How to Dictate in Word

This article covers how to record and transcribe live audio, upload an audio file for transcription, and edit a Microsoft Word transcription.

About Microsoft Word's Transcribe Feature

You can use the Transcribe feature in Word Online as long as you have a premium subscription to Microsoft 365. There are two ways to get a transcription.

• You can speak directly into your computer microphone (or an attached microphone) and record and transcribe audio simultaneously.
• You can upload up to 300 minutes of audio per month, and Microsoft will transcribe it.

Record and Transcribe Live Audio in Microsoft Word Online

Whether you're recording an interview with someone else, or your voice, Microsoft Word Online can both capture and transcribe that audio at one time.

1. Log into Office.com and open a new or existing document.

   The Transcribe feature works in the Microsoft Edge and Chrome browsers.

2. If you're not already there, click the Home tab.

3. In the Ribbon, select the downward arrow next to Dictate.

4. In the menu that appears, select Transcribe, and the Transcribe panel opens on the right.

5. Click Start recording to start recording. If this is the first time you've used Transcribe, you may need to allow the browser to access your microphone. Click Allow.

6. The recording starts automatically, and a Pause button will appear in the Transcribe panel on the right. Begin speaking or having a conversation with someone else. You can click that Pause button at any time to pause the recording.

7. If paused, the button changes to a microphone. When you're ready to begin recording again, click the microphone, and it will turn back into a pause button.

8. When you're finished recording, click Save and transcribe now to save your recording and process the transcription.

9. The transcription will appear in the Transcribe panel.

Transcribe Recorded Audio in Microsoft Word

If you have a recorded conversation or notes you want to transcribe, you can use the Word Transcribe feature for that, as well. To do that, open a Word document, go to the Home tab of the Ribbon and navigate to Transcribe. Then:

1. In the Transcribe pane, select Upload audio

2. Navigate to and select the file you want to upload and then click Open. The file will begin to transcribe.

   Depending on the audio file size that you've uploaded, the transcription could take a while to complete.

3. Once complete, the transcription appears in the Transcribe panel.

Edit Transcriptions in Microsoft Word Online

Once you have your transcription file, you may find that some of the words didn't transcribe accurately, or there may be other edits that you want to make. The good news is that editing your transcription is easy.

1. In the Transcribe panel, hover your cursor over the transcription section that you want to edit and click the Edit (pencil) icon.

2. While editing is active, you can edit:

   • The Speaker: You can change the speaker's name, and if you choose, you can change all instances of that name by clicking the box next to Change all Speaker [#].
   • Any of the text in that section.

   If you hit a place in your transcript where you can't figure out what the transcription says or should say, you can always refer back to the recording at the top of the Transcribe panel.

3. When you've finished making your edits, click the checkmark in the bottom right corner of the editing box to save your edits.

How to Add a Transcription to a Word Document

After you've finished editing your transcript, you can add the whole transcript or part of it to your document. To add a portion of the transcription, hover over the part you want to add and click the plus icon in the upper right corner. That will add that entire section to your document at the location of your cursor.

If you want to add the whole transcript, click Add all to document at the bottom of the Transcribe panel, which adds the entire transcript and a link to the audio file.