Microsoft just has added an extremely useful feature to Word on the web: tdismissal! Sure, Google Docs and apps like Otter.ai are free and let you enter with your voice, like the function of Dictation of Word. However, Word on the Web now lets you instantly upload new audio files, in addition to live transcript, the best fusion of what Google Docs and Otter already offer, and giving users a little something extra.
Like Google Docs, Word’s dictation feature puts everything you say into your microphone directly on the page. Both programs are mostly precise, but sometimes they depend on processing many words at once and can skip a sentence or two, or get a few words wrong. The same thing happens with Otter, also, especially if there a lot of ambient sound. Word’s new transcription feature is not immune to errors, but at first glance it seems to be more accurate than Google Docs, Otter, a even Word Dictate.
If you record live via Word’s Transcriber, the tool will upload your audio file to OneDrive for processing, then inject it into the sidebar again, complete with timestamps and the option to add speaker names. Hence, you can import that transcript directly into the Word-doc even with a click of a button. You can also listen directly back to the audio in Word and edit any part of the transcript that the software misinterprets.
The Otter app offered the same features a while ago, but not the ability to transcribe a uploaded audio file. Transcript supports .mp3, .wav, .m4a, and .mp4 files, which comes in handy when you want to transcribe your podcast or interview, often from an edited recording in Audacity. It may take a while,although, depending on the length of the audio file. I tried to transcribe for an hour file (30mb) of something I recorded and that lasted about an hour – and that used a fast internet connection.
You can only save one transcript per document. When you create a new transcript, the current transcript will be deleted, but if you transfer the transcript into the Word-doc even before you create a new transcript, you will still have the text. This is why uploading a recorded file instead of a live transcript is convenient.
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While Word’s latest transcription feature’s my mil for Google Docs’, and a little sourfit what you get from Otter, there is a disadvantage. Word on the Web is free to use for anyone, but users must have a Microsoft 365 subscription to access the latest transcription features. The features are also not available on the desktop version of Word at this time. Gizmodo reached out to Microsoft to see when, if it is T at allransto write will be available for desktop, but we have not heard yet.
Transcription in Word is currently also only available in English (as opposed to Dictate, which supports multiple languages), but Microsoft is working on support for more languages. Transcription in Word works in Microsoft Edge and Chrome browsers, and although there is no limit how many users can record and transcribe in Word for the web, the current limit for charging recordings is five hours per month at 200mb per recording. Transcribing into Office mobile will come at the end of the year, and I feel like it could replace Google Docs and Otter as my go-to transcription apps.
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