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A Teams video call with ten participants and live captions.

Accessibility features for everyone

Collaborate your way with accessible features like closed captions, audio transcription, and live reactions in Microsoft Teams.

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Enable inclusive collaboration in hybrid meetings

Empower everyone by configuring meetings and calls with accessibility and inclusion in mind.

Use captions and transcription

Captions and transcriptions provide options to see text as well as, or instead of, audio content.

Learn about live captions

Reduce distractions

Adjust your notification settings and use custom backgrounds to help everyone stay focused.

Learn how to mute notifications

Participate your way

Choose how you contribute to the conversation with chat, live reactions, hand raising, and other features.

Learn more

Prioritize sign language

Keep interpreters and other sign language users in view, even when content is shared.

Learn about sign language view

Empower everyone

More than 1 billion people around the world live with a disability. Enable collaboration for everyone with unique accessibility features and tools in Microsoft Teams.

  • Closed captions versus open captions Real-time captioning Live captioning in Teams CART captioning Use CART captions in Teams Keep captions on for all your calls
    A Teams video call with four participants with live captions displayed along the bottom of the screen and the call transcript displayed on the right.

    Captioning

    Captioning features convert audio content into text to make meetings and video content more accessible for people who are Deaf or hard of hearing and those with varying levels of language proficiency.

    A Teams video call where closed captions and live transcript are in use.

    Closed captions versus open captions

    Closed captions are most common. For content like video recordings, closed captions exist as a separate file, which allows viewers to switch them on or off. Open captions, by contrast, are burned into the video itself, and cannot be turned off.

    Two people in a meeting with large screens displaying a Teams video call and a presentation, one is speaking, and the other is holding a tablet.

    Offer readable, real-time captions

    Auto-generated real-time captioning, or live captioning, is often used for live meetings and events. Live captioning is one way to increase the accessibility of meetings and events for those who are deaf or hard of hearing.

    A Teams video call with live captioning being used.

    Live captioning in Teams

    Microsoft Teams provides live captioning with speaker attribution in 28 languages by default. Meeting participants can turn on live captions from the meeting controls to view captions at the bottom of the meeting window. Live captions are not saved for later viewing.

    A speaker standing in a meeting room with a large screen displaying a presentation and a Teams video call and a colleague listening to the speaker.

    CART captioning

    Communication access real-time translation (CART) captions, or human-generated real-time captioning, is provided by trained captioners using specialized software along with phonetic keyboards or stenography methods to produce real-time captioning for meeting and event participants.

    A Teams video call where the meeting organizer is setting up CART captions.

    Use CART captions in Teams

    CART captions are available in Microsoft Teams as an option chosen by the meeting organizer. To provide captions, the meeting organizer must invite the CART captioner to the meeting and provide them with a special link to connect their captioning software to the meeting.

    A Teams video call with the accessibility settings open.

    Keep captions on for all your calls

    Deaf and hard of hearing participants who regularly use captioning features can save time by setting captions to stay on for all meetings

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  • Live transcripts in Teams Enable live transcription in Teams
    Three people in a meeting room looking at a presentation being given over a Teams call on a television on the wall.

    Convert speech to written text

    Audio transcription converts speech and other audio components into written text. Transcripts, unlike captions, are generally made available as a separate document or hyperlinked within the online content.

    A Teams meeting with video and voice participants, one participant raising their hand to speak and the live transcript being displayed on the right.

    Live transcripts in Teams

    Live transcripts with speaker attribution are available in 28 languages in Microsoft Teams. View live transcription in real-time alongside meeting content, or review after the meeting to catch up at your own pace.

    A Teams meeting with video and voice participants and a transcription being started.

    Enable live transcription in Teams

    Turn on live transcription from the meeting options menu within a Teams meeting or set to start transcription along with recording.

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  • Keep sign language users visible Use sign language view in Teams Show regular interpreters in all meetings
    Two people having a conversation in sign language.

    Communicate in sign language

    Keep sign language interpreters and other signers clearly in view within remote meetings.

    A Teams video call where the sign language interpreter is featured prominently in the call and a live transcript is viewable.

    Keep sign language users visible

    Ensure that interpreters and other sign language users stay visible in a consistent location for participants who communicate primarily in sign language.

    A Teams video call with two sign language users being featured prominently and a live transcript of the call is viewable on the screen.

    Use sign language view in Teams

    Keep up to two other participants’ videos visible at a larger size and higher quality even when content is shared.

    A Teams video call with the accessibility settings open to add priority signers.

    Show regular interpreters in all meetings

    Identify other signers in your organization in the Teams accessibility settings and set them to appear in sign language view across all your meetings.

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  • PowerPoint Live Excel Live Add alt text to images in Teams chat Inline translation in chat Audio description
    A presentation being shared over a Teams meeting with voice and video participants and the menu showing the different languages that the slides can be translated to in real-time.

    Share content inclusively

    Share more accessible content using built-in accessibility features across Microsoft products.

    A sales analysis presentation being given over a Teams meeting with two video participants and three voice participants.

    PowerPoint Live

    Engage more flexibly with content. Privately change color contrast, use a screen reader, or navigate shared slides at your own pace without interrupting the meeting.

    A Sales Analysis presentation being given over a Teams meeting with two video participants and three voice participants.

    Excel Live

    Make shared content and collaboration more accessible to participants using screen readers when working together on Excel spreadsheets within a Teams meeting.

    Alt text being added to an image of a large rowboat in Teams chat.

    Add alt text to images in Teams chat

    Ensure everyone understands chat posts by right clicking on any image you share to add alt text before you post.

    A person walking outside and looking at a tablet.

    Inline translation in chat

    Inline chat message translation within Teams facilitates collaboration across language barriers since messages are translated into the language specified by each participant.

    A group of people in a meeting room participating in a Teams call via the television mounted on the wall behind them.

    Audio description

    Audio description is a voiceover description of what appears in a video. Typically, audio descriptions augment the audio portion of a presentation with information during pauses in dialogue. This description includes information about actions, presenters (such as new or additional presenters), scene changes, and any on-screen text not described by the speaker or presenter.

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  • Use background effects Avoid background effects for sign language Limit background noise in meetings Use noise suppression in Teams
    A Teams video call with participants using blurred backgrounds.

    Reduce distractions

    Help everyone stay focused on meeting content by filtering out unnecessary sights and sounds.

    A Teams video call with a panel on the right showing Background settings and options.

    Use background effects

    Blur your background or select a background image in virtual meetings when using an app such as Microsoft Teams. Background effects help keep the focus on you, and are especially helpful for those who read lips or those for whom focusing may be a challenge.