{"id":111,"date":"2021-02-20T12:03:48","date_gmt":"2021-02-20T12:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/virtualtranscriber.co.za\/blog\/?p=111"},"modified":"2025-02-17T05:16:46","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T05:16:46","slug":"how-to-transcribe-an-existing-audio-file-in-microsoft-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/virtualtranscriber.co.za\/blog\/2021\/02\/20\/how-to-transcribe-an-existing-audio-file-in-microsoft-word\/","title":{"rendered":"How to transcribe an existing audio file in Microsoft Word"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Getting an AI transcript using Microsoft Word is as easy if not easier than using <a href=\"https:\/\/virtualtranscriber.co.za\/blog\/2020\/11\/15\/how-to-auto-transcribe-an-audio-or-video-file-with-youtube\/\">YouTube<\/a> or AI transcription sites such as <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/otter-ai123\" target=\"_blank\">Otter.ai<\/a>, so I think this is going to be a <em>very<\/em> short blog post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So let&#8217;s get down to it. Firstly, you need to have an Office 365 account. I bought my current version, but before that, I received a free copy when I was a part-time student at UNISA. I think Microsoft provides these for most universities &#8211; full-time and part-time students. Once you&#8217;ve signed up O365, go to <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.office.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Office.com<\/a>. Then navigate to Word. This transcription feature is not yet available on the desktop version of Word 365. Click on New Blank Document. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you have a <em>new blank document<\/em>, look for the light blue microphone on the menu bar. Click on the down arrow next to it. You will see two options. 1. Dictate and 2. Transcribe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"385\" height=\"233\" src=\"https:\/\/virtualtranscriber.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/word.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-112\" srcset=\"https:\/\/virtualtranscriber.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/word.png 385w, https:\/\/virtualtranscriber.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/word-300x182.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 385px) 100vw, 385px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Click on Transcribe<\/em>. Choose the language you wish to transcribe. For South Africans, the only choice is one of the English variants. So no Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu, etc. And then click on <em>Upload Audio <\/em>to upload your audio file. Then wait until the transcription is done. It only takes a few minutes. Once it&#8217;s done, click on the arrow next to <em>Add to Document<\/em>. Then choose between saving only the text, text and timestamps, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/virtualtranscriber.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/word2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-113\" width=\"225\" height=\"137\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>And that&#8217;s basically how you generate an AI transcript using Word in Office 365. Easy-peasy until it gives you a frowning face and no transcript. But that&#8217;s a story for another day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Learn more about changing the speaker names and some other features of the Microsoft Word automated transcription software <a href=\"https:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/en-us\/office\/transcribe-your-recordings-7fc2efec-245e-45f0-b053-2a97531ecf57#:~:text=Upload%20an%20audio%20file,-You%20can%20upload&amp;text=At%20this%20time%2C%20you're,new%20Microsoft%20Edge%20or%20Chrome.\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getting an AI transcript using Microsoft Word is as easy if not easier than using YouTube or AI transcription sites such as Otter.ai, so I think this is going to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":114,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[32,5],"class_list":["post-111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcription","tag-ai-transcriptions","tag-transcriptions"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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