How to Transcribe using Microsoft Word

Many of our Transcribe users ask us if they can use Transcribe to type into existing template documents they already have in say Microsoft Word.

They want to be able to fill in the blanks in these template documents while listening to the audio.

Another use-case we hear about is to use Transcribe’s playback features, but type into a different software like a document management system.

The question is, how can you use Transcribe’s best features, not waste time switching between windows and still use the features of your favorite word processing software like Microsoft Word.

One way is to copy-paste the template document into Transcribe, but that will cause the formatting to be lost as you copy-paste back and forth.

A more efficient way to do this is using a Foot Pedal. Here’s a guide on how to setup a Foot Pedal for use with Transcribe: link.

Once you setup the foot pedal:

1. Open your document within Transcribe
2. Load your audio/video file in Transcribe and set the playback speed as needed
3. Now open the template in say Microsoft Word, or your document management system or the usual program you use to type into the template
4. You can now use your foot pedal to control audio/video playback in Transcribe even if Transcribe is not in the foreground - this is the crux of this technique.
5. While you control playback, you can type into any program as you normally would.

Effectively, you don’t have to switch back and forth between Transcribe and the program you use to fill the template in since you can use your foot to control the player. This will save you a lot of time and effort during transcription.

For more tips on how to transcribe your audio efficiently, see this post.

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