This article describes how to manage subtitles in Amara Teams.

Contact enterprise@amara.org or view all Amara Platform solutions to learn more about using Amara Teams for your subtitling projects.

 

Managing Subtitles on your Amara Team

Requests Tab

If your team uses subtitle requests, you will see a Requests option in the team menu items. This means that a Manager, Administrator, or Owner must request subtitles for a video before team members can start working on subtitles.


Go to your Team > Requests page to check if subtitle requests are an available option in your team.



If your team does not have a Requests tab, team Owners can contact enterprise@amara.org to upgrade.

No Requests Tab


If your team does not use subtitle requests, team members are welcome to create new subtitles and edit subtitles at any time by visiting the team Dashboard to find videos to subtitle:

Team dashboard with video highlighted

Any team member can start subtitles as soon as a video is added to the team. To view all team videos, click Videos at the top of the page or the Find more videos that need subtitling link below.


Click on the video title to go to the video page and view a list of all subtitles for that video. To view all of the subtitles you have worked on for your team, click the See All link in the history section.


Customize Subtitle Specifications such as CPS, CPL, etc.

Teams that have Requests available are also able to customize subtitle specifications such as CPS (characters per second), CPL (characters per line), Max subtitle lines, and Minimum subtitle duration (seconds) for any language.


Go to the Settings > Subtitle Editor page to customize subtitle specifications.


By default the subtitle specifications in the editor are set to industry standards such as:

  • Keep subtitle length to 42 characters.
  • Avoid more than 2 lines per subtitle.
  • Minimum duration of at least 0.7 seconds. 

You can review subtitling guidelines by clicking the Subtitling Guidelines >> link in the Keyboard Controls panel in the Amara Editor.


When a subtitle cell does not meet these specifications, you will see a warning message. The purpose of these messages is to help you create readable and enjoyable subtitles.


In the Settings > Subtitle Editor page you can customize subtitle specifications for individual languages; for example, the CPL for Japanese subtitles can be changed to be 55 characters per line to accommodate the extra characters needed to subtitle in that language, but the subtitle specifications for other languages will still follow the default settings.



  1. Go to the Videos tab of your team page.

  2. Select the videos you want to create subtitle requests for by checking the boxes to the left of the videos.

  3. Click Create request from slide-up menu at the bottom of the screen.




Two videos selected and highlighted on an Amara team page with create request button selected.

 

 

Creating subtitle requests if you know the video title

If you already know your video title, you can also create requests from the Requests page.

 

Go to the Requests tab of your team page.

 

Create requests button highlighted on Amara Team requests page.

 

 

Track progress and manage subtitle requests for a video

Managers, administrators, and owners can track subtitle progress and manage all subtitle requests in the Requests page. 

 

Use checkboxes to select subtitle requests and perform management actions. You can also sort and filter to monitor subtitle requests based type, language, due dates, and more!

 

To view and manage all subtitle requests for a single video, click Manage requests  link to the right of the video.

 

Assignments highlighted on video page with Manage requests link under mouse.

 

Every row in the subtitle request list for a video shows the language, current status, and current assignment for each request. 

 

Subtitle request selected with options highlighted in slide up bar on Amara team page.

 

You can make changes to a request by selecting the checkboxes to the left of the language link and then clicking your desired in the slide-up menu.

  • Click the language link on the left to view the subtitle transcript, revision/syncing history, and comments for the subtitles in that language.

  • Click the team member links to the right to view your team member’s profile page, which lists their previous activity, languages, and teams.

Note: The Set teams button is only available if you are an Administrator or Owner of two or more Amara teams. Learn more about working with multiple Amara teams.



Managers, administrators, and owners can edit completed subtitles by clicking the Edit subtitles link on the page for that set of subtitles.

 

Clicking Edit subtitles will take you into the Amara Editor.

 

 

View subtitle activity and download subtitles

Visit the subtitle page to download the subtitles, compare revisions, check subtitle information and activity.

 

Two ways to get to the page for a set of subtitles:

  • Go to Requests > click on the subtitle language.

  • Go to Videos > click on the video > select the subtitle language to go to the page for that set of subtitles.




Subtitle page for an Amara team with tabs under the video and revision menu to the right.

 

 

View subtitle details, edit subtitles, or follow for updates!

 

  • The Subtitles tab shows current subtitles and their timestamps

  • The Subtitles Info tab shows video information

  • The Activity tab shows all activity by team members

  • The Subtitle Notes tab shows notes by team members in the Amara Editor

  • The Sync History tab shows the status of subtitle export attempts to the video’s hosting site

Compare revisions dialog with two revisions selected.

 

Click the Compare revisions link on the subtitle page to view current progress or compare two revisions of subtitles.

 

  • Download completed subtitles to your computer (in SBV, DFXP, VTT, SRT, TXT, or SSA formats).

  • View assignments completed for this set of subtitles.

  • Delete revisions or change the subtitle language if needed.

  • Compare two revisions at a time.

 



Create subtitle requests automatically or generate missing requests to speed up your team workflow!

You must be an administrator or owner of an Amara Team to create subtitle requests automatically when videos are imported.

Go to Team > Settings tab > Workflows page

Advanced section of Amara team settings page with 3 sections highlighted.

  1. Auto-create subtitle requests for transcription

  2. Auto-create subtitle requests for translation in multiple languages

    • Translation assignments will be available to team members after transcription is complete

  3. Apply auto-create settings to existing videos

    • If unchecked, auto-create settings only apply to newly uploaded videos, not videos already on team

Note: Click the Save Changes button to finalize your auto-creation settings.



Admins and owners of Amara Plus and Amara Community teams can now order professional captions and translations from Amara On Demand in English, Spanish, French, Chinese Mandarin, Portuguese (Brazilian), Arabic (MSA), and Russian. 

 

Go to your team, click Subtitle Orders at the top of the page to choose your videos and request subtitles in the available languages. After you order subtitles, you can return to the Subtitle Orders page to check your order history or make new orders. Subtitles will be returned to your team when they are complete.



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

If you have any questions or suggestions, please share your feedback!

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