How to add text animation to a video
Last updated 2026-10-20
Text animation brings words onto the screen, holds them, then takes them off. Choose the entrance by job: a fade for titles, a slide for lower thirds, a pop for labels, a typewriter for short lines, and a word-by-word or line reveal for longer text timed to speech. Keep entrances short and hold the text long enough to read.
Kinds of text on a video
Name the job before you pick a style. Four kinds cover most videos.
- Title. Opens the video or names a section. Big, centred and held long enough to read twice.
- Label. Names something in the shot, like a product or a step. Small and close to what it names.
- Callout. Points at one detail or one number. Short, and gone once the detail has landed.
- Lower third. A name or role in the lower part of the frame, usually when someone first speaks.
Entrance styles and when each fits
Use one or two entrances in a video. Five different ones read as noise, not style.
| Entrance | Feel | Fits |
|---|---|---|
| Fade | Quiet | Titles, and anything that should not draw the eye |
| Slide | Directional, tidy | Lower thirds and labels |
| Pop | Quick, light | Labels and short callouts |
| Typewriter | Letter by letter | Short lines and quotes |
| Word by word | Follows speech | Hooks and quotes timed to the voice |
| Blur or wipe | Soft, filmic | Opening titles |
Time text to speech
Text should arrive as the speaker reaches it. Start it on the first word of the line, or a beat early, and finish the entrance before the sentence does.
The usual mistake is a typing animation on a long line. Letter by letter only works on a short line. On a long one, the typing outlasts the speaker, and viewers read ahead of the voice or wait for the text. For longer lines, use a word-by-word or line reveal.
On a Mac, iMovie ships ready-made animated titles in its Titles browser. Apple notes you cannot change the font of some theme-styled and animated titles, so check before you rely on one.
Keep it readable
Hold text long enough to read aloud once at a normal pace, then a beat more. Contrast matters more than style. When the footage behind the words is bright or busy, give the text an outline, a shadow or a solid backing before you add any motion.
Keep text off the platform's buttons, and do not put text and burned-in captions in the same spot.
Woven's text styles and entrance names
A Woven text box has one In, one Out and one Loop. Typewriter and Character Rise reveal letter by letter. Word Fade, Word Spring and Word Reveal go word by word. Line Reveal suits multi-line statements. Center Build re-centres the text as words arrive, and Stack Build stacks them downward.
The seven text styles are Plain, Bold, Subtitle, Pill, Calligraphy, Crossout and Watermark.
| Slot | Choices |
|---|---|
| In | Fade, Pop, Slide Up, Typewriter, Soft Blur, Character Rise, Word Fade, Word Spring, Word Reveal, Line Reveal, Wipe Reveal, Focus Resolve, Center Build, Stack Build |
| Out | Fade Out, Shrink, Slide Out, Blur Out, Blur Out Up, Wipe Out |
| Loop | Pulse, Shake, Float, Flicker, Shimmer |
Animate text in Woven
A new text box says Text, in the Bold style with a Fade entrance, and lasts 3 seconds. Captions get a shorter entrance list and no Typewriter, so use a text box for a typewriter effect. Woven has no lower-third template. As a recipe, not a preset, put a text box in the Subtitle or Pill style near the bottom of the frame.
Ask in chat
- Add a title that says 'Three mistakes' and make it type on.
- Put the speaker's name in a Pill text near the bottom for the first 3 seconds.
- Make the callout pop in, then fade out after 2 seconds.
- Reveal this quote word by word, starting when I say it.
Or do it by hand
- 1Place the text. Move the playhead to where the text should appear and click Add › Text. Double-click the box on the canvas and type your words.
- 2Choose a style. On the Style tab, pick a Text style under Appearance. Drag the box where you want it.
- 3Animate it. Open the Animation tab. Under Presets, choose an In such as Typewriter, then an Out, and set each Duration. Slide Up and Slide Out add a Direction row.
- 4Time it. Play it with the voice. Ask in chat to start the text on a spoken word and end it when the sentence ends.
- 5Make it readable. Set Size and Text color on the Edit tab. Over busy footage, add Outline or Shadow under Effects on the Style tab. For a typing sound, add keyboard-typing-realistic from Add › Sound Effects and trim it to the typing.
Common questions
It is motion applied to on-screen text: an entrance, sometimes an exit, and sometimes a loop while it stays up. It makes text easier to notice and tells viewers when to read it.
Use an entrance that reveals letters one at a time, and keep the line short. In Woven, choose Typewriter under In on the Animation tab of a text box.
Select Titles above the browser and add a title, then double-click the placeholder text and type. Apple says many titles are animated, and skimming the thumbnails shows how each moves.
Long enough to read it aloud once at a normal pace, plus a beat. Lengthen it if the entrance is slow, because reading cannot start until the text is there.
A name or label placed in the lower part of the frame, often when someone first speaks. Woven has no lower-third template, so build one from a text box in the Subtitle or Pill style.
Only partly. Woven's caption entrances are Fade, Pop, Slide Up, Wipe Reveal and Focus Resolve, and text-only choices such as Typewriter are not offered for captions.
Sources
- Add titles in iMovie on Mac - Apple Support, checked October 19, 2026
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