What captions and titles do when you export

Captions and titles are burned into an exported video. They become part of the picture, so a viewer cannot turn them off, and whatever the file shows is what every platform shows. A few switches decide what gets drawn, and they are worth knowing before you render.

The export reads the same eye icons, switches and track rows you use while editing. Whatever you hide on the timeline stays out of the file, and whatever you leave visible is drawn.

Captions

• Show subtitles is a switch in Subtitles, under Options. The Options tab appears once the project has captions, and the switch is on by default. With it off, no captions are drawn into the export. The cues stay in the project, so you can switch it back on afterward.
• Each caption track, such as a second language, has an eye in the gutter at the left of the timeline. Its tooltip reads Hide track. A hidden track stays on the timeline, shown grayed, and is left out of the export.
• A caption cue with no text is skipped.
• Captions use the style and font chosen in the Subtitles tab, drawn at the export's own frame size.

Titles, shapes and stickers

• Anything marked hidden is left out. The eye in the gutter beside a row of titles hides the whole row, and the menu on a single title bar has Hide for one item.
• A title with empty text draws nothing. Shapes and stickers always draw.
• A title, shape or sticker that runs past the last clip lengthens the export, and the extra time plays over black.
• An animated title keeps its animation in the file.

Fades

The Fade out slider in Details, under Video, covers titles and captions as well as the picture. The last moments of a faded export show a dimmed caption along with a dimmed frame. Check that your closing line is readable before the fade begins.

Check the export before you render

1. Open Subtitles, then Options, and confirm the state of Show subtitles.
2. Scan the eyes in the timeline gutter. A crossed-out eye marks a hidden track, and a faded one means some items on that track are hidden. Hidden items do not render.
3. Move the playhead to the end of the cut and look for titles that run past it.
4. Look for title bars that hold no text, and fill them in or delete them.
5. Export, then open the result in Preview as a post and play it in Original to confirm what was drawn.

Make a version without captions

To export a clean picture, switch Show subtitles off, render, and switch it back on. The Subtitles tab keeps your cues the whole time. To leave a single language out, hide that caption track and keep the rest on.

One last look

Play the whole timeline once before each export. Open DepCut, run through the checklist above and render when every title is where you want it.