# Show captions one word at a time

> In Tella, ask the Tella Agent to turn on single-word captions so only the spoken word shows. To do it yourself, click Subs, turn on Subtitles, open your style's settings and turn on Single-word captions under Active word. To keep full lines and highlight the current word, choose Text, Background or Fade the rest.

Page: https://www.tella.com/agent/one-word-at-a-time-captions · Part of Tella Agent (https://www.tella.com/agent)

## How do I make my captions show one word at a time or highlight the active word?

In Tella, ask the [Tella Agent](https://www.tella.com/agent) to turn on single-word captions so only the spoken word shows. To do it yourself, click Subs, turn on Subtitles, open your style's settings and turn on Single-word captions under Active word. To keep full lines and highlight the current word, choose Text, Background or Fade the rest.

## Prompt to start from

```text
Turn on subtitles and switch them to single-word captions so only the word I'm saying shows. Use a bold uppercase font, white text with a black outline, large size. Then show me a card with the caption size so I can fine-tune it.
```

## More prompts

### Fitness creator on TikTok

```text
Show captions one word at a time for this 40-second TikTok workout tip. Use uppercase, bright yellow #FFD60A with a dark shadow. Place them a bit above the middle so they clear the app buttons.
```

### Founder clips for LinkedIn

```text
Keep two-line subtitle blocks for my founder clip. Highlight the spoken word in brand teal #14B8A6 and keep the rest of the line white. Put them near the bottom at medium size.
```

## How to do it in Tella

1. Open your video in the Tella editor and open the Tella Agent.
2. Ask for single-word captions with your font, colors, size and position.
3. Adjust the size live with any caption controls the agent shows.
4. Click Save as preset in Edit style to reuse the look.

## Good to know

- Needs a paid plan or the 7-day trial. Messages use your workspace's credits.
- Lines is unavailable while Single-word captions is on. Turn it off to get blocks of one to three lines.
- Single-word captions stay in one place and don't move between words.
- Subtitles come from your transcript, so fix wrong words in the Subtitles view of the Script panel.

## Questions people ask

### Can I set single-word captions with Claude or ChatGPT?

Yes. Connect [Claude](https://claude.ai/directory/tella) or [ChatGPT](https://chatgpt.com/plugins/plugin_asdk_app_6a7026f78434819186579d93d20ab38b?open_in_app) to Tella's [MCP server](https://www.tella.com/mcp) and ask it to update your subtitles. Its update_video tool sets captionGrouping to singleWord and takes a captionStyle for options like letter case and colors.

### Do single-word captions show up in my exported video?

Yes. Tella burns single-word captions into exports with subtitles. Shared videos show them on devices with hardware WebGPU support. Other viewers see the browser's default captions without your styling.

### Does the tella-short skill turn on captions?

Yes. In Tella, the tella-short skill makes a trimmed 1080×1920 copy of your video with captions on. Afterward, ask the Tella Agent to switch them to one word at a time.

## Related

- [Turn a long video into an Instagram Reel with a strong hook](https://www.tella.com/agent/instagram-reels-editing-prompts.md): Turn a long video into a vertical Reel with a hook.
- [Kinetic typography, timed to the words you say](https://www.tella.com/motion/kinetic-typography.md): Animated text timed to the words you say.
- [Save an edit once, then run it on every video](https://www.tella.com/agent/video-editing-skills.md): Save an edit once and run it on every video.
- [Show one word at a time in captions](https://www.tella.com/help/editing/show-one-word-at-a-time-in-captions)
- [Style subtitles](https://www.tella.com/help/editing/style-subtitles#highlight-the-active-word)
- [Edit with the Tella Agent](https://www.tella.com/help/editing/edit-with-the-tella-agent)
- [All of Tella's AI features](https://www.tella.com/ai.md)