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Text layers let you place a title, label, caption, emoji, or callout directly on top of your recording.

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Add text

  1. Open your video in the editor.
  2. Move the playhead to where you want the text to appear.
  3. Open Overlay in the sidebar.
  4. Click a text style, or click the plus button for the default style.
  5. Type your text directly on the canvas.
The new text layer starts at the playhead, selects itself, and appears on the timeline. To change its text later, double-click it on the canvas. Click Browse all to see every saved text style.
A selected time range wins over the playhead. If you have a range selected (on the timeline or in the transcript), the text spans that range instead, and selecting several ranges adds one text layer to each. Clear the selection first if you want the playhead to decide.

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Position, rotate, and resize it

New text boxes hug their contents and grow as you type.
  • Drag the text box on the canvas to move it.
  • Drag a side handle to set a wrapping width.
  • Drag a corner handle to scale the box and its font together.
  • Drag the rotation handle above the text box to rotate it.
Unselected text boxes have no visible border. Click the text to select it and show the resize controls.

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Change the style

Select the text layer on the canvas or Overlay timeline. Its detail view groups controls under Text, Decoration, and Animation. Change the color, font, size, and horizontal alignment under Text. Fonts that support it also include weight and width controls.

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Save and reuse a text style

  1. Select a text layer on the timeline after customizing its font, size, color, alignment, and background.
  2. Open the three-dots menu in the selected layer’s detail-panel header.
  3. Select Save as preset.
Your preset appears first in Text under Overlay, with a name such as Style 1. Click it to add a new text layer with the saved style. Hover over a saved preset and open its three-dots menu to Rename or Delete it. Saved presets are personal to you in the current workspace. They sync to your account, so you can use them when you sign in from another browser or device.

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Add a background box

  1. Select the text layer on the canvas or Overlay timeline.
  2. Turn on the Background toggle.
  3. Pick a Color for the box.
  4. Choose a Shape: Square, Round, or Squircle.
  5. Use Box shadow to choose None, Subtle, or Deep.
Turn the Background toggle off again to remove the box. The Color, Shape, and Box shadow controls only appear while the toggle is on. The Shape and Box shadow controls only appear when the text has a visible background.

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Upload your own font

  1. Select a text layer and open the Font picker.
  2. Click Upload beside Personal or your workspace name.
  3. Choose a .ttf or .otf font file that is 20 MB or smaller.
The font is selected after it uploads and remains available in the font picker. Personal fonts are available to you, while workspace fonts are shared with your workspace.
A video can use up to 16 uploaded fonts, with a combined file size of up to 50 MB. Weight and width controls are available for supported fonts in Tella’s default library, not uploaded fonts.
To remove an uploaded font from a library, open the font picker and click the delete button beside it. Workspace Owners and Members can upload and delete workspace fonts. Viewers can use workspace fonts, but can only upload or delete fonts in their Personal library.

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Set when it appears

In the timeline:
  • Drag the start or end of the text card to change its duration.
  • Drag the card left or right to move it earlier or later.
  • Hold Option on Mac or Alt on Windows while dragging to turn snapping off.
Card edges snap to nearby card edges, the playhead, and word boundaries, and the video preview follows the moving edge so you can land on the exact frame. You can add several text layers and overlap them freely. See Work with the multi-track timeline for selecting, splitting, and copying cards.

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Animate the text in and out

By default, text appears and disappears with a hard cut. Select the text layer, then use Transition to choose Smooth if you want it to fade in and out.

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Duplicate, reorder, or remove text layers

  • Select the text layer, open the menu in the detail header, and choose Duplicate. The copy keeps the same text, style, position, size, timing, and transition.
  • Right-click a text layer on the canvas and choose Send to front or Send to back to place it above or below other visual overlays.
  • Select the text layer and click Delete below its settings to remove it.

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Add text as a graphic

For a designed title card, logo lockup, or other graphic that you already created elsewhere, you can add the text as an image:
  1. Create your text as an image in a design tool, or generate media with AI.
  2. In the Overlay sidebar, choose an item under Media, or click Browse all to upload the image.
  3. Move and resize it on the canvas, then adjust its timing in the timeline.
Image overlays are not editable as text. See Add media overlays for more details.

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Show a full title card with Media

Use Media (B-roll) when you want a title card or graphic to become the main content of a layout section instead of floating above the recording. Your camera can remain visible in a bubble while the title card fills the rest of the canvas.

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Other ways to add words