Getting started with Tolka Live

Everything you need to go from zero to live translation – most people are running in under fifteen minutes.

1. Create an account & get your license key

1. Go to the portal and choose Create account.
2. New accounts automatically get a free 15-minute trial – no credit card needed. One trial per computer.
3. Your account page shows your license key (looks like TL-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX). Copy it – you'll paste it into the app in step 3.
4. When you're ready to continue after the trial, pick a plan on the same page. Every plan has every feature – only the hours differ.

2. Install the app

Mac (Apple Silicon or Intel)

1. Download the right version (unsure? menu → About This Mac).
2. Double-click the downloaded .dmg file. A window opens — drag Tolka Live onto the Applications folder (the shortcut is shown in the window).
3. Open the app from Launchpad or Applications. It is signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens right away with no warnings.
4. Grant microphone access when asked – without it the app hears nothing.

Windows 10 / 11

1. Download the Windows installer (TolkaLive-windows-x64-setup.exe) and double-click it.
2. Follow the setup wizard — the app is installed and a Start-menu shortcut is created (and a desktop icon if you like).
3. If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC": click More info → Run anyway. The warning appears because the Windows build doesn't have a signing certificate yet — the app is safe, and the dialog only shows once. It looks like this:

3. First start

1. The app opens ⚙ Settings automatically on first run.
2. Sign in with your account: email + password and Sign in, or Sign in with Google (opens the browser) — the license key fills in automatically. You can also paste the license key manually.
3. Pick Translate from (or leave Auto-detect) and Translate to – the language the captions should appear in.
4. Pick your microphone/input (see next section).
5. Press Start Translation. Speak – text should appear in the window within a second or two.

Good to know: F1 settings · F2 transparent overlay · F11 fullscreen · ESC quit. The ✕ Clear button instantly blanks the captions everywhere (window, projector, stream).

4. Audio & microphone

• Best results come from a feed off your mixer/audio interface (e.g. Focusrite Scarlett) – the app auto-selects Scarlett/Focusrite if found.
• The computer's built-in microphone works for testing but picks up room noise.
• Send a mono mix of the speech microphone (no music) to the app's input – music and crowd noise degrade the translation.

5. Fastest path: Screen mode (no ProPresenter)

Just a projector or TV connected as a second display? Then you don't need ProPresenter:

1. Press 🖥 Screen in the app. Captions open fullscreen on the display your control window is not on.
2. Press again to move to the next display; after the last one it closes. ESC closes too.
3. Text size adapts automatically, and ✕ Clear blanks the screen instantly.

Perfect for quick setups — plug in the projector as a second display, press Start and 🖥. Done.

6. ProPresenter – captions on projector & stage display

There are two ways to show captions on the audience screen. Method 1 (recommended) shows the text as a web overlay inside a Prop — the operator can hide the Prop at any time and it stays hidden, and the captions persist across slide changes. Method 2 (Messages) suits teams who prefer styling the text with ProPresenter's Message themes. The stage display (speaker's screen) works the same with both — see below.

Method 1 — Prop with a web overlay (recommended)

1. In Tolka Live: ⚙ Settings → check Publish captions online → press Start Translation. (Using the web app? It publishes automatically — skip to the next step.)
2. In ProPresenter: open the Props panel and click + to create a new Prop. Name it e.g. Translation.
3. Edit the Prop and insert a web object (the globe icon). URL: your personal Caption link from the portal (tolkalive.se/overlay/?id=…) — it works regardless of network, even for a remote stream team.
   Important: stretch the web object to cover the full slide. The caption positions itself bottom-center automatically — a smaller box only shows the empty top of the page.
4. Test: append ?text=Hello to the URL to show sample text right away. Remove it again before going live.
5. Show the Prop when you want captions. Hide it (or Clear All) and it stays hidden until you show it again — Tolka never forces it back on.

Method 2 — audience Message (alternative)

1. Open ProPresenter's settings: ProPresenter → Settings… and choose the Network tab.

   

2. Turn on Enable Network. Note the Port number — that's the port you'll enter in Tolka Live.
   Important: copy the exact port shown here. ProPresenter picks its own port number and it differs between installations.

   

3. Create the message: open the Messages panel (paper-plane icon) and click + Add Message.

   

4. Name it exactly Translation. Under Message Detail: type Translation in the token box and press Enter to create the token. (Type Translation, not "text".)

   

5. The Translation token now appears as a blue chip in the message — that's all the content it needs. Style it via Theme so the captions look the way you want.

   

6. In Tolka Live: ⚙ Settings → ProPresenter / OBS tab → check Send captions to ProPresenter. Host: localhost if ProPresenter runs on the same computer, otherwise the other computer's IP. Port: the number from step 2. Choose Send to and adjust Max chars to fit your rows.

   

Tip: already pressed Start? After you create or change the message in ProPresenter you may need to restart Tolka Live (⏹ Stop then ▶ Start) so the app picks up the new message.
Note: every new caption shows the Message again — if the operator clears it in ProPresenter, it comes back with the next sentence. Pause with ✕ Clear in Tolka Live instead. (This is why we recommend Method 1, where hidden stays hidden.)

Stage display (speaker's screen — works with both methods)

1. The stage display uses the network API: do steps 1–2 of Method 2 (Enable Network, note the port).
2. Open the Screens → Edit Layouts… menu.

   

3. In the layout editor: click the … button (more elements) and choose Stage Message. Position and size the element on the stage screen. Without this element, no text shows there.

   

4. In Tolka Live: check Send captions to ProPresenter with the host/port from Method 2. If the audience uses the web overlay (Method 1), set Send to: Stage only.

7. OBS – captions in your livestream

1. In Tolka Live: check Publish captions online (the web app publishes automatically) and use your Caption link from the portal as the URL — the same web page as the ProPresenter overlay in Method 1. (Local alternative: Caption web overlay, port 8899.)
2. In OBS: Sources → + → Browser. URL: http://localhost:8899/ (OBS on another computer: replace localhost with the Tolka Live computer's IP). Width/height: match your canvas, e.g. 1920×1080.
3. Done – captions appear lower-center with a soft fade and transparent background. The same ?text= and styling parameters as in Method 1 work here too.

8. AI voice (spoken translation)

1. ⚙ Settings → Audio → check Speak the translation.
2. Pick a Voice output: headphones, a separate PA zone, or a virtual audio device (e.g. BlackHole/VB-Cable) to route the voice into OBS or an interpretation system.

9. Profanity filter & AI instructions

• The profanity filter is on by default and masks inappropriate words as ✱✱✱✱ in all captions. Lists are per language and never censor religious words (heaven, hell, Satan …) or false friends (Swedish slutet).
• Add your own blocked words in ~/.live-translator-blocklist.txt – one word per line.
• Instructions to the AI in Settings controls tone and context. The default text suits church services; rewrite it freely for conferences or other events. The AI is always instructed never to use crude language.

10. Important: the AI can make mistakes

Tips for best quality: clear speech into a good microphone, one speaker at a time, and a clean speech signal without music.

11. Troubleshooting

• No text appears – Is the status green? Right microphone selected? Did you grant mic access? Speak close to the mic and check signal.
• "Invalid license key" – copy the key again from the portal (all of it, including TL-).
• "Monthly hours used up" – upgrade your plan or wait for the new month; see usage in the portal.
• Web overlay shows nothing – is Caption web overlay checked in Settings? Does the web object cover the full slide? Test the URL in a normal browser with ?text=Hello appended.
• Web overlay frozen (the app is still translating) – hide and show the Prop again; the page reloads and catches up instantly.
• Yellow ProPresenter status – wrong host/port, or Network not enabled in ProPresenter.
• Stage shows text but audience doesn't – the Message isn't named exactly Translation, or has no token.
• Audience shows text but stage doesn't – the Message element is missing from your stage layout.
• A short break every ~10 minutes – normal: the cloud session rotates and the app reconnects automatically (brief yellow status).
• Anything else? Email [email protected] – include what the status bar says.