Skip to main content

Zoom Live Transcripts (Live Captions)

**Page is being viewed temporarily. See the most recent guidance on this feature at Zoom Live Automatic Caption Page

Follow the steps in this document to turn on Zoom’s live captioning service called Live Automatic Transcriptions. We recommend using live captions for all your Zoom Meetings and Webinars.

Note: If you receive an accommodation request for captions, you will need to use a Live Human Captioner instead of automatic captions.

Enabling the Live Automatic Transcription Service in Zoom

Note: This feature is NOT available on HIPAA-compliant Zoom accounts for security purposes. You will need to use a Live Human Captioner or 3PlayMedia in live Zoom sessions.

Following these steps will activate the feature for all future meetings or webinars created in account.

  1. Log into UNC’s Zoom website with your ONYEN
  2. Click Settings from the left side menu
  3. Click In Meeting (Advanced) or scroll down to that section of the settings.
  4. Turn on Closed captioning (the slider will move to the right and become blue)
    Screenshot showing the Closed Captioning options in the Zoom settings. Red arrow indicates the area of settings which is Meetings Basic and another red arrow showing the two items to check box in step 5
  5. Under that option check the box that says Allow live transcription service to transcribe meeting automatically. Also, check the box that says Allow viewing of full transcript in the in-meeting side panel.
  6. Click Save to confirm that setting

Starting the Live Automatic Transcriptions During a Meeting or Webinar

Note: Only the host can turn auto transcriptions on or off.

  1. Click the Live Transcript button from the Zoom control bar
  2. At the bottom of this window click Enable Auto-Transcription
  3. The meeting host will immediately see the transcripts at the bottom of the Zoom meeting video.
  4. A set of options will be available for host and attendees by clicking the small arrow on the Live Transcript button. These options allow attendees to view and adjust the transcriptions.
  5. These new settings are:
    • Show Subtitle
      • The transcript will appear as video subtitles at the bottom of the video frame.
    • View Full Transcript
      • The transcript will appear in a side-panel Transcript window, and the full transcript to that point may be saved by clicking Save Transcript. Host and attendees can also search the transcript by entering text into the Search transcript field at the top of the window.
    • Subtitle Settings
      • Participants can change the appearance of the subtitles