Style single words in a title with the Words tab

Most titles hold one word that carries the point. The Words tab in the right panel styles that word on its own while the rest of the title keeps its look. Every word of the title shows as a chip, so you pick words from a short row.

Pick the words

1. Click the title's purple bar on the timeline, or click the title in the preview.
2. In the right panel, open the Words tab.
3. Click a word chip to pick it. To pick a run of words, click the first chip and Shift-click the last. The chips between them join the selection.

A chip shows a small colored dot once its word has a color or a box. A title with no text yet asks you to type some first.

What you can change

Each picked word takes any mix of these controls.

• Style: Bold, Italic and Underline buttons.
• Color: a swatch row plus a custom color picker. The reset arrow beside it returns the word to the title's color.
• Box: a colored box drawn behind the word, like a marker stroke. Its reset arrow removes the box.

Clear all word styles sits at the bottom of the tab and removes every word style from the title in one click.

Make one word land

A new title starts bold unless the last title you styled was regular. When every word is bold, a bold word has nothing to stand out against. Set the stage first:

1. Open the Font tab and switch Bold off for the whole title.
2. Return to Words and pick the word that matters.
3. Switch Bold on and give the word a Color.

The line now reads at a calm weight and one word hits harder. The same idea works with a Box. Pick a price or a number, choose a yellow box, then set the word's Color to the dark swatch so the digits read clearly on the yellow.

Edit the words later

The styles belong to the words. If you fix a typo or reword the line in the Text tab, the styled words keep their styling, so you do not redo the work after a copy edit. Double-clicking the title in the preview also opens it for retyping, and Esc closes it again.

Use it with restraint

One styled word per title carries the most weight. Two works when they sit in different parts of the sentence. Past that, the eye has no single place to land.

• Pick a word color that exists elsewhere in the shot, such as a jacket or a logo, so the accent feels like part of the picture.
• Keep strong contrast between a word's color and its box. A light word on a light box disappears.
• Save heavy styling for the word that matches what the narrator stresses. The viewer hears the emphasis and sees it at the same moment.

Underline suits a term you are defining or a name that appears for the first time. Italic suits a quoted phrase inside a longer line.

Try it on the next title

Add a title with T, type a short sentence, and style the one word that matters in Words. Open DepCut and play it once to see whether your eye lands on that word first.