Adding text in iMovie takes three steps: place your cursor where you want the text to appear on the timeline, click the Text button, and type your words into the box that appears.
iMovie calls text overlays "titles" and "captions" depending on where they sit in your video. A title usually appears at the start or over a clip, while a caption runs along the bottom. Both work the same way — you insert them at a specific moment, choose a style, and type. The text stays on screen for as long as you tell it to, and you can move it, resize it, or change its appearance after you've placed it.
This guide walks you through adding text on Mac. If you're using iMovie on iPad or iPhone, the steps are nearly identical, though the buttons appear in slightly different places on the smaller screen.
Key Takeaways
- Text in iMovie is added by clicking the Text button in the toolbar, selecting a style, and typing into the text box that appears on your timeline.
- You position text at a specific moment by clicking on the timeline where you want it to start, then adjusting its duration by dragging the edges of the text clip.
- iMovie includes dozens of built-in text styles with animations — you can preview them before you commit to one.
- After you add text, you can change its font, size, color, and alignment by double-clicking the text clip and using the formatting panel on the right side of the screen.
Finding the Text button and choosing a style
Open your project in iMovie and find the toolbar at the top of the screen. Look for a button labeled "Text" — it usually sits between the "Photos" and "Music" buttons. Click it, and a panel will open on the right side showing all available text styles. Each style has a name like "Fade", "Bounce", or "Typewriter", and a small preview showing how the text will animate.
Scroll through the styles until you find one you like. You don't have to decide right now — you can change the style later. For now, click any style you want to try. iMovie will place a text clip on your timeline at the playhead position (the vertical line showing where you are in the video). If the playhead is at the beginning, the text appears at the beginning. If you want text to appear later, move the playhead first by clicking on the timeline where you want the text to start.
After you click a style, a text box will appear on your video preview. The words "Sample Text" will be highlighted and ready to replace. Start typing your actual text, and it will replace the sample immediately.
Positioning text and controlling how long it stays on screen
When you add text, iMovie places it at the playhead position and gives it a default duration — usually three to five seconds depending on the style. You can see the text clip on the timeline as a colored bar below your video clip. The length of that bar shows how long the text will appear.
To change where the text starts, click and drag the text clip left or right on the timeline. To change how long it stays on screen, position your cursor at the right edge of the text clip until a resize cursor appears (usually a double-headed arrow), then drag left to shorten it or right to lengthen it. If you want the text to cover your entire video, drag the right edge all the way to the end of the video clip.
You can also double-click the text clip to open the text editor panel on the right. At the top of that panel, you'll see a duration field showing the current length in seconds. Click that field and type a new number to set an exact duration.
Changing text appearance and formatting
Double-click the text clip on the timeline to open the formatting panel on the right side. At the top, you'll see the text box where you can edit the words themselves. Below that are buttons and sliders to change how the text looks.
The "Font" dropdown lets you choose from dozens of typefaces. The size slider controls how large the text appears. The color button (usually a colored square) opens a color picker where you can choose any color you want. The alignment buttons let you left-align, center, or right-align your text on the screen.
If you want to change the animation style after you've already added the text, look for the style preview panel on the right. Click a different style, and iMovie will swap the animation immediately. Your text content and formatting stay the same — only the animation changes.
Moving and resizing text on the screen
Text doesn't have to sit in the center of your video. You can move it anywhere and make it larger or smaller. Click the text on the video preview itself (not on the timeline), and a bounding box with handles will appear around it. Drag the text to move it to a new position. Drag any of the corner handles to resize it while keeping the proportions the same. Drag the side or top handles to stretch it in one direction.
If the text is hard to see against your video background, you can add a background box behind it. With the text clip selected, look for an option called "Background" or "Text Background" in the formatting panel. Turn it on, and iMovie will place a semi-transparent box behind your text so it's readable no matter what's behind it.
Deleting or replacing text
To remove a text clip entirely, click it on the timeline and press Delete or Backspace. The text disappears, and the timeline closes the gap. To replace the text with different words, double-click the text clip, select all the text in the text box (Ctrl+A on Windows or Command+A on Mac), and type your new text.
If you want to keep the same text but change only the style, click the text clip on the timeline, then click a different style in the text styles panel on the right. The new style applies immediately.
Adding multiple text clips to one video
You can add as many text clips as you want. Each one is separate, so you can position them at different times and format them differently. To add a second text clip, move the playhead to where you want it to appear, click the Text button again, choose a style, and type. Repeat this for as many text clips as you need.
If you want several text clips to appear at the same time, add the first one, then add the second one without moving the playhead. Both will start at the same moment on the timeline. You can then adjust the duration of each one independently by dragging the edges of their clips on the timeline.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use a custom font that's not in iMovie's list?
iMovie uses only the fonts installed on your Mac. If you want to use a font that isn't showing up, you can install it through Font Book (the font management app on Mac), and it will appear in iMovie's font dropdown the next time you open the program. Third-party fonts from websites like Google Fonts or Adobe Fonts work the same way.
Why does my text look blurry or pixelated?
This usually happens when you resize text to be much larger than its default size. Try reducing the text size slightly, or choose a different font — some fonts look sharper at large sizes than others. If the text is still blurry, check that your video resolution is set to 1080p or higher in your project settings.
Can I make text appear and disappear with an animation?
Yes. The text styles in iMovie include entrance and exit animations. When you choose a style like "Fade" or "Bounce", the text animates in at the start and out at the end. The animation duration is part of the overall text duration, so if you set text to three seconds with a fade style, part of that time is the fade-in and fade-out.
How do I add a subtitle or caption to the bottom of my video?
Add text the same way you would anywhere else — click Text, choose a style, and type. Then drag the text box to the bottom of the video preview. Many of iMovie's built-in styles are designed for captions and will automatically position near the bottom. You can also manually move any text to the bottom and adjust its size to fit.
Can I copy text formatting from one text clip to another?
iMovie doesn't have a format painter tool, but you can manually match the formatting by opening each text clip and adjusting the font, size, and color to match. If you're adding several text clips with the same look, choose the same style for all of them — this keeps them consistent without having to format each one individually.