Text Element

What is the Text Element?

Text element overview showing the interface
Text element overview

The Text element displays custom text content in your output. You can use it for static labels, titles, instructions, or dynamic content using placeholders that automatically update with information from your rundown.

The text element automatically scales to fill the available space, making the text as large as possible while fitting within the element’s boundaries. This ensures your text is always readable regardless of the output size or aspect ratio.

How It Works

The text element is straightforward:

  1. Enter your text in the settings
  2. Configure styling (font, size, color, alignment)
  3. The text appears in your output
  4. Text automatically scales to fill the available space

The text remains static unless you use placeholders, which automatically update when timer information changes. You can create multiple text elements in a single output for different labels or sections.

Using Placeholders

Text elements support dynamic placeholders that automatically update with information from your rundown. This allows you to create text that changes as you progress through your timers.

Available placeholders:

  • $CURRENT_TITLE - The title of the currently highlighted timer
  • $CURRENT_SPEAKER - The speaker of the currently highlighted timer
  • $CURRENT_NOTES - The notes of the currently highlighted timer
  • $NEXT_TITLE - The title of the next timer
  • $NEXT_SPEAKER - The speaker of the next timer
  • $NEXT_NOTES - The notes of the next timer
  • And more timing-related placeholders

Example usage:

Next up: $NEXT_SPEAKER
$NEXT_TITLE
Text settings showing duration placeholder configuration
Text settings with duration placeholder

When you advance to the next timer, the placeholder text automatically updates to show the new information. Times and durations are formatted according to your room settings.

For a complete list of available placeholders, see the Messages documentation, as text elements use the same placeholder system.

Element Settings

Text element settings overview
Text element settings overview

Text Input

Enter the text to display in the multi-line text area. You can:

  • Enter multiple lines of text
  • Use placeholders for dynamic content
  • Keep text short for large display or longer for detailed information
  • Leave blank to show an empty placeholder in preview mode

The text area accepts plain text only. For formatted text with bold, colors, or uppercase, use the Message element instead.

Font Selection

Choose the font family for your text:

  • Built-in fonts: IBM Plex Mono (default), Inter, Open Sans, Poppins, and many more
  • Custom fonts: Upload your own fonts for brand-specific displays
  • Fonts automatically load when the output is opened

Different fonts have different character widths and styles, which affects how much text fits in the available space.

Styling Options

Customize the visual appearance of your text:

Font weight:

  • Light, Regular (default), Medium, Semibold, Bold
  • Heavier weights are more readable at a distance

Font size:

  • Small (76%) - Leaves more breathing room
  • Medium (88%) - Balanced size (default)
  • Large (100%) - Fills the maximum available space

Color:

  • Any hex color value
  • Default is white (#fff)
  • Choose colors that contrast with your background

The font size setting determines what percentage of the available space the text fills. Large (100%) makes text as big as possible, while smaller sizes create space around the text.

Text Alignment

Set the horizontal alignment of text within the element:

  • Left - Text aligns to the left side
  • Center - Text centers horizontally (default)
  • Right - Text aligns to the right side
Text aligned to the left
Left alignment
Text centered horizontally
Center alignment
Text aligned to the right
Right alignment

Multi-line text and wrapped text will align according to this setting.

Text Wrapping

Control how text wraps within the container:

  • Enabled (default) - Text wraps to multiple lines when needed
  • Disabled - Text scales down to fit on a single line without breaking

When wrapping is disabled, long text will scale down to remain on one line. This is useful for single-line labels where line breaks would look awkward. When enabled, text breaks into multiple lines and scales to fill the available height.

Text Contrast

Add visual effects to improve text readability against backgrounds:

  • None - No additional effects
  • Shadow - Drop shadow behind the text
  • Outline - Stroke outline around characters
  • Background - Semi-transparent background behind text

These effects are particularly useful when displaying text over video backgrounds, imagery, or gradients where plain text might be difficult to read.