Google is making significant strides in video accessibility and usability within Google Drive, and it’s doing so by introducing searchable video transcripts.
Last year, the tech giant rolled out automatic caption generation for Drive videos, but now, they’re taking it a step further.
Users now can not only view captions, but also access a full, scrollable transcript of their video content.
Specifically, this new feature displays the transcript in a sidebar alongside the video player, and it highlights the currently spoken text.
Therefore, users can easily follow along, find specific moments within the video, or jump directly to the desired section.
Moreover, this functionality is designed to improve the accessibility of media stored in Drive, and it enables users to efficiently search and navigate through key moments.
However, to utilize this feature, the video must have captions.
Thus, users can generate automatic captions by right-clicking the video in Drive, selecting “Manage caption tracks,” and then choosing “generate automatic captions.”
Alternatively, they can generate captions while the video is playing by accessing the three-dot menu, selecting “manage captions tracks,” and then “generate automatic captions.”
Once captions are enabled, users can access the transcript by clicking the gear icon in the video player, and selecting “Transcript.”
Furthermore, this update impacts all end users, and there are no admin controls required.
Yet, it’s important to note the rollout pace: Rapid Release domains will experience a gradual rollout which started on February 24, 2025, while Scheduled Release domains will see an extended rollout which started on February 26, 2025, with completion expected by March 26, 2025.
Additionally, this feature is available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts.
