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When hosting events that have a webconferencing component, accessibility and disability accommodations need to be considered. This page will provide information on how to request CART accommodations for events,  how to implement captioning within a virtual room, and how to embed the transcript for recorded events. In particular, this page will go over the captioning features within Zoom.

Requesting a CART transcriptionist

First, determine if the event needs CART. More information on when to provide disability accommodations can be found by visiting ASL Interpreting Services / CART. If CART is needed, an outside vendor/transcriptionist will need to be booked. Be sure to test with the transcriptionist ahead of time and check if they have provided captioning for the selected platform (Zoom). When using these platforms through Syracuse University, a host can invite the transcriptionist to their meeting as a guest, however the transcriptionist may still need to configure the platform on their device. Below are some vendors that are able to provide remote services. 

Professional Reporting ServicesCaption AdvantageAutomatic Sync Technologies/CaptionSync

Configure Captioning for a Zoom meeting

If a Zoom account has not been configured, please view Zoom at Syracuse University for more help and documentation. Before creating a meeting, you should also view the Answers page on Securing Zoom Meetings.

The following sections will go over the procedures of creating a meeting with captions enabled. 

Check Meeting Settings

Before starting or scheduling a meeting, the User's settings need to enable captioning. 

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal: syracuseuniversity.zoom.us
  2. In the navigation panel, click Settings.
  3. Click the Meeting tab.
    Zoom Webportal navigation menu. Settings and In Meeting tabs are selected
  4. Under Meeting (Advanced), verify that closed captioning is enabled.
  5. A second prompt will ask to confirm, select Turn On
  6. Below Closed captioning, there is also an option for Save Captions.  This allows participants to also save the captions.
    Zoom Web portal screen shot of captioning option enabled

Check Recording Settings 

If the video is being saved and posted elsewhere, it is a good idea to also check the recording settings.

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal: syracuseuniversity.zoom.us
  2. In the navigation panel, click Settings.
  3. Click the Recording tab.
  4. Make sure the settings for Local recording and Cloud recording are enabled to the user's preference.

Schedule a Meeting

Meetings can be scheduled in two ways: via the Zoom web portal or via the Zoom app.

Zoom Web Portal

Zoom App

In the web portal, there is a tab labelled Schedule a Meeting in the upper right corner of the top menu bar.  The Schedule a Meeting button is also found  under the Meetings tab in the navigation panel. Custom settings can be selected to your preference.

Zoom webportal screenshot of meetings and schedule a new meeting tabs selected

After logging in to the Zoom App, there is an option for a New Meeting in the Home tab. Please note that this is a generic meeting room. Meetings can also be scheduled by selecting the Schedule Meetings button in the Home tab.

screen shot of zoom application with arrows pointing to the meeting tabs

 If you need more help to create a meeting, please visit the Hosting a Zoom Meeting section on Zoom at Syracuse University.

Invite the Transcriptionist

If the meeting is scheduled ahead of time, a guest URL is available that can be shared with the transcriptionist. 

Zoom Web Portal

Zoom Application

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal: syracuseuniversity.zoom.us
  2. In the navigation panel, click Meetings.
  3. Click on the upcoming meeting.
  4. Under Invite Attendees, there is an option to Copy the Invitation.
  5. Confirm that you want to Copy Meeting Invitation to Clipboard.
    1. This copies all information including any meeting passwords.
  6. Send this information to the transcriptionist.
    screenshot of zoom web portal, meeting invitiation
  1. Sign in to the Zoom Application
  2. If a meeting is already scheduled, select the Meeting tab.
    1. Select the desired meeting.
    2. Select Copy Invitation, and send it to the transcriptionist.
  3. If a meeting is not scheduled, go to the Home tab.
    1. Select New Meeting.
    2. If Start with Video is disabled, the meeting invite will appear on the main screen.
    3. If you are sharing your webcam, the meeting invite can be found in the upper left Information icon.
    4. Copy URL and send it to the transcriptionist.
      screenshot of zoom app meeting invitation

Start Closed Captioning in a Meeting

These instructions can also be found on Zoom's Help Page.

  1. Click the Closed Caption button on the toolbar.
  2.  Select Assign a Participant to Type.
    screen shot of zoom app with closed captioning button selected
  3.  In the Participant Panel, find the transcriptionist.
  4.  Hover the mouse over their name, and select the More option.
  5. Select Assign to Type Closed Caption.
  6. Next to the Closed Caption button, there will now be an Up Arrow that allows participants to 
    1. show/hide captioning.
    2. view the full transcript.
    3.  change their subtitle settings.

Record the Meeting

If the meeting needs to be recorded and posted elsewhere, take the following steps. 

  1. In the meeting, select the Record button on the toolbar.
    screenshot of zoom app recording button selected
  2.  Choose to record to your local device or on the cloud. NOTE:
    1. Recording cannot be done simultaneously on both.
    2. SU users are limited to 500MB of cloud storage.
  3.  Use the Pause/Stop button on the toolbar or the upper left corner to control the recording.
  4. When the meeting ends, the recording will be processed.
  5. Recordings will vary based on the options the user selects under the Recording tab in their Zoom Web-Portal Settings.

The following table will explain how to access the recording and captions based on which method was used:

Cloud RecordingLocal Recording

When the meeting ends, the video will be automatically processed and posted to the Zoom Web Portal.

  1. When signed into the portal, select the Recordings tab under the Navigation Panel.
  2. All available recordings will be listed under Cloud Recordings.
    screen shot of zoom web portal with recording tab selected in navigation menu
  3. On the list of videos, there is a button to Share the video with a link to Zoom's online video player.
  4. There is also the option to delete or download the video under the More heading.
    1. Please note that only the audio/video will be downloaded from here, not the caption file.
  5. Select the desired video by clicking on the title.
    1. Please note that when viewing on Zoom's video player, the captions are automatically embedded.
  6. If this video is being posted elsewhere, the captioning and video will need to be downloaded.
  7. With the desired video selected, click the download button (the "arrow pointing down" icon).
  8. Select download .MP4 and .VTT file.

When the meeting ends, a prompt will appear stating that the recording is being converted.

  • A file will be saved on the local device.
  • The File is labeled by the date/time/meeting name/ID.
  • In the file, the recording is separated between an .MP4 file for video/audio, an audio-only file (.m4a/.m3u), and a .VTT captioning file.
  • The captioning is not embedded into the video.
  • Captioning can be embedded in Ensemble.
    Zoom window showing the local recording location
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