How to make many titles from a spreadsheet

Making a title for every row of a spreadsheet is a built-in job in Video by Zaweba. Design one graphic, save it as a template, then use Graphics > Templates to make one copy per CSV row; any text layer containing {Heading}, or named like a column heading, takes that row's cell. Fifty speaker names become fifty finished titles in one go.

It works like a mail merge for video. The design is done once, the words come from the spreadsheet, and every title matches.

Preparing the spreadsheet

Save your list as a CSV file, which any spreadsheet program can do. Put column headings in the first row, short and simple, such as Name, Role and Company. Each following row is one title. Check the spelling now; correcting a name in the spreadsheet is much quicker than finding it later among fifty clips.

Designing the template graphic

Build the graphic with Graphics > Graphic with layers, which combines text and shape layers into one clip. Lay it out as you want every title to look, with fonts, colours and any box or shape behind the text. Pinning a shape round a text layer means the box grows or shrinks to fit each name, which matters when names vary in length.

Now link the text to the spreadsheet. In a text layer, type the column heading in curly brackets, for example {Name}. Alternatively, name a text layer after the column heading. Either way, that layer will be filled from the matching column. You can mix fixed and filled text in the same layer.

Save the graphic as your own template. Graphics > Templates is a browser with previews of six built-in graphics and any of your own, saved as .ozgfx files.

Making one per row

Open Graphics > Templates, choose your template and make one per CSV row, pointing it at your file. Each row becomes its own graphic with the cells filled in. You can insert them or put them in the media bin to place as you go, which suits an interview film where each person appears at a different time.

Checking and adjusting

Look at the longest entries first. A long company name or a double-barrelled surname is where layouts break, with text running off the edge or wrapping awkwardly. If one breaks, adjust the template or shorten that cell, then make the titles again.

Text styles help keep everything consistent afterwards. Create a style from one title and apply it, and if you later change the style, every linked title follows. Find and replace in the Edit menu works across titles and captions, which saves opening each one to fix a repeated mistake.

Where it saves the most time

Conference recordings with a lower third per speaker, sports videos with player names and numbers, school films with every pupil's name, product videos with a price card per item, and series where each episode has its own title and number all suit this approach. Any job where the same design repeats with different words is worth the few minutes it takes to set up.

A side benefit: the spreadsheet becomes a record of what's in the film, and the next time you need the same set of titles with one change, you edit a cell and make them again.