Live captions in FreeShow

How it works

A caption link is a web page that shows the live captions for one language, and nothing else. FreeShow can show a web page inside a slide with its Website item. Put that item on an overlay and the captions sit over whatever FreeShow is showing, and stay on as you move through your shows.

• Nothing to install in FreeShow, and no account to connect. FreeShow only shows the page.
• The page is transparent, so only the words are drawn. When no one is speaking it fades out, and nothing covers your slides.
• The captions scroll smoothly, like a teleprompter: the same motion listeners see on their phones.
• The look (font, size, colors, position) is set on the Screen captions page in your dashboard, not in FreeShow.

What you need

• ChurchTranslator set up for your church, with the language you want on screen turned on (Your first Sunday).
• FreeShow on the computer that drives your screens, with internet access.
• About fifteen minutes on a weekday. You can place and test everything without a live service.

Get your caption link

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   Step 1: Open Screen captions

   In the dashboard, open the Screen captions page. If your church has campuses, pick the Campus first.

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   Step 2: Choose FreeShow

   Under Where are the captions going?, choose FreeShow. This picks the Low-latency (Beta) engine, a transparent background and Smooth — teleprompter scrolling for you.

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   Step 3: Choose the language

   Pick it under Language. One link shows one language. The speaker's own language is listed with original transcript after its name, for same-language captions.

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   Step 4: Style it and save a preset

   Under Caption format, set the font, size, colors and Vertical position. Turn on Play sample captions above the preview to watch a sample sermon scroll in your format. Then click Create preset.

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   Step 5: Copy the link

   Under Your caption link, click Copy link. Open in new tab ↗ opens the preview with sample text, which never shows the live service, so always paste the copied link.

Build the caption overlay in FreeShow

You do this once. After that the overlay is always in your drawer.

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   Step 1: Make an overlay

   Open the Overlays tab in the drawer and click New overlay. Name it, for example “Translation captions”.

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   Step 2: Add a Website item with your link

   1. Right-click the overlay and choose Edit. It opens on the Edit page, like any slide.
   2. Add a Website item.
   3. Paste your caption link into the item's URL field.
   4. Tick Disable navigation controls, so no back and forward buttons show over the captions.
   5. Leave Zoom at 100%. The text size comes from your caption format.
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   Step 3: Stretch it over the whole slide

   Drag the Website item's corners until it covers the entire slide. This looks wrong at first, but it is right: the caption page places the words itself, at the bottom or top of the screen, and the rest of the item is see-through. Moving the captions later is then done in the dashboard, with no FreeShow edits.

Check the placement without a live service

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   Step 1: Show a sample line

   In the Website item's URL field, add &text=Sample+caption to the end of the link. The page now shows that fixed line in your full styling.

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   Step 2: Look at the real output

   On the Show page, click the overlay in the drawer to put it on the output, with one of your usual slides showing underneath.

   • The words sit where the dashboard preview shows them.
   • Your slide shows through everywhere else: no dark box.
   • Readable from the back row, and not covering lyrics or faces.
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   Step 3: Take the sample away again

   Remove &text=Sample+caption from the link. If you leave it, the screen keeps showing the sample on Sunday.

Run it on Sunday

• There's nothing extra to start. Captions appear when the booth is streaming and someone is speaking.
• During worship or a silence the page is fully transparent, so a locked overlay can stay on for the whole service.
• For two languages on screen, make two overlays with two links, and give each format its own Vertical position.

Change the look later

Open the Screen captions page, change the saved preset and save it. Screens already showing the link pick up the change on their own, mid-service included. Nothing to paste again in FreeShow.

• Scrolling: Smooth — teleprompter is what FreeShow starts on, and it reads best with three or more lines. Line by line — classic roll-up makes each finished line jump up one row instead.
• When speech pauses: captions fade out in a pause by default. Choose Keep the last text on screen if a fade mid-sermon looks to the room like the translation stopped.
• For words only, keep Transparent ticked and Line plate on None. A line plate puts a dark strip behind each line, which helps over busy backgrounds.

The other screens (ProPresenter, OBS, a TV in the room) are in Live captions on your screens.

Troubleshooting