Have you ever had an audio recording that you needed to turn into written text?
You could listen to a few seconds, pause it, type what you heard, hit play again, realize you missed something, rewind…
And repeat approximately 4,732 times. 😂
Or you could let technology handle the tedious part.
Microsoft Word has a Transcribe feature that can take an audio recording and automatically turn it into written text.
📺 Watch the video below to see exactly how it works.
Transcribe an Audio File You Already Have
One of the things I love about this feature is that you can use an audio file you’ve already recorded.
Upload your recording to Word’s Transcribe feature and let Word process the audio.
Once it’s finished, you’ll have a written transcription of what was said.
That can be incredibly useful for things like:
- Meetings
- Interviews
- Trainings
- Voice recordings
- Brainstorming sessions
- Recorded conversations
Instead of spending your time manually typing everything you hear, you have a starting point you can work with.
Keep the Timestamps—or Don’t
Another handy feature is the ability to work with timestamps.
Timestamps can be useful when you need to know where something was said in the original recording.
For example, if you’re transcribing an interview or meeting and want to return to a specific part of the audio, those timestamps can make finding it much easier.
But maybe you don’t need any of that.
Maybe you simply want the words.
You can add the transcription to your document in a format that works for what you’re trying to accomplish, including options that don’t clutter your finished text with timestamps.
That’s the part I love: you can use the transcription based on what you actually need.
Transcription Gives You a Starting Point
There’s one important thing to remember about any automatic transcription tool:
Check the results.
Names, unusual terminology, accents, background noise, and audio quality can all affect transcription accuracy.
Sound familiar?
It’s the same reason voice-to-text occasionally decides you said something completely different from what came out of your mouth. 😂
Automatic transcription doesn’t mean you never have to review the text.
It means you don’t have to start with a blank page and type every single word yourself.
That’s a pretty significant difference.
What Could You Do With the Text?
Once your audio has been transcribed, you’re no longer limited to an audio recording.
Now you have text that you can work with.
Depending on the recording, you might turn it into:
- Meeting notes
- A summary
- An article or blog post
- Training notes
- An email
- Social media content
- A reference document
One recording can suddenly become much more useful simply because the information is now available in another format.
Let Technology Handle the Tedious Part
This is exactly the kind of technology I love.
It’s not replacing your ideas.
It’s not replacing your knowledge.
It’s not replacing the conversation.
It’s simply taking a repetitive, time-consuming task and doing most of the heavy lifting for you.
Because if Microsoft Word can save you from an afternoon of play, pause, type, rewind, repeat…
Let it. 😏💙
That’s one more little way to work smarter and build your Tech Confidence.