Enable Live Transcription in a Zoom meeting

Instructions on how to turn on closed captions and enable the built-in live transcriptions in Zoom

Last Updated: April 8th, 2022

How to enable Live Transcriptions in a Zoom meeting


Watch a tutorial video: http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/yoisu

NOTE: 
Live transcription limitations

This feature is limited to Zoom paid accounts. The accuracy of Zoom’s live transcription feature depends on many variables, such as but not limited to:

  • Background noise

  • Volume and clarity of the speaker’s voice

  • Speaker's proficiency with the English language

  • Lexicons and dialects specific to geography or community

Because of these limitations, if you are required to use speech-to-text support for any accessibility compliance needs in your meetings and webinars, we recommend using a manual captioner who may be able to guarantee a specific accuracy. Please contact the ATC Media Services for your request at atc@lanecc.edu

After starting a Zoom meeting as the host, choose the “Live Transcript” button in the toolbar on the bottom of the Zoom window.
The image shows a zoom window. The meeting controls are displayed at the bottom of the screen. The "Live Transcript" button is highlighted in red.

  1. Select the “Enable Auto-Transcription” button.

  2. The image shows the live transcript menu. The "Enable Auto-transcription" button is highlighted in red. Captions will automatically appear at the bottom of the Zoom screen for the host. Participants will need to select the “Live Transcript” button in the Zoom toolbar and select “Show subtitles” to view the live transcription during the meeting.The image shows the zoom window with Live transcription enabled. The transcription appears directly above the meeting controls, highlighted in red,  and reads: "Okay. Today we're going to discuss."

  3. Once live transcription is active, users can select the small arrow located on the “Live Transcript” button to “View Full Transcript” and adjust the subtitle settings. (Note: This will only change your own individual subtitle settings, this will not affect all other participants in the meeting.) See option descriptions below:

The image shows the Live transcript settings menu. The options read "Hide Subtitle," "View Full Transcript," and "Subtitle Settings...." The small arrow next to the live transcript button is highlighted in red.

Hide Subtitle: show or hide the subtitles at the bottom of the screen.

View Full Transcript: open a window to the right that displays the full transcript.

Subtitle Settings: open your subtitle settings where you can adjust your subtitle font size and screen reader alerts.


ATC Support & Hours of Operation

Weekday Support, Monday - Friday

The ATC is open to in-person assistance. Support is available through the above remote options and on campus at CEN 208

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