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How to Customize Zoom Captioning and Transcription Settings

The changes below are specific to your account and will only apply to the meetings and webinars that you personally host.

Enable Captioning and Transcription  Settings

Note: These settings are disabled by default to help minimize data leakage and reduce the risk of unintentional information captured during meetings.

Allow Participants to Activate Captions

  1. Visit your Zoom profile to access your Zoom Settings.
  2. Select the Meeting Tab.
  3. Choose Meeting at the top, then scroll down to the In Meeting (Advanced) section.
  4. Find the Automated Captions option and make sure the setting is toggled ON (blue).
  5. Find the Allow only the following users to enable captions for the meeting or webinar option and uncheck the box to allow participants to activate live captions in the meeting.

Allow Participant Permission to Save Caption Transcript in Zoom

  1. Visit your Zoom profile to access your Zoom Settings.
  2. Select the Meeting Tab.
  3. Choose Meeting at the top, then scroll down to the In Meeting (Advanced) section.
  4. Find the Save Captions Option.
  5. Toggle the setting ON (blue) to allow participants to save the caption transcript.

Allow View of Full Caption Transcript in the Zoom Meeting

  1. Visit your Zoom profile to access your Zoom Settings.
  2. Select the Meeting Tab.
  3. Choose Meeting at the top, then scroll down to the In Meeting (Advanced) section.
  4. Find the Full Transcript Option.
  5. Toggle the setting ON (blue) to allow participants to view the full transcript within the Zoom app in the meeting.

Restrict Captioning and Transcription Settings

Require Participants to request Captions 

Note: This will prevent participants from activating live captions in the meeting. Requests for captioning will be presented to the host (and co-hosts, if permitted), who can then approve or deny the request.

  1. Visit your Zoom profile to access your Zoom Settings.
  2. Select the Meeting Tab.
  3. Choose Meeting at the top, then scroll down to the In Meeting (Advanced) section.
  4. Make sure Automated Captions (Live Transcript) is toggled ON (blue).
  5. Check the box to Allow only the following users to enable captions for the meeting or webinar.
  6. Choose “Host” or “Host + Co-host.” Click Save.

Note: This has potential accessibility concerns if requests for captions are denied.

Disable Permission to Save Caption Transcript in Zoom

  1. Visit your Zoom profile to access your Zoom Settings.
  2. Select the Meeting Tab.
  3. Choose Meeting at the top, then scroll down to the In Meeting (Advanced) section.
  4. Find the Save Captions Option.
  5. Look for:
    • Save Captions — Allows participants to save captions and transcripts.
    • If this is enabled (blue) and "Allow only the following users to save captions from the meeting" is unchecked, any participant can save the transcript.
    • If you want to disable it, toggle it OFF(gray).

Prevent View of Full Caption Transcript in the Zoom Meeting

  1. Visit your Zoom profile to access your Zoom Settings.
  2. Select the Meeting Tab.
  3. Choose Meeting at the top, then scroll down to the In Meeting (Advanced) section.
  4. Find the Full Transcript Option.
  5. Look for:
    • If this is enabled (blue), participants can view the full transcript within the Zoom app during the meeting.
    • If you want to disable it, toggle it OFF(gray).

Disable Creation of Transcript of Recorded Meetings

  1. Visit your Zoom profile to access your Zoom Settings.
  2. Select the Recording Tab.
  3. Choose Recording at the top, then scroll down to the General section.
  4. Under Cloud Recording, look for Create Audio Transcript.
  5. Toggle it OFF. Note: Deactivating this has potential accessibility concerns.
  6. Now, when you record to the cloud, Zoom will not create a transcript file. 

Prevent Viewing of Transcripts for Transcribed Recordings

  1. Visit your Zoom profile to access your Zoom Settings.
  2. Select the Recording Tab.
  3. Choose Recording at the top, then scroll down to the General section.
  4. Look for Viewers can see the transcript.
  5. Toggle it OFF. Note: Deactivating this has potential accessibility concerns.

Disable Saving of Captions with Meeting Recordings

  1. Visit your Zoom profile to access your Zoom Settings.
  2. Select the Recording Tab.
  3. Choose Recording at the top, then scroll down to the General section.
  4. Look for Save Closed Caption as a VTT file. This appears twice, under Record to Computer Files and Cloud Recordings.
  5. Uncheck the box in both places. Note: Deactivating this has potential accessibility concerns.

Disable Recording to Local Computer

  1. Visit your Zoom profile to access your Zoom Settings.
  2. Select the Recording Tab.
  3. Choose Recording at the top, then scroll down to the General section.
  4. Look for Record to computer files.
  5. Toggle it OFF.

Manage Manual Captioning During Meeting

Start Manual Captioning in a Zoom Meeting or Webinar (Hosts)

  1. Start the Zoom meeting or webinar that you are hosting.
  2. In the meeting controls toolbar, next to the "Show Captions" icon, click the up arrow icon.
  3. Under "Host controls", click Set up manual captioner.
  4. Under "Enable manual captioner", choose On.
  5. Select one of the following options:
    • Assign a participant to type: Assigns a participant to type closed captions during the meeting.
    • I will type: Open the closed captioning window so you can manually type closed captions.
    • Copy the API token: Copy the URL that you can provide to a third-party closed captioning service to integrate the service with your meeting.
      Note: These options are greyed out if Enable manual captioner is disabled above.
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