M365 PlaybooksMicrosoft 365 apps · Teams · SharePoint· Deploy · Meetings and events
Make meetings and events accessible
Purpose
Make Teams meetings and events usable by everyone without each attendee having to ask. Captions, real-time text, human captioners and interpreters each meet different needs, and most of them depend on settings and preparation made before the meeting starts.
Overview
Caption, transcription and real-time text settings, support for human captioners and interpreters, and habits for organizers.
- Effort
- About 5 to 8 person-days
- Duration
- 3 to 6 weeks
- Complexity
- Low
- Who's in the room
- Teams admin, accessibility lead, event organizers, people who arrange captioning and interpretation
- Beyond E5
- Teams Premium for live translated captions and transcription (the organizer needs the licence). Human (CART) captions need a captioning provider.
Risk of not doing it
People who are deaf or hard of hearing, or who need other support, are excluded from meetings or have to ask every time.
Key activities
The plan in order: what must be true first, what to decide, then how to configure the pilot and production.
Prerequisites
Know what each option does
Live captions are generated during the meeting and aren't saved. Transcription produces a saved transcript and is controlled per organizer and per user. Real-time text shows each character as people type. Human captions (CART) come from a captioner using a third-party service. Each meets a different need, and captions don't help people who use screen readers.
Decisions
Decision: What do meeting policies allow?
Make live captions available, allow transcription with the retention you agreed, keep real-time text on (it's on by default), and allow organizers to add a CART captioning link, a policy setting available through PowerShell. Webinars and town halls have their own transcription setting in events policies.
Options
- Keep the defaults unchanged
- Captions, transcription, real-time text and CART allowed for organizers
Recommended default: Captions, transcription, real-time text and CART allowed for organizers
Decision: Do you need translated captions?
Live translated captions and transcription need a Teams Premium licence for the organizer. In multilingual meetings, check how captions behave when speakers switch language, and plan human support for important bilingual events.
Options
- Not needed
- Teams Premium for organizers of multilingual events
Recommended default: Teams Premium for organizers of multilingual events
Pilot configuration
Run accessible events with a pilot group
Choose a few regular meetings and one larger event. Test captions, transcripts, a CART captioner and an interpreter joining as guests, and confirm lobby and guest settings let them in.
Production configuration
Give organizers a checklist
Share materials before the meeting, turn on captions, describe what's on screen, and book captioners or interpreters early. Put it where organizers schedule meetings.
Make it enforceable
Meeting and events policies make captions, transcription, real-time text and CART available everywhere. Turning them on and preparing materials still depends on organizers.
Partly enforced. The gaps are a risk until a mechanism covers them.
Pilot to production
Rollout approachBy workload · Pilot size: A few regular meetings and one larger event
Regular meetings and large events need different preparation; testing both before widening avoids surprises at the events that matter most.
Make your pilot representative
- Every major role, not only IT and enthusiasts
- More than one location or time zone
- Heavy users of the workload you are changing
- People who handle sensitive information
- At least one team you expect to be sceptical
Set policiesChange: Inform
Captions, transcription, real-time text and CART for organizers.
Move on when: Settings apply to pilot organizers
Run pilot meetings and an eventChange: Explain
With captions, a captioner and an interpreter.
Move on when: Every option worked as expected
Share the organizer checklistChange: Sustain
Where people schedule meetings.
Move on when: Organizers use the checklist
Common challenges
If youAssume captions solve everything
What tends to happenPeople who use screen readers still can't follow what's shared on screen.
A better approachShare materials in advance and describe visual content.
If youBook human support late
What tends to happenCaptioners and interpreters aren't available for the event that needs them.
A better approachBook well ahead and test their access before the day.
Checkpoints
Pilot
- Did captions, a CART captioner and an interpreter all work in the pilot?
- Can guests needed for support get past the lobby?
Production
- Do organizers have the checklist?
- Is retention set for transcripts?
Success measures
Capture a baseline before you start, or you won't be able to show the change.
| Measure | Where you see it | Good direction |
|---|---|---|
| Large events with captions and materials shared in advance | Event reviews | Up |
| Meeting accessibility requests that needed escalation | Feedback channel | Down |
Ready-to-use text
Organizer checklist
Before: share slides and documents; book captioners or interpreters; check guests can join. During: turn on captions; describe what's on screen; one speaker at a time. After: share the transcript or recording with captions.
Additional reading
Changelog
Changelog (1 version)
| Version | Date | Author | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sev Derghazarian | First version. Facts checked against Microsoft Learn on 2026-10-15. |