Transcribe recordings in Microsoft Word

1. Open Word Online using Microsoft Edge or Chrome and log in to Microsoft 365 with your Aalto account, if you’re not already signed in. 

2. Next, open a new Microsoft Word document. Click the ‘Home’ tab, and from the list of options available, touch the dropdown arrow next to the ‘Dictate’ tab. From the dropdown, select ‘Transcribe’ to proceed.

3. In the Transcribe pane, select Start recording.

4. If it’s your first time to transcribe, give the browser permission to use your mic. There might be a dialog that pops up in the browser or you may have to go to the browser settings. 

   • In Microsoft Edge: … > Settings > Site permissions > Microphone > Allow “https://aaltofi-my.sharepoint.com”

   • In Chrome: … > Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Microphone > Allow “https://aaltofi-my.sharepoint.com”

     Tips: 

     • Be careful to set the correct microphone input on your device, otherwise results may be disappointing. For example, if your computer's microphone input is set to your headset mic based on the last time you used it, it won't work well for picking up an in-person meeting.

     • If you want to record and transcribe a virtual call, don't use your headset. That way, the recording can pick up the sound coming out of your device.

5. A message will appear with two options. You can either upload an existing recording or start a new one. Select ‘Start Recording’ to proceed.

6. Wait for the pause icon to be outlined in blue and the timestamp to start incrementing to let you know that recording has begun.

7. Start talking or begin a conversation with another person. Speak clearly.

8. Leave the Transcribe pane open while recording.

9. You can pause recording by selecting the pause icon. Resume recording by selecting the microphone icon.

10. When finished, select Save and transcribe now to save your recording to OneDrive and start the transcription process.

11. Transcription may take a few minutes, depending on the length of your recording. Keep the Transcribe pane open while the transcription is being made.

12. After the transcription, the transcript will appear in the same pane the recording took place. Every session comes with a timestamp, speaker name, and transcribed text. When Microsoft detects multiple speakers, it separates the text by speakers.

13. You can click on 'Add to document' to transfer the transcript text to the Word document. 

Note: The audio recording file will be stored in the Transcribed Files folder on Microsoft OneDrive (https://aaltofi-my.sharepoint.com/). You can access or delete it there.

1. Open Word Online using Microsoft Edge or Chrome and log in to Microsoft 365 with your Aalto account, if you’re not already signed in. 

2. Next, open a new Microsoft Word document. Click the ‘Home’ tab, and from the list of options available, touch the dropdown arrow next to the ‘Dictate’ tab. From the dropdown, select ‘Transcribe’ to proceed.

3. In the Transcribe pane, select Upload audio.

4. Choose an audio file from the file picker. Transcribe currently supports .wav, .mp4, .m4a, .mp3 formats. 

5. Transcription may take a while depending on your internet speed, up to about the length of the audio file. Be sure to keep the Transcribe pane open while the transcription is happening, but feel free to do other work or switch browser tabs or applications and come back later.

6. You can click on 'Add to document' to transfer the transcript text to the Word document. 

The audio file, whether recorded or uploaded, is saved to the Transcribed Files folder on Microsoft OneDrive (https://aaltofi-my.sharepoint.com/). You can access or delete it there.

Use the controls at the top of the Transcribe pane to play back your audio. The relevant transcript section highlights as it plays. Select the timestamp of any transcript section to play that portion of audio.

The transcription service identifies and separates different speakers and labels them "Speaker 1," "Speaker 2," etc. You can edit the speaker label and change all occurrences of it to something else. You can also edit the content of a section to correct any issues in transcription.

1. In the Transcribe pane, hover over a section you want to edit.

2. Select the Edit transcript section icon.

3. Edit the content or change the label. To change all instances of a label, select Change all Speaker [x].

4. To save your changes, select the Confirm icon.

You can share the transcript with someone in two ways:

• Select Add all to document to add the entire transcript to your document, then share the Word document as usual. The transcript will appear as regular text in the document and there will be a hyperlink to the audio file in the document.

• Share the Word document as usual. The recipient can open the Transcribe pane to interact with the transcript. To protect your privacy, playback of the audio file is by default not available in the Transcribe pane for anyone that you share the Word document with.

You can also share the transcript and enable playback of the audio file in the Transcribe pane:

1. On your version of the Word document, click the filename at the top of the Transcribe pane to go to where the audio file is saved in OneDrive.

2. The Transcribed Files folder in OneDrive opens.

3. Find your recording, then select Actions > Shareand add the email address of the person you want to share the recording with.

4. Share the Word document as usual.

5. The person that you shared both the Word document and audio file with will be able to open the Word document, open the Transcribe pane, and interact with both the transcript and audio file.