How to Effectively Transcribe Zoom Meetings

Among the numerous video conferencing tools available today, Zoom has managed to take the top place due to its convenience, ease of use, and versatility. Many say it’s the best cloud audio or video conferencing platform for conference calls, meetings, and webinars. 

Why Transcribe Zoom Meetings?

Recording a Zoom meeting allows the participants to focus on the conference and avoid getting distracted during note-taking. It is an excellent way of getting future references and sharing the meeting content with other people like absent colleagues. So if you still haven’t boarded the ship, here are three reasons to get your Zoom meetings transcribed.

To Capture Critical Information

Transcribing is a great way to ensure that all the critical information from your meeting is captured and documented. It can be pretty challenging to take notes and listen simultaneously. But with a transcript in hand, you can go back and review the conversation in its entirety.

To Improve Meeting Quality

Transcription can significantly improve the quality of your meetings, helping your team make the most out of each session. Having a Zoom transcript means you can revisit critical points and ensure that you understand everything discussed. You can also use it to create a meeting summary, which can help keep track of the discussion and any decisions made.

To Keep All Parties Informed

Having a transcript of your Zoom meetings means you can share vital information with team members who could not attend the meeting without the risk of losing data. Doing this helps everyone quickly catch up on discussions and stay updated with the progress of a project or initiative.

Recording a Zoom Meeting or Call

To make the content of your meetings, calls, and webinars available and accessible, the host needs to record them or give the participants recording rights. Below are simple steps to help you record a Zoom meeting.

Step 1: Start the Meeting 

To start recording, start the meeting session once logged into Zoom, and before enabling screen sharing, start the recording.

Step 2: Record and Download the Zoom Meeting

While on the Zoom meeting screen, select “Record” from the menu bar at the bottom of the screen. The recording of your meeting is now in progress. You can pause or stop the recording using the buttons.

Step 3: Recording After Screen Sharing Is Enabled

If you want to start recording after sharing your screen, click the “More” option from the menu. On the drop-down menu that appears, select “Record.” If you finish recording or wish to pause the recording, go to the “More” option again, then from the drop-down menu, select “Stop Recording” or “Pause Recording” as appropriate.

How to Transcribe Zoom Meetings

Since virtual meetings have become the norm, it’s essential to know how to transcribe Zoom recordings in the first place. You can transcribe the meetings yourself using automated services that don’t require special skills or consult human transcriptionists to handle it professionally and at reasonable rates.

Alternatively, many people wonder, “Can Zoom transcribe a meeting?” Yes, you can also use Zoom’s in-built transcribe feature. Whatever decision you make, it’s crucial to remember that each method has its pros and cons, and it’s up to you to choose one that suits your needs the best.

Using Zoom’s In-Built Transcribe Feature

Once your meeting is fully recorded, you will need to retrieve the recording for reference or transcription. After each meeting, you will typically receive an email with a link to your transcription file. You can transcribe Zoom audio recordings automatically if you save them in the cloud and not on your computer. 

To achieve this, use the Zoom transcribe feature. Click the “Audio Transcript” option after choosing “Record to the Cloud.” Navigate to the “Advanced Cloud Recording” feature, select “Audio Transcript,” and save changes.

The transcript will be processed as a .vtt file and stored in the list of recorded meetings. The transcript produced by automatic transcription contains time stamps for several sections. You can edit the text into a more accurate transcript, adding capitalization and punctuation not captured.

The automatic speech-to-text solution has low accuracy levels and is only available for cloud recordings. However, if you want to convert audio to text with high accuracy levels, you can use a transcription service like GoTranscript, which offers 99% accuracy (or higher) and a swift turnaround.

Step-By-Step Guide to Carry Out Zoom Transcriptions

• Step 1: Go to gotranscript.com, and under “Get started today,” click the “Order Online” button.

• Step 2: On the next page, choose either “Upload Files” or “Paste URL,” depending on where your files are stored. Use the file browser on your computer to upload your Zoom calls and any other audio and video files for transcription.

• Step 3: You can upload multiple files. Once done uploading, you will get a summary of your order with the number of files and their duration. You will also get the estimated turnaround time and the price. The turnaround time varies from anywhere between six hours to five days, depending on your requirements. If you need the work done faster, the price goes up. The default turnaround time is five days.

Choose GoTranscript

GoTranscript has a global team of 20,000 expert transcribers, so your transcript is 100% human-generated, which guarantees maximum accuracy. The security of your transcript is also guaranteed with a 2048-bit SSL encryption.

GoTranscript transcriptionists are available 24/7 to ensure you get a complete, error-free verbatim transcript. There’s an option to choose the full verbatim text format, so everything gets transcribed, even incomplete sentences. You can select the time-stamping option if your recording has multiple speakers or if you want more straightforward navigation through the recording. Time-stamping helps you to locate and reference recording sections quickly and get the details you’re looking for.

Once you have selected your options, click the “Continue” button. You will be directed to the payment page, with several payment options like PayPal, Visa, Master Card, and more. After making the payment, sit back and relax while waiting for your transcript.

If you use GoTranscript services frequently, you can take advantage of the Customer Loyalty Program, where you will get the lowest prices and special discounts. These discounts vary between 5% and 20% off, depending on the number of minutes you order.

Reviewing Your Transcript

Once your transcript is ready, you will get an email notifying you that your transcript is finished and ready for review. Clicking the review button will take you to your GoTranscript account, where you can review your transcript. You can listen to the recording as you read through the transcript to catch and fix any errors. 

Editing may involve highlighting, adding notes, and more. Once you are done reviewing your transcript, you can then export it in Word (.docx), plain text (.txt), or portable document (.pdf) formats, as you prefer.

In Summary

Undoubtedly, recording and transcribing your audio meetings, calls, webinars, and interviews offer an excellent way of making them readily available. Offering the contents of your Zoom meeting on a transcript allows more convenient sharing while ensuring you capture all the details.

Most importantly, a transcript eliminates the need to replay the audio whenever you want to refer to a specific recording section. Transcription will provide an easy way of documenting all your Zoom recordings. GoTranscript offers 100% human-generated transcripts for all sorts of content. With over 15 years of experience and many satisfied clients, GoTranscript guarantees maximum accuracy, quick turnaround times, and affordable prices.