Add captions and subtitles to your presentation
Applies ToPowerPoint for Microsoft 365 PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 for Mac PowerPoint 2024 PowerPoint 2024 for Mac PowerPoint 2021 PowerPoint 2021 for Mac PowerPoint 2019 PowerPoint 2019 for Mac PowerPoint 2016

Make your presentation more inclusive to people who are deaf or hard of hearing by adding captions and subtitles in videos and audio. When you are presenting, you can also turn on live captions and subtitles so that everyone can follow what you are saying. When your slides are accessible, you unlock your content to everyone, and people with differing abilities can read and use your slides. 

To add captions and subtitles to a video or audio in your presentation, follow these steps:

  1. Select the desired video or audio clip on your slide.

  2. Select the Insert Captions button on the Accessibility ribbon tab. This action will open a file picker dialog.

  3. Select a caption file in WebVTT format for your video or audio.

    Notes: 

  4. When delivering a presentation, enable the Always Use Subtitles checkbox on the Accessibility ribbon tab. PowerPoint will use the microphone to listen to you speak and use an AI-powered service to convert the speech into captions displayed on the screen as you present. PowerPoint supports 18 spoken languages and over 60 caption languages. For more information, go to Present with real-time, automatic captions or subtitles in PowerPoint.

See also

Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible to people with disabilities

Make your presentation easier for people to see and understand

Make your presentation work with a screen reader

Improve accessibility with the Accessibility Checker

Make your presentation more inclusive to people who are deaf or hard of hearing by adding captions and subtitles in videos and audio. When you are presenting, you can also turn on live captions and subtitles so that everyone can follow what you are saying. When your slides are accessible, you unlock your content to everyone, and people with differing abilities can read and use your slides. 

To add captions and subtitles to a video or audio in your presentation, follow these steps:

  1. Select the desired video or audio clip on your slide.

  2. Select the Insert Captions button on the Accessibility ribbon tab. This action will open a file picker dialog.

  3. Select a caption file in WebVTT format for your video or audio.

    Notes: 

  4. When delivering a presentation, enable the Always Use Subtitles checkbox on the Accessibility ribbon tab. PowerPoint will use the microphone to listen to you speak and use an AI-powered service to convert the speech into captions displayed on the screen as you present. PowerPoint supports 18 spoken languages and over 60 caption languages. For more information, go to Present with real-time, automatic captions or subtitles in PowerPoint.

See also

Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible to people with disabilities

Make your presentation easier for people to see and understand

Make your presentation work with a screen reader

Improve accessibility with the Accessibility Checker

Technical support for customers with disabilities

Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.

If you are a government, commercial, or enterprise user, please contact the enterprise Disability Answer Desk.

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