Google Meet “captions” are different from “dictation”. Captions show subtitles for what’s being said in the meeting. Dictation is speech-to-text for entering text at your cursor.
Enable live captions in Google Meet (desktop)
- Join a Google Meet call in your browser.
- Look for the Captions/CC button in the meeting controls.
- Turn captions on (they typically apply for you locally).
If you need subtitles in another language, Meet also supports translated captions in some configurations.
A practical notes workflow (Mac)
- Keep captions on for accessibility and to catch missed phrases.
- Use a notes doc (Notion/Docs/Obsidian) for your running summary.
- Dictate short bullet points during natural pauses instead of typing continuously.
- If you want system-wide dictation with a hold-to-dictate hotkey, use Voice Type.