Presentation Translator for PowerPoint help and FAQs

Customizing Speech in Presentation Translator

Currently, customization is available for both text translation and speech translation in the Presentation Translator add-in for PowerPoint.

To learn more about customizing the slide content to fit your domain/content, visit https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/translator/apps/presentation-translator/#how-it-works

How do I subtitle my presentation using Presentation Translator?

• Download and install the PowerPoint add-in from www.aka.ms/presentationtranslator
• Open any PowerPoint presentation
• Go to the Slide Show ribbon and click on Start Subtitles
• Select the language you’ll be speaking, the language you would like to display subtitles in, the microphone source, and whether you would like to utilize the Custom speech recognition feature for specialized content.
• Your PowerPoint presentation should go into Presentation mode with the subtitles showing in a window at the bottom of the screen.
• The first slide of the PowerPoint will display the conversation and QR code for audience members to follow along in the language of their choice using the Microsoft Translator app on their chosen device

How do I translate the text on the slides?

1. Download and install the PowerPoint add-in from www.aka.ms/presentationtranslator
2. Open any PowerPoint presentation
3. Go to the Slide Show ribbon and click “Translate Slides”
4. Click on “Translate Slides”
5. Select the Slide Language and the Translate To language. Click “Translate Slides”.

How to save the text of your transcript

To save the transcript of your presentation in the language you chose for the subtitles please do the following:

• Open your presentation in PowerPoint
• Go to the Slide Show ribbon
• Click on Start Subtitles
• Fill out the languages and click on Start Subtitles
• When you are done with the presentation you will see a box at the bottom of the screen. At the top right of that box you will see 3 dots.
• Click on those 3 dots
• Click on Save Transcript
• You will be prompted to save the file and it will be saved as a .txt file

You can now open the file and select the text which you can copy to a Word Document or email.

How to save the text of your transcript

To save the transcript of your presentation in the caption language:

• Open your presentation in PowerPoint
• Go to the Slide Show ribbon
• Click on Start Subtitles
• Fill out the languages and click on Start Subtitles
• When you are done with the presentation you will see a box at the bottom of the screen. At the top right of that box you will see 3 dots.
• Click on those 3 dots
• Click on Save Transcript
• You will be prompted to save the file and it will be saved as a .txt file

You can now open the file and select the text which you can copy to a Word Document or email.

I’m giving a presentation or a lecture. What settings should I use?

Turn on the Presenter mode toggle in the multi-device conversation feature Settings pane while giving a presentation. This will unmute your microphone for the duration of the presentation.

If you are the conversation host, turning on Presenter mode will also mute other participants to prevent interruptions during the presentation.

What’s the difference between starting a conversation and joining a conversation?

By starting a conversation: a user creates a new conversation with a unique code which can be shared with others. Other participants can use this code to enter the conversation in the language of their choice.

By joining a conversation: a user inputs a conversation code to join an ongoing conversation with one or more people in it.

Is the Microsoft Translator app free?

The Microsoft Translator App is free of charge.

If you’re interested in using the Microsoft Translator API for business, visit our business site.

I’m trying to enter a conversation using the five-letter code. Why do I see the “invalid conversation code” error?

Troubleshoot in the following order:

• Did the host of the conversation lock new participants from joining? If so, this is the message that will appear on screen.
• If the host has not locked out new participants:
  • Make sure the five-letter code you entered is correct.
  • Verify the conversation is still active. A conversation ceases to exist when the conversation host ends the conversation or if there are no participants active in the conversation.

Speech translation languages: what is available for which feature?

Visit our languages page for complete list of languages and features in the app.

Why do I need to use a headset to use this product?

A headset provides a close-talking microphone that produces a higher quality of recognition for the user’s speech and is less likely to pick up noise from your environment.

Using a headset, a lapel microphone or a bluetooth microphone will result in the best quality of speech recognition and therefore have improved translations compared to a laptop or a PC’s default microphone.

Why do I repeatedly see “disconnected” messages while in a conversation?

Users will often see “disconnected” messages on account of poor internet connectivity. If you are repeatedly seeing “disconnected” messages while in a conversation, try switching to a different internet network or try switching from a cellular network to WiFi to resolve the issue.