Text on screen does real work — it introduces speakers, reinforces key points, and keeps viewers watching without sound (most social video is watched muted). The Essential Graphics panel is where all of this lives in Premiere.
Creating a Text Layer
Select the Type tool (T) from the toolbar, then click anywhere in the Program Monitor and start typing. This creates a new graphic clip on the timeline, on the track above your video. Alternatively, open Window > Essential Graphics and click "New Layer > Text" for more control from the start.
Once created, drag the clip's edges on the timeline to control how long the text stays on screen, just like any other clip.
The Essential Graphics Panel
With a text layer selected, the Essential Graphics panel's Edit tab gives you:
- Font, size, and alignment — keep fonts consistent across a whole video; two font families max (one for headlines, one for body/captions) is a safe rule
- Fill and Stroke — a stroke (outline) around text helps readability over busy backgrounds
- Position — drag directly in the Program Monitor, or type exact X/Y values for pixel-perfect placement across multiple clips
- Responsive Design — pin text to a corner or edge so it stays correctly placed if you change the sequence's aspect ratio later (important if you're repurposing one edit for YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok)
Lower Thirds
A lower third is a name/title graphic positioned in the lower third of the frame — the standard way to introduce a speaker. Build one from two text layers (name, larger; title/role, smaller, beneath it) plus an optional background shape or bar for contrast against busy footage.
Once built, select all the layers and save them as a Motion Graphics Template (right-click in Essential Graphics > Export as Motion Graphics Template) so you can reuse the same styled lower third across future videos without rebuilding it.
Safe Margins
Text placed too close to the frame edge can get cropped when viewed on a TV, or overlapped by platform UI (captions, like buttons, usernames) on social apps. Enable Program Monitor safe margins (click the wrench icon on the Program Monitor > Safe Margins) and keep important text inside the inner guide — roughly 90% of the frame, centered.
Captions and Subtitles
Premiere can auto-transcribe your dialogue: Window > Text, then click "Transcribe Sequence." Review the generated transcript for errors (auto-transcription is good, not perfect, especially with accents or jargon), then click "Create Captions" to generate a caption track you can style and burn in or export as a separate file (.srt).
Captions are no longer optional for most platforms — a large share of video is watched muted, and captions meaningfully improve watch time and accessibility.
Animating Text
Simple animation goes a long way: a slight fade-in, or a slide from off-screen. Use keyframes in Effect Controls — click the stopwatch icon next to Position or Opacity to enable keyframing, move the playhead, then change the value to create a second keyframe. Premiere interpolates the motion between them automatically. Keep text animations under half a second; anything longer feels sluggish.