Enabling Live Captions

Summary

How to enable live captions in Windows, macOS, and the Chrome browser.

Body

Overview

Live captions provide real-time text narration for audio and video that is played on your device. There are several ways to enable live captions:

  • Through Windows/macOS, which provide captions for all audio played on your computer.
  • Through the Chrome browser, which provide captions for all audio played in the browser.
How-To Steps

Enabling Live Captions in Windows

  1. Click the Search bar in the Windows toolbar, then search for and select Live captions.Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)
  2. In the bar that appears at the top of the screen, click Yes, continue.Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)
  3. Wait until the language files have finished downloading, then select the language (defaults to English) and click Continue.Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)
  4. When audio or video is playing, captions are displayed in the bar.Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)
  5. Click the gear  icon on the right side of the bar to view settings. From here, you can change the position of the bar, change the language, filter profanity, include microphone audio, and more.Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)
  6. Click the X icon on the right side of the bar to close Live Captions.

Enabling Live Captions in macOS

NOTE: Live Captions are only available for Mac computers with Apple silicon processors and only if the macOS system language is set to English (U.S.) or English (Canada).

  1. Go to the Apple menu > System Settings > Accessibility, then click Live Captions (you may need to scroll down).
  2. Click the toggle to enable live captions. If this is the first time you are enabling live captions, you will need to be connected to the internet as language data must first be downloaded.
  3. The Live Captions window is automatically hidden if no audio is detected. If you want the Live Captions window to always be visible, click the the Live Captions icon icon in the menu bar, then select Keep Onscreen.
  4. Click the Pause  icon to pause live captioning, then click the Play  icon to resume.
  5. Click the Microphone  icon in the top-right corner of the Live Captions window to switch between computer audio and microphone audio.

You can also use the Live Captions window to create an audio transcription of what you type. To do this, click in the Type to Speak field, enter the text, then press [Return] on your keyboard.

Enabling Live Captions in the Chrome Browser

  1. Click the ellipsis () in the top-right corner of the window, then select Settings.Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)
  2. In the Settings page, click Accessibility in the left menu.Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)
  3. Turn on the Live Caption toggle.Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)
  • If you want captions in a language other than English, click Add languages to download additional language packs.
  • Turn on the Hide profanity toggle to filter out profanity in the captions.
  • Click Caption preferences to customize the caption size and style. This opens the Windows Captions settings.

Details

Details

Article ID: 18860
Created
Tue 2/3/26 11:35 AM
Modified
Wed 2/4/26 9:07 AM