This article covers the editing actions users most often ask about in the Subanana subtitle/transcript editor: inserting a line between two existing lines, adding a line at the end of a video, batch-editing multiple lines, and handling time gaps between lines. The editor supports line-by-line inline correction — you can review and edit the text of individual lines in the editor before exporting, and if a long line needs to be split, you can split it manually in the editor as well.
If you also want to use keyboard shortcuts or replace words in bulk, see the articles "Subtitle editor keyboard shortcuts" and "How to use Find and Replace".
1. Inserting a new line between two subtitle lines
The editor lets you insert a new subtitle line "between" two existing ones:
Move your cursor to the gap between two subtitle lines, and an "Insert subtitle" (+) button will appear.
Click the button, and a new subtitle line is added between the two.
The new subtitle starts where the previous line ends, with a default length of 3 seconds, and is automatically kept from overlapping the next line. If there isn't enough of a gap between the two lines, the system shows "Not enough space to add a subtitle" — adjust the timing of the neighboring lines to open up a gap, then insert again.
Once inserted, you can edit the line just like any other: change its text manually and adjust its start/end times.
Note: insertion currently always works as "insert into the gap immediately after a given line" — there is no "insert at the exact time where the video playhead sits" option. If you need a line at a specific point in time, insert it at the closest position first, then manually adjust the new line's start time.
2. Adding a line at the very end of a video
The editor currently has no "add a line after the last line" option: the "Insert subtitle" button that appears between lines is not shown after the last one.
To add content back at the end of a video, we recommend extending the end time of the last subtitle line, then editing that line's text to include the content you need to add.
3. Selecting multiple lines and batch editing
To fix the same text across multiple lines at once, use the Find and Replace feature: it lists all matching lines, lets you tick the ones you want to change one by one, then replaces them together.
Keep the following two points in mind to avoid confusion:
The editor does not have a per-line multi-select or batch-checkbox interface (that is, you cannot use Shift/Ctrl to select several subtitle lines at once for batch editing). Batch edits are mainly done through Find and Replace.
Pressing "Select all" (Cmd/Ctrl + A) in the transcript editor selects the text of the current line only, not the entire transcript. This is designed to prevent accidentally deleting everything at once.
4. Handling gaps between lines
If you want to join two adjacent subtitle lines, use the "Merge adjacent" feature:
Move your cursor to the gap between two subtitle lines and click the "Merge adjacent" button to merge the current line with the next one.
You can also place the cursor at the very start of a line's text and press Backspace to merge that line with the previous one.
If the project has a corresponding translated subtitle track, the related translation track is aligned and merged along with it.
The editor has no "shorten all gaps between lines in one batch" option. If you don't want to merge and only want to adjust the gaps, edit each line's start/end times one by one so that adjacent lines meet.
Still have questions?
If the steps above don't cover what you need, contact us via the in-app support chat or by email at hello@subanana.com, and include your project link or a screenshot of the editor so we can help.