> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.tella.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Add text to your video

> Add editable text from Overlay, then customize its font, color, outline, shadow, background, timing, and fade.

Add text from the **Text** section of **Overlay** in the editor sidebar to place a title, label, caption, emoji, or callout directly on top of your recording.

## Add text

1. Open your video in the editor.
2. Move the playhead to where you want the text to appear.
3. Open **Overlay** in the sidebar, or press `V`.
4. Under **Text**, click a text style, or click the plus button for the default style.
5. Type your text directly on the canvas.

The new text layer starts at the playhead, selects itself, and appears on the timeline. To change its text later, double-click it on the canvas. Click **Browse all** to see every saved text style.

<Note>
  A selected time range wins over the playhead. If you have a range selected (on the timeline or in the transcript), the text spans that range instead, and selecting several ranges adds one text layer to each. Clear the selection first if you want the playhead to decide.
</Note>

## Position, rotate, and resize it

New text boxes hug their contents and grow as you type.

* Drag the text box on the canvas to move it.
* Drag a side handle to set a wrapping width.
* Drag a corner handle to scale the box and its font together.
* Drag the rotation handle above the text box to rotate it.

Unselected text boxes have no visible border. Click the text to select it and show the resize controls.

## Change the style

Select the text layer on the canvas or Overlay timeline. Its detail view groups controls under **Text**, **Decoration**, and **Animation**. Change the color, font, size, and horizontal alignment under Text. Fonts that support it also include weight and width controls.

## Save and reuse a text style

1. Select a text layer on the timeline after customizing its font, size, color, alignment, background, and outline.
2. Open the three-dots menu in the selected layer's detail-panel header.
3. Select **Save as preset**.

Your preset appears first in **Text** under **Overlay**, with a name such as **Style 1**. Click it to add a new text layer with the saved style. Hover over a saved preset and open its three-dots menu to **Rename** or **Delete** it.

Saved presets are personal to you in the current workspace. They sync to your account, so you can use them when you sign in from another browser or device.

## Add an outline

1. Select the text layer on the canvas or Overlay timeline.
2. Under **Decoration**, turn on **Outline**.
3. Use **Outline color** to change the outline from its default black.

The outline follows the letters, with or without a background box. Turn **Outline** off to remove it.

## Add a shadow

Select the text layer, then use **Shadow** under **Decoration** to choose None, Subtle, or Deep.

Without a background, the letters and their outline cast the shadow. With a background, the box casts the shadow instead. Choose None to remove it.

## Add a background box

1. Select the text layer on the canvas or Overlay timeline.
2. Turn on the **Background** toggle.
3. Pick a **Background color** for the box.
4. Choose a **Shape**: Square, Round, or Squircle.

Turn the **Background** toggle off again to remove the box. The **Background color** and **Shape** controls only appear while the toggle is on. **Shadow** remains available with or without a background.

## Upload your own font

1. Select a text layer and open the **Font** picker.
2. Click **Upload** beside **Personal** or your workspace name.
3. Choose one or more `.ttf` or `.otf` font files. Each file must be 20 MB or smaller. Select all the weights you want from a family in the same upload.

Files with the same family name in their font metadata become one library entry. For example, uploading Light, Regular, and Bold files together creates one family with three weights. Italic files appear as a separate entry.

The first uploaded font is selected after the upload finishes. Personal fonts are available to you, while workspace fonts are shared with your workspace.

Select an uploaded family with multiple weights to show the **Weight** control under **Text**. Its stops match the weights you uploaded; values between them use the matching available face, not a newly generated weight. The family starts at Regular when available, or the available weight matched to 400 otherwise. Single-file fonts have no weight control, and uploaded fonts have no width control.

<Note>
  A video can use up to 16 uploaded font entries, with up to 16 weight files per family. All font files used in the video count toward the combined 50 MB limit.
</Note>

Uploading more weights later creates a new entry rather than adding them to an existing family. If you select two files with the same family and weight in one upload, the second is skipped and reported. If some files fail to upload, the successful files are still saved and the picker lists the files that failed.

To remove an uploaded font from a library, open the font picker and click the delete button beside it.

Workspace Owners and Members can upload and delete workspace fonts. Viewers can use workspace fonts, but can only upload or delete fonts in their Personal library.

## Set when it appears

In the timeline:

* Drag the start or end of the text card to change its duration.
* Drag the card left or right to move it earlier or later.
* Hold **Option** on Mac or **Alt** on Windows while dragging to turn snapping off.

Card edges snap to nearby card edges, the playhead, and word boundaries, and the video preview follows the moving edge so you can land on the exact frame.

You can add several text layers and overlap them freely. See [Work with the multi-track timeline](/docs/help/editing/multi-track-timeline) for selecting, splitting, and copying cards.

## Animate the text in and out

By default, text appears and disappears with a hard cut. Select the text layer, then use **Transition** to choose **Smooth** if you want it to fade in and out.

## Duplicate, reorder, or remove text layers

* Select the text layer, open the menu in the detail header, and choose **Duplicate**. The copy keeps the same text, style, position, size, timing, and transition.
* Right-click a text layer on the canvas and choose **Send to front** or **Send to back** to place it above or below other visual overlays.
* On a clip with a camera recording, set **Depth** to **Behind presenter** to put the text behind you, so you appear in front of it. See [Put overlays behind the presenter](/docs/help/editing/overlays-behind-the-presenter).
* Select the text layer and click **Delete** below its settings to remove it.

## Add text as a graphic

For a designed title card, logo lockup, or other graphic that you already created elsewhere, you can add the text as an image:

1. Create your text as an image in a design tool, or [generate media with AI](/docs/help/editing/use-media#generate-media-with-ai).
2. In the **Overlay** sidebar, choose an item under **Media**, or click **Browse all** to upload the image.
3. Move and resize it on the canvas, then adjust its timing in the timeline.

Image overlays are not editable as text. See [Add media overlays](/docs/help/editing/media-overlays) for more details.

## Show a full title card with Media

Use [Media (B-roll)](/docs/help/editing/use-media) when you want a title card or graphic to become the main content of a layout section instead of floating above the recording. Your camera can remain visible in a bubble while the title card fills the rest of the canvas.

## Other ways to add words

* **Subtitles:** automatic captions that you can style and edit. See [Style subtitles](/docs/help/editing/style-subtitles) and [Edit with the transcript](/docs/help/editing/edit-the-transcript-of-a-tella-video).
* **Chapters:** label sections so viewers can navigate your video. See [Chapters](/docs/help/editing/chapters).
* **Your logo:** add a persistent logo with [custom branding](/docs/help/editing/add-your-logo-to-videos).


## Related topics

- [Put overlays behind the presenter](/docs/help/editing/overlays-behind-the-presenter.md)
- [Add your logo to videos](/docs/help/editing/add-your-logo-to-videos.md)
- [Text overlays](/docs/mcp-tools/text-overlays.md)
- [Add a text overlay to a clip](/docs/api-reference/clips/add-a-text-overlay-to-a-clip.md)
- [Record and add clips to a video](/docs/help/recording/use-clips.md)


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