Using Zoom Transcription

Transcription is a great way to share your course meeting information, and Zoom allows users to automate this process.

Enabling Live Transcriptions

  1. Make sure you have the latest version of Zoom.
  2. During a Zoom meeting, the host can enable Live Transcription by clicking the Show captions button at the bottom of the Zoom window. This will activate live subtitles.
    • If the Show captions button is not visible, click on the More button next to it. Select Captions from the pop-up menu. Finally, click the Show captions button.
The Zoom toolbar during a meeting displays the "Show captions" button. If this button is not visible, click on the "More" button, and then select "Captions".

This will activate live subtitles. You can also view the full transcript by clicking the ^ caret icon next to the Show captions button, and selecting View full transcript. A new window will appear to the right with the full transcript as it happens live.

Additional settings for subtitles and live transcript can be found via the ^ caret icon near the Show captions button.

Live Transcriptions Requested by Others

Live transcription may also be requested anonymously by a Zoom meeting participant, in which case the host will be prompted with the following options:

  • Enable: Enables live transcription for use of anyone in the meeting or webinar.
  • Decline: Declines this request to have live transcription enabled. Other participants will be able to make their own requests.
  • Decline and don’t ask again: Declines this and all future requests to have live transcription enabled.

The full transcript can be saved by clicking the Save transcript button at the bottom of the Transcript window.

Limitations of Live Transcriptions

There are some limitations to live transcription which may result in poor transcription. The following may affect the transcription:

  • Background noise
  • Volume and clarity of the speaker’s voice
  • Speaker’s proficiency with the English language
  • Lexicons and dialects specific to a geography or community

Because of these limitations, if you are required to use speech-to-text support for any compliance or accessibility needs in your meetings and webinars, we recommend using a manual captioner or service that may be able to guarantee a specific accuracy.

Note: You can only assign one participant or third-party service to provide closed captioning.

Additional Resources