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
  
  • Review information about captioning requirements for your students: DSP, LOAs, and accommodations for your students
  • Additional information about live captioning for events: Live Captioning Checklist for Remote Events
• 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. 
• There is a known bug that does not update the "Who can see this transcript?" message when a host has turned off "Save Captions" in their Zoom settings. Zoom is working on an update for this.

Related Privacy Information:

• The ability to view and save transcriptions can be turned off in advance by the meeting or webinar creator.
• Hosts should notify participants that the feature will be used, and indicate if they plan to download a copy of the transcription.
• Hosts should also inform attendees if they will be sharing the transcription with individuals who did not attend the meeting.
• Hosts should request that meeting attendees request permission from the other attendees if they plan to download and share transcriptions of a meeting with non-attendees.
• Meeting transcriptions (just like audio recordings) may be subject to disclosure in response to a Public Records Act request.      

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.
   
   
3. If "Allow participants to request Live Transcription" is checked, and you have not enabled it yet, your participants can submit a request (by name or anonymously) and you will be notified.
4. If the meeting is being recorded, and you have enabled Live Transcription, you will receive a copy of the transcript in the same location of your recorded meeting. 
5. To turn off Live Transcription, click Disable  in the Live Transcript menu.
   

Disable viewing/saving transcriptions

You also have the option to disable the ability for anyone to view the transcription in a side panel, or save it. This must be done in advance in the host's Zoom account settings.

1. Sign in to your account via the web portal, at https://berkeley.zoom.us/
   
2. In your Settings, on the Meetings tab, under In Meeting (Advanced) go to the Closed captioning section
3. With the Closed captioning toggle set to "on", do the following for the additional features:
   
   1. Uncheck "Allow use of caption API Token to integrate with 3rd-party Closed Captioning services" (unless you know how to use this feature)
   2. Check "Allow live transcription services to transcribe meeting automatically" (ensure this is checked, or else the Live Transcription feature will not be available)
   3. Uncheck "Allow viewing of full transcript in the in-meeting side panel" (this will prevent anyone from seeing/copying the full transcript)
4. Save your changes
5. Once you've saved these changes, the next option to Save Captions should also toggle to "off." If it does not, manually toggle it off. 
   
   Here is a screenshot of how it should look when you are done: 
   
   
   

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. Note: this option will not appear if the meeting creator has turned off this setting.
   Subtitle Settings will open a window where you can adjust the font size of both the subtitles and the chat window.
    
2. If enabled, click View Full Transcript to view the transcript in the side panel of the meeting/webinar. 
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.
  

Thank you to University of Michigan for allowing us to adapt their documentation!