Live Captions for Zoom: How to Set It Up

Adding Ai-Media live captions to your Zoom meeting is simple. Our captions are fully integrated with the Zoom application and embedded in your video, as below.

Screenshot of a user's Zoom application open in a meeting. Captions at the bottom of the screen read: "Welcome to today's session. We will be using closed captions for this training exercise."

Just follow these steps to get your event up and running with our high-quality live caption service.

Step 1: Log in and request a booking

Simply log in, or if you haven’t set up an account, sign up. Then click ‘Book now’ to book a captioner for your meeting.

Screenshot of AI Live log-in page, with options to book now, order transcripts, or look at a dictionary.

When booking, enter your Zoom meeting link in the ‘Phone number’ field, or request for Ai-Media to host a Zoom meeting for you. Note that you would like to receive integrated captions in the ‘additional details’ field.

A form for requesting captions in AI Live. It features several fields including: Audio out method, Who will call?, Phone number to call, Phone conference passcode, Do you require a transcript?, Do you want to store captioned session data in AI Live?, Keep data for how long, and Any additional details or questions.

Step 2: Enable captions in Zoom

If you are the host of the Zoom meeting, log in to the Zoom website and verify that closed captioning is enabled in your settings. Follow the Zoom instructions here.

Once enabled, the setting should appear like this:

Screen grab of a setting on the Zoom website which is toggled to On. The setting reads: 'Closed captioning: Allow host to type closed captions or assign a participant/third party device to add closed captions.'

Open your Zoom meeting to follow this step. If you are the host, select closed captions in the bottom navigation bar in your meeting.

Click ‘Closed Caption’ and copy the API token. Email the copied API token to Ai-Media or share it with your captioner in the Zoom meeting chat.

Note: The API token will expire 24 hours after being retrieved, so make sure it is copied and sent within 24 hours of the scheduled END TIME of your meeting. The practice we recommend is to complete this step on the morning of your meeting.

Screen grab of pop-out box in Zoom meeting. The pop-out comes up when you click 'Closed Caption' and gives you an options to assign someone to type or use a third party CC service. If you want to use a third party CC service, you need to click the button that says 'Copy the API token'.

Step 4: Display captions in your meeting

When your meeting participants have joined and your meeting begins, click ‘Closed Captions’, and then ‘Show subtitles’.

A notification will appear in the controls at the bottom of each participant’s screen, as below. Participants can choose to turn the closed captions on or off. If turned on, our live captions will appear at the bottom of the participant’s Zoom window.

Screen grab in Zoom meeting of the closed caption button displaying a pop-up message that reads: 'Closed Caption is available.'

The captions display will appear like this:

Zoom has further details on how to view closed captions in Zoom.

Note: You can also view your captions at the same time in Ai-Live.

You will receive a record of the live captions as a transcript after the session.

Troubleshooting

Zoom now supports closed captioning in breakout rooms. Each breakout room will have a unique API and will require additional set up. Please let us know if you require live captioning in any breakout rooms.
As mentioned in Step 3, your API token will expire 24 hours after being sent. If this happens, please send us the new token.
As mentioned in Step 3, the API token might reset if copied multiple times. If this happens, please send us the new token.
If you are having trouble with Zoom audio, refer to our Zoom audio troubleshooting page.

Get started now

Updated on July 14, 2020

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