How to Add Text Overlays and Animated Titles in CapCut (2026 Guide)

If you have ever watched a TikTok or Reel and wondered how creators get those punchy captions and bold animated titles on screen, the answer is simpler than it looks. CapCut’s text tools are free and beginner-friendly. This guide walks you through adding text overlays, styling them, animating them, and timing them perfectly.

How to Add Text in CapCut: The Basic Steps

Adding a basic text overlay takes less than a minute. Here is the exact workflow in the CapCut mobile app:

1. Open your project. Launch CapCut and start a new project or open an existing draft.
2. Tap “Text”. In the bottom toolbar, tap Text.
3. Tap “Add text”. A panel opens with Add text, Auto Captions, and Text templates. Tap Add text.
4. Type your text. A text box appears. Tap inside and type a hook, title, or call to action.
5. Position and resize. Drag the box where you want it. Pinch with two fingers to scale, or rotate slightly for a tilt effect.
6. Check the timeline. CapCut puts the text on its own layer above your video clip, and it appears wherever that layer sits.

Every animated title in this guide starts with this exact step.

Customizing Your Text: Fonts, Colors, and Styles

Default white text works, but styling is what makes your text match your video’s mood. With the text layer selected on the timeline, open the Style panel for the full set of options.

Change the font and size

Browse the Font Library

CapCut ships with a large built-in font library. Tap any font and your text updates instantly.

Fine-Tune the Size and Spacing

Adjust size with the slider or by pinching, and set alignment and letter spacing to fine-tune the look.

Add color, stroke, background, and shadow

Make Text Readable

This is what makes text readable on any footage. Change the text color, then add a stroke (outline) so letters stand out against busy backgrounds.

Add Background and Shadow

The background option puts a solid pill behind your text, the classic TikTok caption look, and a subtle shadow adds depth. Most fonts and styles are free, though a few premium ones carry a Pro badge and need a CapCut Pro subscription.

How to Animate Text in CapCut

Static text delivers the message, but animated text keeps eyes on the screen. CapCut offers three routes to motion, from one-tap presets to fully custom movement.

Use In, Out, and Loop animations

Select your text layer and tap Animation in the bottom toolbar:

• In: how text arrives. Popular picks include Typewriter (letters appear one by one), Fade In, Slide, Bounce, and Scale.
• Out: how text leaves. Fade Out, Zoom Out, and Blur give clean exits.
• Loop: continuous motion, like Wavy, Shake, or Swing. Use sparingly, it grabs attention but wears thin on long clips.

Drag the duration slider to speed the animation up or slow it down, then preview. You can stack one In, one Out, and one Loop animation on the same layer at the same time.

Try text templates for instant animated titles

For a shortcut, open the Text menu and tap Text templates. These are ready-made animated titles with pre-applied fonts, colors, and animations. Pick one and replace the placeholder words with your own text.

Keyframe custom text movement

For motion the presets cannot do, like text that follows a moving person, use keyframes. With the text layer selected, tap the small diamond keyframe icon to lock the starting position. Move the playhead forward, then drag the text to a new spot. CapCut adds a keyframe automatically and animates between the two points. You can keyframe position, scale, rotation, and opacity for complex paths.

Control When Text Appears and Disappears

Timing is half of good text design. On the timeline, your text layer is a colored clip you can drag and stretch. Drag the edges to change when the text appears and disappears, or drag the whole layer to move it.

Add multiple text layers

You can add as many text boxes as you want. Each becomes its own timeline layer, so you can show different captions at different moments: add a text box per line, then line up each layer with the right part of the video. Watch the layer order, a text layer below another layer gets covered up.

Pro Tips for Polished Text Overlays

• Readability first. High contrast (light text on dark footage or vice versa), an outline, or a background pill fixes almost every readability problem.
• Stay in the safe zone. Keep text away from the top and bottom edges, where TikTok and Reels place their own UI elements.
• Match animation to mood. Typewriter and fades suit tutorials; bounce and glitch fit hype edits.
• Keep it short. Overlay titles are not subtitles. A few punchy words read instantly on a phone screen; paragraphs do not.
• Preview before exporting. Text that looks perfect on a still frame can feel too fast in motion, so watch the full section with sound on and off.

FAQs About Adding Text in CapCut

Why is my text not showing in CapCut?

Almost always a timeline issue. Check that the playhead is on top of your text layer, since text is invisible outside the clip’s range. Make sure no layer above it is covering it, and that you have not dragged the box off-screen or pinched it to a tiny size.

How do I make text disappear smoothly instead of just vanishing?

Select the text layer, tap Animation, and add an Out animation like Fade Out.

Can I add more than one text box to a video?

Yes. Tap Text > Add text as many times as you like. Each box becomes its own timeline layer, which you can style, animate, and time independently.

Are all CapCut fonts and animations free?

Most of them are. CapCut includes a large free library of fonts, styles, and animations. Some premium templates carry a Pro badge and need a CapCut Pro subscription, but the free options cover typical short-form videos easily.

Final Thoughts

One clean text overlay turns a plain clip into a watchable video, and once you are comfortable with In and Out animations plus a few keyframes, your titles will look like they were made in a desktop motion graphics app. Start simple: add one styled overlay to your next video, animate it in and out, and build from there. If you would rather let CapCut caption your whole video automatically, read our complete auto captions guide next. And if you are starting from a ready-made edit, our beginner’s guide to CapCut templates shows you how to customize template text too.