Google Slides captions

What do live captions do?

In Google Slides, live captions display the speaker’s words in real time at the bottom of the presentation screen. Google says captions are not saved and do not include punctuation. So don’t treat this feature as a transcript you can use later.

As speech is converted to text, the browser controls the speech-to-text service; the text is then sent to Google Slides. Google’s dedicated captioning guidance says the feature works in current versions of Chrome, Edge, and Safari. If the feature isn’t enabled for your organization, an administrator may have turned it off. For these and other details, see Google’s guidance on captions during a presentation. Google also lists live automatic captions among its accessible presentation options.

Check your microphone before presenting

According to Google’s guidance, your computer’s microphone must be on and working to use captions; you also need an internet connection during the presentation. Google Slides can use the computer’s built-in microphone or an external microphone paired with the computer. The guidance does not require an external microphone.

Check your microphone in your system and browser settings. Before presenting, do a short rehearsal and see whether captions appear as you speak. This lets you check whether the microphone audio is reaching the feature and whether the text is readable for your audience.

Turn captions on, adjust them, and turn them off

1. Open your presentation in Google Slides and click Present.
2. Open the More options menu at the lower left of the presentation screen.
3. Turn on captions under Caption preferences.
4. Speak and check that the text appears at the bottom of the screen.
5. To change the text size or position, use the dropdown menu next to the CC icon.

To turn captions off, click the CC icon or use the shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + C on ChromeOS and Windows, or ⌘ + Shift + C on Mac. This menu and these settings are on the presentation screen; don’t look for them in the menus on the editing screen before starting the presentation. If you don’t see the option, check that you’re on the presentation screen and that the feature is available in your organization’s account.

Example: a short project presentation

Hypothetical example: Deniz is giving a three-minute presentation for a school project. The first slide is titled “Neighborhood waste sorting.” Deniz starts the presentation, turns on captions, and says, “In this presentation, I’m looking at the waste-sorting points in our neighborhood.” If the sentence appears at the bottom of the screen, Deniz can see during the rehearsal that the microphone audio is reaching the captions.

The second slide is titled “Observation,” and the third “Recommendation.” Deniz checks whether proper names such as “North Park” are spelled correctly. If a name appears incorrectly, Deniz also displays the correct spelling on the slide. Deniz doesn’t rely on live captions alone for important proper names and numbers. This is a practical precaution that takes into account the warning that captions may not be a complete and accurate transcript of the speech.

During the rehearsal, Deniz also checks the text size and position. To describe images in the slides, see the guide to adding alt text to images in Google Slides. Alt text helps describe an image; it is not a substitute for live speech captions.

Sharing your screen in an app such as Meet

According to Google’s guidance, when you share your presentation through a video conferencing app such as Google Meet, Google Slides captions appear on the shared screen. They are not the conferencing app’s own captions; the guidance only says that the presenter’s voice is captioned. Explain to viewers in advance where the captions come from and whose speech is being transcribed.

Before sharing, turn on captions on the presentation screen and check whether they appear in the view sent to your audience. If you also plan to use the meeting app’s own captions, follow that app’s guidance separately.

If captions don’t appear or are inaccurate

If no captions appear: Check that the microphone is on and working, review the system and browser microphone settings, and see whether another app is using the microphone. Google also recommends reducing background noise or moving to a quieter place, changing the microphone input volume, and trying an external microphone. If the problem continues, restarting the computer or clearing the browser cache are also among Google’s troubleshooting suggestions.

If words appear incorrectly: Google says caption accuracy may depend on the speaker’s audio input and characteristics such as accent, voice variations, and emphasis. Text may be incomplete or inaccurate and does not include punctuation. Present important information in writing on the slide as well; don’t use live captions as a verified record.

If captions turn off on their own: Google says the microphone and captions may turn off automatically after 30 minutes of inactivity on the computer. When you resume the presentation after a long break, check whether captions are still on. For more troubleshooting steps, see Google’s captioning guidance.

Presentation-day checklist

• There’s an internet connection; the computer microphone is on and working.
• The caption option appears on the presentation screen and works during the rehearsal.
• The text size and position are readable for the audience.
• Important proper names and numbers also appear in writing on the slide.
• It’s been explained that captions appear during screen sharing and only the presenter’s voice is captioned.

To organize your presentation content, see the guide to creating a table of contents slide in Google Slides. A table of contents slide helps organize presentation content; it is separate from the steps for turning on live captions.

Frequently asked questions

Are live captions saved in the presentation file?

Google says live captions are not saved. If you need text to review later, prepare and check a separate transcript; don’t plan to use live captions as a recording or transcript.

Can I change the caption language?

Google’s guidance on using captions during a presentation does not explain how to change the language. Check the options on the presentation screen; if you don’t see a language option, don’t assume it is supported based on this guidance.