How to change the style of one word in your Premiere Pro captions

Step by step

1. Open the word's settings — In step 3 Layout, right-click the word in the sentence at the top or in the preview. The window Settings for THIS word only opens.

2. Change its look — In the Style tab, click another Style N, or change Font, Size, Text color and the other settings under Detailed style for this word.

3. Change its animation — In the Animation tab, choose Inherited, None or Anim N, then adjust the effects under Fine-tune the animation.

4. Change its sound — In the Sound tab, choose Inherited, None or Sound N.

5. Check and close — Watch the looping preview at the top of the window, then close it. The word now shows ⋯ in the sentence at the top.

6. Send it to the timeline — Click ⚡ Generate, or ⚡ Update if the captions are already on your timeline: only the block you changed is redone.

When should you customize a single word?

Use the word window for a one-off: a brand name in its own color, a number that must jump out, a word that gets a sound effect. For a rule that repeats in every caption (important words bigger, small words lighter), it’s faster to set up several styles and let Compo Auto apply them.

Why it matters: in Premiere Pro, changing one word in an animated caption usually means splitting the text, duplicating a graphic and redoing its animation. Here it’s a right-click, a color, and the next update redoes only that block.

How do I open the settings of one word?

1. Go to step 3 Layout — see Layout and word placement.
2. Right-click the word, either in the sentence at the top or directly in the preview.
3. The window opens on top of the panel. At the top:
   • the word itself, as the title: click it to rename the word (fix a typo without going back to the Text step); Enter confirms, Esc cancels;
   • the subtitle Settings for THIS word only;
   • ↺ (Reset this word) and ✕ to close.
4. Just below, a preview of the word plays in a loop with its style, animation and sound, whichever tab is open.
5. Three tabs: Style, Animation, Sound. The window opens on Animation.

How do I change the look of the word (Style tab)?

At the top of the tab, one button per style of your preset: Style 1, Style 2… Click one to give the word that style, cleanly (any manual style change and size on this word are removed).

As soon as you change a setting by hand, a Custom chip appears and no style is selected: the word no longer follows a style. Click a style button to apply that style again.

Under Detailed style for this word, each setting starts from the word’s current style:

Option	Where	What it does	When to use it
Font, Weight	Style tab	Font family and weight for this word (Weight appears when the family has several).	A brand name in its own typeface.
Size (10 to 400 %)	Style tab	Size of this word only.	Make a keyword jump out.
Case (Auto, Aa, AA, aa)	Style tab	Forces the case of the word; Auto follows the style.	One word in capitals.
Letter spacing (−100 to 200)	Style tab	Tighter or wider letters.	Wide, airy keywords.
Text color, Color gradient	Style tab	Color, or a gradient with a 2nd color and an Angle (0 to 360°).	The classic highlighted word.
Background behind the word	Style tab	Box behind the word: Color, Opacity, H margin and V margin (0 to 200 px), Corner radius.	A highlighter or label effect.
Drop shadow	Style tab	Color, Opacity, Angle, Distance, Spread, Blur.	Readability on a busy shot.
Glow	Style tab	Color, Opacity, Size (0 to 250 px), Spread.	A neon look on one word.
Motion blur	Style tab	Shutter angle from 0 to 360° (180° = film shutter).	Smoother fast moves.

Note: motion blur doesn’t show in the preview: it is visible when you generate, during motion, and only if the word is animated.

The full list of style settings is explained in Customize a style.

How do I give the word its own animation (Animation tab)?

Choose what the word does when it appears:

• Inherited: follows the word’s style (the animation actually in play is marked active).
• None: no animation for this word.
• Anim 1, Anim 2…: another animation of your preset.

Then, under Fine-tune the animation (hidden when None is chosen), switch each effect on or off and adjust it for this word only:

Effect	Settings
Fade	Duration (0 to 2 s)
Slide	Duration, Distance (0 to 600 px), direction ← → ↑ ↓
Zoom	Duration, Start (1 to 200 %)
Blur	Duration, Intensity (0 to 200 px)
Blink	Duration, Frames (1 to 15)

Last, Active word (karaoke) highlights the word while it is spoken: Color of the spoken word, plus an optional Background behind the word (Background color, Opacity, Corner radius). More on effects in Animate your words.

How do I give the word its own sound (Sound tab)?

Choose Inherited (the sound of its style), None (silence for this word) or Sound 1, Sound 2… — the sound sets of your preset, set up as explained in Add sounds to your words.

How do I spot and reset a customized word?

• In the sentence at the top, a customized word shows ⋯ in dotted lines instead of its style number. Hover it: Hand-tuned (style + size…) — no longer follows style N tells you what differs.
• ↺ Reset this word removes everything set on this word in the window (style settings, size, animation, sound): the word follows its style again. Its style number and its position on screen stay as they are.
• Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on Mac) undoes the last change, one drag at a time.

What keeps or removes your word settings?

Action	Word settings
Switching to another preset in the gallery	Kept (positions and a word’s style).
✂ Re-split (new block splitting)	Reset, with placement — the panel warns you before.
Importing or transcribing new text	Reset (the words are new).
⚡ Update after changing one word	Only the block of that word is redone on the timeline.

Customizing words on the Free plan

Pro: per-word customization is part of every feature included for your first 1,000 generated words on the Free plan, and unlimited on Pro and Max. In simple mode, the window still opens, but generation shows Some words are customized one by one (style, size, animation or sound) — reset them., with a Simplify automatically button. See Free, Pro and Max.

Frequently asked questions

How do I change the color of one word in my captions in Premiere Pro?

With Subkick Caption, open step 3 Layout, right-click the word and, in the Style tab, change Text color under Detailed style for this word. Then click ⚡ Generate, or ⚡ Update if the captions are already on the timeline.

Can I make one word bigger than the others in my captions?

Yes. In Subkick Caption, right-click the word in the Layout step and move the Size slider (10 to 400 %) in the Style tab. You can also give it a background, a drop shadow or a glow of its own.

Can one word have its own animation or sound?

Yes. In the Subkick Caption word window, the Animation tab lets you choose Inherited, None or another animation and fine-tune its effects, including the active word highlight; the Sound tab lets you choose Inherited, None or another sound.

How do I undo the customization of a single word?

Right-click the word again in Subkick Caption and click ↺ Reset this word at the top of the window: its own style settings, size, animation and sound are removed and it follows its style again. Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on Mac) also undoes the last change.

Is per-word customization included in the free plan of Subkick Caption?

Yes, for your first 1,000 generated words. In simple mode, the window still opens, but generation asks you to reset customized words; Pro and Max keep per-word customization with no limit.

Do word settings survive if I switch to another preset?

Yes. When you switch presets in Subkick Caption, per-word customizations (positions, a word's style) are kept. Re-splitting the text with ✂ Re-split, on the other hand, resets placement and per-word tweaks.