Zoom has auto caption and live transcription options that are available for licensed AC Zoom accounts holders for hosting meetings. The meeting host can separately opt to enable auto captions, live transcription, and saving of transcript. 

Here’s how you enable and use the live transcriptions: 

Enable automated captions, live transcripts and/or saving of transcripts

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal at amherstcollege.zoom.us with your Amherst College username and password.
  2. In the navigation menu, click Settings.
  3. Click the Meeting tab.
  4. Select In Meeting (Advanced).
  5. Scroll down to find the Automated captions setting and toggle to enable or disable it. It must be enabled for automated captions to function.
  6. Repeat the same process for Full Transcript and Save Captions as desired. These are three distinct and separate settings, so you can enable only Automated captions and not enable Full Transcript nor Save Captions as you wish. 
  7. If a verification dialog displays, click Enable or Disable to verify the change.

    Starting the Live Automatic Transcriptions for a Meeting 

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

    1. Once you start a meeting, click the "Live Transcript" button from the Zoom control bar.

    Screenshot of control bar showing where to click on Live Transcript


    2. At the bottom of the menu that appears, click "Enable" to start the Auto-Transcription.

     

    Screenshot of menu showing where to click on Enable, to enable Live Transcript

     

    3. Once enabled, a set of options will be available for host and attendees by clicking the small arrow next to the Live Transcript button.

    Screenshot of menu for attendees that click on arrow next to Live Transcript button

    These options allow attendees to view and adjust the transcriptions. These 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.

    Screenshot of the live transcript once opened

     

    • Subtitle Settings - Participants can change the appearance of the subtitles.

    Screenshot of caption settings window

     

    The option to let participants save the transcript can be disabled in your Zoom settings. Look for the "Save Captions" toggle in the In Meeting (Advanced) section.

     

    See Zoom's instructions for captions and transcripts: