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To turn on captions in a Teams meeting, select More actions > Language and speech > Show live captions in the meeting controls. To stop displaying them, choose More actions > Language and speech > Hide live captions. Depending on your Teams client, the options may instead be labeled “Turn on live captions” and “Turn off live captions.”
Turn live captions on or off in a Teams meeting
- Join the meeting and open More actions in the meeting controls.
- Select Language and speech > Show live captions to display captions as people speak. Microsoft’s live-caption guide documents this meeting-control path.
- To hide captions, open More actions > Language and speech again and select Hide live captions. If your client uses shorter labels, choose Turn off live captions.
Caption controls and their wording can differ between Teams clients and versions. If the setting is missing, ask the meeting organizer or your Teams administrator whether captions are available for that meeting and your organization.
Adjust caption language and appearance
Open Caption settings beside the captions to review the available language and display options. Microsoft documents controls for the spoken language, eligible translation language, and caption styling; depending on the client, appearance choices can include color, position, and the number of displayed lines. The exact controls vary across clients. On mobile, caption-style changes persist across future meetings, according to Microsoft’s mobile caption guidance.
For better automatic caption accuracy, set the meeting’s spoken language to match the language participants are using. Clear, slower speech, less background noise, and fewer people speaking at once can also help.
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Live captions, transcription, translation, and CART: what’s different?
| Feature | What it does | Important distinction |
|---|---|---|
| Live captions | Displays spoken words on screen during the meeting. | Microsoft says captions are not saved. They are not a substitute for a saved meeting record. Microsoft Support |
| Transcription | Creates a text record of the meeting. | Use transcription when you need a saved record; it is separate from simply showing live captions. Microsoft Support |
| Translated captions | Shows captions translated into another language. | This is a separate capability associated with Teams Premium or Microsoft Copilot licensing. Availability depends on the relevant organizer or participant license. Microsoft Support |
| CART captions | Provides captions through a human captioner using Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART). | The organizer must provide a CART caption link and coordinate with a CART captioning solution or software. Participants can switch to automatic captions when CART is enabled. Microsoft Support |
Fix inaccurate or unavailable captions
- Check the spoken-language setting. In caption settings, match the spoken language to the language being used in the meeting.
- Improve the audio. Speak clearly and at a measured pace, reduce background noise, and avoid overlapping speech. Microsoft recommends speaking directly into the microphone for CART captioning; high-quality Teams-certified audio equipment may help, but it is not required to turn captions on. See Microsoft’s captioning guidance.
- Confirm the feature is available for your meeting. If the caption option is absent, check with the organizer or administrator about meeting type and organization settings. Do not follow legacy live-event instructions for an ordinary Teams meeting: Microsoft’s separate live-events guidance describes a different feature, notes that some government clouds lack captions or subtitles, and says Teams live events retired on June 30, 2026.
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