Microsoft Word Has a Great Transcription Tool

Turning audio into text continues to get easier; videos uploaded to YouTube automatically get captions, and it’s possible to receive voicemails and dictate text messages hands-free.

Recently, we had an audio recording at our office that needed transcribing, and we were scrambling to find the best way to accomplish the task.

Surprisingly, the solution was our trusty word processor, known more for typing than listening. We quickly converted our audio file into usable text using Microsoft Word’s built-in transcription feature. If you are a Word user, you have access to this handy and easy-to-use feature.

Accessing Word’s Transcription Tool

Word’s transcription tool is part of Microsoft 365. Mac users, note that you can use this tool by accessing Word Online through your 365 subscription. The transcription tool is not included in Word for Mac because Microsoft intentionally excludes certain features to confound users who choose MacOS over Windows.

Anyway, to get started:

Open Word for Windows

Mac:

• First log into Microsoft 365 and open Word Online.

Mac & Windows:

• Go to the Home tab
• Click the dropdown arrow next to the Dictate button.
• Choose Transcribe

These steps will open a panel where you can start recording directly. Recording this way saves time if you’d rather talk than type, but the real game changer for law offices is the upload feature. Any audio file you upload into this tool will result in a transcript, which can be useful if you have someone else’s audio file but need to convert it to text.

Making a recording is very easy nowadays because we all carry excellent recording devices in our pockets—smartphones.

Creating and Uploading Audio Recordings

If you’re working from audio you recorded on your phone, transferring files to Word is simple.

Using an iPhone

• Open the Voice Memos app and record your audio.
• When your recording session is complete, tap the file, select Share, and email or upload it to a cloud service like OneDrive.
• Download the file onto your computer and upload it into Word.

Using an Android Device

• Use the built-in Voice Recorder or a free app like Google Recorder.
• Save the file, then email or transfer it via OneDrive, Google Drive, or USB.
• Upload the recording into Word for transcription.

Once the file is uploaded, Word will handle the rest, converting your audio into editable text.

Bonus Feature

We were pleasantly surprised that Word automatically identifies and labels different speakers (Speaker 1, Speaker 2, etc.) if the recording involves multiple people. These generic labels can be easily updated to more descriptive names using Find and Replace.

Our experience with Word’s dictation tool showed us that it can be extremely useful, especially when combined with a cell phone. Whether converting audio notes into drafts or creating detailed records of meetings, this feature makes it easy to work smarter.