Size, align and place a title exactly where you want it

Three controls decide where a title sits and how it reads: Size, Align and the position fields in Transform. Each has a detail that is easy to miss, and this post walks through all three.

Set the size

1. Select the title and open the Size tab.
2. Drag the slider, or use the number beside it. Dragging the number sideways scrubs the value, holding Shift steps it faster, and clicking it lets you type an exact size.
3. The range runs from 24 to 240.

You can also resize in the preview. A selected title shows a round handle at its bottom-right corner. Drag it away from the title's center to grow the text and toward the center to shrink it.

Break and align the lines

A title does not wrap by itself. Lines break only where you press Enter in the Text tab. For a headline that must fit a vertical frame, break it into short lines and then adjust Size until the longest line sits comfortably inside the picture.

Open the Align tab and choose left, center or right. This sets how the lines sit inside the title's block. On a single line it changes nothing you can see. On a multi-line title it decides whether short lines hug the left edge, the right edge or the middle.

The block itself stays centered on the title's position. If you want a left-aligned paragraph to start at the left margin, change Align first and then move the title by its position.

Place it with numbers

1. Open the Transform tab.
2. Find the Position row. X and Y are percentages of the frame, between 2 and 98.
3. Click a number, type a value and press Enter. Drag a number sideways to nudge it.

Because positions are percentages of the frame, a title keeps the same relative spot if you switch the project's aspect ratio in the Aspect ratio tab. Check it after switching, because the size of the text and the shape of the frame still change how it looks.

Typed values help when you want several titles in exactly the same place, such as a name tag that appears three times.

Place it by dragging

Drag the title in the preview and guide lines appear as you pass useful places. The title snaps to the frame's edges, its center lines, a margin line inside each edge and the edges or centers of other elements on screen, including captions. Release on a red guide line to keep the alignment.

Hold Cmd on a Mac or Ctrl on Windows while dragging to turn the snapping off for a free placement.

A round handle above a selected title rotates it. When you drag it near a quarter turn it settles on the exact angle, and you can also set the angle in Transform under Rotation.

Step through the title's span and look at all four edges. On a short vertical video, text near a corner may collide with the buttons a platform draws over the picture, so leave room inside the margin guide.

Fix one title at a time

Choose the title in your project that looks least certain, then set its size, alignment and position on purpose. Open DepCut and compare it with the first version.