844-897-3935IMPORTANT: To use Zoom Linking, it's critical to update your TypeWell software to revision 875 or higher. We also recommend updating your Zoom desktop client.
Quick Overview
To stream live text from TypeWell (V8 Premium Transcriber or V8 Connect) into a Zoom meeting:
- The host needs to enable the 3rd-Party Closed Captioning feature in their Zoom account settings before starting the meeting. (This is a one-time change in the host's account settings; then it will stay enabled for all future meetings unless they turn it off.)
- The captionist needs to paste the API token from the Zoom meeting into their TypeWell software.
Once linked, the participants in the Zoom meeting should see a notification pop up that says, "Closed Caption available."
- The participants need to click the Show Subtitle setting in their Zoom app in order for the subtitles to be visible.
A TypeWell transcript can appear in the form of short captions at the bottom of the Zoom meeting screen.
Host: Enable 3rd-party Closed Captioning in your Zoom account settings online
As the Zoom host, you need to enable two settings in your Zoom.us account before you start the meeting. Please go to zoom.us/profile/setting and toggle on both of these advanced meeting options:
- Closed captioning
- Allow use of caption API Token to integrate with 3rd-party Closed Captioning services
Log into your Zoom account in your browser. Select "Settings" from the menu on the left, and "Meeting" from the menu at the top.
Scroll down to "In Meeting (Advanced)" and find the options for "Manual Captions" below. This section is may be difficult to find among a long list of other options; use Ctrl + F and type "manual" to find it quickly.
Host: Obtain the API token from Zoom and share it with the captionist
As the Zoom host, you can make the API token available to the captionist in a couple of different ways.
Method 1:
As the host, you can select Copy the API token to your own clipboard, and then share that API token with the captionist via chat or email.
In the host's view, expand the Closed Caption menu, select "Set up manual captioner", then toggle "Enable manual captioner" to ON, which brings up a dialog box with the options "Assign a Participant to Type," "I Will Type," and "Copy the API Token." From here, click the "Copy the API token" button to copy it to your clipboard. Then you can paste it in a private chat message to the captionist.
NOTE: If the host account has enabled both manual captions and automated captions in their Meeting settings, this adds an additional step for the host during the meeting. The will have to "Enable manual captioner" by clicking the "On" radio button, before they can get the API token or assign a participant to type.
When manual and automated captions are enabled at the same time in the host's account settings, then their Closed Caption menu will include the* additional option, "Enable manual captioner," which can be toggled "On" and "Off."*
Method 2 (possibly removed as of Feb 2025?):
Another way to share the API token is (or was) to find the captionist's name in the Participants list, hover over their name, select *More,* and then assign them to type:
The host hovers over the captionist's name and selects "More", which reveals a menu of options allowing the host to select "Assign to Type Closed Caption."
The assigned captionist should then see a pop-up notification in their own Zoom application:
In the captionist's Zoom app, the message "The host has assigned you to type Closed Captions" appears at the bottom of the screen.
The assigned captionist can open a Closed Captioning window in Zoom, where they can either 1) caption directly into that window using TypeWell Everywhere OR 2) click on Use a 3rd party CC service to copy the API token to their clipboard.
Most TypeWell transcribers prefer to use the 3rd party CC service so they can type directly into their TypeWell Transcriber software, which is more robust than the TypeWell Everywhere feature.
Expanding the Closed Caption menu reveals a caption window, where the captionist clicks on "Use a 3rd Party CC service." The message "API token copied to clipboard" appears highlighted in green.
REMEMBER: This 3rd party API token is what allows a captionist to to connect their TypeWell application to the Zoom meeting. Without that API token, their only option is to type directly into the Closed Caption window within their Zoom app.
Captionist: Paste the host's API token into TypeWell app
Under the Link menu in TypeWell, select by Zoom. Click the Enable Zoom linking checkbox.
Paste in the Zoom API token for 3rd party closed captioning.
In this animated view of the TypeWell Transcriber window, the captionist clicks on the "Link" menu and selects the option "By Zoom..." This brings up a dialog box called "Zoom Linking Setup," which prompts the user for the API token. The captionist pastes the API token into the blank space provided, selects, "OK," and the "Link" menu title changes to "Linked."
Also, make sure the Link menu says Linking on.
The Linking menu is expanded, with "Linking On" selected."
TypeWell may flash "Zoom (searching)" in the lower-right status bar. Once connected, this will change to just say "Zoom." Once that status bar says "Zoom," the following things will occur:
- Participants will see a pop-up notification that "captions are now available." They can then click on the Live Transcript button and select "Show Subtitle" or "View live transcript."
- Whatever you type into the TypeWell Transcriber or Connect program will be transmitted to the subtitle feed in the Zoom meeting.
If you are teaming with a second transcriber using the same API token, please note that only one transcriber should type at a time. Otherwise, the text will appear garbled in Zoom.
What about breakout rooms?
Unfortunately, each breakout room has its own, separate API token. The captionist should be assigned to the breakout room where their services are needed most; they cannot simultaneously be assigned to multiple breakout rooms, nor can they caption more than one conversation at a time.
For captions to appear within a breakout room, the captionist needs to get the breakout-room-specific API token and paste it into the Zoom Linking setup box (in TypeWell) and wait for TypeWell to re-link to Zoom. The participants in that breakout room may need to re-enable the "Show Subtitle" setting as well.
Once the captionist and participants return to the main meeting, the original API token for that meeting must be entered (again, in TypeWell), and the participants need to re-enable the "Show Subtitle" setting.
If this seems too cumbersome, the captionist could simply type directly into Zoom's "Closed Caption" box using TypeWell Everywhere while they're in the breakout room — provided the meeting host has assigned them captioning privileges in Zoom. However, it's important to remember that whatever they type into the closed-captioning window will NOT automatically be saved in the TypeWell transcript. It will need to be manually copied, saved, and then added into the TypeWell transcript after the meeting is over.
Things to consider
TypeWell captions appear smoothly for the participants whether they select "Show Subtitle" or "View full transcript":
- The "Show Subtitle" view displays about 3 lines of text at a time, near the bottom third of the Zoom window.
- The "View full Transcript" feature opens a sidebar where the captions appear with time stamps.
We recommend enabling Web Linking and sharing the Web Reader URL with the meeting participants so they have the option to view the full transcript in a separate browser or even on a separate device. (Yes, you can enable both Zoom Linking and Web Linking in TypeWell and stream your text to both places simultaneously!)
We recommend sharing instructions with the meeting participants via the Zoom Chat box, so they understand how to access both the subtitles and the full transcript. Here's an example that you or the meeting host could share:
In the Zoom chat box, the captionist writes: "To access live captioning in Zoom, select “Show Subtitle'' on the Closed Caption (or More) menu. To view the full transcript, visit https://east.typewell.com/xxxxxxxx." The message is sent to all participants in the meeting.
Note that when participants join the meeting late, they cannot see previously-typed messages in the Zoom Chat box. So, when possible, you should share the how-to instructions at the beginning of the meeting and then again, a few minutes into the meeting for latecomers to see.
Troubleshooting
Host doesn't see the Closed Caption menu control?
The host needs to enable the Manual Captions feature in their Zoom Account Settings — before starting the meeting. Also, please note that the menu control is a tiny "up-arrow" on the upper right corner of the CC control in the host's view.
TypeWell flashes "Zoom (searching)" indefinitely?
Try these troubleshooting steps, in order:
- Try toggling the master linking control (at the top of TypeWell's Link menu) off and then back on.
- Check your internet connection.
- Restart your computer.
TypeWell says "Be sure to use the Closed Caption token, not the Invite link."
This message appears when you have pasted a URL that TypeWell does not recognize as a Zoom API token. Check that you're pasting in the full API token, and not the Zoom meeting invitation link.
Note that if you're trying to paste a link in that contains a "zoomgov.com" API token and you still see this message, then you need to update your TypeWell software to the latest version! To update, click Help > Check for Updates and follow the on-screen instructions.