Skip to content
Blink Brief
Language:

Guide · Churches and schools

How to show live captions on a projector or TV from a laptop (Windows, Mac, Chromebook)

By Blink Brief · Updated  · How pages are made

Windows 11 Live Captions can caption the laptop's microphone once you turn on Include microphone audio, and it docks in a bar above or below the screen. A Mac with Apple silicon has Live Captions with a microphone switch. Chrome's Live Caption is for sound that plays in Chrome. For large captions that fill the projector or TV, open a full-screen captions page in Chrome or Edge on the laptop and put that window on the big screen.

Short answer

  • Windows 11: press Windows key + Ctrl + L, then Preferences › Include microphone audio. Choose Above screen or Below screen.
  • Mac with Apple silicon: System Settings › Accessibility › Live Captions, then click the microphone icon in the captions window.
  • Chromebook, or Chrome on any laptop: Live Caption covers audio playing in Chrome, not a person speaking in the room.
  • Captions that fill the screen: a captions page in Chrome or Edge, in full screen, with the text as large as the room needs.

Which built-in captions hear the microphone

A projector needs captions of the person speaking in the room, so the first question is whether the captions listen to the microphone. Each option below was read in its maker's help page on 3 November 2026.

Option Microphone Fills the screen Text size Languages Translation
Windows 11 Live Captions (22H2 and later) Yes, after you turn on Include microphone audio No: a bar above or below the screen, or a window over it Caption styles, or your own with Edit 21 languages and variants, including Korean and Spanish On Copilot+ PCs with 24H2
Mac Live Captions (Apple silicon) Yes, with the microphone icon No: a window you resize and move Font size setting English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Spanish Not on Apple's Live Captions page
Chrome Live Caption (Windows, Mac, Linux, Chromebook) Google lists only audio that plays in Chrome No: a bubble you can drag Font from your system's caption settings English, plus language packs you add Live Translate sends captions to Google
PowerPoint subtitles (Microsoft 365) Yes, during a slide show No: above, below, or over the slide Size, color, and font settings Spoken: 8 fully supported, 15 in preview Microsoft lists more than 60 subtitle languages; we haven't tested it
A captions page in Chrome or Edge Yes Yes, in full screen As large as the page allows (24 to 160 px in the free tool below) 32 languages and variants in the free tool No: the language being spoken

From Microsoft, Apple, and Google help pages and Blink Brief's Live Captions page, read on 3 November 2026.

Where the audio goes differs too. Microsoft and Apple say their Live Captions process audio on the device, and Google says the same of Chrome's Live Caption. PowerPoint sends your speech to Microsoft. A captions page in Chrome or Edge uses the browser's speech service, which usually runs on Google's or Microsoft's servers.

Windows 11 Live Captions: microphone, position, size

  1. Turn it on. Press Windows key + Ctrl + L, or go to Settings › Accessibility › Captions and turn on Live captions. The first time, Windows asks for your consent and downloads the language files.
  2. Add the microphone. In the live captions window, select Settings › Preferences and turn on Include microphone audio. Microsoft keeps it off by default, and it is off again each time live captions starts, so check it before every talk.
  3. Place it. Select Settings › Position, then Above screen, Below screen, or Overlaid on screen. Above and Below dock the captions to the edge of the display, so your slides aren't covered.
  4. Make it readable. Select Settings › Preferences › Caption style. Pick a built-in style, or select Edit to make your own. A taller captions window shows more lines.
  5. Mute other sound. When other audio plays on the PC, Microsoft says that sound is captioned instead of the microphone.

Live captions works without an internet connection once the language is downloaded. It recognizes 21 languages and variants, among them Korean, Spanish (Mexico), and Spanish (Spain). On Windows 10 there is no Live Captions: Microsoft lists it for Windows 11, version 22H2 and later.

If the laptop mirrors its screen to the projector, the room sees the captions bar with everything else on the screen.

Mac Live Captions: Apple silicon only, with a microphone switch

  1. Choose Apple menu › System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, then click Live Captions (you may need to scroll down) and turn it on. The first time, the Mac downloads language data, so it must be online.
  2. In the Live Captions window, click the microphone icon in the top-right corner to switch from the Mac's own sound to its microphone. The menu bar icon offers the same choice: Computer Audio or Microphone.
  3. In the same settings, change Font size, Font family, Font color, and Background color.
  4. The window hides when no audio is detected. Click the menu bar icon and choose Keep Onscreen to keep it in view during pauses.

Apple says Live Captions is "available only on Mac computers with Apple silicon", processes audio on the device, and "should not be relied upon in high-risk or emergency situations". Its feature page lists English (Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, United Kingdom, United States), French, German, Japanese, Korean, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Spanish (Mexico, Spain, United States). You can make the window larger by dragging any edge, and move it where the room can see it.

Chrome and Chromebook Live Caption: audio that plays in Chrome

Google describes Live Caption for "videos, podcasts, games, live streams, video calls, or other audio media" in Chrome, and the Chromebook page for "any audio or video you play on your Chrome browser". Neither page mentions the microphone. Use it to caption a video you play to the room; for a person speaking at the front, use one of the options above that Microsoft, Apple, or the page itself describes for the microphone.

  • Windows or Mac: in Chrome, More › Settings › Accessibility, then turn on Live Caption.
  • Chromebook: select the time at the bottom right, then Settings › Accessibility › Captions, and turn on Live Caption.
  • The captions appear "in a bubble that you can drag". Other languages need a language pack: Add languages under Manage languages.
  • Google says Live Caption audio and captions "are processed locally" and "never leave your device". Live Translate is different: it sends captions to Google to translate them.

Big captions that fill the screen: a full-screen captions page

The built-in options above draw a bar or a small window. When people at the back of a hall need to read along, open a web page that listens to the microphone and shows only the captions, in full screen, on the projector or TV.

Blink Brief's free Live Captions tool is one such page, with no sign-up:

  1. Connect the laptop to the projector or TV, and open the tool in Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.
  2. Choose the Spoken language: 32 languages and regional variants, including English, Spanish, Korean, Portuguese, Chinese, and Vietnamese.
  3. Press Start captions and allow the microphone. Grey words are still being recognised; they turn white when settled.
  4. If the projector is a separate screen, drag the browser window onto it. Then press Full screen (or F).
  5. Set Text size from 24 to 160 px, choose a Dark or Light background, and leave Auto-scroll on so the newest line stays in view.

What it doesn't do: it shows the language being spoken and doesn't translate. It keeps no transcript: the captions disappear when you close the page. It usually needs the internet, because the browser may send the audio to its maker's speech service (Google for Chrome, Microsoft for Edge, Apple for Safari). Blink Brief never receives the audio or the captions. Safari works on some Macs and iPhones, and Firefox doesn't support it. A small "Made with Blink Brief" line sits in a corner of the captions.

We tested it on 3 November 2026 in Google Chrome 156 on a Mac, feeding a recorded English reading (a synthetic voice) in as the microphone. "Today's reading is from the Gospel of John, chapter three, verse sixteen" came out as "today's reading is from the Gospel of John chapter 3 verse 16", with no punctuation, and each sentence turned white after the pause that followed it.

Check this computer for live captions

To check by hand:

  1. Open the Live Captions tool in Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. Firefox doesn't support live speech recognition; Safari works on some Macs and iPhones.
  2. Press Start captions and allow the microphone when the browser asks.
  3. Say a sentence from where the speaker will stand. If words appear, the laptop is ready. If the page says the microphone is blocked or missing, allow it from the icon in the address bar, or choose the input in your system's sound settings.

Microphone placement and a feed from the sound desk

Every option on this page captions only what its microphone hears clearly. A laptop's built-in microphone at the back of a room picks up echo, the audience, and the projector's fan.

  • Small room, one speaker: a USB or lapel microphone near the speaker, plugged into the laptop.
  • Hall with a sound desk: send the speaker's microphone from a spare output on the desk into a USB audio interface on the laptop, and choose that interface as the input. Leave the music out of that output.
  • Check the input: on Windows, Settings › System › Sound, under Input; on a Mac, System Settings › Sound › Input. Then use the microphone test above before the room fills.
  • Two people talking at once lowers accuracy in every option. Pass one microphone, or caption only the person at the front.

For a church service with a booth and a livestream, the Web Captioner replacement guide covers captions inside OBS. When listeners need another language rather than captions, the church translation guide and the parent-teacher conference guide list what works today.

Questions

Can you make live captions bigger?

On a Mac, set Font size in System Settings › Accessibility › Live Captions. On Windows 11, open Preferences › Caption style in the captions window and pick a style, or select Edit to make your own; a bigger window shows more lines. Chrome takes its caption font from your system's settings. For captions a whole room can read, a full-screen captions page with a text-size slider goes far larger: the free Live Captions tool goes from 24 to 160 px.

Can Windows Live Captions use the microphone?

Yes. Open Preferences in the live captions window and turn on Include microphone audio. Microsoft turns it off by default and again each time live captions starts. When other sound is playing on the PC, Windows captions that sound instead of the microphone.

Does Chrome Live Caption work with a microphone?

Google describes Live Caption for videos, podcasts, games, live streams, video calls, and other audio media in Chrome, and its help page says nothing about the microphone. For a speaker in the room, use Windows or Mac Live Captions, or a captions page that listens to the microphone.

Does the Mac have live captions?

Yes, on Macs with Apple silicon. Turn it on in System Settings › Accessibility › Live Captions, then click the microphone icon in the captions window to caption the room instead of the Mac's own sound. Apple lists English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Spanish.

Can live captions translate?

Windows 11 Live Captions translates on Copilot+ PCs with version 24H2 or later: from over 40 languages into English, and from 27 into Chinese (Simplified). Chrome's Live Translate sends captions of audio playing in Chrome to Google to translate. Mac Live Captions and the free Live Captions tool show the language being spoken.

Sources

What this page sends