Create and edit captions with the Subtitle Manager

The Subtitle Manager lets you create, edit, and publish subtitles for your VideoPress videos directly from the block editor or the VideoPress dashboard. This guide covers how to open the Subtitle Manager, add and edit subtitle cues, use keyboard shortcuts, import text, and save or publish your subtitle tracks.

Accessing the Subtitle Manager

The Subtitle Manager is the primary way to add and edit subtitles on a VideoPress video. It opens from three locations:

1. On a VideoPress block in the block editor, click Manage subtitles in the block toolbar.
2. In the VideoPress library, open the row actions menu for a video and select Manage subtitles.
3. On a video’s details page, open the header actions menu and select Manage subtitles.

The Subtitle Manager shows a list of existing tracks and a form for adding new ones. From here, you can upload a .vtt or .srt file, or create a track manually with the cue editor.

Creating a track manually

To manually create a subtitle track:

1. Open the Subtitle Manager and click Add track
2. Select a language for the new track.
3. Use the subtitle editor to add custom subtitles. Each subtitle has a start time, an end time, and caption text.
4. Save your changes as a draft, or publish the track.

Save draft stores your edits privately; only you can see a draft track, and it does not appear on the published page. Publish uploads the track as a WebVTT file that viewers can select from the Captions menu.

Uploading a file

To add subtitles by uploading a file:

1. Open the Subtitle Manager and click Upload subtitle file.
2. Select a language for the new track.
3. Click Upload file and choose your subtitle file. Supported formats are: .vtt, .srt, .sbv, .sub, .mpsub, .lrc, .smi, .sami, .rt, .ttml, and .dfxp.
4. Click Upload. The track is published immediately as a WebVTT file that viewers can select from the Captions menu.

Once a track has been uploaded, you can make further changes to it at any time using Replace file (to swap in a new file) or Edit (to adjust cues in the manual editor).

Replacing a published track’s file

If you need to upload a corrected or updated subtitle file for a language that already has a published track:

1. Open the Subtitle Manager and find the track you want to replace in the track list.
2. Click Replace file on that track’s row.
3. The upload form opens with the track’s language and label already filled in. Select the new subtitle file you want to use. Supported formats are: .vtt, .srt, .sbv, .sub, .mpsub, .lrc, .smi, .sami, .rt, .ttml, and .dfxp.
4. Click Upload to replace the existing file. The new subtitles take effect immediately.

If you need to change the language or label at the same time, you can update those fields before uploading.

Note: Replace file is not available for auto-generated subtitle tracks. To create your own version of an auto-generated track, use Edit instead — your edits will be published as a separate manual track without overwriting the auto-generated one.

Deleting a track

To permanently remove a subtitle track, draft or published:

1. Open the Subtitle Manager and find the track you want to delete in the track list.
2. Click Delete on the track’s row in the track list.
3. A confirmation dialog will ask you to confirm. Deleting a track cannot be undone.
4. Once confirmed, the track is removed from the video and will no longer appear for viewers.

Keyboard shortcuts

These keyboard shortcuts are available when focus is on the subtitle editing workspace — for example, after clicking the header area or empty space in the editor panel. They won’t respond while your cursor is inside a cue text field or the video player.

• Space: play or pause the video preview.
• Left/Right arrow: seek backward or forward.
• C: add a new cue at the current playhead position.
• N: jump the playhead to the next cue’s start time.
• P: jump the playhead to the previous cue’s start time.

Undo and redo work from anywhere in the editor, including while editing cue text:

• Ctrl+Z (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Z (Mac): undo.
• Shift+Ctrl+Z or Shift+Cmd+Z: redo.

Paste text to create captions

You can paste text directly into the cue editor instead of typing each cue. If the pasted text already contains timestamps, the cue editor keeps those timings. If the pasted text has no timestamps, the cue editor spaces the cues evenly across the video.

Editing auto-generated tracks

Auto-generated subtitle tracks (labeled with codes like auto_en) can be edited in the manual cue editor. Editing an auto-generated track and publishing it creates a separate manual track. It does not overwrite the original auto-generated source.

See our article, Add subtitles to your Jetpack VideoPress videos, for information on auto-generated subtitles.

Unsaved changes

The Subtitle Manager warns you before you lose unsaved cue edits. Closing the modal or navigating away with unsaved changes shows a confirmation dialog. Leaving the page entirely triggers an additional browser warning.