Sayqua saves the drudgery of manually copying subtitles from a document to Final Cut Pro. You can start with something like a Word or Excel document containing subtitle text, with or without timecodes. You choose the formatting options such as font, characters per line, lines per subtitle, etc. and Sayqua will automatically create multiple subtitles from any block of text. If timecodes are provided, the subtitles will be placed to fit within the timecodes. If there are no timecodes, subtitles will be placed at regular intervals in the sequence.

You can also use Sayqua to create Final Cut Pro subtitles from an SRT or STL file. All languages are supported.

01:05:30:22

Lorem ipsum dolor sit
amet, consectetur

01:05:33:16

adipiscing elit.

01:06:40:13

Sed non lorem ut massa
sollicitudin lobortis

01:07:15:18

parturient montes,
nascetur ridiculus mus.

You do not need to install Sayqua as a Final Cut Pro plugin. It is entirely an online service.

For details on types of documents supported, see Files Supported. For timecode options, see Timecode Options. For formatting, see Formatting Options.

For details on cost and payment, see Cost & Payment.

1You provide subtitle text 2Sayqua creates XML document 3Download & import into Final Cut Pro

If you know what XML is or don't care to know (it's not essential), skip this paragraph. In a simplified sense, XML is a way to represent objects, and the relationships between them, in text form. From Final Cut, you can export a project or a sequence as an XML document. The video and audio tracks, clips, etc. are represented in this document following certain rules. The same goes for Text Generators. In addition to exporting, you can also Import an XML document into FCP.

Sayqua takes the subtitle text you provide and represents it as subtitles for Final Cut in XML. When you import the document generated by Sayqua, you will see a sequence of Text Generators with the subtitle text properly segmented and formatted.

There are 2 ways you can provide the subtitle text to Sayqua. Option 1 is File Upload. For details on types of files supported for upload, see Files Supported.

If you do not have one of the file types supported or do not wish to upload, option 2: Copy & Paste from the Home page also provides a fast and flexible alternative. Simply copy-paste the subtitle data directly into the browser, with or without timecodes. This alternative is better suited for small amounts of data. See an example.

For timecode options, see Timecode Options. For formatting, see Formatting Options

If you have a table in a Word document, copy it to an Excel worksheet, or other spreasheet application of your choice, and follow the steps outlined in the section below. You cannot directly upload the Word document. The table must be copied to a spreadsheet and saved as a CSV file.

If no table, or if you don't wish to copy to a spreadsheet and convert to CSV, follow the steps here to copy and paste the text from the document directly into the browser.

See Timecode Options for details on timecode format and ordering.

1Ensure correct column order 2Save as CSV 3Upload

1. Allowed column orders:

SubtitleIf no timecodes (include only subtitle text in the first column)

NOTE: the column order must be consistent through the entire document.

2. Save it as CSV file (Menu → Save As → .csv).

3. Upload the CSV file.

There is max 250 KB limit on file uploads. If you have a large document, break it up into smaller documents and save each individually as CSV to upload.

You can directly upload a CSV file, but ensure correct timecode order and format. If both start and end timecodes are included, the order must be TimecodeIn, TimecodeOut, Subtitle. If only start timecodes are included, the order must be TimecodeIn, Subtitle. Only subtitle text, without timecodes, is also acceptable. See Timecode Options for more details on timecode format and ordering.

Supported field delimiters for CSV are comma, semi-colon, tab or space character. Supported escape characters are double or single quote.

There is max 250 KB limit on file uploads. If you have a larger file, break it up into smaller files and individually upload each.

You can directly upload an SRT or STL file. Timecodes are not optional and must be present, adhering to SRT/STL specification. The subtitles created for FCP will be placed according to the timecodes and their associated text in the file.

There is max 250 KB limit on file uploads. If you have a larger file, break it up into smaller files and individually upload each.

Most spreadsheet applications, for e.g. OpenOffice, FileMaker, Google Docs, allow saving a worksheet as a CSV file. Once saved as CSV, you can upload the file. Just ensure correct column ordering and format as in the Excel case.

Alternatively, you can choose option 2: Copy & Paste on the Home page and paste the data directly into the browser. Follow the steps here.

You can also let me know if you want this file type supported for upload.

This option provides a flexible alternative if you are working with a small amount of data, do not have one of the supported file types, do not wish to upload a file, or are working with foreign language text you do not wish to convert to Utf-8. Different timecode options are supported as in the case of file upload, detailed further here, but timecodes must be of the accepted formats. Simply copy the text from your file to the browser.

Examples of text with start timecodes:

All languages are supported, but... if choosing option 1: Upload File, the document must be Utf-8 encoded. See here for instructions on how to save your file with Utf-8 encoding. If choosing option 2: Copy & Paste, you can copy-paste the text as is into the browser.

This is likely because there are characters/symbols outside of the English language in the transaltion text and the file uploaded is not Utf-8 encoded. See here for instructions on how to fix this.

If you are familiar with character sets and encoding, or don't care to know (it's not essential), skip this paragraph. All characters (a, B, $, etc.) are represented by numbers at a lower level. Different standards evolved, especially for non-English characters, representing the same character by different numbers. Unicode and ISO-8859 are two of those standards. Utf-8 is based on the first, Unicode, standard and it is what this program supports. Utf-8 is capable of representing any character in any language. However, your document may be using another standard to encode characters and needs to be converted to Utf-8. This is simple.

Note: encoding is not the same thing as a file extension (a .srt file may be encoded as Utf-8 or ISO-8859).

You can use most basic text editors to convert your document to Utf-8. For example, in MAC, open the CSV, SRT or STL file in TextEdit, change Preferences to save as Utf-8, and re-save the file.

Other text editors may give the option to choose the encoding anytime you save a file (Menu → Save As, notice where it says Character Encoding, and choose Utf-8).

Accepted timecode formats are

hh:mm:ss,mss

hh = hours. mm = minutes. ss = seconds. ff = frames. mss = milliseconds.

These formats are based on Final Cut Pro, SRT and STL formats. If you would like other formats supported, you can let me know.

Ensure the order in the document is TimecodeIn, TimecodeOut, Subtitle. Select "It contains both start and end timecodes" in the Settings tab. Ensure the timecodes are among the recognized formats.

When both start and end timecodes are provided, Text Generators with subtitles will be placed at the correct frame offsets in the sequence. Based on the format options you choose (see Formatting Options), the subtitle text within a pair of start and end timecodes will automatically be broken up into mutilple Text Generators spaced apart by 10 frames. The length of each Generator will depend on the end timecode.

NOTE: It is assumed that video clips start at mm:ss:ff offset of 00:00:00. If the video minutes, seconds or frames offset is non-zero, the subtitles will appear shifted by the amount of the video offset. In this case, you can shift the entire subtitle sequence, once imported into Final Cut, by the appropriate amount to match the video.

NOTE: the column order must be consistent through the entire document.

Ensure the order in the document is TimecodeIn, Subtitle. Select "It contains only start timecodes" in the Settings tab. Ensure the timecodes are among the recognized formats.

When start timecodes are provided, Text Generators with subtitles will be placed at the correct frame offsets in the sequence. Based on the format options you choose (see Formatting Options), the subtitle text associated with each start timecode will automatically be broken up into mutilple Text Generators spaced apart by 10 frames. The length of each Generator will depend on your stated preferred length and the next start timecode.

NOTE: It is assumed that video clips start at mm:ss:ff offset of 00:00:00. If the video minutes, seconds or frames offset is non-zero, the subtitles will appear shifted by the amount of the video offset. In this case, you can shift the entire subtitle sequence, once imported into Final Cut, by the appropriate amount to match the video.

NOTE: the column order must be consistent through the entire document.

Ensure the document contains only subtitle text in the first column. Select "It does not contain any timecodes" in the Settings tab.

You will be asked to state a preferred time length for each subtitle. The first Text Generator will be placed at offset 00:00:00:00. The Generators will be spaced apart by 10 frames and the length of each will be the preferred time length you provide. The segmentation of the subtitle text will depend on the format options you choose (see Formatting Options).

NOTE: the column order must be consistent through the entire document.

If timecodes are wrong and conflict (start timecode is greater than corresponding end timecode, or overlaps with timecodes of an earlier subtitle), the program will report an error. In this case, you can

a) Fix the timecodes.

b) Select "It contains timecodes, but ignore them" in the Settings tab. The timecodes in the file will be ignored. Ensure the timecodes are among the recognized formats (see Timecode Formats), otherwise they may not be properly cleaned up and you will end up with pseudo-timecode looking text in the subtitles. You will be asked to state a preferred time length for each subtitle. The first Text Generator will be placed at offset 00:00:00:00. The Generators will be spaced apart by 10 frames and the length of each will be the preferred time length you provide. The segmentation of the subtitle text will depend on the formatting options you choose (see Formatting Options).

The timecode format may not be recognized. See Accepted Timecode Formats.

There may be one or more missing timecodes. For example, if you selected "It contains both start and end timecodes", each block of subtitle text must be preceded by both a valid start and end timecode. See here for proper ordering of timecode and text.

Or, there may be a timecode conflict (start timecode is greater than corresponding end timecode, or overlaps with timecodes of an earlier subtitle). See the above section ("There are timecodes, but some or most are wrong") for options.

If you think there is some other problem, you can Report an Issue. Include a sample and description of what you are trying to do.

Auto line-break detects the end of a sentence and forces the start of the next sentence onto a subsequent line (or subsequent Text Generator).

Example: at 26 characters/line, 2 lines/subtitle, and given block of text

"This is the 1st. This is the 2nd. Is the 3rd. The 4th one will need two lines."

Choose auto line-break if breaks have not already been inserted into the text at the desired locations. If you have already pre-formatted the text the way you would like it to appear in the subtitles, do not choose auto line-break.

Note: this option is not available for SRT or STL files.

You can set the maximum number of characters per line of subtitle in the Settings tab. The default is max 26 characters.

Note: this option is not available for SRT or STL files.

You can set the maximum number of lines per subtitle (i.e. per Text Generator) in the Settings tab. The default is max 2 lines.

Note: this option is not available for SRT or STL files.

The default font and styling applied to all subtitles is

drop-shadow: Black @ Offset:1

You can customize font, text formatting and effects for your subtitles by following the instructions here

In the Settings tab, select the video type to match your Final Cut Pro project. Select the frame rate of the video (this will be used along with timecodes to calculate the frame offset of subtitles).

For NTSC video, if the timecodes provided follow drop frame timecode labelling, select Adjust for drop frame in the Settings tab, such that the subtitles generated match the video.

If you are unfamiliar with drop frame vs non-drop frame timecodes, see here.

Version 7 is supported and actively tested.

Versions 5.1.2+ and 6 are supported according to the specification, but not actively tested.

It has never been tested, but if you're feeling lucky, give it a go! (You can use a free trial) And if it works, let me know!

Final Cut Pro X is currently not supported. As features will likely be added according to demand, if this is something you would like to see supported sooner rather than later, please let me know.

The cost is USD 69.00 for 1 year unlimited usage. You can subscribe here.

Payment is via Paypal.

You will need to be logged in to download the subtitle XML files created. Files will be available for download for at least 48 hours from the time of creation.

If you wish to remove a file from the system sooner than the minimum time, use the Delete (X) option next to each file on the download page.

Your files are private and accessible only to you, even if the links to your files are known to someone else.

If security of your files is extremely vital to you, please note that download (as well as upload) takes places over an http, not https channel.

There is no cost to creating an account and you get 3 free trials on signing up.

Your files are private and accessible only to you, even if the links to your files are known to someone else.

The personal information you provide - your email - will not be disclosed anyone else. It is solely used for the purpose of maintaining your account on this system. You won't be getting any spam from Sayqua.

When you create an account the free trials will automatically come into play. The first 5 subtitle XMLs created will be available to you to download for free.