Glossary
What does “Captions and transcript” mean?
Captions are words shown on screen as people speak, usually live and then gone; a transcript is the written record of what was said, kept after the meeting.
What it means
Captions are words shown on screen as people speak, usually live and then gone; a transcript is the written record of what was said, kept after the meeting. Many meeting apps offer both, often from the same speech recognition.
An example
During the call, a participant with hearing loss follows live captions; after the call, the team searches the transcript to find what was agreed about pricing.
Not to be confused with: Minutes
Minutes are a summary of decisions and actions; a transcript is every word; captions are the live display. Each serves a different purpose.
Where you will see it
In meeting apps’ accessibility and recording settings, in accessibility policies, and in recordings and notes afterwards.
Questions
Are captions saved after a meeting?
Often not — many apps show live captions but keep text only if transcription was turned on.
Why do captions get names wrong?
Speech recognition struggles with names, accents and technical words; some apps let you add a custom vocabulary.
Who benefits from live captions?
People who are deaf or hard of hearing first of all, but also anyone listening in a second language, joining from a noisy place, or trying to catch a name or number they missed.
Other meeting words
Try Meetful
Meetings that take their own notes
Free video meetings in the browser: every line of the transcript under the name of who said it, and the summary and action items when you hang up. Nothing to install — guests just open the link.