Live captions on Windows 11: shortcut, languages and fixes

Turn on live captions

Press Windows logo key + Ctrl + L. A caption bar opens and writes out the audio the PC is playing. Microsoft's live captions page lists three other ways in: the Live captions toggle in Quick Settings, Start → All apps → Accessibility → Live captions, and Settings → Accessibility → Captions.

The feature exists in Windows 11 version 22H2 and later. Microsoft lists no other Windows version.

The same page says audio, voice data and captions never leave the device and aren't shared with Microsoft. The captions aren't stored either, so there is nothing to save afterward. For a transcript of a meeting, use the meeting app's own: Teams and Zoom each have one.

Live captions starts with the microphone off, every time. To caption your own voice as well, click the Settings button in the caption bar, open Preferences and turn on Include microphone audio. If the bar shows the video call but never your side of it, this is the switch to check.

Choose the caption language

1. Click the Settings button in the caption bar.
2. Choose Change language, pick a language from the dropdown and select Continue.
3. If that language isn't installed, Windows asks you to download it. Select Download.
4. When the bar says it's ready to caption in the new language, play something.

Languages already on the PC appear in bold in the dropdown. The downloaded files are listed as speech packs under Settings → Apps → Installed apps (search for "Speech Pack"). Captioning runs on the PC, so once the pack is installed it doesn't need a connection.

Microsoft's language list is by region, so the exact variant matters:

• Chinese: Simplified (China), Traditional (Hong Kong SAR), Traditional (Taiwan)
• English: Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States
• French: Canada, France
• Portuguese: Brazil, Portugal
• Spanish: Mexico, Spain
• Danish, German (Germany), Italian (Italy), Japanese and Korean

A language that isn't on this list, such as Dutch or Russian, has no entry in the dropdown. Spanish from Argentina, for example, would need to be captioned as Spanish (Mexico) or Spanish (Spain).

Move the bar and change how it looks

Settings button → Position lets you dock the bar above the screen, below it, or lay it over the screen. Drag its edges to resize it.

For the look of the text, go to Settings button → Preferences → Caption style, which opens the Captions page in Accessibility settings. Microsoft's caption settings guide shows four presets: White on black, Small caps, Large text and Yellow on blue. A preview appears when you pick one, and Edit lets you change the text, the background and the window. The built-in Default style follows your light or dark mode.

Preferences also has Filter profanity.

Translated captions need a Copilot+ PC

Translation is limited to Copilot+ PCs running Windows 11 version 24H2 or later. On one of those, Microsoft says you see translation automatically when the output language is English (United States) or Chinese (Simplified). It covers over 40 languages into English (Arabic, Hindi, Russian, Thai and Vietnamese among them) and 27 languages into Chinese (Simplified), including German, French, Japanese, Korean and Spanish.

Microsoft describes no translation for other PCs, and there is no switch to look for. If you're unsure whether your machine is a Copilot+ PC, the maker's spec page will say. On a regular Windows 11 PC you get captions in the language being spoken and nothing more.

If captions won't start or setup is stuck

Work through these in order.

1. Windows version. Check that the PC runs Windows 11 22H2 or later.
2. The shortcut does nothing. Turn on Live captions in Settings → Accessibility → Captions. If the bar appears from there, only the shortcut is failing, and you can use Quick Settings or the Start menu in the meantime.
3. The bar is empty during a call. The captions come from the audio the PC plays, and your own voice is included only if Include microphone audio is on.
4. The language is missing. Compare it with the list above. If it is there, open Change language from the caption bar and download it.
5. Setup stops with a language download error. The message reads "We can't download the required language files right now. Make sure you're connected to the internet and try again in a few minutes."

For the fifth one, Microsoft's troubleshooting page says the cause is that the PC can't reach the Microsoft Store app catalog during setup. Check the internet connection, then see whether the Microsoft Store itself can download an app. On a work or school PC, an administrator may have turned the Store off, and then only they can change that.

If you can't get the Store to work, install the speech pack by hand:

1. Open Settings → Time & language → Language & region to see your display language, and Settings → System → About for the system type.
2. On Microsoft's troubleshooting page, download the CAB file that matches both from its table.
3. Double-click the CAB file and extract the ZIP file inside to a folder.
4. Open that folder, double-click the MSIX file, select Install, then Close.

If Windows answers "No such interface supported", open Windows PowerShell in the unzipped folder and run the Add-AppxPackage cmdlet on the MSIX file.

On a Mac or another device

Windows 11 live captions only run on Windows. Mac readers can start with live caption apps for Mac, or with Apple Live Captions troubleshooting if the built-in feature misbehaves. Live captions on every device covers phones and browsers, and the separate caption feature in Chrome has its own guide. For a call on your phone, see getting captions on a phone call.