How to install FlowCut

Three steps, about five minutes. Do this on the Windows computer you edit on. A phone will not do.

Rather watch it? The whole install on YouTube.

What you downloaded

The .zxp file is FlowCut itself, in one Adobe package (about 240 MB). It is not a program, so double-clicking it does nothing.

ZXP Installer is the free program that puts .zxp packages into Premiere. We point you at the one from aescripts + aeplugins, the plugin store most Premiere and After Effects editors already buy from: it is signed, kept up to date, and it can remove extensions again later.

The steps

1. Download two things: FlowCut (the .zxp file from your email) and ZXP Installer from aescripts, a free program that puts Adobe plugins into Premiere.
2. Close Premiere Pro. Install ZXP Installer, open it, and drag the FlowCut .zxp file onto its window. Windows asks for the administrator password once, while the plugin is being put in place. Wait until it says the plugin is installed.
3. Open Premiere Pro. Go to Window → Extensions → FlowCut. Paste your key and press Activate.

That is all. On first run the panel downloads the speech model for your language.

First run

The first time you open FlowCut, the panel asks to download a speech model. Press Download once. It picks the pack for your language: European languages (670 MB), all other languages (1.3 GB) or Arabic (1.5 GB). It downloads once and stays when you update the plugin.

If transcribing feels slow the first time, press Add antivirus exception in the panel once: Defender otherwise scans every model file as the panel reads it.

Something did not work

Double-clicking the .zxp does nothing. That is normal. It goes in through ZXP Installer: drag it onto that window.

No FlowCut under Window → Extensions. Close Premiere and open it again; the list is read at startup. Still nothing: drag the .zxp onto ZXP Installer once more and wait for the message that it is installed.

The file arrived as a .zip. Some browsers rename it on the way down. Rename it back so it ends in .zxp, then drag it onto ZXP Installer.

Transcribing feels slow the first time on Windows Defender. Press Add antivirus exception in the panel once.

Good to know

• A trial key installs exactly like a bought one. Same file, same steps; it just stops working three days after you first switch the panel on.
• A new version installs over the old one the same way: drag the new .zxp onto ZXP Installer. Your key is kept.
• One key works on two machines. Changing computers? Press Deactivate in the panel first.
• To uninstall, open ZXP Installer, select FlowCut in the list and remove it there.
• Download links work twelve times each. Past that, or if you lost your key, ask for them again.
• Stuck? Write to [email protected] and say what you saw on screen.