Microsoft Clipchamp, the main video editor in Windows, will soon let you edit videos by using text transcripts instead of editing in the usual timeline.

The official Microsoft 365 Roadmap has been updated to confirm that ‘transcript-based editing’ is coming to the Clipchamp video editor. Clipchamp, like most other video editors, requires you to move and trim clips in a main timeline. It can be difficult to clip video segments at the exact right moment, especially between spoken words. Transcript-based editing converts your entire project into an editable transcription, allowing you to edit videos as if you were editing a text document.

Transcript-based editing is already available in some professional-level editing tools, like Adobe Premiere Pro, so it’s great to see the feature coming to Clipchamp as well. Microsoft already added automatic caption generation to Clipchamp, and the transcript editing will use that text. It’s not clear if Microsoft intends for this to be a full replacement for timeline editing, or just for rough cuts, like Adobe recommends when using the feature in Premiere Pro.

Microsoft explained in the roadmap, “We are introducing a novel and streamlined method to quickly and accurately remove any unwanted sections from your Clipchamp projects by leveraging the transcript. With transcript-based editing, browsing text, selecting unwanted words, and removing them will remove them from the video without the need to navigate the timeline. We are looking into making video editing more productive by providing a more intuitive and straightforward editing experience.”

Clipchamp has the potential to be a great entry-level video editor, but the free version (which is also the version included with Windows PCs) only supports up to 1080p exports and sometimes adds watermarks. The premium version costs $11.99 per month or $119.99 per year. Even if you already pay for a Microsoft 365 personal or family subscription, some features remain unavailable until you get the individual Clipchamp subscription. Kdenlive and DaVinci Resolve are totally free to use, but they do have more of a learning curve.

The transcript-based editing feature is expected to start rolling out globally in March 2025. Microsoft also confirmed that the ability to quickly share a portion of a video as a clip link is on the way, and that should also start rolling out in March 2025.

Source: Microsoft 365 Roadmap (transcript-based editing, sharing clips)