Set up the live translator in Zoom

You need a PC or Mac with Chrome or Edge, a headset, and the Zoom app or Zoom in the browser. The menu names come from the Zoom help pages, 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 Zoom

   Before the meeting: in the Zoom app, click your profile picture in the top-right corner, then Settings and the Audio tab. Under Microphone, choose “CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)” or, on a Mac, “BlackHole 2ch”.

   During the meeting: click the small arrow next to the microphone icon in the meeting controls and choose the cable there.

   The names look the wrong way round, but they’re right: Dolmi plays into “CABLE Input”, and Zoom listens on “CABLE Output”.

4. 4

   Step 4: Check with the test tone

   Let Dolmi play the test tone while Zoom’s audio settings are open. If the tone reaches the cable, the microphone level indicator moves. 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, join the meeting in the browser and share that tab with audio. The subtitle window then floats above Zoom.

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 Zoom play through the speakers. This also works with the Zoom desktop app on a Mac.

On your phone

With the Zoom 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. Check both ends of the cable: in Dolmi, the output must be “CABLE Input” or “BlackHole 2ch”; in Zoom, the microphone must be “CABLE Output” or “BlackHole 2ch”. And the translation in Dolmi has to be running.

The others hear you twice, in two languages. Your headset microphone is still selected in Zoom. Switch to the cable.

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

You want to speak without translation for a moment. Use the arrow next to the microphone icon to choose your headset again in Zoom. To translate again, switch back to the cable.