How to import Caption txt file in Premiere Pro 2022

Report · Oct 28, 2021

Hi there,

I have a problem with a txt file that I exported from Premiere 2022 and then I translated it. Premiere did the transcript from the video, then Premiere did the captions for me. I then exported it in txt to translate it, but I cannot import it back, and it cannot be recognized as captions. I've tried different online sites to convert it, but all of them give errors. I even tried Youtube.

After comparing the txt file with a good srt file, I see a lot of differences. The time is rendered different, the txt doesn't have numbers, and the txt has no arrows. Is there any way to fix this? or to make Premiere recognize this and convert it into captions?

I've spent hours translating that txt file, only to realize it doesn't work. It's soo frustrating.

Can anyone please help me?

Report · Oct 29, 2021

See my post here and if you're on Mac @Andreas Kiel's post right after:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro-discussions/bulk-subtitle-import-new-2021-15-text-workfl...

Stan

Report · Oct 29, 2021

Hi Stan,

Thank you for your reply. The problem is that my txt file has already timing... So the program adds another timer on top which doesn't match the time it was before...

Any other solution?

Report · Oct 29, 2021

Yes, I see. The better method would have been to export the captions as .srt, then the timecode formatting would have been okay.

But you can fix this. Your "edited" version, like the export, has 3 problems to be in the srt format. 1) There is no subtitle number (the 1, 2, 3, 4 above). 2) There is only a dash, not a double dash plus arrow. 3) The timecode has frames, not milliseconds.

The fix is in two parts.

First, fix the dash. In a text program (not word processing; invisible characters will be a problem), replace the "dash" with "dash dash arrow." "Save as" .txt.

Then open that txt file in the free Subtitle Edit (other captioning programs may work) which, on importing the txt file as if it is an srt, adds the caption number and reformats as milliseconds.

Then "save as" srt and import that to PR.

I did test whether the "dash replaced by arrow" file could be imported to PR directly. A .txt file cannot be imported as captions. The "Import captions from file" dialogue says .txt files are allowed, but does not show them. And if you change the extension to .srt, PR says there's a header error.

Let us know if this does not work and we'll troubleshoot.

Stan

Report · Oct 31, 2021

Yess!!!! Wow,

Thank you very much. It saved me hours of work. The timing is shifted a tiny bit, but that's easier to fix in Premiere than in the text editor...

I'm really thankful and happy...

Great help...

Report · Oct 31, 2021

Excellent; glad to help!

Report · Mar 21, 2022

I can second that importing text files are not made easy inside PPro.

Sometimes, I get send over a Word document with all the transcribed captions. Even if I strip out all the original language lines and just keep the destination subtitle lines (in my case Dutch > English), there is no easy way to import this into PPro. Very frustrating.

PPro does not know how to handle Word, Word XML or even plain TXT files.

Instead of having to copy/paste over each individual line, I just wish there was a way to import said lines, to use as a starting point for creating your subtitle track.

Report · Mar 21, 2022

I don't think you can blame premiere... bwdik. caption/subtitle formats are complicated beasts. There are a few apps and websites that will convert from and to many formats and make this process much easier. The best I've found is SubtitleEdit which I think has a webbased version and a freestanding windows app which is what I've been using. Stan Jones is the expert on this board with all things caption/subtitle related. Hopefully he can put in his two cents. Post back with any further questions. Stan in particular was an enormous help to me while trying to figure out the workflow on a project that I hoped would be done about 6 months ago... no such luck.

Report · Mar 22, 2022

Hi,

Have you even tried importing a plain text file into PPro? It simply doesn't work! You get a generic importer error. What is the purpose of the "Import Captions from File" option if it only handles properly encoded SRT files? Shouldn't it be called "Import Captions from SRT"?

Report · Mar 21, 2022

This is a variation on the method I described earlier in this thread.

To support what you are saying, when I last tested, a .txt file could not be imported as captions. The "Import captions from file" dialogue says .txt files are allowed, but does not show them. And if you change the extension to .srt, PR says there's a header error. Hopefully, such a feature will be added.

This is a method for creating a .srt file for import from a text file.

When you start with a Word document, be sure to "save as" a text document (.txt). Word is known for introducing invisible characters that will mess up your captions.

Edit the text file so you have just the caption text. If the captions are already in the form you want (e.g. one line per caption), it will save you time later, but it is not important to the main method.

I will describe using a free third party app, Subtitle Edit.

Open Subtitle Edit (other captioning programs may work), and Import -> Plain Text.... You get a dialog which allows setting many options. For example, you can make each line a caption, you can remove empty lines, etc. Set it to generate timcodes. You can set the duration or allow Subtitle Edit to set them automatically.

Then "save as" srt and import that to PR.

An alternative is to bring the video into Subtitle Edit and adjust timecodes, etc there before bringing into PR.

Stan

Report · Mar 22, 2022

Thanks. But once you start advising using third party subtitling solutions as a way to import plain text as a starting point for doing captions inside PPro, it kind of reminds me of putting a horse behind the carriage.

Report · Mar 22, 2022

From the point of view of someone who's been doing this a ridiculously long time, working in avid, fcp 1-7, and davinci resolve, this is the way it's always been. You've always needed 3rd party apps to wrangle this stuff. The caption/subtitling capabilities of Premiere have been substantially upgraded in the past year or 2... for which I'm thankful, but I still rely on subtitle edit to convert and check on things... I have been accused of being an adobe apologist here so take this fwiw...

Report · Jul 04, 2022

If I understand your post, you are saying that it is possible to import a ".txt" file into Subtitle Edit (SE) (and I am assuming SE has the video for which the .txt is the "transcription") and THEN have SE generate the timecodes that match the .txt file to the dialog in the video. THEN, one would be able generate the .srt file that could be inported into Premiere Pro.

This would be wonderful, if true, but I do not see the steps that need to be taken to accomplish this. Could you be more specific, please?

Report · Jul 04, 2022

John, have you tried what you're asking for in subtitle edit?... Pretty sure it can work. The author of subtitleedit was very helpful when I had a complex issue, so you should reach out to him with any specific questions, but pretty sure you can load your video in and your txt file and then "spot" your subtitles to the correct timecode (spot was what they called it in the horrible old film days - trust me, it was a nightmare) and then output the appropriately formatted srt file...

Report · Jul 04, 2022

Thanks for the reply. But, what steps (1., 2., 3. etc) do I need to take to "spot" the timing? I came across Subtitle Edit (SE) because of Stan's post and so know very little about it.

Report · Jul 04, 2022

sorry John, but I'm in way over my head authoring a dvd in Scenarist which makes Subtitle Edit look like a walk in the park. Try and figure it out... if you have problems, send the guy who wrote the program an email and see if he'll help or at least point you in the right direction. Post back in a few days if you get stuck and if I've made enough headway on the dvd project (not to mention the 2 other jobs I'm working on) I'll try and help...

Report · Jul 04, 2022

will try

Report · Jul 04, 2022

I am talking about the File -> Import -> Plain Text ... function in Subtitle Edit. It does not look at a Video for that function. You can "Generate timecodes" and you can "Take time from current file." Or you can later Synchronization -> "Point sync via other subtitle..." and import srt to use for times.

The "Generate timecodes" gives you options to specify the milliseconds per gap, to set a fixed duration for each subtitle, or to set an auto duration.

I suspect the auto duration looks at number of words for each subtitle and uses that to set a duration. But I do not know.

I have not tried it, but you could use the PR speech to text, create captions, then use those timecodes to set initial timings in Subtitle edit. (Import -> Timecodes)

In the end, you have to manually adjust the timecodes. In Subtitle Edit, you can add your video and use sophisticated tools to make large adjustments and more final ones.

Stan

Report · May 13, 2024

I also had an issue when trying to export the captions to txt and then couldn't import them back in the same format because it only accepts srt. This Python script might help you.
https://github.com/root-dm/premiere-captions-to-srt-converter