Zoom Live Transcription

Zoom Live Transcription uses automatic speech recognition (ASR) to enable speech to text transcription in Zoom Meetings and Zoom Webinars. This feature creates Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated live transcripts during the event. This feature is enabled by the host of the meeting or webinar once it begins. Participants will not see the Live Transcript option unless the host enables it. 

This feature can be used to enhance the general accessibility of a meeting, and is particularly helpful for the following cases:

• Hearing individuals who benefit from audio prompts
• Individuals who use captions to aid English language comprehension
• Situations to compensate for low audio quality and enhance understanding

Known Issues/Limitations:

• Live auto captioning does not automatically qualify as a video accessibility accommodation
• This feature is not available in Zoom for UC Berkeley HIPAA accounts
• This feature is not currently available in Breakout rooms
• This feature does not create subtitles in the Zoom recording. Subtitles only appear during the live meeting. Hosts who want subtitles to appear in the Zoom recording need turn on Zoom Audio Transcription
• This feature will only provide English captions. 

How to enable Live Transcription 

Host

1. Click Live Transcript at the bottom of the Zoom Toolbar. 
2. When the Live Transcription menu opens, click Enable Auto-Transcription.
   
3. If the meeting is being recorded, and you have enabled Live Transcript, you will receive a copy of the transcript in the same location of your recorded meeting. 
4. To turn off Live Transcription, click Disable Auto-Transcription in the Live Transcript menu.
5. Hosts also have the ability to disable Save Transcript. Click to toggle off Save Captions in the Settings tab of the Zoom web application.
   

Participant

Once Live Transcription is enabled, participants have the option to choose how they want to view the auto-transcription feature.

1. Click Live Transcript to choose a transcript option.
   
   Show Subtitle displays subtitles on the screen.
   View Full Transcript displays subtitles in real time with both the speaker's name and a time-stamp within the transcript window. We recommend this setting as best practice.
   Subtitle Settings will open a window where you can adjust the font size of both the subtitles and the chat window.
    
2. Click View Full Transcript to view subtitles and speaker. 
3. If you would like a copy of the transcript, click View Full Transcript and Save Transcript. A copy of the transcript will be downloaded to your machine. Note: The transcript saves up to the moment of clicking Save Transcript. We recommend you click Save Transcript just before the meeting ends to ensure you have the transcript from the entire meeting. Also note that this option may not be available if the host has disabled this feature. 

Tips for using Live Transcription with Zoom

• Use an External Microphone: An external microphone/headset provides better audio quality and, therefore, more accurately matches what is being said verbally. 
• Speak Slowly: Speaking slowly enables a more accurate match to what is being said verbally and allows others to follow the automatic transcript or subtitles. 
• 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 or two before Zoom updates the transcript to identify the new speaker.
• Monitor the Participants Panel for the Go Slower function: Zoom's Participants panel displays all attendees and shows any nonverbal feedback the attendees provide. When using automatic live transcription, consider keeping the Participants panel open to see if attendees are indicating they need speakers to Go Slower.