How to use LiveType: Your first transcript, step by step

Choose the source

On a phone, start with the microphone or a file. Browsers and devices lists what works where.

Check the language and settings

• Language: what is spoken in the recording. There are 99 to choose from.
• Title: optional. Left empty, it takes the file’s or channel’s name, or else the kind of source and the date.
• Settings: where to transcribe, the model and Tell speakers apart are here. The model is chosen for your device by itself; bigger models write more accurately but need a graphics card. Most of the time there is nothing to change.

Press Continue and the transcript page opens.

Start and edit

1. Press Prepare the model to load it into memory. It downloads once in the background, and the button shows how far along it is.
2. A file is processed in the background from start to end by default. For a part of it, press Choose a range; to follow the player, pick While listening under Settings.
3. Press Start transcription. The browser asks for the microphone, or for the tab to share on a stream. If that window confuses you, see sharing tab audio.

Text starts to flow. The faint part is a guess that can still change. The solid text is yours: click it and type. Editing while it transcribes does not disturb what comes next, so you can start correcting straight away. Click a speaker’s label to name them, and the name changes in all their paragraphs.

When you are done, press Stop. The last paragraph is finished and the text is saved. When you open the transcript later, the text is ready, and Continue transcribing picks it up again.

Download it

Choose a format from the Export menu:

• Documents: Word (DOCX), OpenDocument (ODT)
• Plain text: TXT, Markdown (MD)
• Subtitles: SRT, VTT

The text stays on the server and you can reopen it from your list of transcripts. How long it is kept depends on the plan, so download what matters.

Speaker names, exporting and sharing covers naming speakers, the formats and working with others.

If something does not work

• No text appears: the shared tab may have no audio. Check the tab audio switch.
• The text falls behind: choose a smaller model or use cloud transcription. LiveType suggests this when it is needed.
• Not sure what your browser can do: the Status page in the top menu lists it.

LiveType does not translate, summarise or burn subtitles into a video. If your audio is sensitive, read about private transcription before you pick a device. Stuck on something else? Write to us from the contact page.

The common messages are listed under transcription troubleshooting.