Professional subtitles inside Premiere Pro

Before you start

You need Adobe Premiere Pro 25.6 or later on macOS or Windows. The plugin is a UXP panel, so one installer file (.ccx) covers both platforms and both Apple silicon and Intel Macs. Adobe Media Encoder is not required.

You need an Inwista account. Create one at inwista.ai/register; the Free plan gives you 45 minutes of transcription every month and needs no card. Connecting the panel to a workspace is approved by a workspace administrator: a member can start the sign-in and pass the code to the workspace owner to approve.

You need an internet connection while a job runs. The audio is processed on Inwista's own servers in the EU.

1. Install the panel

Open the Creative Cloud desktop app, go to Stock & Marketplace, choose Plugins, search for Inwista and click Get. The panel installs in a few seconds. If you were given the plugin as a .ccx file instead, double-click it; Creative Cloud warns that the plugin does not come from the Marketplace, so click Install locally to continue.

In Premiere Pro choose Window → UXP Plugins → Inwista. The panel docks like any other Premiere panel and needs at least 530 pixels of width, so give it a column of its own or let it float. If the menu entry is missing, restart Premiere Pro; a newly installed panel registers when the application starts.

2. Sign in with a code

Click Sign in with Inwista. The panel shows a short code (four letters and four digits, for example KXRT 4829) and opens inwista.ai/connect in your browser with the code filled in. Log in if the page asks you to, check that the code on the page matches the one in the panel, choose the workspace Premiere Pro should use and click Connect. The panel notices within a few seconds and you can close the browser tab.

Only a workspace administrator can approve the connection. If you are a member, the page tells you so: send the code to the workspace owner, who can open inwista.ai/connect from any browser and type it in while the code is still valid. The panel counts down how long that is. If the browser did not open, click Open the connect page in the panel; Cancel abandons the code.

Approving creates an API key in the workspace, named after the app and your computer, for example Premiere Pro on anna's Mac (the connect page shows the exact name before you click Connect). You can see and delete it under API Keys on the workspace page. Transcriptions started from this computer use the workspace's plan minutes first and its AI credits after that. The key is stored encrypted on your computer.

Prefer not to sign in? I have an API key opens Advanced settings, where you can paste a key made on the workspace page under API Keys (administrators only) and click Save key. A pasted key always pays with AI credits at the API rate, never with plan minutes.

3. Your workspace at a glance

The card at the top of the panel shows the workspace you are connected to, its plan, and the transcription time used this month. On the Free plan that is a bar out of 45 minutes with the date it resets; paid plans show their transcription hours. Workspaces that pay with AI credits also see the credit balance and roughly how many minutes it covers.

The buttons under the card open the Inwista website in your browser: Upgrade to Lite on the Free plan, and Buy more credits together with Upgrade to Pro or Manage plan on paid plans. The card refreshes after every job, or when you open Advanced settings and click Back.

4. Choose the sequence and its audio tracks

The panel reads the sequence that is active in Premiere Pro and shows its name and length. If it says No sequence open, click into the timeline of the sequence you want so it becomes the active one, then click Refresh.

When the sequence has clips on more than one audio track, Audio tracks to transcribe lists them with a tick box each, and muted tracks are flagged. Untick music and effects tracks for a cleaner transcript. During the export the panel mutes what you unticked and restores your mute settings afterwards, so nothing in your project changes. With a single track there is nothing to choose and the whole sequence is sent.

5. Language spoken and speaker labels

Language spoken is a searchable list of the 59 languages Inwista transcribes, from Afrikaans to Welsh, including Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Swedish, Danish, Finnish and Icelandic. Type a few letters and press Enter to pick the first match. The panel remembers your choice.

Tick Label speakers to add who is talking to each line. If you know how many people speak, set Number of speakers under Advanced settings; it helps the labels land on the right voices.

6. The Formatting tab

The Formatting tab holds the same Enhance subtitles settings as the Inwista editor, and it is what turns a raw transcript into readable subtitle blocks. Every run formats, whichever tab you start from. Begin with the Enhancement Preset:

1. Standard (Default): Two lines of up to 42 characters, a broadcasting gap of about 99 ms between blocks, blocks on screen between 1 and 7 seconds, every word kept verbatim.
2. Social Media (TikTok / Reels): One line of up to 35 characters, no gap between blocks, blocks capped at 4 seconds.
3. TV & Streaming (Netflix Standard): The Standard rules plus hyphens separating speakers who share a block.
4. Custom: Keeps whatever values are set. Changing any field switches the preset to Custom by itself, and changing it back returns to the matching preset.

Adjusting the rules yourself

Below the preset, three sections open and close like accordions. Layout & Appearance holds Max Lines Per Block (1 or 2), Max Characters Per Line (1 to 100), Block & Line Balancing (bottom-heavy pyramid, top-heavy, even length or unconstrained), Continuation Markers for sentences that run across blocks (none, end of block 1, start of block 2, or both) with a Continuation Marker Style of dash or ellipsis that appears once markers are on, and Speaker & Dialogue Format (none, hyphens, speaker name, or name in brackets).

Language Rules has one setting, Text Condensation. None (Verbatim) keeps every word; Smart and Aggressive let the AI tighten sentences that would otherwise read too fast. Timing & Pacing sets the Gap Between Blocks (none, broadcasting at about 99 ms, streaming at about 132 ms, SDH at about 231 ms), the Minimum Block Duration (0.1 to 10 seconds) and the Maximum Block Duration (1 to 20 seconds, and always longer than the minimum). Hover over or click the small i next to a label to read what it does.

There is no reading speed field. Pacing comes from the block durations, the gap and Text Condensation, so if the subtitles read too fast, shorten the maximum block duration or switch Text Condensation to Smart. A value outside its range is highlighted and Start refuses to run until it is fixed. Your settings are saved on this computer and are there the next time you open Premiere Pro.

7. The Translation tab

Switch to Translation to get the subtitles in another language. Choose the language spoken as before and pick a Translate to language; the spoken language is left out of that list. The subtitles are formatted with the settings on the Formatting tab first and then translated, so the translation keeps the blocks and timing of the formatted original. The button becomes Start translation and stays greyed out until a target language is chosen.

One run gives you one language. For a second language, run the sequence again with another target, or open the project in Inwista afterwards and translate it there.

8. What a run costs

Under the Start button the panel shows an Estimated cost in AI credits with a line explaining what it covers. When you signed in with a code, the transcription itself is paid from your plan minutes, while formatting and translation always use AI credits, so every run shows a credit estimate even with plan time to spare. The estimate follows the length of the sequence; the final charge follows the amount of text. With a pasted API key the transcription is charged in credits too, at the API rate of 4 credits a minute of audio.

If the sequence is longer than the minutes left on your plan, or longer than your plan allows for a single file, the panel says so before you start. When you click Start anyway, it offers to pay the transcription with AI credits instead and shows the cost, your balance and what is left afterwards. Use N credits (the button shows the amount) goes ahead, Cancel stops without charging anything, with too few credits the button reads Buy more credits and opens the purchase page instead, and Or upgrade your plan opens the website. The Free plan runs one plan transcription at a time; a second sequence can wait for the first to finish or go ahead on credits.

If the workspace has too few credits for formatting, the panel warns you up front. The transcription still runs and the plain transcript is imported instead. A translation that cannot be paid for is skipped the same way, and the formatted subtitles in the spoken language are imported.

9. Start, and keep editing

Click Start formatting (or Start translation). The panel exports the audio of the sequence with Premiere's own built-in MP3 preset, uploads it, transcribes, formats, translates if asked, and adds the captions. Each step is listed with its progress, and Show details opens a log you can send to support if something looks wrong. You can keep editing while it runs. The temporary audio file is deleted from your computer as soon as the upload is accepted.

Working with an unusual audio setup? Advanced settings → Audio export lets you pick any audio-only Premiere export preset (.epr) instead of the automatic one; Use automatic switches back.

10. Where the captions land

When the job finishes the panel shows Captions added. The subtitle file is imported into the root of the Project panel, named after the sequence and the language, for example Interview.no.enhanced.srt. The panel then tries to place it at the start of the sequence as a caption track. If Premiere Pro does not let the plugin create the track (this depends on your Premiere Pro version), the file stays in the Project panel: drag it onto the sequence and Premiere Pro creates the caption track for you. From there you style the captions with Premiere Pro's own caption tools, exactly like captions made in Premiere.

Edit or translate in Inwista opens your workspace in the browser. Every sequence you transcribe from the panel appears in the project list there with a small API tag, and you can open it in the editor to correct the text, translate into more languages or export other formats. Transcribe another sequence returns you to the main screen.

Signing out

Sign out sits at the top right of the panel. If you signed in with a code, signing out revokes this computer's key on the server and removes it from the computer, so nothing can use it afterwards; signing in again makes a fresh key. A pasted API key is only forgotten on this computer and keeps working in your other tools. An administrator can also delete the key under API Keys on the workspace page; the panel then asks you to sign in again the next time it loads.

Troubleshooting

Most problems clear up with one of these:

1. No sequence open: Click into the timeline of the sequence you want so it becomes active, then click Refresh. If the panel says Open a project first, open or create a project.
2. The panel is blank or does not respond: Close it and open it again from Window → UXP Plugins. If that does not help, restart Premiere Pro. If the panel still does not load, remove and reinstall it from the Creative Cloud desktop app under Stock & Marketplace → Plugins → Manage plugins. Your settings are kept.
3. Could not reach Inwista: You are still signed in. Check your internet connection and click Try again. If the panel says Inwista could not load your account, the problem is on our side; wait a minute and try again.
4. The code expired, was already used, or the sign-in was cancelled: Click Sign in with Inwista again to get a new code. Codes are valid for a short time only and work once.
5. No audio export preset found, or Premiere refused to start the export: Open Advanced settings → Audio export → Choose preset and pick any audio-only .epr preset, or click Use automatic to return to Premiere's built-in MP3 preset.
6. Captions are not on the timeline: Drag the .srt file from the Project panel onto the sequence. Premiere Pro creates the caption track.
7. Words are missing or wrong: Check that Language spoken is right, untick music and effects tracks, and tick Label speakers for conversations. Under Advanced settings, keep Transcription variation at 0 and raise it only if a word is repeatedly missed.
8. The plain transcript was imported instead of formatted subtitles: The workspace ran out of AI credits for formatting, or formatting failed. Click Buy more credits and run the sequence again, or format the project in the Inwista editor.
9. Fix the highlighted formatting settings before starting: A number on the Formatting tab is outside its range, or the maximum block duration is not longer than the minimum. Correct the highlighted field and start again.