Skip to main content

Split & Merge

Split and Merge are complementary operations that let you divide a single event into two or combine multiple events into one. They are among the most commonly used structural editing tools, particularly during the initial timing pass when events need to be broken up to meet reading-rate or character limits, or consolidated to reflect the natural grouping of speech.

Prerequisites​

  • A project is open with at least one Event Group containing events.
  • For Split: a text cursor is positioned in the Quill editor at the point where you want the event to be divided.
  • For Merge: two or more events are selected.
  • Split: secondary toolbar; right-click context menu; configurable keyboard shortcut.
  • Merge: secondary toolbar; right-click context menu; configurable keyboard shortcut.

Splitting an event​

Split divides the currently active event at the position of the text cursor inside the editor. The text before the cursor position becomes the first event, and the text from the cursor position onward becomes a new second event inserted immediately after it in the Event Group.

The timing of the original event is divided proportionally between the two resulting events. The split point in time is calculated based on where the cursor sits relative to the total word count — if the cursor is after roughly half the words, each new event receives approximately half of the original duration. The first event retains the original start time, the second event ends at the original end time, and the boundary between them is set to the calculated proportional split point.

All properties of the original event — position, style, alignment, speaker assignments, and tags — are carried through to both resulting events.

Merging events​

Merge combines all currently selected events into a single event. The merged event takes the start time of the earliest selected event and the end time of the latest selected event, spanning the full timing range of the original selection. The text content of all selected events is concatenated in order, with each event's text appended as a new paragraph in the merged result.

Merge is the appropriate tool after a series of short fragment events have been imported or after a Split produced an unwanted division. It is also useful for consolidating a sequence of single-word events that were produced by a word-level transcript into properly grouped caption units.

When merging, the properties (position, style, alignment) of the first selected event in the sequence are applied to the resulting merged event.

Practical guidance​

After splitting, check both resulting events against your style guide limits using the Event Metrics panel. The proportional timing algorithm produces a reasonable first estimate, but manual timing adjustment is often needed to align event boundaries with speech cues in the audio.

After merging, the combined event may exceed character-per-line or CPS limits. Use Shift Words, Shift Lines, or Automatic Formatting to reshape the merged text before retiming.

Both operations are recorded in the undo history.

Troubleshooting​

Split does nothing when clicked​

Confirm that the Quill text editor is focused and that the cursor is positioned within the event text. If no cursor position is set, Split cannot determine where to divide the event.

Merge produces an event with incorrect timing​

Merge spans from the earliest start to the latest end across all selected events. If any of the selected events have unexpected or placeholder timecodes (for example, zero or very large values), those will influence the merged timing. Review and correct the timecodes after merging.

Merged text is missing a line break between events​

Each source event's text is treated as a separate paragraph in the merged result. If the text appears on unexpected lines, review the source events for empty paragraph tags that may have been included in the original content.

Source notes​

  • Components: src/components/toolbar/controls/Split.svelte, src/components/toolbar/controls/Merge.svelte