are there while the project still has sources with sound whose speech hasn't been transcribed.
How to transcribe
Pick the sources
In the Captions from speech sheet, the Sources list shows videos and voice-overs with sound whose speech hasn't been transcribed; music isn't listed. All of them are checked by default. Uncheck the ones without speech: you pay for the whole length of the checked sources, not only the part that made it into the reel.
Set the language
Speech language — Detect, and Slicer figures out the language itself. If you know the language, pick it from the list: transcription is more reliable that way.
Choose where to transcribe
In the app for iPhone, iPad and Mac there's a Where AI runs row: On device for free or In the cloud for a price. More in On device or in the cloud. On the web, the cloud transcribes.
Start
In the cloud the “Transcribe” button shows the price of what you picked; on the device it reads Transcribe · free. The cloud transcribes in the background: Transcribing — usually under a minute. You can keep editing meanwhile. When it's done, you'll see Captions are ready.
On device or in the cloud
In the app for iPhone, iPad and Mac speech can be transcribed right on the device — for free. You choose in the sheet, in the Where AI runs row:
- On device · free — Apple's speech model on your phone, tablet or Mac does the work;
- In the cloud · price — an AI service does it, at cost, just like on the web.
The captions come out the same: words with exact timing on the clips. The preselected option comes from Profile → Where AI runs (Language, theme and where AI runs), and you can change it in the sheet.
On the device:
- Set the language. Detect is only available in the cloud; on the device the project or interface language is preselected. The device handles Russian, English and other widely used languages; if a language isn't supported, you'll see This language can’t be recognized on the device — pick another language or the cloud.
- Only videos from this device. If the sources were uploaded from another phone or from the web — The videos were uploaded from another device — only the cloud is available here.
- Progress shows above the preview. The first time, the system may download the language model — Downloading the language model, then Recognizing speech on the device with a percentage and Sending the result.
- Keep the app open: This device is recognizing speech — keep the app open. Captions will appear on the clips by themselves. You can close the sheet and the editor.
- If it fails — Couldn’t do it on the device, and the sheet opens again: try again or pick the cloud. If iOS asks for speech recognition access and you don't allow it — No access to speech recognition — allow it in Settings.
- On the web the device option is disabled and labeled In the app.
What changes in the reel
- The video doesn't change. Clips stay where they were, and their edges still move by time.
- Captions appear — on clips where speech is heard, and as phrases on the Captions track. If captions were turned off in the style, Slicer turns them on.
- Everything captions can do works with the words: fix the text, accent, cut words, emoji on a word, translation (Captions, Caption translation).
- Elements stay in place — titles, plaques, emoji and zooms don't move.
Each source is transcribed once: after that it's no longer in the list, even if no speech was found. When all of them are done, the sheet says Speech in every source with sound is already transcribed.
Price
On the device transcription is free: nothing is reserved or charged.
In the cloud transcription is charged at cost — per minute of audio of the checked sources. The price is on the button before you start, and the sheet explains: Costs exactly what the AI service charges, no markup. The actual price is charged — never more than shown.
- While transcription runs, the price is reserved on your balance, rounded up to a whole token — so you need at least one free token.
- If it fails, you'll see Transcription failed and the tokens come back.
- The project history keeps a Captions from speech entry; one done on the device is marked on the device.
How pricing at cost works — Tokens, packs and the free reel.
Cut pauses
Slicer finds pauses by the silence in the audio while it prepares the files — no AI is needed, so the tool is free.
Where to find it
- Cut pauses in the main tool set of a manual project — pauses in the whole reel.
- Cut pauses in the tools of a selected clip — you can cut pauses in that clip only. The button is there on clips whose edges move by time: in a manual project that's every video. Clips the AI built from words have no pauses left.
How to cut them
Pick the threshold
Pauses longer than — 0.3 s, 0.5 s (the default) or 1 s. The smaller the threshold, the tighter the reel.
Pick where
If the sheet was opened from a selected clip, choose This clip or Whole reel.
Check and apply
The sheet works out the result in advance: The reel gets 4.5 s shorter. If there's nothing to cut — No pauses longer than 1 s. Press Cut pauses — you'll see Pauses cut: −4.5 s.
Free. Undo brings them back. All pauses come back in a single undo step.
How clips are cut
- Silence is removed with a small margin at the edges so speech isn't clipped.
- A clip is split into parts, and each part is a separate clip with the same settings: speed, volume, color, effect.
- The transition, the entrance animation and keyframes stay with the first part, the exit animation with the last.
- Elements tied to time move to the part that holds their point, or to the nearest one (Time anchoring).
- Freeze frames and reversed clips aren't cut.
Good to know
- Cloud transcription carries on even if you close the editor or the app: the captions will be there when you come back. On the device, keep the app open.
- Don't need captions on a particular phrase — Hide captions in its tools (Captions).
- It's handy to cut pauses right after creating the project: then all that's left is to trim edges and reorder clips.