Make caption track height adjustable

[dgs1138]

There is a bar below the caption track that separates it from the video track. Please make it possible to pull this bar downwards to reveal more of the caption track, in the same way that the bar separating the video and audio tracks can be moved up and down.

Currently, you can increase the caption track height by Option or Alt + mouse scroll. However, increasing the caption height this way only causes the upper portion of the track and its tools to disappear because the bar beneath the caption track is fixed. This makes no sense. This issue could also be deemed a bug, but I am putting it in as a feature request. 

[Stan Jones]

I agree that there should be an option to have more space for the Caption Tracks area. But based on discussion during the Beta phase, this was intentional, due to the greater importance of the A/V tracks.

There is very little information in the Reference Guide on the options, so here is my review.

Caption Tracks Area.
The Caption Tracks area is limited to 25% of the Timeline space. It cannot be resized via dragging the track header line, like you can with A/V tracks.

When adding Caption tracks, they will take additional space until they reach the 25% limit. At that point, they provide scroll bars on the right. Note: the scroll bars may disappear under some circumstances. Hiding and then showing all caption tracks is one option for showing them.

Maximizing the Timeline panel maximizes the actual amount of space available to the Caption Tracks area.

According to a staff post, the goal of this space limitation was to not hinder A/V tracks.

Hiding/Showing Tracks.
In the Timeline header area, click on the CC icon to select 1) Hide all caption tracks, 2) Show all caption tracks, or 3) Show active caption track only. Hiding all caption tracks hides the entire caption track section. This also occurs if all caption tracks are disabled (eyeball off), and you then select to show only the active track. If you show only the active track (with a track enabled), and then disable that track, it stays on the screen. There are also keyboard shortcuts for these 3 options. Ctrl+Y was assigned to Show All caption tracks, but was then unassigned.

Track Heights.
The height of an individual caption track can be adjusted by placing the cursor over that track IN THE track header area, and Alt+Scroll (forward to increase height and back to decrease). Increasing track height increases font size in the caption segment thumbnail. Zooming in to the timeline increases the number of characters visible. Alt-Scroll affects the track under the cursor when scrolled (not when Alt is pressed).

The height of all caption tracks can be adjusted by placing the cursor over any caption track, and Shift+Scroll. If the track heights are uneven when you start increasing size using Shift+Scroll, they stay uneven. If uneven and reducing, they eventually get to the minimum. Shift-Scroll affects all tracks even though hovering over any one.

The size of the Caption Track area may not adjust when adjusting track height, and the scroll bars may not appear immediately or may disappear. Selecting Hide all caption tracks and then Show all usually corrects this. Assigning Keyboard shortcuts for these actions is useful for just this reason.

Note: There are a number of unassigned Keyboard customizations in the Source Monitor area regarding enabling and showing up to 10 caption streams. These appear to do nothing in the current workflow. I wonder if they are left over from the previous workflow.

Stan

[dgs1138]

Hi Stan,

Thank you for those details.

With regards to the decision to prioritize space for the A/V tracks, I would just like to say, I think the user ought to be able to  decide how to apportion their timeline space. It's easy enough (for the user) to do so. 

You mentioned about adding caption tracks and that led me to discover a sort of hack. If you want to make the caption track more accessible as opposed to it being stuck awkwardly at the top of the timeline and hard to use, you can add several caption tracks even if you only need one or two. This increases the caption track height just enough to make it a little easier to use. 

[Stan Jones]

Update on the easiest method to expand the caption track area without adding more tracks.

Go to Edit -> Keyboard shortcuts. In the search box type "caption track." Assign Shft+N to "Show active caption track only." Click okay.

Hover over the track header area for the caption track. Use alt+scroll to increase the size of the caption track. It will resize up and out of view.

Click Shft+N. The caption track area will enlarge to show the full enlarged track.

Stan

[Christian.Z]

Please submit a Bug report / Feature request at the Adobe User Voice: https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/

[Stan Jones]

Christian,

UserVoice was discontinued and bugs are now reported in a subforum here.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro/ct-p/ct-premiere-pro?page=1&sort=latest_replies&filter=a...

Also, I think this is properly classed as a feature request (Idea), since the main limitation is how much of the timeline space can be used by caption tracks, and staff have indicated that the 25% is by design.

Stan

[edit58989569]

I'm tired of not being able to see the captions track fully. Whatever the setup is now it doesn't work properly 

Sometimes I can see the caption track but more often than not I see this: