LiveCaptions-Transcriber

Overview

✨ LiveCaptions Transcriber = Windows LiveCaptions + Enhanced UI + Continuous Text Display ✨

A focused transcription tool that enhances Windows LiveCaptions with a modern interface, continuous text accumulation, and easy copy/clear functionality. Perfect for meetings, lectures, gaming, and accessibility needs.

Key improvements over standard LiveCaptions:

• Continuous text display - See all transcribed text in one scrollable view
• Copy & Clear functionality - Easy text management with one-click actions
• Overlay mode - Transparent window for gaming and streaming
• History logging - Keep records of all transcriptions
• Modern UI - Clean, accessible interface with dark/light theme support

🚀 Quick Start: Build from source or download releases when available!

Use Cases

📝 Meeting & Lecture Notes

• Capture spoken content in real-time
• Copy transcriptions for documentation
• Review history for missed details

🎮 Gaming & Streaming

• Overlay transcriptions on games/videos
• Accessibility for hearing-impaired viewers
• Content creation assistance

♿ Accessibility

• Enhanced LiveCaptions experience
• Better text visibility and management
• Persistent transcription history

📚 Content Creation

• Transcribe interviews and recordings
• Generate subtitles and captions
• Document spoken presentations

Features

• 🔄 Seamless LiveCaptions Integration

  Automatically launches and manages Windows LiveCaptions in the background. The original LiveCaptions window is hidden while this tool provides an enhanced interface.

  ⚠️ IMPORTANT: Enable Include microphone audio in Windows LiveCaptions settings for speech transcription!

• 📝 Continuous Text Display

  Unlike standard LiveCaptions that shows only current text, this tool accumulates all transcribed text in a scrollable view. Perfect for capturing entire conversations, meetings, or lectures.

• 🎨 Modern Interface

  Clean Fluent UI design that automatically switches between light and dark themes based on your system settings. Larger, more readable text with better spacing and organization.

• 📋 Copy & Clear Functions

  • Copy All: One-click copying of entire transcription to clipboard
  • Clear: Remove current transcription (moves to history)
  • Click-to-Copy: Click any text segment to copy it individually

• 🪟 Enhanced Overlay Window

  Transparent overlay perfect for gaming, streaming, or watching videos. Features:

  • Full transcription display (not just current sentence)
  • Copy/Clear buttons on hover
  • Customizable font size, color, and opacity
  • Resizable and movable
  • Click-through mode available

• 📚 History Management

  • Automatic logging of all transcriptions with timestamps
  • Export history to CSV files
  • Search and filter capabilities
  • Persistent storage across sessions

• ⚙️ Simple Controls

  • Always-on-top window option
  • Overlay mode toggle
  • Clean, distraction-free interface
  • No complex configuration needed

Prerequisites

This tool is based on Windows LiveCaptions, which is available since Windows 11 22H2.

We suggest you have .NET runtime 8.0 or higher installed. If you are not available to install one, you can download the with runtime version but its size is bigger.

Getting Started

⚠️ IMPORTANT: You must complete the following steps before running LiveCaptions Transcriber for the first time.

For detailed information, see Microsoft’s guide on Using live captions.

Step 1: Verify Windows LiveCaptions Availability

Confirm LiveCaptions is available on your system using any of these methods:

• Toggle Live captions in the quick settings
• Press Win + Ctrl + L
• Access via Quick settings > Accessibility > Live captions
• Open Start > All apps > Accessibility > Live captions
• Navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Captions and enable Live captions

Step 2: Configure LiveCaptions

When you first start, Windows LiveCaptions will ask for your consent to process voice data on your device and prompt you to download language files to be used by on-device speech recognition.

After launching Windows LiveCaptions, click the ⚙️ gear icon to open the setting menu, then select Position > Overlaid on screen.

⚠️ VERY IMPORTANT! Otherwise, a display bug will occur on the screen after hiding Windows LiveCaptions.

After configuration, close Windows LiveCaptions and launch LiveCaptions Transcriber to start using it! 🎉

Building from Source

1. Prerequisites:

   • Windows 11 (22H2 or later)
   • .NET 8.0 SDK or later
   • Visual Studio 2022 or VS Code

2. Clone and Build:

   git clone https://github.com/darshankparmar/LiveCaptions-Transcriber.git
   cd LiveCaptions-Transcriber
   dotnet build
   dotnet run
   

3. Create Release Build:

   dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained false
   

How It Works

1. Launch: The app automatically starts Windows LiveCaptions in the background
2. Transcribe: Speak or play audio - text appears in real-time
3. Accumulate: All transcribed text builds up in the main window
4. Manage: Use Copy/Clear buttons to manage your transcriptions
5. History: All sessions are automatically saved for later review

Interface Overview

• Current Sentence (top, blue): Shows what’s being transcribed right now
• Copy/Clear Buttons (middle): Manage your transcription text
• Full Transcription (bottom): Complete scrollable text of everything transcribed
• Overlay Window: Floating transparent window for other applications

Credits

This project is based on the excellent work by @SakiRinn in the LiveCaptions-Translator repository.

Modifications made:

• Removed translation functionality to focus purely on transcription
• Enhanced UI with continuous text display and copy/clear features
• Simplified interface and removed unnecessary configuration options
• Improved overlay window functionality for better user experience

License

This project maintains the same license as the original LiveCaptions-Translator project.