How to Use live captions in Microsoft Teams
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As a team member, you have the option of using real-time captions to summarize what was said in a meeting in real-time. As long as you have enabled the new meeting experience for your meeting, your captions will include speaker credits. This means that you will see not only who is presenting, but also what he or she is saying when you see your captions.
Tip: If you are interested in learning how to use CART captions in Microsoft Teams meetings (human-generated captions), you will have to take note of the fact that you are able to use them.
Getting live captions in Teams can be done in a number of ways, including:
- Teams provides built-in captioning as part of its functionality
- A captioner does this using a computer program known as Communication Access Real-time Translation (CART). This is the result of this
Use built-in captions
There is a built-in feature in Teams that allows closed captioning to be activated through the meeting control panel, which allows you to manage the content.
Turn captions on and off
- By going to the meeting controls and selecting More options Turn on live captions at the bottom of the screen, it is possible to turn on live captions while you are participating in a meeting.
- You can only disable the use of live captions in your meeting by going to the meeting controls, clicking on More options, then on Turn off live captions in order to disable the capability of using live captions in your meeting.
Change the language of your captions
- Select Captions settings by clicking on the arrow near the captions.
- Choose the language in which you wish to speak.
- The language of the meeting should be selected from the drop-down menu. (This will be the language that appears in your meeting transcripts and captions.)
- Select Confirm.
Important:
- As far as the language that you choose is concerned, you should make sure that it is the same as the language that is being spoken during the meeting.
- When you change a setting that has to do with spoken language, it has an effect on everyone when it is changed. There will be a change in the language of the captions and transcripts for all participants in the meeting.
There are 34 different language options that you can choose from when captioning your video:
English (Canada), English (US), English (India), English (UK), English (Australia), English (New Zealand), Arabic (Arab Emirates) (Preview), Arabic (Saudi Arabia) (Preview), Chinese (Simplified China), Chinese (Traditional, Hong Kong SAR), Chinese (Traditional, Taiwan) (Preview), Czech (Czechia) (Preview), Danish (Denmark), Dutch (Belgium) (Preview), Dutch (Netherlands), French (Canada), French (France), Finnish (Finland) (Preview), German (Germany), Greek (Greece) (Preview), Hebrew (Israel) (Preview), Hindi (India), Hungarian (Hungary) (Preview), Italian (Italy), Japanese (Japan), Korean (Korea) (Preview), Norwegian (Norway), Polish (Poland) (Preview), Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal) (Preview), Romanian (Romania) (Preview), Russian (Russia) (Preview), Slovak (Slovakia) (Preview), Spanish (Mexico), Spanish (Spain), Swedish (Sweden), Thai (Thailand) (Preview), Turkish (Turkey) (Preview), Ukrainian (Ukraine) (Preview), Vietnamese (Vietnam) (Preview)
Get the most out of your captions
It is important to follow these best practices when it comes to live captioning in order to make sure that it is as accurate as possible:
- It is important to speak clearly and slowly into the microphone, and to speak directly into it. Captions may become less accurate as the distance between you and the mic increases.
- Places with a lot of background noise should be avoided.
- The use of multiple speakers at the same time should be avoided.
- Ensure that you are using only the best equipment, which is Teams-certified, that is available to you.
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Team members will have the ability to get a quick overview of what is being said during a meeting or group call using real-time captions during a meeting.
Turn captions on and off
In the meeting controls, select More options Turn on live captions.
The live captions can be turned off by selecting More options, followed by Turn off live captions from the list of options.
Get the most out of your captions
The following best practices should be followed to ensure the captions are as accurate as possible:
- The microphone should be placed in an area where you can clearly hear yourself and speak slowly. If you are a bit further away from the microphone, you might notice that captions are less accurate.
- It is recommended that you avoid locations where there is a lot of background noise.
- It is best to avoid having more than one person speak at once.
Notes:
- Asterisks will be used to conceal obscenities in the text.
- As a result, teams can improve the accuracy of captions by making use of information like the subject, invitation, participants, and attachments of a meeting.
Frequently Asked question
Where does Teams process the data it uses to provide live captions?
Depending on where your organization is located geographically, we process the data in that area.
What data does Teams use to create the captions?
Microsoft’s automatic speech recognition technology, which generates captions for Teams meetings, can be a lot more useful in making the captions as useful as possible. To make sure that the captioning quality is improved, it is advisable to provide the following information to Microsoft to help with the captioning of the meeting – the meeting subject, the invitation, the names of the participants, the attachments, and any recent email correspondence that the meeting participants have had.
Does Teams store any caption data?
I do not. As soon as the meeting is over, the caption data is permanently deleted.
If I don’t want Teams to process this data to begin with, can I prevent it?
It is true. Turn off the live captions by simply not turning them on. You have the option as well to disable the feature entirely by contacting your administrator if you wish. Find out how to do that by clicking here for more information.