Hello Amara users,

The next time you open up the subtitle editor, you may notice the new “Beta Editor” button. You can use this button to test drive some new beta features for the subtitle editor on your regular subtitling work. We hope these additions will make your subtitling sessions more productive and fun! These features came about after we asked users for feedback on our current editor, and used that to build improvements into this beta version. We’ll incorporate all the new beta features into the editor soon.

Until then, you can switch to the beta editor for any of your subtitling work by clicking the “Beta Editor” button in the upper right of the editor screen, and switch back using the “Default Editor” button in the same spot.

Important: Please be sure to save your work each time before switching.

Help us continue to improve our editor features by emailing us at support@amara.org or sharing your thoughts on the Amara Forum

Let’s take a look at some of our new Beta Editor features!

Switch up your workflow

The workflow steps in the upper right of the editor are now text links, which you can use to switch between typing, syncing, or reviewing your subtitles.

Colorful warning for character and line limits

If a subtitle does not comply with the line and character limits listed in the info tray, the subtitle handles are highlighted in orange in the timeline. This warning can help you catch mistakes while you are syncing your subtitles.

Subtitles in the video player

The video player always shows synced subtitles at the current time in the video.

If you click an unsynced subtitle to start an edit, you will see the subtitle show up on the video player while you are editing. This gives you an extra point of reference within the context of the video.

Syncing improvements

The beta editor has larger subtitle endpoint “handles” that can be selected one at a time or together. With these handles, you can move two adjacent subtitle endpoints at the same time. If you hover over or select a subtitle handle, the handle will highlight light blue.

Note: To select two subtitle endpoints at the same time, the endpoints have to be exactly next to each other.

You can also nudge subtitle beginning and end points by selecting a handle and using your left and right arrow keys to adjust by small increments.

The new Alt+S keyboard shortcut will move the nearest subtitle handle to the current time in your video.

We’ve also removed the “start now” and “end now” indicators that we used to show when syncing subtitles.

Note: The “Beta Editor” button has replaced the navigation to our Legacy editor, which was our main subtitle editor more than five years ago. The legacy editor interface has now been officially retired.

Thank you for your contributions to support an inclusive and accessible media ecosystem!