PowerPoint Subtitles Guidelines
PowerPoint Subtitles Guidelines
1. Benefits of subtitles
- Improve accessibility for deaf people
- Improve understanding for foreign students/non-native speakers
- Improve communication with native and non-native speakers, reducing the issues when one of the parties has a strong accent
2. Main steps
STEP 1: Activate the subtitles (See section 3)
STEP 2: Customise your settings (See section 4)
2.1. Select the language to be used
2.2. Select the subtitles position
2.3. Customise subtitles appearance (background, text size and colour)
STEP 3: Create your slide to leave room for the subtitles in line with your settings (avoid overlapping)
Note 1: You need to be connected to the internet for the subtitles to work.
Note 2: You need to change your security settings to authorise PowerPoint to access the microphone.
Note 3: You do not have to customise your settings for each presentation unless you wish to change something.
3. How do you activate the subtitles?
Open PowerPoint and on the main task bar select “Slide show” and tick “Always Use Subtitles” on the ribbon:
4. Subtitles settings
When activated, you can customise the subtitles:
Subtitles position
“Below slide” and “Above slide”
If one of the following options is selected
â—Ź Below slide
â—Ź Above slide
you do not have to worry about the subtitle background overlapping with slide content. However, the overall dimension of the projected slide will be reduced, so please check that it is still ok.
The examples below show the difference between “Bottom (Overlaid)” and “Below slide”.
“Bottom (Overlaid)” and “Top (Overlaid)”
Important: If you select one of the following options
â—Ź Bottom (Overlaid)
â—Ź Top (Overlaid)
you will need to prepare your slides to leave room for the subtitles in line with your settings, and change the subtitle settings to improve visibility (see “Subtitles” > “More settings”).
The example below uses “Bottom (Overlaid)” and default settings for text and background.
On the above example we can see that the subtitles overlap with both the logo and the contents of the slide, making the visibility poor. In addition, the size of the subtitles text appears to be quite small.
The following example shows how the settings may provide better visibility of the subtitles and the contents of the slide.
More settings: Text size and colour, background colour and transparency
1) Change the settings to use a “Large Text” or “Extra Large Text” and colours that improve visibility (e.g. yellow on solid black)
2) If you cannot rework the master slides and move the logo, select a solid background to provide more visibility to the subtitles. (Although you will make the logo less visible, this should give a better experience to the people attending the presentation.)
Subtitles background colour
How can the slide background influence the colour of the subtitles background and text colour?
• What colour is the slide background?
If the slide background is white or a light colour, you should consider using a dark colour as subtitle background to create the right level of contrast and improve the visibility of the subtitles. Similarly, if the slide background is black or another dark colour, you should consider using a light colour as subtitle background.
The subtitles text colour should in turn be in contrast with the subtitles background colour.
• Where is the logo? Are the subtitles overlapping with the logo? Can you re-work the master slides and move it?
If you cannot move the logo, you may want to consider this:
The subtitle background is not a solid colour by default, but has a certain degree of transparency. This may still be ok if there are no other objects (like a logo) under the subtitles background. Otherwise, you may need to update this setting to have a solid colour as background.
5. Guidance scope and feedback
Thank you for reading this guide and for your interest in E-DAP. We hope that this guide will help you to implement deaf awareness practises.
If you’d like to be involved in any further E-DAP led events, training materials or to join the E-DAP mailing list, please complete the form via the link below or scan the QR code.
Your feedback is important to us, as it allows us to improve our events and materials for others. Please provide your feedback on this guideline and on the subtitles usage by completing the following form:
Additionally, to find out more about E-DAP or to contact us, find us on LinkedIn.
You can also downloaded this guide here.
Also see How to add subtitles in PowerPoint: Demo video.
Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely that of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the Engineering Professors’ Council or the Toolkit sponsors and supporters.
This content is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
