Add and Edit Captions on a Panopto Video

Questions

  • How do I add captions to a Panopto video?
  • Does Panopto automatically caption videos?
  • How do I turn on captions when watching a Panopto video?
  • Can I get captions in a language other than English in Panopto?
  • How do I change the caption language for my Panopto folder?
  • How do I edit or correct captions in Panopto?
  • What languages does Panopto support for automatic captioning?

Environment

This article applies to all Bowdoin College students, faculty, and staff using Panopto. Captions are automatically generated for all videos uploaded to Panopto. Faculty and staff who own videos can also edit captions for accuracy or change the captioning language for a folder.

Resolution

How automatic captioning works

Panopto automatically generates captions for every video when it is uploaded. Captions are time-stamped and searchable — clicking a caption line in the player jumps to that point in the video. The default captioning language is English (United States).

Turn on captions while watching

Click the CC icon in the bottom-right corner of the video player to display captions directly over the video.

Change the captioning language for a folder

To caption videos in a language other than US English, create a dedicated Panopto folder with the desired language set before uploading your content.

Important: Language settings must be configured at panopto.bowdoin.edu directly. This setting is not available when accessing Panopto through a Canvas course. Captions are not regenerated for content copied into the folder — only newly uploaded content uses the folder's language setting.

Panopto supports automatic captioning in many languages, including English (US, UK, Australia), Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Spanish (Mexico and Spain), German, French, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Russian, Polish, Danish, Finnish, Hungarian, Norwegian, and Swedish. Once a folder's language is set, new uploads will be captioned in the chosen language.

Edit captions for accuracy

Automatic captions are not always perfectly accurate, especially for technical terms, proper nouns, or accented speech. Video owners can edit captions directly in Panopto:

  1. Sign in to panopto.bowdoin.edu and locate your video.
  2. Click the Edit (pencil) icon to open the video editor.
  3. Select the Captions tab in the left-hand panel.
  4. Click any caption line to edit the text.
  5. Click Apply at the top of the editor when finished to save your changes.
Prefer to have it done for you? Faculty can ask Bowdoin's caption editors to correct captions — see Request Caption Editing for Course Videos in the Related Articles section.

Additional Help

If you need further assistance, you have several options:

  • Bowdoin Bot: Chat with Bowdoin Bot directly from any KB page for instant answers.
  • Phone: Call the Bowdoin College Service Desk at (207) 725-3030.
  • In person: Visit the Tech Hub in Smith Union during business hours.
  • Submit a ticket: Request assistance through the Service Catalog.

Additional Resources

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Related Articles (5)

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Live Captions in Windows is a built-in accessibility feature that automatically transcribes spoken audio into text in real time on the screen. Captions show on top of an application including videos, listening to podcasts or to caption a presenters voice alone or over a slide presentation.
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How faculty can request caption editing for course videos in Panopto and Zoom. Explains that Bowdoin's caption editors correct the automatic (ASR) captions directly in Panopto within 48 hours after a request is submitted, and why captions benefit all students. Applies to faculty who use video in their courses.
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