How to Add Text in Adobe Premiere Pro: The Ultimate Guide

Adding text is an essential skill for any Adobe Premiere Pro user. Whether you‘re creating titles, lower thirds, captions or other graphics, knowing how to add and customize text can take your videos to the next level.

In this in-depth guide, I‘ll walk you through everything you need to know about working with text in Premiere Pro. You‘ll learn multiple ways to add text, how to customize its appearance in the Essential Graphics panel, how to animate text, and even how to use pre-made motion graphics templates.

By the end, you‘ll be a text maestro ready to create stunning, professional-looking text elements in all your video projects. Let‘s get started!

Adding Text with the Type Tool

The most basic way to add text in Premiere Pro is by using the Type tool. Here‘s how:

1. In your Timeline panel, position the playhead where you want the text to appear.
2. Select the Type tool in the Tools panel (or press Ctrl+T).
3. In the Program Monitor, click and drag to draw a text box where you want the text.
4. Type your text. Press Ctrl+Enter to start a new line.
5. Use the Selection tool (V) to reposition or resize the text box if needed.

By default, Premiere uses a plain white text style, but you can easily customize this in the Essential Graphics panel.

Customizing Text in the Essential Graphics Panel

To change the appearance of your text, head over to the Essential Graphics panel. If you don‘t see it, go to Window > Essential Graphics to open it.

Here you‘ll find a wealth of options for styling your text. At the top you can change basic properties like opacity and scale.

Below that are four sections with even more options:

• Text
• Appearance
• Background
• Shadow

Font Family & Style

In the Text section, you can change the font family and style (e.g. bold or italic). Click the font family dropdown to see all available fonts. You can also use the Character panel (Window > Character) to access even more properties like kerning and vertical scale.

Size & Justification

Use the Size field to change the font size. You can also change the horizontal and vertical justification, which determines how multiple lines of text are aligned.

Fill Color

In the Appearance section, click the color box next to Fill color to launch a color picker where you can select any color for the text.

For extra control, click the eyedropper to sample a color from the video frame, or the No Fill icon to make the text transparent.

Strokes

Adding a stroke (outline) around text is a great way to make it stand out from the background. Check the Stroke box and use the color and size properties to customize the stroke‘s appearance.

Drop Shadows

To add a drop shadow behind text, check the Shadow box. You can then adjust the shadow‘s color, angle, distance, softness and more to get the perfect subtle (or not-so-subtle) shadow effect.

Background Boxes

The Background section lets you add a colored or gradient box behind text, which is great for lower thirds. Use the color and size properties to style the box, and check Transform With Text to make the box automatically resize with the text.

Animating Text

To make your text more dynamic and engaging, you can animate it! Premiere Pro makes it easy to animate text properties like position, scale and rotation.

Using Keyframes

To animate text, you‘ll use keyframes, which are markers that store property values at specific points in time.

1. In the Essential Graphics panel, click the small stopwatch icon next to a property you want to animate, like Position. This will turn keyframing on and place a keyframe at the playhead.
2. Move the playhead forward and change the property value. Premiere will automatically add a new keyframe.
3. Continue moving the playhead and changing the value to build the animation.
4. To make the animation smoother, select a keyframe and change its temporal interpolation in the Effect Controls panel. Ease In will make the animation start slow and end fast, while Ease Out does the opposite.

You can also go to the Effect Controls panel and use the Motion effect to animate even more transform properties. And don‘t forget you can copy and paste keyframes!

Saving Custom Animation Presets

If you‘ve created a complex text animation you want to reuse, you can save it as a preset:

1. Select the text layer in the Timeline.
2. Open the Essential Graphics panel and click the menu icon in the upper right.
3. Choose Export As Motion Graphics Template.
4. Give your preset a name, choose a location, and click OK.

Now you can apply that animation to any text layer by clicking Browse in the Essential Graphics panel, finding the preset, and clicking Apply.

Using MOGRTs (Motion Graphics Templates)

If you want to add professional animated text (or other graphics) without having to build them yourself, try using MOGRTs.

What are MOGRTs?

MOGRT stands for Motion Graphics Template. These are pre-made, customizable graphics created in Adobe After Effects. You can think of them as advanced versions of the title templates available in previous Premiere Pro versions.

MOGRTs can contain text, shapes, images, video and audio. Publishers often sell packages of professionally designed MOGRTs for different uses like titles, lower thirds, and transitions.

Installing MOGRTs

To install a MOGRT you‘ve purchased or downloaded:

1. Open the Essential Graphics panel.
2. Click the Install Motion Graphics Template button at the bottom.
3. Browse to the MOGRT file (.mogrt) and click Open.

The MOGRT will be added to the Essential Graphics panel for use in your projects.

Adding MOGRTs to Projects

To add a MOGRT to your project:

1. In the Essential Graphics panel, locate the MOGRT you want to use. You may need to click the All Presets menu and select Installed Templates.
2. Drag the MOGRT from the Essential Graphics panel into the Timeline, placing it in position above a clip you want it to appear over.

Many MOGRTs have a default duration, but you can trim them by dragging the ends in the Timeline.

Customizing MOGRT Text & Other Elements

The real power of MOGRTs is that you can customize them to fit your project. Select the MOGRT in the Timeline to see its options in the Effect Controls panel.

MOGRT designers can expose different elements for you to customize, like text fields, colors, and logos. Edit the text, choose colors, swap out the logo, or toggle elements on and off. Any changes you make will update the MOGRT in your timeline.

Keep in mind you can‘t fundamentally change how the MOGRT is built (you‘d need After Effects for that). But as long as you pick a MOGRT that generally fits your needs, the customization options should give you plenty of flexibility.

Pro Tips for Premiere Pro Text

As you get more comfortable working with text in Premiere Pro, keep these tips in mind:

• Adjust text layers‘ opacity in the Effect Controls panel to create a fade in/out effect.
• Use the Align and Transform controls in the Essential Graphics panel to perfectly position text.
• Try stacking multiple text elements (e.g. a title and subtitle) in the same text box using line breaks.
• For unique text effects, apply an effect like Drop Shadow or Gaussian Blur to the text layer.
• Choose fonts that complement your video‘s mood and style. Avoid overused fonts like Comic Sans or Papyrus.
• Keep text readable with high contrast colors, large sizes, and minimal movement.

Conclusion

You made it to the end! By now you should have the skills and confidence to add any kind of text to your Premiere Pro projects.

Adding basic text with the Type tool is a great place to start. But by diving into the Essential Graphics panel you can take the style and animation of your text to a whole new level. And with MOGRTs, the creative possibilities are endless.

Like any skill, working with text takes time and practice to fully master. So keep experimenting with different tools and techniques. Try out new fonts and effects to develop your own unique text style.

Most of all, have fun with it! Adding the right text can tie a whole project together and help you communicate with your viewers.

What text effects will you create in Premiere Pro? Share your favorite tips or text examples in the comments below!