Add chapters to your Jetpack VideoPress videos

Chapters are a great way to split up longer videos and organize them into different sections. Your visitors can see what each section is about and skip to their favorite parts.

You can add chapters in two ways: place them visually in the chapters editor, or type a list of timestamps into the video’s description. Either way, chapters are stored in the video’s description. To add subtitles or captions instead, see add subtitles to your VideoPress videos.

Chapter requirementsMD

Chapters appear in the player’s chapter menu once they meet all of these requirements:

• The first chapter starts at 00:00.
• The video has at least three chapters.
• Every chapter has a title.
• Chapters run in order, at least 10 seconds apart, with no repeated timestamps.
• Every chapter starts before the video ends.

Add chapters with the chapters editorMD

The chapters editor lets you place chapters on a timeline instead of typing timestamps by hand. Open it in either of these places:

• In your WP Admin, go to the VideoPress dashboard at Jetpack → VideoPress, open a video, then select the Editor tab.
• In the block editor, select the VideoPress block, then select the Manage chapters icon in the block toolbar:

If the Editor tab and the toolbar icon are both missing, a plugin or theme on your site may have turned the chapters editor off with the jetpack_videopress_chapters_editor filter.

Add a chapterMD

1. Play or scrub through the video to reach the point where you want a chapter to start.
2. Select Add chapter at playhead. The button is unavailable while the playhead sits on or within half a second of an existing chapter.
3. The chapter appears in the Chapters panel beside the timeline, with its title selected so you can type over it.
4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 for each chapter you want to add.
5. Select Save. Your chapters are written into the video’s description and the player’s chapter menu updates to match.

Adjust and remove chaptersMD

• Drag a chapter’s marker along the timeline, or select the marker and use the left and right arrow keys, to change when the chapter starts.
• Use the zoom slider or Fit for more precise placement on a long video. You can also hold Ctrl and scroll over the timeline to zoom in on a specific point.
• Rename a chapter by typing in its row in the Chapters panel.
• Remove a chapter with the delete button in its row.
• Select Undo and Redo to step back and forth through your changes, or Discard changes to return to your last saved version.
• Select Undo and Redo to step back and forth through your changes, or press ⌘Z on Mac or Ctrl+Z on Windows.

If you uploaded your own chapters track as a VTT file through the Subtitle Manager, VideoPress uses that file and the chapters editor is read-only. Remove the uploaded track to edit chapters in the editor again.

Add chapters by typing timestampsMD

1. Upload a video via the VideoPress block.
2. Click the Done button once it is finished uploading.
3. Navigate to the block settings for the video in the editor sidebar. Make sure you’ve clicked on the VideoPress block in the editor section of the screen, then click the ‘cog’ icon below the Publish button to make the block settings appear.
4. In the Description box, add a list of timestamps in minutes and seconds, along with corresponding chapter titles.

For example:

00:00 Intro
00:24 Mountains arise
02:38 Coming back home
03:04 Credits

You can also edit the description from the Details tab of a video in the VideoPress dashboard.

The description is the single store for chapters, so saving in one place overwrites what the other holds. Save your changes before switching between the description and the chapters editor.

Why your chapters might not appearMD

The Chapters panel flags any chapter that breaks one of the requirements above. You can still save — your chapters stay in the video’s description — but they will not appear in the player until every requirement is met. Correct the problem and save again to restore the chapter menu.