“Captions”
Acessibility: Captions
This guide assumes that you have created an OEN Manifold account, have admin access to the backend, have created a project, and ingested a text or plan to ingest a text, or edit or create a text using the Manifold Editor. If you do not have Project Creator status, please review the Request an Account form.
For help creating a project and adding a text, see the Creating a Project Quick Guide.
What are Captions and why are they important for accessibility?
The National Association of the Deaf defines captioning as “the process of converting the audio content of a television broadcast, webcast, film, video, CD-ROM, DVD, live event, or other productions into text and displaying the text on a screen, monitor, or other visual display system…Captions not only display words as the textual equivalent of spoken dialogue or narration, but they also include speaker identification, sound effects, and music description.”
Captions are essential to include with any audio content you create or share. Not only are they key for deaf or hard of hearing users to understand and consume content, but they can also be helpful for users who may not have access to headphones or who prefer having both audio and visual components available.
How do I put Captions in a Manifold Project?
Manifold gives you two options for including videos in a project. You can upload files like MP4s, WEBMs, MOVs, etc. or you can link to an external video from YouTube or Vimeo using URLs. But first, you’ll need to make sure the videos you are using have accurate captions.
How to check captions in a YouTube or Vimeo video
Both YouTube and Vimeo offer options for auto generated captions on their videos. This means whether you upload your own video to YouTube/Vimeo or find a video on YouTube/Vimeo that you want to share, captions can be automatically generated for you, in most cases (you’ll want to check Vimeo’s FAQs and YouTube’s FAQs for more information on auto generated captions). Since these captions are created using a machine learning algorithm, it’s likely that they won’t be 100% accurate so you’ll want to review your captions. In both YouTube and Vimeo you can edit and/or remove the captions that are auto generated. Again, you’ll want to ensure that the captions for your video are correct by using the edit functionality.
You can also use YouTube to help you create a caption file for your own raw video file. First, upload your video file to YouTube and use the auto-caption feature to auto generate your captions. Then you can edit your captions using the same editing instructions. Then you can download the captions file you created with YouTube.
To do that in Creator Mode, click on Subtitles.
Then, click the three dots that appear when you hover next to the “edit” and “delete” icons.
Then click on Download and choose the appropriate file format. In most cases, you’ll want to download the .srt file.
Then you can use that .srt file and upload it to your video software of choice to directly add captions to your video file. .srt files can be used in programs like Kaltura, Vimeo, Handbrake, or other video software you might have available through your institution.
How to add a video to Manifold
As mentioned above, there are a couple of options for adding videos to your Manifold Project. You can add a video directly to the text of your Manifold Project by using a meaningful hyperlink. Here is an example:
The video “Pub101 Start with Accessibility” walks librarians, instructional designers, and other faculty partners through accessibility related topics that might come up when working with faculty authors publishing OER.
You can also add videos as Resources either by uploading the video file or by linking externally.
To add resources to your project, first go to the “Resources” tab in the backend of your project.
Click the “Add a New Resource” button below the resources search bar.
The New Resource page will appear. Click on Video.
Scroll down slightly to see the metadata information to enter about your video. This is where you can add the video title, description, and upload the video file.
If you are linking to an external video from YouTube or Vimeo use the toggle switch to reveal the URL bar (called Video ID) and select the source.
For more details on adding videos to Manifold see the Adding and Embedding Resources Getting Started Guide.
Remember to verify captions are available and accurate before uploading or linking to videos in your Manifold Project.
“OEN Manifold Community Guide: Captions” is licensed under a CC BY NC 4.0 license. Last updated June 2025. It is adapted from “Captions” By Elliott Stevens at University of Washington and licensed under a CC BY NC 4.0 license.
We use cookies to analyze our traffic. Please decide if you are willing to accept cookies from our website. You can change this setting anytime in Privacy Settings.