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How Do I Use Dictation On an Audio File?

Is it possible to use the dictation function to convert speech from an audio file to text? It would be a real time saver for creating transcripts.
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Jean-Claude

Comments: 2 Responses to “How Do I Use Dictation On an Audio File?”

    6 years ago

    That's called "transcription" as opposed to "dictation." No, not the built-in dictation function in macOS or iOS doesn't do transcription.

    It is meant for live speech, where you can watch the text appear, correct mistakes, pause for it to catch up, and do other editing things. It doesn't work when you throw a constant stream of non-stop speech like a recording at it. That's a much more difficult task and you'll end up getting too many errors for it to be worth it.

    Many people, myself included, rely on real live people through transcription services to do this. Software just isn't very good at it.

    You can search the Mac App Store for "transcription" and come up with a few things. I'm not sure how well they work, and some may just be voice recorders. You can also look online for nuance.com as they have this sort of software, though it costs a premium.

    Jasper Robinson
    6 years ago

    I used Camtasia to add closed captioning to videos. It wasn’t automatically transcribed, you had to type; but, from what I recall, it was quite convenient because the video paused to let you catch up. This probably sounds quite annoying and slow but I found it ok. The licence is quite expensive but you can get a free trial.

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