Instructions for Zoom Live Captions

2 min readFeb 14, 2021

We appreciate your efforts to make your Zoom meeting content more accessible through the use of live captioning. If you have any type of Zoom account, it includes live automated transcription as long as the host has closed captions enabled. Here are detailed instructions on how to configure and use the live transcript feature:

1. Log in to your Zoom account through the Web Portal (NOT your local Zoom App).

2. Go to Settings, choose Meeting, and scroll down until you see “Closed captioning”.

On the left, there is a heading for Closed Captioning. The text below reads “Allow the host to type closed captions or assign a participant/third party device to add closed captions.” The toggle to the right is in the ON position. The checkbox for “Enable live transcription service to show transcript on the side panel in-meeting” is checked. — Screenshot of the Zoom settings, Closed Captioning section

3. If you have not enabled it, please activate the toggle button.

4. When you start hosting a new meeting, you should be able to see a new button called Live Transcript in the Zoom Control Panel at the bottom of the screen.

Screenshot of the Zoom Control Panel

5. When you click the Live Transcript button, you will be able to see the following closed caption options: “Assign someone to type,” “Use a 3rd party CC service,” and “Live Transcript.”

This figure first shows two buttons under “Assign someone to type”: “Assign a participant to type” and “I will type.” It then shows a button “Copy the API token” under “Use a 3rd party CC service.” At the bottom, it has a button called “Enable Auto-Transcription” under Live Transcript. — Screenshot of the Live Transcript options

6. Click the “Enable Auto-Transcription” button to turn on Live Transcript, and the live closed captions will be visible to meeting guests automatically.

7. To view the full transcript during a Zoom meeting, click the small arrow at the top right corner of the Live Transcript button on the lower toolbar. The full transcript allows you to see who said what in the dialog. You can also download the transcript by clicking the Save Transcript button in the transcript.

At the bottom, this figure shows three buttons: Live Transcript, Breakout Rooms, and Reactions. The top right arrow of Live Transcript is selected, and it further shows three buttons: Hide Subtitle, Close Full Transcript, and Subtitle Settings. — Screenshot of additional functions of Live Transcript

8. If you want to modify the closed caption display font size, you could click the Subtitle Settings button.

Screenshot of the Settings interface

Please help to distribute this post to make Zoom meetings more accessible! :)

If you have any feedback or questions, please send your email to mingzhe2@cs.cmu.edu.

This document is drafted by Franklin Mingzhe Li, Franchesca Spektor, Nikolas Martelaro, Patrick Carrington, and Sarah Fox.

Instructions for Zoom Live Captions

Written by Franklin Mingzhe Li