How to Transcribe a Meeting or Zoom Recording to Text

Why transcribe your meetings?

A recording is a black box — nobody re-watches an hour-long call to find one decision. A transcript turns it into something you can search, skim, and quote: minutes, action items, and a paper trail, all in minutes. It's also the fastest way to catch up on a meeting you missed.

Step 1: Save the recording

Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet all let you record a call and download the file (usually MP4 for video, or M4A/MP3 for audio-only). Grab that file from your recordings folder or cloud storage.

Step 2: Upload it to Scriptery

Upload the file on the audio-to-text page (for audio-only recordings) or video-to-text page (for video recordings). Click Get transcript — no account needed, and files aren't stored longer than it takes to transcribe. You'll get a timestamped transcript in the browser.

Step 3: Turn it into minutes

1. Copy the plain text for a full record, or export TXT for your notes app.
2. Use the timestamps to jump back to any moment in the recording.
3. Skim for decisions and action items — the timestamped structure makes them easy to pull out.

Need just the words without timecodes for a clean summary? Run it through the remove-timestamps tool.

Tips

• Multiple speakers transcribe fine, but speaker labels aren't added automatically — add names where it matters.
• Audio-only is often cleaner than screen-share video, and uploads faster.
• The language is auto-detected, so non-English and mixed-language meetings work too.

Start with your latest recording: upload it on Scriptery and get a searchable transcript in minutes.