The main purpose of the second subtitle track is to keep and properly display subtitles with overlapping timing which should naturally be displayed simultaneously on the screen. The most common examples include scenarios in which both vertical and horizontal text need to be displayed on screen at the same time, text must be displayed both at the top and bottom of the picture.
But the Secondary subtitles track can be used in other situations too, for instance when doing second language translation.
Adding Secondary Subtitle Track
To add secondary subtitle track to your current project go to the File menu and then use the Secondary Subtitle Track/New Track option.
There are multiple ways to switch between the main and the secondary subtitle tracks:
▪by clicking in the respective track on the Timeline;
▪by clicking in the respective track on the Preview List;
▪by using the Secondary/Main track button in the program's caption bar;
▪by assigning shortcut for the Switch main and secondary/reference tracks command.
The Secondary/Main track button in the program's caption also indicates the currently active subtitle track.
Once the a file has been loaded in the secondary track, the Timeline will expand to display it:
The secondary subtitle track will always be positioned to the top while the main track will remain positioned just above the video thumbnails track. The currently selected track can easily be distinguished and the selected subtitle will always appear in blue.
Commands in secondary track
All commands and options work the very same way for the secondary subtitle track as they normally would for the main track, when only one track is present in the file. For example, if you need to insert new subtitle in the secondary track you will need to first switch to the secondary track and then insert the subtitle.
It is important to clarify that if there is a secondary subtitles track all global commands like Format, Recut, Fix Subtitles, Checks, etc. are executed on both tracks. This is the default behavior but you can easily alter it by deactivating "Include both subtitles tracks" option available for each of them. This way you can execute for instance Format command for currently selected track only.
The only exception is the Find & Replace function – it will search simultaneously both of the tracks and will display the results found in both tracks; the Replace function will consequentially replace items in the main and secondary tracks.
Merge Tracks, Moving subtitles between the tracks
If you need to merge the two tracks together you should use the Merge subtitle tracks command. You could access it from File/Secondary Subtitles Track/ Merge Subtitle Tracks as well.
There's also the Move subtitle to the other track command which will effectively move the currently selected subtitle between the main and the secondary tracks.
Forced Narratives
Subtitles in the secondary track can be also used as Forced Narratives. Currently, Forced Narratives can be exported in the following formats: IMSC v.1 Timed Text, Netfilx Timed Text, Applie iTunes Timed Text and as Blu-ray BDN XML and Images.
Working with "open" and "closed" subtitles in 890 and USF formats
Both the 890 and Universal subtitling format (USF) can simultaneously carry "open" and "closed" type subtitles. Respectively, in EZTitles, the main and secondary subtitle tracks can be used to make the distinction between the two. The idea is very simple, one of the tracks contain only "open" subtitles and the other only subtitles intended as "closed". The 890 and USF exports will then do the rest.
Please make sure to check what options are available with the 890 and USF exports.
Similar options are available when importing 890 or USF files that contain "open" and "closed" type of subtitles in the same file.
Importing subtitles into secondary track
You could import an already prepared subtitle file with two tracks, like the Lambda CAP, from the Import/Export drop-down menu. Just select the Import option to load the file in question.
And you could add subtitles from an external file to the newly created secondary track by using the File/Secondary Subtitles Track/Open/Import Second Subtitles Track command.
Exporting subtitles with two tracks
Projects with two subtitle tracks can currently be exported as Videotron Lambda CAP, DLP XML, DCDM (SMPTE 428-7) XML, TTML1/TTML2, IMSC 1.1, Netflix Timed Text, Disney IMSC1.1, Apple iTunes .itt, DVB, DVD Images and MS Excel (.xls, .xlsx) as well as they can be saved in the EZTitles proprietary formats: .ezt and .eztxml.
Please mind that for all other available export formats only the currently selected subtitle track will be exported in the output file.
Save/Export Secondary subtitle track
Subtitles from the Secondary track can easily be saved or exported to any of the supported by EZTitles file formats. To do so, simply go to the File menu, flip through the Secondary Subtitles Track there and select the Save/Export Secondary subtitles track option.
Note: To save subtitles on the secondary subtitles track as .ezt or .eztxml you should select the EZTitles subtitle file (.ezt) or EZTitles subtitle XML (.eztxml) option on the export secondary subtitles track list.