One of the best accessibility tools on Chromebooks is Live Caption, and I frequently utilise it when YouTube’s closed captions experience speech recognition issues. Additionally, the Live Captions option is useful if you are too lazy to fetch your earbuds and don’t want to bother anyone. It is precise, quick, instantly converts speech to text, and functions even when you are offline. If you think it would be helpful and would like to enable Live Caption on your Chromebook, see our short tutorial below. In the event that the feature stopped functioning on your Chromebook, we have also listed several remedies. After said that, let’s move on to learning how to enable Live Captions on your Chromebook.
Enable Live Caption on Your Chromebook (2022)
This article has described a quick process for turning on Live Caption on Chromebooks. You can also find the fix for Live Caption here if it stops working on your Chrome OS device. Without further ado, let’s get started:
Turn On Live Captions on Your Chromebook
Chromebooks only support the English language for Live Caption right now. All English language versions from various locations, including English (US), English (UK), and English (India), are supported. According to Google, Chromebooks will soon have access to Live captioning in French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish.
In addition, Google claims that audio and subtitles on Chromebooks are processed locally, meaning that the data never leaves the device. This strategy makes sense in terms of privacy. After all of that, let’s go to the steps.
1. Start by navigating to the bottom-right Quick Settings window. After that, use the cogwheel symbol to access Settings.
2. On the Settings screen, expand the menu by clicking on Advanced in the left sidebar, then choose Accessibility.
3. In the right pane, select Manage accessibility features.
4. Go to the Audio and captions section by scrolling to the bottom. Click on Captions here.
5. Lastly, turn on Live Caption on your Chromebook. In order to provide Live captioning even when your device is offline, Google will then begin downloading some voice recognition files from its server.
6. At this point, feel free to play any media in Chrome. At the bottom, a live caption popup will start creating captions in real time. Remember that the Chrome browser is the only one that supports the Live Caption feature on Chromebooks. A media file from your local storage cannot be played.
7. I also gave Live Caption a try in offline mode, and it performed flawlessly. The live captions will appear as you play the media file in the Chrome browser. Simply drag and drop the video into the Chrome browser to play any media file through Chrome.
8. The Settings programme on your Chromebook allows you to change the caption’s size, font, colour, background colour, opacity, and other features.
Live Caption Not Working on Your Chromebook? Fix Here
1. Don’t worry if Live Caption doesn’t function on your Chromebook or you can’t find the option in Settings. Just use the Chrome browser and go to thechrome:/flagspage. Look for live captioning here. The connected links allow you to read more about Chrome flags and to look at some essential excellent Chrome flags.
2. You can also open the following URL in Chrome directly, which will lead you to the Live Caption flag.
chrome://flags/#enable-accessibility-live-caption
3. Next, restart your Chromebook after selecting the Live Caption flag from the dropdown menu. Live Caption ought to function properly on your Chromebook going forward.
4. If you haven’t already, I recommend switching to the English language if you wish to use Live Caption on your Chromebook. Settings -> Advanced -> Languages and Inputs -> Languages -> Change allows you to switch the language (next to Device language).
Chrome OS Live Caption: Frequently Asked Questions
What languages are supported by Chromebooks’ Live Caption feature?
Chromebooks only support the English language in its various regional variants at this time. According to Google, Live Caption will soon be available in French, German, Italian, etc.
How can live captioning be enabled in Chrome?
Simply enable the flag by going to chrome:/flags/#enable-accessibility-live-caption. It will activate Chrome’s Live Caption function. To further set Live Caption, navigate to Settings -> Advanced -> Accessibility -> Captions.
Does Live Caption function on Chromebooks when offline?
Live captioning is functional offline on Chromebooks, and no data is ever sent outside of the device. Local servers are used for all data processing.
How do Chromebooks customise live captioning?
Navigate to Advanced -> Accessibility -> Settings under Settings. Captions under manage accessibility features. You can select the caption size, font, background colour, and other options here under Caption settings.
Generate Real-Time and Accurate Caption on Chromebooks
So that’s how Chromebooks can use the live caption feature. I find the feature to be quite helpful, especially when hearing someone speak with an accent other than your own. It accurately transcripts audio and functions even when offline. That’s all we have to say, though. We also offer a helpful instruction if you wish to enable Live Caption on Windows 11. Additionally, you can read our linked page for more similar Chromebook hints and suggestions. Finally, let us know in the comments section below if you have any queries.