How to Customize Live Captions Style and Position in Windows 11 Accessibility Settings

How to Turn On Live Captions in 🪟 Windows 11

There are three ways to turn on Live Captions: through Settings, with a keyboard shortcut, or from the Quick Settings panel. Each takes a few seconds. Start with the Settings route, because you will use the same page later to change the caption style.

Live Captions transcribes English speech on most Windows 11 PCs. Some features need newer hardware. Translating non-English audio into English works only on Copilot+ PCs, which have an NPU (a chip built for AI tasks). The languages on offer also vary by region, so your list may differ from another person’s.

Using System Settings

The quickest way into Settings is the keyboard. Press the Win+I together. The Settings window opens straight away, so you don’t have to search the Start menu.

1. In the Settings ⚙️ window, click Accessibility in the left-hand sidebar. The accessibility options appear on the right.
2. Scroll down the right side until you reach the Hearing section.
3. Click Captions. The Captions page opens.
4. Click the Live captions toggle switch at the top of the page to turn it on. A caption bar appears on your screen and starts showing text for any audio that is playing.
5. If a confirmation window or download prompt appears, follow it. This usually happens the first time you use the feature. Windows downloads the language files it needs for on-device captioning, so you need an internet connection for this one step. After the download, captioning works offline.

That’s it. Live Captions is now on, and the caption bar shows text for the audio your PC plays. If your PC supports translation, the bar can also show non-English speech as English text.

To turn Live captions off, go back to the same page and click the toggle again. You can also close the caption bar with its close button. Everything runs in the background, so you don’t need to restart the PC.

Using the Keyboard Shortcut

If you are working in another app and don’t want to open Settings, use the shortcut instead.

1. Press Win+Ctrl+L at the same time.
2. Look at the top or bottom of your screen. The Live Captions bar appears there straight away.
3. Press the same shortcut again to turn captions off.

You should now have captions on without leaving the app you were using.

Quick Settings is another fast route. Click the network, speaker and battery icons at the right end of the taskbar to open it. Then select Accessibility and switch on Live captions. If the Accessibility tile is missing, click the pencil icon in Quick Settings, choose Add, and pick it from the list.

If nothing happens the first time, the language files may still be downloading, or the feature may not be available for your language or region yet. Open the Captions page in Settings to check.

Personalizing How Your Captions Are Displayed

You can change the font size, font color and background shading of the caption box to suit your eyesight. Larger text, strong contrast and a solid background help you read captions more clearly while you watch videos, join calls or use other apps. The style choices apply to the Live Captions box as soon as you pick them.

1. Open Settings, go to Accessibility, then Captions. You can also open the style options from the settings ⚙️ gear on the caption bar itself.
2. Choose a caption style from the style options. Windows includes a few ready-made styles, so try one before you build your own. The preview updates to show the result.
3. Adjust the font size, font color and background shading if you want something more specific. Check the result in the preview or in the live caption box.
4. Click the gear icon on the caption bar to open its settings menu.
5. Select Position and choose where the box should sit. The bar can sit at the top or bottom of the screen, or float where you place it, so it doesn’t cover the part of the screen you are reading.

That’s it. Your captions now use the style you chose and sit where they don’t block your content.

The same gear menu holds other options. The profanity filter is a toggle in this menu, and it masks strong language in the captions when you switch it on. The menu also lets you pick the caption language and, in current builds, choose whether captions include microphone audio as well as the sound your PC plays. Which of these appear depends on your Windows build and hardware.

Option names can differ slightly between Windows 11 builds. If something is missing, update Windows. To go back, pick the default style again, or turn the caption settings off and on.

Changing Caption Position Using the On-Screen Settings Menu

Changing caption position using the on-screen settings menu takes just a few clicks right from your active caption bar. Click the small gear icon on the toolbar, hover over the position option, and choose top, bottom, or floating to place text exactly where you want it.

• With Live Captions active, look at the caption bar on your screen.
• Click the small gear icon labeled Settings located right on the caption toolbar.
• Hover your mouse pointer over the Position option in the menu.
• Choose your preferred placement from the available options: Top, Bottom, or Floating.
• Selecting Top locks the caption bar across the very top edge of your monitor. Selecting Bottom anchors it to the bottom edge. Selecting Floating detaches the caption box from the edges of the screen.

Dragging a Floating Caption Window

Dragging a floating caption window lets you move the text box anywhere you want on your screen with your mouse. Click and hold the empty area of the caption toolbar, drag the box to your preferred spot, and let go to place captions directly underneath a video player.

Summary

Live captions in Windows 11 serve as an essential accessibility tool that turns spoken audio into readable text in real time. Knowing how to customize live captions style and position allows you to tailor text displays, change font sizes, and adjust screen locations to match your exact visual needs.