The Repair Order in the Browser Subtitle Editor: Four Checkboxes, One Sequence, and a Measured Shift

I work on OnePassApps - this is our own build, and every number below was measured on it today.

The Subtitle Workbench does not leave its timing behaviour to guesswork. Under the heading "Optional repairs" the page prints four checkboxes and, above them, the words "Applied in this order": Sort by start time, Clamp timings before zero, Fix zero or negative durations, Move overlapping cues later.

The order is the interesting part, because the panel also states what each repair is allowed to change. One line of contract text sits under the checkboxes:

Overlap repair works chronologically and preserves durations; only Sort changes cue order. Overlap warnings alone do not block export.

That is three separate claims - that the overlap repair walks the cues in time order, that moving a cue does not stretch it, and that exactly one of the four repairs reorders anything. And the fourth sentence says an overlap is a warning, not an error: it does not stop the export.

What I measured

I opened the app in Chrome, loaded its built-in example, ticked all four repairs and applied a +1,200 ms shift.

Before the apply, the source stage read "example.srt 2 cues · 137 B · Sample data · OK", the file counter read "1 of 20", and the result header read "2 cues · 0:01–0:06". The two cues ran 00:00:01,000 → 00:00:03,000 and 00:00:04,000 → 00:00:06,000, both 2.0 s long.

After the apply, the result header read "2 cues · 0:02–0:07" and the cues ran 00:00:02,200 → 00:00:04,200 and 00:00:05,200 → 00:00:07,200. Both moved by exactly 1,200 ms and both kept their 2.0 s duration. The badge under the header read "2 cues", "No issues", "Shift +1,200 ms" and "4 repairs", and the status line said "Timing changes applied to every loaded file. Originals are unchanged."

Two details are worth pulling out of that. The badge read "4 repairs" on a two-cue file, the same count as the boxes I had ticked - I did not find a label on the page that says what the number counts, so I am only reporting what it showed. And the shift landed on the original cue times rather than on top of a previous shift: each cue moved by exactly 1,200 ms and no more. The app's own guide makes the same promise in its own words - timing changes start from the original cues rather than accumulating silently - and this run is consistent with it.

The second half of the panel: editing a cue by hand

The cue list carries its own keyboard contract, printed under the cues:

Up and Down move between cues. Enter edits. Left bracket moves the in point earlier and right bracket moves the out point later; add Shift to move them the other way.

The bracket keys are the nudge: the panel labels them "nudge 100 ms". The selected cue shows its in point, out point and duration on their own lines, and the panel reads "Up and Down move between cues" beside them.

What the app will not do

The guide is explicit about the edges. Imports allow up to 20 files and 5 MB per file. Converting positioning-bearing WebVTT to SRT is refused when it would lose information, and unsupported markup can block conversion - though the original download stays available. The app does not transcribe recordings, translate dialogue or process the accompanying video or audio: it edits subtitle text you already have.

There is one control on the page that the guide does not list. Under the source stage, "Add reference media" carries the line "Optional audio or video to check cues against. It stays in this tab." I did not test what it does, and I would rather say that than guess.

Try it

Open the Subtitle Workbench: https://app.onepassapps.com/apps/subtitle-workbench?utm_source=devto&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=subtitle-repairs-order&utm_content=app-link

The guides carry the full contract: https://app.onepassapps.com/guides?utm_source=devto&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=subtitle-repairs-order&utm_content=guides-link