How to highlight keywords in captions: several styles in one subtitle in Premiere Pro

Step by step

1. Add styles — In 1 Style › ✏️ Customize, click + Add a style (up to 10) and set each new style in its 🅰 Text pane.

2. Give each style a role — In the header of each Style row, pick a role: Classic, Small, Important or Secondary important.

3. Set Compo Auto — Open the 🔧 Layout row and set the Style and Placement sliders of ⚡ Compo Auto, from 0 (Off) to 5 (Max).

4. Bring in your text — Run an AI transcription or an import: Compo Auto styles every block right after.

5. Adjust by hand — In 3 Layout, click a word to switch it to the next style, or click Style under Style & placement for a new variant.

Why mix several styles in one caption?

Because not every word weighs the same. In the captions you see everywhere on Reels and Shorts, the key word is big, bold or colored, the linking words are small, and the eye reads the important idea first. That hierarchy is the core of Subkick Caption: each word gets the style that fits its importance.

Done by hand in Premiere Pro, it means splitting the text, restyling each important word, re-aligning every line, block after block. In Subkick Caption, you set your styles once, tell the plugin what each one is for, and it styles every word of every block — then you correct what you want with a click.

Why it matters: on a one-minute video, that’s dozens of words to restyle and re-place. Here, the styles are rules: change the Important style once and every important word of the video follows.

How to add a style (up to 10)

1. In 1 Style, click ✏️ Customize.
2. At the bottom of the list, click + Add a style. A new Style N row appears, and a new number on the rail.
3. Open it and set it like any other style: 🅰 Text, ✨ Animation, 🔊 Sound — see Customize a caption style.

Each style has its own animation and its own sounds, so important words can also enter differently (a pop instead of a fade) and get their own sound. A caption can hold up to 10 styles. The ✕ to delete a style sits on the last style only, and never when only one is left.

What are the roles?

Each Style N row shows its role in its header (Compo Auto role: …) and a role menu to change it.

Role	Words Compo Auto gives it	Typical look
Classic	The base words of the sentence	Your main style, readable and steady
Small	Short linking words (the, of, and, to…)	Smaller or lighter, so they step back
Important	The words that carry the idea, and every number	Bigger, bolder, another color or a background
Secondary important	Words that deserve attention, less than the important ones	Often an italic or a second accent color
No role	None: Compo Auto never uses this style	A style you keep for words you set by hand

If two styles share the same role, Compo Auto alternates between them at random, which adds variety. Styles without a role are left out of the example preview, which warns ⚠ Styles without a role: n.

How Compo Auto chooses the words

The ⚡ Compo Auto section sits in the 🔧 Layout row of the style list. It has two sliders, each from 0 to 5:

• Style — how many words get emphasized (assigns the styles by role).
• Placement — how scattered the words are on screen, from tidy aligned lines to a very scattered composition.

Step	Label	What changes
0	Off	No automatic styling (or no automatic placement)
1–2	Light, Simple	Few emphasized words; linking words keep the base style
3	Moderate	Linking words also take the Small style
4–5	Dynamic, Max	More and more emphasized words, more and more scattered layout

What Compo Auto looks at, word by word: longer words that carry meaning are favored for Important; short linking words go to Small (from Moderate up); numbers always come out as important; a word written in capitals or followed by ! or ? gets priority. There is a random part on purpose: asking again gives another variant of the same caption. Each preset comes with its own Compo Auto settings, saved with it.

When does Compo Auto run?

• Right after your text arrives: after an AI transcription, an .srt import or an import from the project, Compo Auto styles and places every block with your preset’s settings. See AI transcription and Import an SRT.
• When you open 3 Layout after the text or the style changed (or for typed text not laid out yet): the window Redo the layout? offers Redo the layout or No, keep it, and warns you first if placements you made by hand would be replaced.
• When you ask for it, in 3 Layout › Style & placement: click Style or Placement to redo them automatically, on the block on screen (Block N tab) or on every block (All blocks tab, with the confirmation Redo everything). The slider under each one sets its intensity; ↺ resets (every word back to Style 1, or back to the basic placement).

Every automatic change can be undone with Ctrl+Z (Mac: Cmd+Z). More on this screen in Layout.

How to change the style of a word by hand

In 3 Layout, the sentence of the block sits at the top, and each word shows its style number in color.

1. Click a word: it switches to the next style (Style 1 → Style 2 → … → back to Style 1). Its animation and sound follow its new style.
2. To work on the whole video at once, click ☰ (Show every block) at the far right: every block unfolds into a numbered list, and a click on any word works the same way. ✕ or Esc folds it back.
3. Right-click a word to open its own settings window: another style, its size, color, animation or sound for that word only. A word customized this way shows a dashed ⋯. Details in Customize a single word.

Tip: let Compo Auto do the first pass, then click only the words it got wrong. On most blocks, that’s one or two clicks.

Several styles on the Free plan

Pro: multiple styles in the same caption are unlocked for everyone during the first 1,000 generated words of the Free plan. After that, simple mode generates with one style (and no automatic or manual placement); Pro and Max keep every style with no limit. The panel never blocks you while you set styles: if the setup doesn’t fit simple mode, the generation window Simplify the setup to generate explains what to change, with Simplify automatically. See Free, Pro and Max.

Frequently asked questions

How do I highlight important words in captions in Premiere Pro?

With Subkick Caption, create a second style for key words (bigger, another color or another font) and give it the Important role. Compo Auto then applies it to the important words of every caption automatically, and you can change any word by clicking it in the Layout step.

How many styles can one caption have in Subkick Caption?

Up to 10 styles. Most Subkick presets use 2 to 4: a base style, one for important words and one for small linking words, sometimes one for secondary important words.

How does Subkick Caption decide which words are important?

Compo Auto favors the longer words that carry meaning, sends short linking words such as the, of or and to the Small role, always treats numbers as important, and gives priority to words in capitals or followed by ! or ?. Each run has a random part, so asking again gives another variant.

Can I choose the style of each word myself?

Yes. In the Layout step of Subkick Caption, click a word in the sentence at the top to switch it to the next style; its animation and sound follow. Right-click the word to open settings for that word only.

Are multiple caption styles available on the Free plan?

Yes, for your first 1,000 generated words, where every feature of Subkick Caption is unlocked. After that, simple mode generates with a single style; Pro and Max keep several styles per caption with no limit.

What does No role mean on a style?

A style set to No role is never used by Compo Auto: it stays available for the words you style by hand. When some styles have no role, the preview shows ⚠ Styles without a role.