Microsoft Teams can display spoken words as text while a meeting is happening. On a Windows or Mac computer, open More actions > Language and speech > Show live captions. On a phone, open More options > Turn on live captions.
Live Captions are temporary on-screen captions. Teams does not automatically save them as a transcript after the meeting. If you need a written record, start transcription separately.
Turn on Live Captions in the Teams desktop app
The current Teams desktop menu uses Language and speech. Older instructions that refer to Turn on live captions (preview) may no longer match the app.
- Join or start the Teams meeting.
- In the meeting controls, select More actions (the three-dot button).
- Select Language and speech.
- Select Show live captions.
Captions appear in the meeting window as participants speak. To hide them, select More actions > Language and speech > Hide live captions.
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Use Live Captions in Teams on a phone
- Join the meeting in the Teams mobile app.
- In the meeting controls, select More options.
- Select Turn on live captions.
To stop displaying captions, select More options > Turn off live captions. The mobile app also includes More options > Caption style, which you can use to change their appearance.
Choose the correct spoken language
Teams’ speech recognition works best when the meeting’s spoken-language setting matches the language people are actually using. This is particularly important in multilingual meetings or when Teams selected the wrong language.
- Turn on Live Captions.
- To the right of the captions, select Caption settings.
- Select Language settings.
- Under Meeting spoken language, select the language being spoken.
- Select Update.
This is a meeting-level setting, so changing it changes the caption language for everyone. The meeting organizer, a co-organizer, the person who started the transcript, or the person who initiated the feature that enabled transcription may be able to change it.
If transcription is already running, participants may not be able to change the spoken language. Stop transcription—or turn off the feature that started it—then start transcription again before changing the language.
Translate Live Captions
Normal Live Captions show the language being spoken. Live translated captions show the captions in a language selected by the viewer. They are useful when people in the same meeting need to read captions in different languages.
- Turn on Live Captions.
- Select Caption settings > Language settings.
- Check that Meeting spoken language is correct.
- Turn on the Translate to toggle.
- Select the language in which you want to read the captions.
Translated captions require Teams Premium or Microsoft 365 Copilot, subject to Microsoft’s licensing rules. If the meeting organizer has an eligible license, all participants can use translated captions without each having their own license. If only an individual participant has an eligible license, the option is available only to that participant.
Microsoft’s current translation targets include:
| Translation targets | |
|---|---|
| Arabic, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Danish, Dutch | English, Finnish, French, French (Canada), German, Greek |
| Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean | Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian |
| Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese |
The list of languages Teams can recognize as spoken languages is broader and includes regional variants such as English (US), English (UK), French (France), French (Canada), Spanish (Mexico), and Spanish (Spain).
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Change the caption appearance
In the Windows or Mac desktop app:
- Select Caption settings next to the captions.
- Select Caption styles.
- Choose the available font color, background color, font size, caption height, and position.
On a phone, turn on captions and select More options > Caption style.
Open captions in a separate window
A separate caption window can be useful if you want to move captions away from shared content or resize them independently.
- Select More actions > Language and speech > Show live captions.
- In the caption display, select Open captions in new window.
- Drag the edges of the new window to resize it, then move it where needed.
Close the separate window to return captions to the meeting window.
Live Captions versus transcription
These features are related but not interchangeable:
| Feature | What it does | Is it saved? |
|---|---|---|
| Live Captions | Displays temporary speech-to-text captions during the meeting. | No. Ordinary Live Captions are deleted after the meeting. |
| Transcription | Creates a written record that can be reviewed after the meeting. | Usually available after the meeting, subject to organization policies and permissions. |
| Recording | Saves audio and video of the meeting. | Stored separately from a transcript. |
To create a transcript, select More actions > Record and transcribe > Start transcription. Starting a recording alone does not guarantee that Teams will save a transcript. If transcription is not enabled, Teams does not create a transcript file alongside the recording.
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Improve caption accuracy
Live Captions are automated and can misinterpret names, technical terms, accents, or short phrases. Accuracy usually improves when you:
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- Select the correct Meeting spoken language.
- Speak clearly and directly into a microphone.
- Reduce background noise.
- Avoid several people speaking at the same time.
- Use a good-quality, Teams-certified microphone or headset.
In a meeting that uses language interpretation, captions identify the main speaker rather than the interpreter. If the main speaker changes language, the organizer must change the spoken-language setting. Language interpretation is not available in end-to-end encrypted meetings.
Hide your name from captions
Teams can show a speaker’s name alongside caption text. You can disable automatic identification before a meeting:
- In Teams, select More options > Settings.
- Open Accessibility > Captions and transcripts.
- Turn off Automatically identify me in live captions and live transcripts.
This setting affects your name in Live Captions, live transcription, and the saved transcript. It does not prevent Teams from displaying the caption text itself.
Why is the Live Captions option missing?
Your organization disabled captions
Teams administrators control Live Captions through a per-user meeting policy. The default policy is Not enabled, but users can enable. This allows users to turn captions on during meetings. An administrator can instead select Off, which removes the user’s ability to use them.
An administrator can check the setting in Teams admin center > Meetings > Meeting policies > [policy] > Live captions.
You are using a government-cloud environment
Microsoft says Live Captions are not currently available in the Teams mobile app for government clouds. Captions and subtitles may also be unavailable in some government-cloud event scenarios.
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The translation option is missing
Translate to may not appear if the meeting organizer and participant lack the required Teams Premium or Microsoft 365 Copilot licensing, if the selected language is not supported, or if an organization policy blocks the relevant caption or transcription feature.
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Privacy and caption data
Microsoft says its automatic speech-recognition service may use the meeting subject, invitation, participant names, attachments, and participants’ recent emails to improve caption accuracy. Microsoft also says Live Caption data is permanently deleted after the meeting and that its automatic speech-recognition process does not involve human access to the meeting audio or other meeting information.
Those statements apply to Live Captions. Recordings, saved transcripts, Copilot, and other meeting features have different storage, retention, and permission rules. Check your organization’s Teams policy before using them for sensitive discussions.
FAQ
Does Teams save Live Captions automatically?
No. Ordinary Live Captions are temporary and are not saved after the meeting. Use More actions > Record and transcribe > Start transcription when you need a written record.
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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteCan everyone in a Teams meeting use translated captions?
If the meeting organizer has Teams Premium or Microsoft 365 Copilot, all participants can use translated captions, subject to Microsoft’s licensing and organizational policies. If only one participant has an eligible license, the feature may be limited to that participant.
Why are Teams captions inaccurate?
Common causes include an incorrect spoken-language setting, background noise, speakers being too far from the microphone, poor audio equipment, and people talking over one another.
Can I change the font size and color of Teams captions?
Yes. On desktop, select Caption settings > Caption styles. You can change available options such as font color, background color, font size, caption height, and position. On mobile, use More options > Caption style.
Can I use Live Captions without recording the meeting?
Yes. Live Captions and recording are separate features. Turning on captions does not start a recording, and using captions does not create a saved transcript.
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For a quick on-screen aid, use More actions > Language and speech > Show live captions on desktop or More options > Turn on live captions on mobile. Set the spoken language correctly, use caption styles or a separate window if needed, and start transcription separately when the words must be saved.
