Practical digital skills

Check video captions before publishing

Review speech, names and meaningful sounds, then test timing and readability in the player your audience will use.

Step-by-step guideUpdated
Follow the method ↓
A person checks a printed transcript beside a microphone and a tablet playing a video

The answer in 30 seconds

Choose a short clip you are allowed to use and prepare a list of expected terms. Review accuracy and reading comfort in separate passes so that a fluent sentence does not hide a transcription error.

Automatic captions are a starting point. Check spoken meaning, speaker changes, meaningful sounds and display timing before publishing the finished video.

Examples to adapt

An unfamiliar name

A short glossary helps you correct repeated names consistently.

A reversed instruction

A missing negative can change a sentence that still sounds perfectly natural.

Follow the method

  1. 1
    Prepare a reference

    List names, abbreviations and specialist terms. Keep the source video and a separate copy of the caption track.

  2. 2
    Check meaning

    Listen sentence by sentence, paying attention to numbers and negatives. Flag unclear audio instead of inventing words.

  3. 3
    Review presentation

    Watch once without sound and once with it. Look for delayed captions, rushed lines and text covering important visual details.

  4. 4
    Test the published version

    Open the final file in the intended player on a small screen. Confirm that the correct language track can be enabled.

A checklist to keep

Use these checks to record your observations. They are a reading aid, not an automatic assessment.

Check video captions before publishing: checklist
CheckWhat to examineAction
TextNames, numbers, negativesReview
ContextSpeaker and meaningful soundClarify
TimingStart, end and reading paceWatch
DeliveryLanguage and final playerTest

Download the CSV checklist

Free, no sign-up. UTF-8 text with semicolon-separated columns.

What to check

Transcription and translation address different needs.

The caption track must match the video version.

An editor preview does not replace a final playback check.

Common questions

Are automatic captions enough?

Review them before publication.

Should I test on a phone?

Yes. Small screens help reveal timing, size and overlap problems.

Sources and documentation

Documentation consulted on . Examples are illustrative; interfaces and results may change.

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