Transcription Addiction

Have you ever spent hours upon boring hours transcribing SME content? Don't you wish there was some simple way to turn sound into script?

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2025 Update

• Download the video you want to transcribe into a .wav, .mp4, .m4a, or .mp3 format
• Open the online version of Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Open the online version of Word
• 
  Create a new document
• Find the a microphone icon under the Home toolbar
• Click the dropdown menu for the microphone
• Select "Transcribe"
• Click on the "Upload audio" button and follow the directions to upload your video file
• Once the transcription is complete, click the "Add to document" and select your desired formatting 
  

How is the quality? Well, we've come a LONG way in 16 years...but it's not perfect. However, the biggest downside is that there is a limit on the amount of data you are allowed to upload every month.

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Well, slap your knee and call me your fairy godmother! You can transcribe MP3 and WAV recordings using Microsoft Word! (Actually, my co-worker, Rick Cook discovered how to do this - but I don't think he'd appreciate being called a "fairy godmother.")

Here's how to do it:

• Open Microsoft Word
• Under Tools, click Speech
• Right click the Language bar that appears
• Click Settings
• Choose Speech Recognition under Installed Services in the pop-up window
• Click the Properties button
• Click the Advanced Speech button
• Click the Audio Input button
• Click the Properties button in the Audio Input Window
• In the drop-down window, choose Stereo Mix (this changes the sound source from your microphone to the play-back of your recording)
• Play the recording

How's the quality? Mediocre. For example, "Tutorial" is transcribed as "Two Orials."

So, you shouldn't transcribe straight from your SME's lips: record and then transcribe, so you can refer back to make sense of the script. On the other hand, Word can complete the bulk of the transcription understandably, and it's massively easier to Find and Replace or correct a transcription than it is to type it all by yourself.

If this doesn't work for you, there are internet transcription services where you can upload a sound file and have a Word copy emailed to you. I've used GMR, and they were timely and good.