The Zoom Help Center has full instructions on using Zoom. The instructions below are specific to Virginia Tech. To see other Zoom topics, please see Video Conferencing - Holding Zoom Conferences on a PC or Mobile Device.

This article details how to utilize Accessibility Settings within Zoom

Zoom has features that let those with health conditions or impairments, attend, and participate in Zoom Meetings. For more, see Accessibility Features on Zoom and Changing settings in the Zoom desktop client or mobile app.

Contents

• Zoom Closed Captioning and Live Transcription
  
  • Enabling Closed Caption and Live Transcript in Settings
  • Starting Closed Captions and Live Transcripts
  • Viewing Closed Captions and Live Transcripts
• American Sign Language Interpretation
• Transcripts of Recordings
• Keyboard Shortcuts
• Always Show Meeting Controls
• Playing a Sound When Participants Join or Leave Meetings
• Getting Help

Zoom Closed Captioning and Live Transcription

Zoom has free automatic speech recognition (ASR) closed captioning and live transcription for meetings.

• Only Hosts can enable Zoom closed captions and live transcripts.
• All participants can view closed captions and live transcripts.
• Hosts can control whether to display closed captions only or a live transcript in their Zoom account settings. 
• Hosts can disable live transcript download. 
• Participants can choose to show or hide closed captions. 
• Closed captions and live transcripts are not saved to Zoom recordings on the Zoom cloud or in My Media in Canvas. 

See also:

• Managing manual captions
• Captioning Services request form
  
  • Request live captioning 72 hours in advance
  • Rush requests for live captioning processed only if there's a captionist available
  • 5 business days default turnaround time for post-production captioning
• Accessible Technologies - Captioning

Enabling Closed Caption and Live Transcript in Settings

Hosts control closed captioning settings at the account level. The below settings are enabled by default, but hosts can disable them. 

Go to the Virginia Tech Zoom Portal and log in. Click Settings then the Meeting tab. Click In Meeting (Advanced).

1. Under Full transcript, enable Allow viewing of full transcript in the in-meeting side panel.
   • If live transcription is disabled, participants will only see closed captions at the bottom of the screen. 
2. Under Save Captions, enable Allow participants to save fully closed captions or transcripts.
   • If saving transcripts is disabled, participants won't see the button to download them.
     

Starting Closed Captions and Live Transcripts

As the host of a Zoom meeting, you can start and manage automated captions.

Please see Managing automated captions as the host of a meeting or webinar to learn more about the following topics:

• How to start automated captions
• How to approve or decline requests to turn on automated captions
• How to view the full transcript
• How to disable captions for everyone

To assign a manual captioner to your meeting, see Managing manual captions. Look under Host tools for captions to enable a manual captioner.

Viewing Closed Captions and Live Transcripts

Hosts must enable captions before participants can access captions and view transcripts. Closed captions will appear at the bottom of the screen. 

Please see Viewing captions in a meeting or webinar to learn more about the following topics:

• How to view captions in a meeting or webinar
  • Set your caption language
  • Request captions be enabled
  • Automatically show captions when available
• How to customize caption font size, color, section, and layout
• Supported languages for automated captions

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American Sign Language Interpretation

If American Sign Language interpretation is specifically requested, please refer to the list of regional or state resource listings.

Also see: Accessible Technologies: Captioning

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Transcripts of Recordings

Meetings saved to the Zoom cloud appear in My Media in Canvas. Zoom cloud recordings are removed after 2 years. We suggest you caption any recordings in My Media. 

• To enable and manage meeting transcription in Zoom, see Using audio transcription for cloud recordings.

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Keyboard Shortcuts

For a list of Windows and Mac keyboard shortcuts available during Zoom Meetings:

• See Hot keys and keyboard shortcuts.
• See the Zoom desktop client under Settings -> Accessibility.

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Always Show Meeting Controls

You can prevent the meeting control bar at the bottom of meeting screens from auto-hiding. 

1. Open and log into the Zoom desktop client.
2. Click on your profile icon, then Settings.
3. Click on Meetings & webinars. In the Controls settings, toggle on Keep meeting controls visible.
   

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Playing a Sound When Participants Join or Leave Meetings

You can configure your account to enable sounds to play when people join or leave your meetings. 

1. Log into the Virginia Tech Zoom Portal.
2. Click Settings from the left menu.
3. Click the Meetings tab.
4. Under In Meeting (Basic), toggle on Sound notification when someone joins or leaves. Choose whether the sound will be heard by everyone or host and co-hosts only. 
   

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Getting Help

For instructions on resolving common issues with Zoom, see: Video Conferencing - Troubleshooting Zoom.

• Go to 4Help, log in with your Virginia Tech Username (PID) and password, and click Get Help.
• Call 540-231-4357.

For problems using Zoom, contact Zoom Support:

• Search Zoom documentation in the Zoom Help Center.
• Chat live (24-7) with Zoom support. Go to Zoom Video Communications Technical Support and click the Chatbot icon.
• Call Zoom support (24-7) at 888-799-9666 ext 2.
• Check the status of Zoom services.

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