Word has a feature few people know about: Transcribe. You upload an audio or video file, Word turns it into text, separates the people speaking and lets you move what you need into the document. It has requirements, a monthly quota of minutes and one detail that matters: the audio is uploaded to Microsoft's cloud.
Transcribing audio in Word, step by step
- Open a document in Word and go to the Home tab.
- Open the menu of the Dictate button and choose Transcribe.
- In the panel that opens, click Upload audio and choose the file. It accepts .wav, .mp4, .m4a and .mp3. WhatsApp voice notes (OGG with Opus) are not among them: how to turn them into text, in transcribing WhatsApp voice notes on a PC.
- Wait with the panel open. According to Microsoft, it takes at most roughly as long as the audio lasts, depending on your connection.
- Review the transcript in the panel: each segment has its timestamp and you can play it back, also faster, up to double speed.
- Change the speaker names, which appear as “Speaker 1”, “Speaker 2”, to the real ones.
- Move the text into the document segment by segment or with Add all to document.
The transcript does not go into the document by itself: it stays in the panel until you add it. And each document allows only one transcript.
If the audio is the recording of a video call, you first have to get the file out. For Zoom we explain it, with its own transcription feature, in how to transcribe a Zoom meeting to text.
Which Word has the Transcribe feature
It is not in every version, and Microsoft has been cutting it back. According to its help, checked on 22 October 2026:
- Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows, with work accounts (what Microsoft calls commercial tenants). It is the only case the help gives that applies to a law firm.
- Word for the web: the current help only mentions it for public sector accounts (government tenants), with the new Microsoft Edge or with Chrome.
- With a Personal or Family account of Microsoft 365, and in Word for Mac, it does not appear in the official help.
In every case it needs an internet connection and a Microsoft 365 subscription. The quota is 300 minutes of uploaded audio a month with a normal subscription; with a Microsoft Copilot licence it goes up to 30,000.
What happens to the audio
To transcribe it, Word uploads the file to Microsoft. The audio stays saved in your OneDrive, in the Transcribed Files folder, and you can delete it from there. Microsoft says its transcription service does not keep the audio or the result once the job is done, but the copy in your OneDrive stays there until you delete it.
For an interview or a podcast it makes no difference. For the recording of a hearing, a deposition or a meeting with a client, it does: it is material covered by professional secrecy leaving the firm for a cloud service, and you should have weighed that up beforehand (the questions to ask yourself are in client confidentiality and the GDPR when using AI).
Getting the audio of a hearing into Word without uploading it
If the recording is confidential, the alternative is to transcribe it on your own computer and take only the result into Word. That is what the Hearings tab in ablalo does, for recordings in Spanish:
- You drop in the video or audio (MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV, M4A, MP3, WAV, OGG, Opus, FLAC or AAC) and it is transcribed on your computer: the file is not uploaded to any server.
- It separates the speakers and you name them once for the whole transcript.
- You tag sentences as important, contradiction, favourable or to review, with their exact minute.
- You export to an editable Word file the transcript with timestamps and each speaker's name, or just your notes.
| Word's Transcribe | Hearings tab in ablalo | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it is processed | In Microsoft's cloud | On your computer |
| What happens to the file | It is saved in your OneDrive | It stays on your computer |
| Formats | WAV, MP4, M4A and MP3 | MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV, M4A, MP3, WAV, OGG, Opus, FLAC and AAC |
| Who is speaking | Speaker 1, Speaker 2, can be renamed | Named speakers, for the whole transcript |
| Quota | 300 minutes a month with Microsoft 365 | Included in the plan |
| Result | Text added to the document | Editable Word file with timestamps, and notes with their minute |
| Available on | Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows, with a work account | Windows and Mac |
And if what you want is to speak and have Word type
Transcribe is for recordings that already exist. If what you are after is writing by speaking live, the tool is a different one: Word's Dictate button, or the system dictation. We explain them in how to dictate in Word, and for other programs in Windows 11 voice typing and Mac dictation.
In short
To transcribe audio to text in Word: Home, Dictate menu, Transcribe, Upload audio, and then Add all to document. It works in Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows with a work account, with a quota of 300 minutes a month, and the audio is uploaded to Microsoft and stays in your OneDrive. If the recording is a client's or a hearing's, transcribing it on your own computer avoids taking it out of the firm.
Sources: Microsoft, Transcribe your recordings (checked on 22 October 2026) and Dictate your documents in Word (checked on 9 October 2026). Features of the Hearings tab according to the ablalo app.
Frequently asked questions
How do you transcribe audio to text in Word?
On the Home tab, open the Dictate menu, choose Transcribe and click Upload audio. When it finishes, you review the text in the panel, change the speaker names and move it into the document with Add all to document.
How many minutes of audio can you transcribe in Word?
With a Microsoft 365 subscription, 300 minutes of uploaded audio a month. With a Microsoft Copilot licence, 30,000.
Can you transcribe audio in Word with a personal account?
Microsoft's help doesn't cover it: at 22 October 2026, the Transcribe feature is only documented in Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows with work accounts, and in Word for the web for government organisations.
What audio formats does Word transcription accept?
.wav, .mp4, .m4a and .mp3 files.
Does Word upload the audio to the cloud to transcribe it?
Yes. The audio is sent to Microsoft to be transcribed and the file is saved in your OneDrive, in the Transcribed Files folder, from where you can delete it. Microsoft says its service does not keep the audio or the result once the transcription is done.
Does Word tell apart the people speaking in the recording?
Yes, it labels them “Speaker 1”, “Speaker 2” and so on, and you can rename them before moving the text into the document.
Can you get the audio of a court hearing into Word without uploading it to the internet?
Yes, by transcribing it on your own computer. The Hearings tab in ablalo transcribes the recording on your computer, separates the speakers and exports to an editable Word file with timestamps, without the file leaving your computer.