How Subkick Caption works: a tour of the Premiere Pro panel

What are the three steps of Subkick Caption?

The top bar shows the three steps of your work, in order, and the ⚙ gear on the right. Click any step to go to it at any time: nothing is locked, and you can go back as often as you want.

Step	What you do there	Details
1 Style	Pick a preset in the gallery, or customize it: fonts, colors, background, shadow, animations, sounds.	Choose a preset
2 Text	Add your text (+ Add text: AI transcription, .srt import or typing), then check your lines and their timecodes.	AI transcription
3 Layout	Place and fine-tune the words on a full-screen preview of your sequence, then generate.	Layout and word placement

Tip: while you customize a preset, clicking 1 Style again takes you back to the gallery.

What does the bottom bar do?

The bar at the bottom of the panel always shows the next move:

• ← goes back one step.
• At step 1, Next: your text takes you to the Text step.
• At step 2, Lay it out takes you to the Layout step.
• At step 3, the bar becomes the generation bar: the track (V − n +), the scope (This block, In-out, All) and the ⚡ Generate button, which announces what it will do on a second line. On the Free plan, your free-word counter appears here too.

Everything about generating is in Generate your captions.

Where are Settings, Help and Contact?

Click ⚙ at the right of the top bar. It opens a page with three tabs:

Tab	What you find there
⚙ Settings	Language, license, look of the panel, generation options, presets, updates, plugin status.
📘 Help / Tutorial	The built-in help, page by page, and a carousel of tips.
✉ Contact	Write to us, and read our replies.

Two dots can appear on ⚙: a red dot means an update is available, a yellow dot means you have an unread message from us. Every setting is explained in All settings.

The yellow ? in the corner. A small yellow dot sits in the top-right corner of the panel; hover it and it becomes a ?. Click it: the Help for this page opens on top of what you’re doing, matched to the screen you’re on (gallery, customization, Text step, Layout, a word’s window…). Its 📘 Full help button jumps to the complete help in ⚙ › Help / Tutorial. Esc closes it.

What do the PRO, MAX, Trial and Payment ⚠ badges mean?

At the bottom of the ⚙ page, next to the name and version number, a badge shows your current plan:

Badge	Meaning	Click
PRO	Pro subscription active.	—
MAX	Max subscription active.	—
Trial	Free plan: every feature for your first 1,000 generated words, then simple mode.	Opens the plans on subkickcaption.com.
Payment ⚠	Your last payment didn’t go through: the license is on the Free rules until the card is updated.	Opens Your payment didn’t go through, with Update my card.

What each plan includes: Free, Pro and Max.

What happens the first time you open the panel?

A few windows guide your first launch, one at a time:

1. License agreement — read it with Read the license agreement, then click I accept. A language selector sits at the top of this screen. It is asked again after major updates.
2. Activate Subkick Caption — paste your key and click Activate (see Activate your license key).
3. Welcome 👋 — shown after the other windows: two cues so you’re never stuck, the yellow corner for help and Settings ▸ Contact to write to us. It comes back at each launch until you tick Don’t show this again; close it with OK, let’s go!.

The panel then opens on 1 Style, with the gallery and the preset Subkick - Classic 1 loaded.

Other windows you may see at launch, always one at a time:

• Update available — a new version is out; ⬇ Install guides you through it.
• 🎉 What’s new — version N — after an update, what changed.
• Messages from the Subkick team — our replies and announcements.
• Your payment didn’t go through — when a subscription payment failed.

What size should the panel be?

The panel opens at 520 × 650 pixels. Dock it next to your timeline or Program monitor and give it room: the Layout step is a full-screen preview, so a wide panel is more comfortable.

If the panel gets too small (roughly under 460 × 500), a veil shows Panel too small, with the minimum width and height and the current size. Drag an edge of the panel in Premiere Pro to enlarge it, or click Continue anyway to keep working for this session.

Tip: short on screen space? In ⚙ › Settings › Display, set Interface size to Compact: smaller text, more information on screen.

How to undo and redo in the panel

Action	Windows	macOS
Undo	Ctrl+Z	Cmd+Z
Redo	Ctrl+Shift+Z or Ctrl+Y	Cmd+Shift+Z

The panel keeps 80 steps of history: text edits, styles, placements, deleting all the text… The shortcuts work when the panel has the focus; in the timeline, Ctrl+Z stays Premiere Pro’s own undo. While you type in a text field, they undo your typing, as usual.

Note: the history belongs to the sequence you’re working on. When you switch to another sequence, its history starts fresh.

Is my work saved automatically?

Yes. Subkick Caption saves your work for each sequence: text, timecodes, styles, animations, sounds, layout and per-word tweaks. It saves every 30 seconds and when the panel closes. Switch sequences, close Premiere Pro, reopen the project: each sequence finds its own captions in the panel.

Save your Premiere project at least once (Ctrl+S / Cmd+S): the panel can then also keep a backup copy next to it. If you ever see Your session could not be saved, that’s the fix — see Troubleshooting.

Why it matters: you can caption several videos in the same project, leave one halfway and come back to it days later. Each sequence keeps its own text, style and layout — nothing to export, nothing to reload by hand.

How to change the interface language

Go to ⚙ › Settings › General › Language. The interface — and the built-in help — is available in 12 languages: Français, English, Español, Italiano, Hindi (Hinglish, written in Latin letters), Português (Brazil), Bahasa Indonesia, Türkçe, Tiếng Việt, Русский, 日本語, ไทย.

On first launch, the panel follows the language of Premiere Pro when it’s one of these 12; otherwise it starts in English. Once you pick a language yourself, it’s kept.

Note: the interface language has nothing to do with your captions. AI transcription has its own Spoken language setting, and the text you import or type stays as it is.

Frequently asked questions

How does Subkick Caption work?

Subkick Caption is a panel inside Premiere Pro with three steps: 1 Style (pick or customize a preset), 2 Text (AI transcription, .srt import or typing) and 3 Layout (place the words on a full-screen preview, then generate). The captions are created directly in your timeline as a sequence named “<your sequence> Subtitles”.

Where is the help in Subkick Caption?

Click the yellow ? in the top-right corner of the panel: it opens the help for the screen you're on. Its 📘 Full help button opens all the help pages, also available in ⚙ › Help / Tutorial.

Can I undo a change in Subkick Caption?

Yes. With the panel focused, press Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on Mac) to undo and Ctrl+Shift+Z (Cmd+Shift+Z) or Ctrl+Y to redo. The panel keeps up to 80 steps for the sequence you're working on.

Does Subkick Caption save my work?

Yes. The panel saves your text, styles, animations, sounds and layout automatically for each sequence, every 30 seconds and when you close it. Reopen the project in Premiere Pro and your work is back.

Can I use Subkick Caption in another language?

Yes. The Subkick Caption interface is available in 12 languages. It follows the language of Premiere Pro when it can, otherwise English; change it in ⚙ › Settings › General › Language.

What is the minimum size of the Subkick Caption panel?

The panel opens at 520 × 650 pixels. Below roughly 460 × 500, it shows Panel too small with the minimum size and the current one: drag an edge of the panel in Premiere Pro to enlarge it, or click Continue anyway.