Live Captioning in PowerPoint Presentations: Accessible Practices

This article introduces faculty, staff, and students to the Live Captions and Subtitles feature in Microsoft PowerPoint. This accessibility tool uses speech recognition to display what you say during a presentation as on-screen captions or translated subtitles—helping ensure everyone can follow along. 

Follow these directions to turn on the live captioning feature when you use PowerPoint to present content.   

What Are Live Captions and Subtitles? 

PowerPoint’s AI-powered captioning feature transcribes your words in real time as you present. Captions can appear in the same language you speak or as translated subtitles in another language (PowerPoint supports more than 60 languages). 

PowerPoint AI-powered captioning supports: 

• People who are deaf or hard of hearing 

• Non-native speakers of the presentation language 

• Participants in noisy environments 

• Anyone who benefits from reading text while listening 

Why This Matters 

Live captions make presentations more inclusive and accessible. They allow everyone—regardless of hearing ability or language fluency—to fully engage with the material. 
Using this feature also models good digital accessibility practices in classrooms and meetings. 

How to Turn On Live Captions in PowerPoint 

1. Open your PowerPoint presentation. 

2. Go to the Slide Show tab on the ribbon. 

3. Select Subtitle Settings. 

4. Choose your Spoken Language — the language you’ll use while presenting. 

5. Choose your Subtitle Language — the language for on-screen captions (can be the same or a translated language). 

6. If your spoken words are not captioned, check your microphone setting if you have more than one microphone setting.  

7. Select where captions appear: 

1. Below Slide (default) 

2. Above Slide 

3. Overlaid on Top or Bottom 

8. (Optional) Choose More Settings to adjust: 

1. Font size, color, and transparency 

2. Background color for better contrast and readability 

Make Changes In the Middle of a Presentation 

To start or stop captions while presenting, click the Toggle Subtitles button on the toolbar in Slide Show or Presenter View. 
You can also press J on your keyboard to toggle subtitles. 

If you're in the middle of giving a presentation and want to turn the feature on or off, click the Toggle Subtitles button from Slide Show View or Presenter View, on the toolbar below the main slide: 

Helpful Tips 

• Speak clearly and at a moderate pace for the best accuracy. 

• Reduce background noise to improve caption quality. 

• Choose high-contrast colors for subtitle text and backgrounds. 

• If you often present, select Always Use Subtitles in the Slide Show tab to enable captions by default. 

• For best results, maintain a stable internet connection during your presentation. 

More Articles and Help Tickets 

• Present with real-time automatic captions or subtitles in PowerPoint (Microsoft article) 

• How to Add Live Captions and Subtitles in PowerPoint (YouTube) 

• Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible to people with disabilities (Microsoft article) 

• Submit a ticket to our Digital Accessibility Service Team (DAST)