How Does Word’s New Transcribe Feature Work?
This update was announced on the Microsoft Support website, which features a guide on how to make, edit, and share transcripts with Word.
For now, you can only use automatic transcription on Word for the Web, which is Microsoft’s answer to rival services such as Google Docs. While Word for the Web is free to use, you’ll need a Premium account to use transcription.
You can find the Transcribe tool under the Dictate tab on the toolbar. When you activate it, you can perform one of two actions.
Firstly, you can let Word listen to your microphone during an interview or conversation. When the talk comes to an end, Word will generate a full transcript of everything said.
Secondly, you can transcribe text from an audio file. This is as easy as uploading the file to Word and letting it process your conversation while you do other things.
Word will try its best to assign every piece of dialogue to an individual speaker. However, if it makes a mistake, you can easily re-assign dialogue to a different person using the transcription editor. You can also assign a name to each speaker, and Word will automatically use that name every time they speak in the transcript.
Making Transcription Easier
With everyone working from home whenever possible, it’s always good news when a company releases a useful productivity tool for public use. When you next find yourself having to transcribe an entire meeting, why not give Word’s new transcription feature a shot?
If this is the first time you’ve heard of Office Online, you should check it out. As we have covered previously, Microsoft’s online offerings can potentially work better for you than buying a copy of Word.
