Getting Started With Automated Captions in Zoom

Overview

Automated captions use automatic speech recognition (ASR) to caption Zoom meetings/webinars in real time. This document provides information regarding automated captions during meetings/webinars.

Notes:

• Automated captions support several languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese, and more.
• The accuracy of the feature depends on many factors, such as background noise, volume and clarity of the speaker’s voice, and the speaker’s lexicon/dialect.
• This feature does not create captions in the Zoom cloud or local recording. Captions only appear during the meeting/webinar. Hosts who want captions to appear in the cloud recording should ensure audio transcription is turned on in their Zoom account settings.

Enable Automated Captions

As the meeting/webinar host

For all meetings/webinars you host

1. Go to your U-M Zoom account settings.
2. Click the Meeting tab and then click In Meeting (Advanced).
3. Toggle Automated captions on.

Tip: If you don't want to enable automated captions for every meeting/webinar you host but still allow participants/attendees to request them during meetings/webinars, check the Allow only the following users to enable captions for the meeting or webinar box, choose either Host or Host + Co-host, and click Save. Participants/attendees can't request their enablement if this setting isn't selected.

During a meeting/webinar

1. Click Show captions from the Zoom toolbar at the bottom of the screen.
2. Select a language for the captions and click Save.

The steps above refer to turning on captions in a specific language for everyone to view during the meeting/webinar.

Important: If you, as the host, have automated captions turned off at the account level, you cannot enable them within a specific meeting/webinar. You will need to enable them at the account level first.

Prevent participants/attendees from viewing and/or saving the full transcript for all meetings/webinars you host

Note: Both transcript options will be turned off if the automated captions setting is turned off.

1. Go to your U-M Zoom account settings.
2. Click the Meeting tab and then click In Meeting (Advanced).
   • To prevent them from viewing AND saving the full transcript, toggle Full transcript off.
   • To only prevent them from saving the full transcript, toggle Save Captions off.

As a participant/attendee

If the host has enabled automated captions, you will have the option to choose how you wish to view them. You can also request the host enable automated captions if they have not already been turned on, and the host allows caption requests. (If the host has turned off your ability to make a request, you should contact the host directly.)

You will have three options after clicking the carrot icon next to Show captions in the toolbar:

• Caption language: Choose which language to use for the captions (if allowed by the host)
  • Hosts can restrict the languages allowed for captions in their account settings.
  • If speaking in language A, but Zoom is expecting language B, the generated captions will be inaccurate, so ensure the correct language is selected.
• View full transcript: The caption transcript will open in a side panel next to your meeting window. It will update in real time with both the speaker's name and timestamp (if allowed by the host)
  • If you want a copy of the transcript, click View full transcript and then click Save transcript at the bottom of the panel. A copy will be downloaded to your computer. (You should do this at the end of the meeting/webinar to ensure you capture the entire transcript history.)
  • The options to View full transcript and Save transcript may be unavailable if the host has turned off one or more of these abilities in their account settings.
• Caption settings: Opens the Accessibility settings for your desktop app, where you can adjust the font size and color of the captions

Automatically show captions when available

If you want to have available captions displayed automatically when joining a meeting/webinar, you can adjust your Zoom desktop app accessibility settings.

1. Open the Zoom desktop app.
2. Click your profile picture and select Settings from the drop-down menu.
3. Click Accessibility.
4. Check the Always show captions box under the "Closed caption" section.

Note: If the host has automated captions turned off, this setting will not work for that specific meeting/webinar.

Tips for Using Automated Captions

• Use an external microphone: External microphones (separate from your laptop) can greatly improve audio quality
• Speak slowly - Speaking slowly allows for a more accurate match between the transcript and what is being said verbally and allows others to follow the captions
• Take turns/pause before speaking - Zoom's active speaker tracking is used to identify the speaker. When another individual begins speaking, it can take a second before Zoom updates the captions to identify the new speaker

If automated captions aren't a good fit, refer to Videoconferencing Captioning Tools for Zoom for more information on the other transcription tools in Zoom to determine which works best for your specific situation.