Closed Captions Guide

Questions answered by this guide

• ?What's the difference between captions and a transcript?
• ?Does turning on Storyline's Captions setting create captions automatically?
• ?How do I add captions to a video in Rise?
• ?Are auto-generated captions good enough?
• ?Do I need both captions and a transcript?

What you'll learn

• Captions are synchronized with audio or video; a transcript is separate, standalone text
• Turning on Storyline's Captions setting only enables the feature, it doesn't create any captions
• Rise has no course-wide toggle, every video needs its own caption file

What's inside

Instructional designers adding captions or transcripts in Storyline or Rise

1. 01The concept
2. 02A worked example
3. 03Best practices
4. 04How Storyline and Rise differ

Why it matters

Deaf and hard-of-hearing learners get nothing from narrated audio or video without captions or a transcript. This is WCAG 1.2.2 (Captions, Prerecorded), one of the most basic media accessibility requirements. Captions and transcripts solve slightly different problems, and eLearning courses typically need both, not just one.

When you'll encounter this

• A slide has narration audio but no visible way to read what's being said.
• You're embedding a video, whether recorded internally or pulled from an external source.
• You're turning on Storyline's course-wide Captions setting and assuming that's the whole job.
• A11yCheck flags a missing captions or transcript issue on a scan report.

Example

Best practices

• Know the difference: captions are synchronized text shown alongside audio or video as it plays. A transcript is a separate, standalone block of text with everything that was said, sometimes including a description of what's shown visually. Narrated slides typically need a transcript; embedded video typically needs captions.
• Write captions and transcripts to match what was actually said, word for word, not a paraphrase or summary.
• Auto-generated captions are rarely accurate enough on their own. Review and correct them before publishing, don't treat auto-captioning as the finished job.
• In Storyline: turning on the course-wide Captions setting in Player Properties only enables the feature, it does not create any captions by itself. Each narrated slide still needs its own transcript added as a text box, and each embedded video needs its own caption file added separately, right-click the video and choose Closed Captions.
• In Rise: there's no course-wide toggle. Every video needs its own caption file attached when you upload or edit it, Rise doesn't generate one for you.
• Write transcripts and caption files as you write your narration script, not after the fact. It's faster, and you're less likely to end up with a summary instead of a true transcript.

Common mistakes

• In Storyline, turning on the course-wide Captions setting in Player Properties and assuming that's the whole job, with no actual transcript or caption file added to any slide.
• Assuming a course-wide captioning setting also covers embedded video. It doesn't, video needs its own caption file, separately, in both tools.
• Uploading a video with no caption file in Rise. Rise doesn't create one automatically.
• Writing a transcript or caption file that's a rough summary instead of what was actually said.
• Using a caption file that doesn't match the final, edited version of the video.

Practical checklist

• Every narrated slide has a real transcript, not a summary.
• Every embedded or uploaded video has its own caption file.
• Captions and transcripts match what was actually said, word for word.
• Auto-generated captions have been reviewed and corrected, not published as-is.
• In Storyline, the course-wide Captions setting is turned on in addition to per-slide and per-video captions, not instead of them.
• In Rise, every Video block has a caption file attached at upload.

Frequently asked questions

Summary

Captions and transcripts solve related but different problems, and most courses need both. In Storyline, the course-wide setting only enables the feature, you still add each transcript and caption file yourself. In Rise, every video needs its own caption file, there's no course-wide toggle.