Starting Captions when joining a meeting

Welcome to the Zoom Community, @Tbwilliams.

First, I'll include the reference documents from Zoom Support here:

• https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/8158289360141 on Enabling automated captions
• https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/8158738379917 on Managing automated captions

Next, note that automated captions appears to require the host and any attendees seeking captions to be on Zoom desktop client for Windows, macOS, or Linux: Global minimum version or higher or Zoom mobile app for Android or iOS: Global minimum version or higher.  Captions do not work in any other environment, including in a web browser or Chrome PWA.

The Host must have Automated captions enabled.  This is located in the Personal -> Settings -> In Meeting (Advanced) section:

If this is not enabled and can't be enabled here, then the setting must first be enabled by the account Admin (which might be the meeting Host, especially if there is only one user on the account).  This looks similar to the Personal settings option, with another button which can be used to "lock" the Administrative setting:

Now... assuming that Automated captions is enabled, there are several things to check.

1. Make sure Manual captioning is not enabled.
2. If the Host is on a HIPAA-security enabled account, contact the internal Zoom admin to see if Automated captions are enabled.
3. In the meeting or webinar, look for the Show Captions icon in the bottom menu bar:
   
   

   Alternatively, look in the More... menu for Captions....  This often happens when the all of the icons won't easily fit on the lower menu bar.  (Your More menu will probably look different overall, but might contain the Captions menu you're looking for.)

    
4. If the Automated captions option is enabled and you can't find the Show Captions icon or the Captions submenu in the More menu, the Host should check to be sure that captions have not been disabled by clicking the arrow icon ^ next to the Show Captions icon, view the Host controls section's Disable captions setting and make sure it is not checked:
   
   

   If the host only sees this, then captions are disabled:
   

5. Lastly, if it's still not working, please make sure the host and anyone attempting to use Automated captions are updated to the very latest Zoom version.