Set up the live translator in Microsoft Teams

You need a PC or Mac with Chrome or Edge, a headset, and Teams as an app or in the browser. The menu names come from Microsoft’s help pages for Teams, September 2026.

Guide in five steps

1. 1

   Step 1: Open Dolmi on your computer

   Open Speak in a call in Chrome or Edge and choose your language and the language of the others, for example English and German. You don’t choose a direction: the voice always translates from your language into theirs. The first time, the browser asks whether Dolmi may use the microphone. Allow it and choose your headset.

2. 2

   Step 2: Set up the virtual cable

   Dolmi shows you the right download and guides you through the installation. On Windows, it’s VB-Cable from vb-audio.com/Cable; restart your computer afterwards. On a Mac, it’s BlackHole 2ch from existential.audio/blackhole.

   From then on, Dolmi’s output goes to the cable: “CABLE Input” on Windows, “BlackHole 2ch” on a Mac. You only do this once.

3. 3

   Step 3: Choose the cable as your microphone in Teams

   Before the meeting: in Teams, click the three dots next to your profile picture, then Settings and Devices. Under Audio settings, choose “CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)” as the Microphone or, on a Mac, “BlackHole 2ch”.

   On the screen before you join the meeting: open the audio settings and choose the cable as your microphone.

   During the meeting: click the arrow next to Mic and then More audio settings. The change applies straight away.

4. 4

   Step 4: Check with the test tone

   Let Dolmi play the test tone before the meeting starts. If Teams hears the tone through the cable, everything is connected. Then start the translation and speak.

5. 5

   Step 5: Add subtitles for the replies

   You read what the others say as subtitles. Because you’re wearing a headset, use sharing on the computer: on Windows, choose the whole screen in the sharing dialogue and turn on the option to share the system audio too. On a Mac, open the meeting in Teams on the web and share that tab with audio. The subtitle window then floats above Teams.

Only want to understand, not speak?

If you only want to understand what’s said in the meeting, you don’t need the cable. Open the subtitles on your phone, put it next to your laptop and let Teams play through the speakers. This also works with the Teams desktop app on a Mac.

On your phone

With the Teams app on a phone, Dolmi can’t send your voice into the meeting, because a phone browser can’t use a virtual microphone. There are no subtitles for a meeting on the same phone either. What works on a phone is in the section On your phone.

If something doesn’t work

The others hear nothing. In Dolmi, the output must be “CABLE Input” or “BlackHole 2ch”; in Teams, the microphone must be “CABLE Output” or “BlackHole 2ch”. And the translation in Dolmi has to be running.

Teams switches back to your headset. When you plug your headset in again or a Bluetooth headset reconnects, Teams may change the microphone. Choose the cable again using the arrow next to Mic.

Dolmi translates the others too. Your microphone is picking up the speakers. Use a headset.

What about the Interpreter agent in Teams? Microsoft offers its own interpretation feature for Teams. It needs a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence and only works in Teams. There’s an overview in the comparison.