Install guide

Install CAPTIONR

Your download is two files: the CAPTIONR .zxp file, which is what you install, and this guide as a PDF. There is nothing to unzip. If your browser says the .zxp is not commonly downloaded, choose Keep: it is an After Effects extension file, which most browsers rarely see.

Mac and WindowsAfter Effects 2020 or newer

Download as PDF Get help

Setup

How to install

  1. Get your download

    Download the CAPTIONR .zxp file from your purchase email. Your licence key is in the same email. Don't double-click the .zxp: nothing happens, and that is normal. The installer in the next step opens it.

  2. Get the free installer

    After Effects can't install extensions by itself, so you use the free ZXP/UXP Installer from aescripts. You only get it once.

    Get the free installer Or install it by hand

  3. Install CAPTIONR

    Quit After Effects. Open the installer, drag the CAPTIONR .zxp file into its window and wait until it says it is done. If it says no compatible application was found, press Install anyway: its own list of After Effects versions is older than yours.

  4. Restart After Effects

    Quit it fully with Cmd+QClose it fully with File › Exit, then open it again. After Effects only looks for new extensions when it starts.

  5. Allow scripts

    Open After Effects › Settings (Preferences in older versions) › Scripting & ExpressionsEdit › Preferences › Scripting & Expressions, tick Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network and press OK. A fresh After Effects has it off, and CAPTIONR needs it to read your audio and save your previews and settings.

  6. Open CAPTIONR

    Choose Window › Extensions › CAPTIONR. Dock the panel where you want it.

  7. Switch it on

    The panel opens on Switch on CAPTIONR. Paste the licence key from your purchase email and press Switch On. Once per computer: updates switch on by themselves.

  8. Add your ElevenLabs key

    CAPTIONR uses your own ElevenLabs account to turn speech into words. Near the bottom of the panel, read the line beside Get an API Key (it says what to switch on for the key), then press the button to open the page where keys are made. Then press the gear at the top right, paste the key under Connection and press Save.

Good to know

After you switch on

First captions

Press Choose Audio File, or select your audio layers in the comp and press From Composition. Pick how the words are grouped on Format and the look on Style (or switch on Quick Captions and pick a look). Press Transcribe, check the words on the Caption page and press Create Captions.

The tutorial

The tutorial button at the top of the panel walks you through every part.

Updates

Free, with the same licence key. Download the new version from your purchase email and install it the same way. It switches itself on, and your saved setups, looks and settings stay.

Help

Having trouble?

Is my copy genuine?

Genuine CAPTIONR only comes from Payhip or b3nedits.com and always asks for your Payhip licence key when you switch it on. If a copy does not ask, it is not genuine: delete it.

My Mac won't open the installer

That warning is about the ZXP/UXP Installer, not CAPTIONR. Open System Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll down to Security and press Open Anyway next to the installer. Then open it again.

Windows says "Windows protected your PC"

That warning is about the ZXP/UXP Installer, not CAPTIONR. Press More info, then Run anyway.

The installer could not write the files

Close it, right-click it, choose Run as administrator and drag the .zxp in again.

CAPTIONR is not in Window › Extensions

After Effects was probably still open during the install. Quit it fully with Cmd+QClose it fully with File › Exit and open it again. Still missing? Install it by hand.

Install it by hand
  1. Quit After Effects.
  2. Rename the .zxp to .zip and unzip it. Inside you should see CSXS and index.html. Name that folder CAPTIONR.
  3. Move it into this folder (make extensions if it is missing):

    ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CEP/extensions/
    Finder › Go › Go to Folder, then paste.

    %APPDATA%\Adobe\CEP\extensions\
    Paste into File Explorer's address bar.

  4. Open After Effects.
After Effects is blocked from the internet

Under Switch On, press No Internet? Switch on in Your Browser and follow its steps: Open in My Browser, paste your key on the page, Get My Code, Copy Code, then paste the code into CAPTIONR and press Finish.

How often it goes online

For a moment when you switch it on, and whenever you transcribe. When it is online, it checks about once a day that your purchase is still active. It needs to reach the internet at least once every 30 days to check your licence; after longer offline it asks you to connect once, and nothing is lost.

Moving to a new computer

One purchase is for one computer. Message b3n on the Discord to move it.

What it needs
  • After Effects 2020 or newer, on a Mac or a Windows PC.
  • Your own ElevenLabs account and key, to turn speech into words. ElevenLabs' free plan is for non-commercial use only; for client or paid work its terms ask for a paid plan. Plans and prices.
  • Internet to switch on and whenever you transcribe.
Remove CAPTIONR
  1. Take your ElevenLabs key off the computer first: Settings (the gear) › Connection › Remove, then Remove Key.
  2. Only if you installed the firewall helper: Settings › Firewall Helper › Uninstall.
  3. Quit After Effects.
  4. Remove it with the installer you used, or delete its folder from the extensions folder.

You can then delete its two data folders: captions-by-b3n and CAPTIONR in ~/Library/Application Supportcaptions-by-b3n in %APPDATA% and CAPTIONR in %LOCALAPPDATA%. A layer CAPTIONR made called "vocals: ..." plays a file from captions-by-b3n (its name starts with vocals_): move those files somewhere safe first.

Still stuck?

Ask in the B3 Community Discord. It is also in CAPTIONR's Settings, as Get Help on Discord.

Join the Discord

Third-party notices: vendor/THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt in the CAPTIONR folder.