Transcribe an audio or video file

Notetaker transcribes recordings you already have, such as a voice memo, an interview, a lecture or a video, into a note with a transcript and notes. Each file becomes one note in your meeting library, and Epilude never moves or changes the original file.

Choose the files

Open the … menu beside New Note on the Notetaker page and choose Transcribe File…, or press ⌘O. A file picker opens that lists only audio and video files. You can also:

• Drag files, or a folder of them, onto the Notetaker page. From a folder, Epilude takes the files directly inside it, not those in its subfolders
• Choose Transcribe File… from the Epilude icon in the menu bar
• Drop files on the Epilude icon in the Dock, or right-click a file in Finder and choose Open With → Epilude
• Right-click files in Finder and choose Services → Transcribe with Epilude
• Add the Transcribe Recording action to a shortcut in the Shortcuts app. It transcribes without the sheet below, and with Wait for the Note turned on it passes the finished note to the next action

A sheet lists each file with its length and size, and says where it will be transcribed and about how long that takes. The Language picker starts on your Main language from Settings → General → Language; change it if the recording is in another language. Press Return or click Transcribe.

Supported files

Epilude reads these formats:

A file can be up to 12 hours long. Epilude can't open .webm, .mkv, .avi or .wma files, or copy-protected media; convert them to .m4a or .mp4 first. A video with no sound track is refused with a message saying so.

Where the file is transcribed

A file is transcribed in the mode Notetaker is set to in Settings → Models, the same as a meeting you record. In Local Mode, EP-1 transcribes it on your Mac and the audio stays on your Mac. In Cloud mode, Epilude's cloud transcribes it. You can't pick a different mode for one file.

Notes follow your Meeting summary model choice. With the cloud model (the default), Epilude sends the finished transcript text, never the audio, to write the notes. See How Notetaker works for the on-device notes option and how it compares.

While files transcribe

Files transcribe one at a time, in the order you added them. Each note appears in your library straight away with its progress, and rows land in the transcript as they are ready. A strip on the Notetaker page shows the file that is running, with Pause and Cancel. Cancelling offers to keep what is already transcribed.

If you quit Epilude or restart your Mac, the file carries on from where it stopped next time Epilude opens. A meeting you record comes first: a file transcribing on your Mac waits until you stop recording, and its status says it's waiting for the meeting to end. One transcribing in the cloud slows down.

Your note

A file's note is titled from its file name, and its times are positions in the file, such as 8:43. A player at the top plays the recording, or the video with its picture. Click a row's time to play from there, or select some words in a row and choose Play selection. Files transcribed in Local Mode are timed word by word, so playback starts on the first word you selected; in a cloud transcription it starts close to it.

Keep audio in the sheet is on by default. It saves a small copy of the sound, about 15 MB an hour, so the player still works if you move the original. Without it, the note plays the original file for as long as it stays where it was; if you move it, choose Locate File… on the note. A video's picture always comes from the original file. Deleting the note deletes the copy and leaves your original file alone.

Epilude doesn't tell voices apart in a file, so the transcript starts with one speaker. To name the people in it, choose Edit speakers… from the note's … menu, select the lines each person said, and assign them. Then choose Regenerate notes so the notes use the names.

Export a transcript or subtitles

The note's … menu has Export to Word, Export Transcript as Text, Export Subtitles (SRT) and Export Subtitles (WebVTT), alongside Markdown and PDF. Files transcribed in Local Mode get subtitles timed word by word. A cloud transcription times each subtitle within its row, so a cue can start a little early or late. Export and auto-save covers the subtitle options and exporting many notes at once.

Transcribe new recordings automatically

A watch folder turns every new recording saved into it into a note. Open Settings → Notetaker → Watch folders and click Add Folder…. Recordings already in the folder are left alone. A recording is taken about five seconds after it stops changing, so a file that is still copying isn't read half-finished. You can also turn on Include subfolders, and have Epilude save a Text, SRT or WebVTT file next to each recording.

Troubleshooting

• The file is refused? Check the format table above. The sheet says why it can't read a file, and anything in another format needs converting to .m4a or .mp4 first.
• Only part of a file was transcribed? The file is damaged partway. The Transcript tab says how much could be read.
• The note has a transcript but no notes? Notes in the cloud need a subscription, and notes on your Mac need 16GB of memory. The transcript is complete either way.
• Transcribe with Epilude is missing from the Services menu? Check that it is ticked in System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Services → Files and Folders. If it isn't listed there yet after an update, log out of your Mac and back in.
• The language is wrong? Open the file again and pick the right Language. The sheet notes that the file was already transcribed, and Transcribe makes a new note from it.

Next steps

• How Notetaker works
• Export and auto-save
• Local Mode