Captioning capabilities of University supported platforms

Microsoft Teams 

IST Service Desk

Automatic captioning 

Low to moderate accuracy 

Use Live Captions in a Teams Meeting 

• Individual users manually turn captions on/off in their view 

• Automatic transcription allows users to playback the conversation and search within the transcript 

• It is possible to edit the transcription after the video is saved in MS Stream

• Screen reader accessible 

• Live captions only available in English 

WebEx 

Koorus Bookan 

itms-collab@uwaterloo.ca

Automatic transcription and Manual Captioning 

Moderate accuracy 

How to view recordings with transcriptions 

• In a Meeting (but not in Training), a closed LIVE caption window can be enabled for a transcriptionist to type in what is spoken by a presenter. For recorded videos, the transcription is automatic and turned on by default. (Transcription is also coming to Training as well in Fall 2020) 

• For manual LIVE captions, the host must add the closed captioning panel and assign a participant the role of “closed captionist” 

• Individual users manually turn captions on/off in their view 

• Captions last for three seconds 

• Can autogenerate a transcript of a recorded session in Meetings or Events after the recorded session is saved as an MP4 file 

• Requires minimal background noise and will not produce a transcript if the overall quality is poor 

• Only available in English 

Bongo – Virtual Classroom in LEARN 

LEARN Help

Manual; Closed captions window can be enabled for a transcriptionist to type in what is being spoken by the presenter;  

Potentially high accuracy  

Captioning videos in Bongo 

• A participant can be designated to “take ownership” of the captioning window  

• Participants who want to view the live captioning can enable captioning in their meeting settings 

• Recorded virtual classroom sessions that include live captions can be downloaded and a .vtt caption file will be included in the download folder  

Microsoft PowerPoint 

IST Service Desk  

Automatic captioning; Moderate accuracy 

Adding live captioning (or subtitles) to PowerPoint Presentations 

• Live captioning feature included in current University license (through “Subtitle” option) 

Microsoft Stream  

IST Service Desk

Automatic captioning; Moderate accuracy 

Add subtitles or captions to your MS Stream video 

How to share a video captioned in Stream with your class in LEARN 

• Only supports MP4 and WMV file types 

• Can edit and download captions 

• Select “Video Language” and under Options, select ‘Autogenerate a caption file’ when uploading, to autogenerate captions 

• Can share access to the captioned video with individuals, MS Team Channels, or MS Team Groups   

• Can embed the video into LEARN

  • Note: In order for your students to access the embedded video, you first need to give your students permission to access the video, in Stream 

Skype for Business 

IST Service Desk 

Automatic captioning; Moderate accuracy 

How do I turn on live captions & subtitles on during a Skype call? 

• Live captions are available in Skype version 8 or higher 

• Screen reader accessible