How to use Microsoft Word for speech transcription

Speaking is often faster than typing when it comes to our productivity.Microsoft Word The Dictation feature in lets you create documents with your voice, and you can use the Transcribe feature to convert audio files to text.This article will show you how to use the transcription feature in Word to convert documents such as lecture notes, meeting minutes, and any other recorded audio files into text.

How to start transcription in Word

The Transcription button is located below the Office Dictation button (at the microphone icon) in the Speech group on the Ribbon.Currently, only Word for the web and Microsoft Word for Windows to see it.The screenshot below is from Word Desktop for Microsoft 365.

Launch Microsoft Word on the desktop or the Word web app in Microsoft Edge and Chrome browsers.You can dictate and transcribe new recordings or upload audio files from other sources.

1. In the ribbon, go to Home > Dictation.

2. Select the drop-down arrow to expand the options under Dictation.

3. Select Transcription.

4. The Transcription pane opens on the right, offering two ways to start transcription.

upload audio

According to the instructions, you can upload audio files in the supported .wav, .mp4, .m4a, and .mp3 formats.Speech-to-text conversion happens in the cloud through your OneDrive account.Uploading to OneDrive may take some time, depending on the size of the recording and your internet speed.So keep the transcription pane open until the conversion is complete.

1. Select Upload Audio in the Transcription pane.

2. Go to the location where you saved the audio file and select it.

3. The file will be transcribed and the text will appear in the Transcription pane with a time stamp.During transcription, voice annotations are separated by speaker.

4. Select the + icon to add the snippet to the document on the left, or the pencil icon to edit the snippet before adding it to the document.

5. The Add to Document button provides several options for managing the transcribed text. For example, you can choose to only add the text without adding timestamps and speaker tags.

start recording

You can also dictate (or record through your computer microphone) and have Word transcribe directly.The background process is the same as above.

1. Select the Start Recording button in the Transcription pane.

2. When the recording is complete, select "Save and Transcribe Now".You can also tap the microphone icon to pause or resume recording.

3. Unlike Dictation, you won't see the instant speech-to-text conversion in your document until Word completes the transcription in the background.

4. Choose how to display the transcript in the document via the options under the Add to Document button.

Note that Microsoft does not store your audio and transcription results after the transcription is complete.

Difference Between Transcription and Dictation

Like all good transcription software, Transcribe and Dictate for Microsoft Word work together.Use Dictate when all you need is real-time speech-to-text conversion.Select Transcribe if you need to convert previously recorded audio to text.There are other nuances to the two -- for example, Word's transcription separates different speakers in the converted text.Also, if you just want to convert your own speech to text in real time, then choose Dictation as it is faster than transcription in the cloud.

Start recording directly in Word

Try these features in real-world scenarios like classroom lectures or collaborative documents.This could be a handy way to tackle our inattention habit while also making sure we don't miss anything.Like any recording, you can jump to a specific moment and play it back for more context.Perhaps, this will make us think that Word is a better all-around document editor now, thanks to its speech-to-text feature.