InterScribe for Chrome translates a Google Meet call from your own browser. You open it in the call, start a session, and share a link in the Meet chat. The other people in the call open the link to follow live captions and translation in their language. No bot joins the meeting.
InterScribe for Chrome · Early accessThe in-call button, the banner and the new sign-in page are rolling out and may not be visible to you yet.
Before you start
- A role in your workspace that can plan and start sessions. See What you need.
- A computer with Chrome 127 or later, and a place in the Google Meet call. You do not need to host it.
- InterScribe for Chrome turned on for your workspace. If the extension tells you it is not on yet, ask us to turn it on.
- InterScribe for Chrome installed. Open Meeting apps in the Portal sidebar, under SOURCES, and use Get InterScribe for Chrome on the Google Meet card. If the card has no Get InterScribe for Chrome link yet, the extension is not available to install yet.
The extension works only on meet.google.com, on call addresses like meet.google.com/abc-defg-hij and meet.google.com/meet/abc-defg-hij. It records audio only after you select Start translation, and only from that Meet tab. Its windows follow your system's light or dark setting.
Set up and start a session
- STEP 1Open your Meet call
Join the call in Chrome, then select the InterScribe button in Meet's control bar, or InterScribe in the Chrome toolbar. Either opens the setup. On a page that is not a Google Meet call, it asks you to open your Google Meet call.
- STEP 2Sign in
Select Sign in to InterScribe. The sign-in page asks you to allow the connection and choose your workspace. If you have no account, select Start a free trial.
- STEP 3Choose the session
Under Session, select New session for this call, or one of the cards under Today in your workspace. A card shows the session's times, LIVE if it is running, its speaking language, the room if it has one, and an AI voice chip such as No AI voice or AI voice · 2 languages. For a new session, enter a Session name; it starts as the call's title, or Meet and the call's code when the call has no title. If the session you pick gets its audio from a room, InterScribe asks This session is set to a room. Select Use this Meet call to stop the room sending audio to the session, or Keep the room, pick another session.
- STEP 4Set the speaking language
Under Speaking language, pick the main language spoken in the call. The list shows your Meet language and the one you used last time first, under Suggested. Search it by name, and open a language's accents to pick one.
- STEP 5Choose how long it runs
For a new session, set Duration with the minus and plus buttons (15 minutes each), by typing a length such as
90,1h30or1:30, or with 30 min, 1 h or 2 h. A session runs from 5 minutes to 24 hours. The line under it says Ends at the clock time. Translation stops then unless you extend it during the call. See Extend or end on time. - STEP 6Choose AI voice
Captions and text translation are on in every language. For AI voice, choose one:
- No AI voice uses no hours.
- Languages you choose uses hours only while someone listens. Select Add a language to add each one, and use the remove button next to a language to take it out.
- Any language speaks in whichever language a listener picks.
Your Event defaults fill in the choice. The limits are the same as for any session: hours, languages and your plan. If your workspace is out of AI voice hours, the setup says You're out of AI voice hours: captions and your interpreters still work, and you can add hours or ask your account owner to.
- STEP 7Choose who can find itUnder Visibility, choose Public, which is listed on your portals, or Private, which is not listed on any portal.
- STEP 8Check your plan
If the length is more than your plan covers, the setup says Your plan has N min left. Select Use N min to shorten the session to it, or add hours to buy more. If you cannot buy, it says ask an admin to add hours. A session you pick that has more time left than your plan covers shows the same note, and Start translation waits.
- STEP 9Start translation
Select Start translation. This creates the session, makes it live and starts capturing the call. The first time, Chrome asks for your microphone in a tab that opens; allow it and translation starts right after.
Everything you do not set here comes from your Event defaults. To change more, select More details: create and edit in InterScribe. This creates the session and opens it in InterScribe for editing; come back to the extension to start.
While the call is captured, the microphone stays open, so Chrome's microphone indicator stays on even while you are muted. While you are muted in Meet, your voice is never sent. If InterScribe cannot read Meet's mute state, it is not sent unless you select Include my voice. You keep hearing the call as usual.
Share the audience link
Nobody in the call can follow the captions until they have the link. Right after you start, the extension shows Share with the meeting.
- Put in meeting chat opens Meet's chat with the message and link filled in. Press Send in Meet yourself; the extension never sends a message for you. If it cannot find Meet's chat box, it copies the message instead and tells you to paste it in the meeting chat.
- Copy link copies the audience link.
- Show QR shows a QR code for the link.
The panel shows Shared ✓ once the message is in Meet's chat box; it cannot tell whether you pressed Send. If you skip this step, translation still runs; select Share in the live panel later.
Your voice and the mute rule
The extension captures everyone in the call from the tab. It sends your own voice only while Meet shows you as unmuted.
- Unmuted in Meet: your voice is translated and captioned under your name. The panel shows Included.
- Muted in Meet: your voice is not sent. The panel shows Muted.
- InterScribe cannot tell: if Meet changes or hides its controls, or stops reporting, InterScribe treats you as muted. The panel says you are not being translated and shows Include my voice. Select it to send your voice anyway. It stays on until you turn it off, capture stops, or InterScribe can read your Meet mute state again.
If your microphone stops, your voice is not sent, and the panel says so.
What you see in the call
InterScribe puts two things in Meet's page while it translates:
- The InterScribe button in Meet's control bar. Before you start, it opens the setup. While translating it shows a red dot, and selecting it opens a card with Copy guest link, Audience & settings and Stop. The card also says whether your voice is sent while unmuted or muted and not sent.
- The banner at the top of the call: Translating · N following. Select it to open the same card. Drag it along the top edge to move it out of the way.
The dot and the banner turn amber when the connection drops, the end time is near or AI voice hours are running short.
What you see in the live panel
The live panel shows Translating, with a Meeting audio card for everyone in the call and a Your voice card. It also shows:
- Names from Meet: captions use the names Meet shows for each person, and the person speaking now is marked. Lines it cannot name stay a numbered Speaker (Speaker 1, Speaker 2) until someone names them in the Console.
- AI Voice: if the session uses Languages you choose, add or remove a voice language while it runs.
- Link shared in the chat or Not shared yet, with Share again or Share.
- Open in InterScribe, which opens the session in the Portal.
The panel closes when you click back into the call. Capture keeps running, and selecting InterScribe in the toolbar shows the live panel again.
Extend or end on time
Every session has an end time, and translation stops then unless you extend it. Ten minutes before, the button and the banner turn amber and the card says Translation ends at HH:MM unless you extend it.
- Extend 30 min moves the end 30 minutes later. If your plan has less than 30 minutes left, the card says Your plan has N min left. and offers Add hours, or tells you to ask an admin.
- End at HH:MM keeps the end time and clears the warning.
If the session ends on schedule, the Meet tab shows Translation ended and does not offer Resume. If the end is moved in InterScribe, the card picks up the new time within seconds.
When AI voice hours run low
If your workspace's AI voice hours are running out during the call, the card says AI voice hours are running out. Voices stop at HH:MM. When they run out it says AI voice hours ran out. Voices stopped; captions continue. Captions and text translation keep working. Select Add hours to buy more, or ask an admin if you cannot.
Sign in and what you allow
When you select Sign in to InterScribe, Chrome opens an InterScribe page titled Connect InterScribe for Chrome. The page:
- Shows who is signed in, with Not you? to sign out and use another account.
- Asks which workspace the extension acts in. If you belong to many workspaces, you can search them, and recently used ones come first.
- Lists what it will be able to do in that workspace: create sessions and change their AI voices, start and end live translation of a Google Meet call you are in, and send the meeting's audio, and your voice while you are unmuted. It says that being muted in Meet means your voice is never sent.
- Says that nothing is used until you select Start translation. Then it uses your plan's minutes, and AI voice hours when AI voice is on.
Select Allow and go back to Chrome to connect, or Cancel. To disconnect later, open Settings → Connected apps in your workspace and select Revoke next to it.
Stop
Select Stop in the live panel. InterScribe asks End the session for everyone?
- End session stops translation for everyone following. The transcript and summary are made as usual.
- Stop meeting audio, keep it live stops capturing the call and leaves the session live, for someone who carries on from the InterScribe Console.
If you leave the call or close the tab, only the meeting audio stops. The session stays live.
When something goes wrong
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| Meeting audio stopped | You left the call, closed the tab or lost the connection. Select Resume in this tab to bring the audio back. |
| Chrome won't share this tab's audio | Another extension or app is capturing the tab. Close it, then select Start again. |
| Another source has the session | A Zoom bot, an AV channel or the Console mic already feeds the session. Choose another session, or select Open in InterScribe. |
| Your plan doesn't cover this | You hit the same limits as starting any session: hours, languages or seats. Select See your plan. |
| Translation is running in another tab | One meeting runs at a time. Select Switch to it, or Stop there to start here. |
| Not on for your workspace yet | InterScribe for Chrome is in Beta. Ask us to turn it on for your workspace. |
| Reload the Meet tab, then press Start again. | The call was open before the extension was installed or updated. Reload the tab and start again. |
| Translation ended | The session reached its end time. Create a new session, or extend the next one before it ends. |
| InterScribe couldn't load | Select Try again. If it keeps failing, reload the Meet tab or use the contact page. |
| Signed out of InterScribe | Select Sign in. Stop still works while you are signed out. |
If the session ends up with the wrong audio source or a message you do not recognise, use the contact page.
Good to know
- Google Meet calls are translated only from InterScribe for Chrome. When InterScribe for Chrome is on for your workspace, pasting a Google Meet link in Add a meeting link in the Portal points you to the extension instead of creating a session.
- Both
meet.google.com/abc-defg-hijandmeet.google.com/meet/abc-defg-hijcall addresses work. - Translation goes one way. Translations are not played back into the call.
- Zoom and Teams in the browser are not supported yet. For Zoom, see Add, use and remove InterScribe in Zoom.