1. What Is The Best Transcription Software For Mac
2. Dictation Software Mac Free
3. Free Transcription Software Mac

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‎A rtf-text editor optimized for fast manual transcription of audio- or video material on the Mac. Now with subtitle editing support. Used around the world in research, education and journalism since 2008. MacBreak Weekly pick of the week on March 30, 2010. Best free Transcription Software across 13 Transcription Software products. See reviews of Descript, Otter.ai, Sonix (sonix.ai) and compare free or paid products easily. Get the G2 on the right Transcription Software for you. Top 5 Transcription Software for Mac. Express Scribe - Broad help for foot-pedals. Inqscribe - Easy playback options. Transcriva - For all types of transcribers. Descript - Automatically transcribes audio content. Transcribe - Sutomated transcription and dictation. The best options contain powerful tools that will optimize your workflow. 13+ Best Transcription Software for Windows, Mac, Android 2021 Transcription is an important process with a lot of benefits. Whether it’s writing down what was said in a court trial verbatim or writing subtitles for a TV show, the transcription helps translates spoken dialogue into written text that can be read anytime and anywhere.

Best Transcription Software for Mac. Explore these highest-rated tools to discover the best option for your business. Based on ratings and number of reviews, Capterra users give these tools a thumbs up. Select a product to learn more. Descript, Streamr, NVivo, Deepgram, Maestra, Rev.ai, Stenomatic and; WebShuttle.

With Clubhouse exploding into a major social media platform, we can’t underestimate the power of voice. Not any more. Maybe that’s a global pandemic thing, but we’re certainly longing for more verbal communication these days. And what if this longing could make us more productive at work? Well, it’s possible with dictation software.

If you’ve never tried dictating text instead of typing it, we encourage you to do it right now and see whether it saves your time (spoiler: it does). And if you’re thinking “nay, dictated text is a mess,” you should see our collection of text editing tools — they will help you polish texts in no time. So why not give it a try?

What is dictation software?

Dictation software uses speech recognition technology to convert spoken words into text. Basically, it’s something that could help Isaac Asimov write 1000 books (and not 500 as he did) in the twentieth century. Thanks to high accuracy and great speed of speech-to-text conversion, dictation software works great for note-taking, writing lengthy texts, even chatting in messengers.

The first solid version of dictation software called Dragon NaturallySpeaking was released in 1997. There have been some attempts to create such programs before but most of them failed or were very inefficient. In fact, before 1997, one had to dictate very slowly, pausing after every word so that software could process it.

Today, voice-driven technology is thriving. Lots of software use voice chats, text-to-speech, and advanced voice assistants. Dictation features have been on the rise, too. For sure, lots of apps and websites you use daily have powerful dictation capabilities. Google Docs, Apple text editors, and, of course, Siri make it easy to turn words into typed text.

Why you need dictation software

The most obvious benefit of choosing dictation over typing is speed. According to Mobius, good dictation software for Mac can process around 150 words per minute, while even the most professional keyboard ninjas can type 80 words per minute max. Not impressed? Here are more ways in which dictation tools can help you:

• Save time for important stuff. Like, a good sleep. Seriously, producing text through dictation is extremely time-effective and helps you achieve more while doing less.
• Capture ideas on the go. You know what they say, best ideas come in the shower. And if you have your phone at hand, you can use Siri to capture those ideas without leaving the shower.
• Great assistance for people with disabilities. Of course, voice dictation software is not only a productivity hack, it’s also a great accessibility tool. If for any reason you can’t use your hands for typing, dictation tools are a huge help.
• Avoid poor ergonomics effects. Eye and skin problems, strain injury — these are all the results of bad ergonomics. Dictation allows you to work even when standing or walking, which has great effects on your overall health and well-being.

Best dictation software for Mac users

Ok, Google. Dictation software Macintosh. What are the best tools to try in 2021? We checked a few free and paid apps, and here’s our conclusion: If you’re a Mac user, you don’t need to buy any dictation tools at all. Modern free dictation software for Mac gives you incredible quality, and it’s already there on your computer. You will need some help with editing the text, though, so read on.

Apple Dictation

Apple Dictation is native free dictation software for Mac and iOS devices, operating under Apple’s broader Voice Control functionality. It works in all native text editors, messengers, and basically any program where it’s possible to type. Here’s how to enable Dictation on Mac:

1. Go to the Apple menu > System Preferences > Keyboard
2. Click on the Dictation tab
3. Select “On” next to Dictation.

In the same tab, you can enable a handy shortcut for Dictation so that whenever you use this shortcut, you can start dictating right away and your words will be converted into text. The words will appear wherever your cursor is.

If you want to use Apple’s native software for more voice-controlled tasks — like telling your Mac when it should open specific apps — go to Accessibility > Voice Control. This is where you can create your custom voice commands. You can also use the feature to automate text formatting process: for instance, set the rules for when you want to insert a screenshot in your text or start a new paragraph.

What’s Apple Dictation good for? Voice-based commands, in general. The accuracy is pretty high (according to Zapier research, Apple Dictation gives you 11 inaccurate words on a 200-word test). We recommend Apple Dictation for everyone who wants a cross-platform solution for Apple devices and loves automating workflows with voice commands.

Google Docs voice typing

If you need a dictation tool specifically for Google Docs, use Google Doc Voice Typing. The good news is it’s even more accurate than Apple Dictation, the bad news is it only works in Chrome. So if you’re a devoted Safari user — not your thing.

You can enable Google Docs dictation by clicking on Tools > Voice Typing. You’ll see a microphone icon appear on the left of your doc. Click on it and start dictating.

What’s Google Docs voice typing good for? Long-form content, blog posts, rough drafts, etc. If you’re a pro Google Docs user and you do most of your writing in this app (in Chrome), it will certainly save you a lot of time.

Use Siri for dictation

Apple Dictation and Voice Control are tightly connected with Siri. In fact, Voice Control is entirely based on Siri’s speech-recognition engine. For a Mac user, however, converting words into text with Apple Dictation and Siri are two very different processes. While Siri is great for jotting down a quick note or giving an answer to your question, it can’t just instantly press any button.

However, the magic happens when you connect Voice Control and Siri. Here’s a simple example: Go to Accessibility > Voice Control > Commands. Press the Plus button and set up your shortcut:

1. When I say Hey Siri, paste text
2. While using Any application
3. Perform Paste text.

This is a great way to automate workflows across all your apps, no matter what voice dictation software you use.

To set up Siri on Mac, go to System Preferences > Siri > Enable Ask Siri. You can customize the Siri shortcut, language, and other settings here, too.

What’s Siri dictation good for? Quick voice commands or cases in which you need an answer to a question (Siri can “google” it for you). You can also use it alongside Apple dictation functionality to set up your own voice shortcuts and automate workflows.

Best tools to edit dictated text

Some people would never google “voice dictation software Mac” because they think it’s easier to type than edit dictated text in the end. Well, that’s where they are wrong. Modern dictation software for Mac lets you edit on the fly. And even if you don’t want to perform editing commands while speaking, there are awesome tools that can polish the text for you in a click.

Format and auto-correct with Ulysses

Ulysses is one of the best markup-based writing apps for Mac users. It has your entire flow covered — from distraction-free writing to editing to organizing to sharing. If you need to quickly fix mistakes in your text, you can just throw it in and click on “Check text” in the right sidebar. Ulysses will show all the punctuation and grammar mistakes, and even fix vocabulary problems and redundancy.

To format your text, select Markup in the main menu. You’ll see lots of options like adding headings, ordered lists, annotation, code, and so on. This will help quickly bring your text into a great shape. By the way, Ulysses comes with a native dictation feature. So you can dictate and save your text right in Ulysses. Then, quickly edit it and share anywhere — Ulysses has some great export options.

The great thing is if you have a Setapp subscription, you get immediate access to Ulysses for macOS and iOS (it saves you a lot of money because Ulysses subscription alone costs $5.99/month and Setapp gives you Ulysses + over 200 apps for $9.99/month).

Plus, Setapp has 10+ other writing apps you can choose from — just in case you don’t like Ulysses. They are all part of your subscription so you can explore indefinitely. TextSoap, for instance, is an app with 100+ text cleanup features. And Strike has auto correct, spell checker, and other tools for custom text transformations.

Don’t have time to figure out what apps you need? Setapp has a curated collection for your writing goals — just download Setapp (it offers a 7-day free trial), open the app on Mac > Collections > Write it all out > Install all. Enhance best dictation software with solid text editing tools, and you’ll see your writing accelerate.

Yesterday, I got this email from a reader of this blog. I’ll paraphrase (won’t bore you will the smiles and lols). “Hey Kongo, thanks for all the advice on choosing a transcription headset. What would you recommend as the best transcription software for Mac? Thanks, Maggie.” I replied to her email and I thought I should post the reply on my blog for other transcribers that might be searching for a transcription software to use on their mac computers.

I cannot get office for mac to record a macro - Answered by a verified Microsoft Office Technician We use cookies to give you the best possible experience on our website. By continuing to use this site you consent to the use of cookies on your device as described in our cookie policy unless you have disabled them. Macro Recorder is not only a mouse recorder, keyboard recorder and player.It is also a very powerful automation software and even an EXE-compiler. All recorded keystrokes and mouse activity can be saved to disk as a macro (script) for later use, bound to a hotkey, extended with custom commands or even compiled to an EXE file (a standalone Windows application). Macro free download - Macro Express, Journal Macro, Easy Macro Recorder, and many more programs. Best Video Software for the Mac How To Run MacOS High Sierra or Another OS on Your Mac Best.

Now, let me be clear. By transcription software, I’m referring to software that’s going to assist you manually transcribe audio/video files. I’m not referring to software that automatically converts speech to text: aka dictation software, voice recognition software, speech recognition software. I prefer to refer to these types of software as dictation software.

And since we’ve digressed, let me share with you my 2 cents on dictation software. The accuracy of dictation software is poor – on average about 60%. Accuracy improves with good quality, single speaker audio. If you’re looking for a dictation software to automatically convert your audio to text, I’d recommend you don’t buy software that’s not cloud based.

Here’s why, speech recognition algorithms improve every day (machine learning etc). And you’ll not be able to take advantage of these improvements with an offline software (for instance Dragon Dictate). I’ve tried a few cloud based dictation services and they’re not bad – I got 90% accuracy on a YouTube video transcript. Most use either IBM Watson or Google Speech API.

Best Software For Mac Maintenance

Anyway, transcription software are meant for those of us who want to get a software that’s going to assist the manually transcription (= type out the text using our fingers and sometimes our feet!) of audio/video files. To reiterate, the main advantage of a transcription software over a normal audio/video media player is the ability to control audio/video playback.

Here were my requirements when I was searching for transcription software for my Macbook Air. 1) Easy configurable transcription controls. 2) Support video and audio of various formats and codecs. 3) Timestamp Support. 4) USB foot pedal support. Grab a cup of coffee and let’s look at each one of these in depth.

Key Features of a Good Mac Transcription Software

1. Configurable Transcription Controls

Any transcription software worth its salt supports keyboard hotkeys. And they are easily configurable. But the really good ones support global hotkeys. Which means that you are not restricted to typing on the word processing plane provided with the transcription software. Thus, you can transcribe into any word processor of your choice (Pages, Word etc) and the transcription hotkeys will work. And the advantages of using a dedicated word processor are numerous (spell check!).

2. Support Various Audio and Video Formats

As a transcriber, you do want to get a transcription software that supports a wide range of audio and video (very useful for slideshow videos) formats. For me, this is not usually a deal breaker because I can’t expect a transcription software to support all audio and video formats – and there is a lot of them. But a transcription software for mac must support .mp4 video format and .m4v/.m4a/.mp3/.mpg audio files. I have a dedicated audio and video converter that converts audio files to .mp3 files. And the .mp3 format work well on most mac transcription software.

3. Timestamp Support

A lot of my clients ask for timestamps/timecodes to be inserted into the transcripts. Timestamps make it easier for them to refer back to the video or audio. And if they’re using the transcripts to create a paper edit for a documentary project, timecoded transcripts provide the easiest and most efficient way to get a handle on a large block of video footage.

So, timecode support is a must. But again, this is a feature that is not very well supported in any of the mac transcription software. They usually do support it on their word processing plane, but getting the timecode to Pages or Word is challenging. There are workarounds that I’ll share with you.

4. USB Foot Pedal Support

Again, most mac transcription software support USB foot pedals. However, compatibility is an issue and it’s not guaranteed. Having said that, I own the Infinity IN-USB-1 and I’ve yet to come across a mac transcription software that does not support it.

What Is The Best Transcription Software For Mac

Having gone through the 4 basic requirements for a mac transcription software, you really have only 2 choices: F5 or Express Scribe. InqScribe is a good transcription software, but it doesn’t support global hotkeys, which is a real shame. If you’re okay transcribing into their word processor, you can try it out. All other mac transcription software I found were very old versions (5 years) and were no longer actively supported.

Best Transcription Software for Mac

1. F5

I really like F5 and I use it exclusively to transcribe on my mac. It’s checks all the boxes and is perfect for my transcription needs. A while back it used to be free (as in beer), but that’s no longer the case. To be honest, I find their pricing model to be complicated. There’s a free version of F5 – which only allows you to transcribe the first 10 minutes of a video/audio file. A standard version, unlimited transcription (you can transcribe any length of audio/video file) but no USB pedal support, no waveform, memos and auto speaker changing. I recommend you get the pro version, mainly because of the USB pedal support (not sure why this is not in the standard version), and you’ll need a foot pedal (here are 3 I recommend) to play and pause F5 in the background.

My other gripe with F5 is inserting timestamps into my transcripts. It’s easy enough when you’re transcribing into the F5 word processor – just press F8. Which reminds me. You’ll need to activate the F keys under System Preferences > Keyboard, for them to work on your Mac.

Anyway, back to inserting timestamps, there is no easy way to insert timestamps into Pages. You’ll have 2 options. Option 1 is switch to the F5 window, CMD + T (to generate the timestamp),and copy and paste the timestamp to Pages. Works, but as you can imagine, if you want to insert timestamps every 30 seconds, it’s a lot of work going back and forth between the F5 and Pages. The second option is write an apple script or use Keyboard Maestro to record a macro. I’d recommend keyboard maestro – very easy to use (if you want me to create a short how to video let me know in the comments section below). Here’s a link to the video – I don’t know why, but I ramble a lot in this video; bear with me.

I do know my way around code, so I have an apple script that I use to insert timestamps into my transcripts with one keyboard stroke. Other than that, F5 is simply great. I get better audio quality using F5, and it’s really very easy to use and customize. Definitely the best transcription software for mac. Download from Mac App Store.

Best Macro Software For Windows

2. Express Scribe Pro

Where to begin with Express Scribe. Some people love it, others hate it. Personally, I’m ambivalent. I’ve used it a lot in the past, but that’s before I found F5. I do have a lot of issues with NCH – the company that makes this software, but the software is pretty good.

You’ll want to get the pro version. I’ve had numerous issues with the “free” version and vowed never to install it again! But the pro version doesn’t come with adware, supports most USB foot pedals, and plays videos and a lot of other formats. Though, the audio quality is not that great – especially if you slow it down.

The interface is a little complicated and you’ll have to take time to get used to this mac transcription software. For instance, here’s how you insert timestamps into your transcript. You’ll need to first create a system wide hotkey to copy the timecode to the mac clipboard. You can create a hotkey via Options > Hot Keys. Once you’ve created the hotkey, adding a timestamp to your transcript on Pages involves hitting the hotkey and then CMD + V to paste the timestamp.

Free Software For Mac

Very easy, but I wish it was more intuitive. So yes, there is a steep learning curve on how to use Express Scribe for transcription – well worth it, because this software has a lot of customizable features that are going to help you become a very efficient transcriber. Download from Mac App Store.

That’s it for this post on mac transcription software. I hope you’ve found it worthwhile and please feel free to use the comment section below to share tips, suggestion, frustrations, reviews etc on the transcription software of your choice. Happy transcribing!

There are a handful of capable, solid spreadsheet apps for Mac, but we've got our money on Excel thanks to its rich feature set, cross-platform (and web) compatibility, and data management tools.

Microsoft Excel 2011

Platform: Mac OS X
Price: $120-200 (Part of Microsoft Office)
Download Page

Features

Dictation Software Mac Free

• Create spreadsheets with integrated equations
• Create attractive graphs from your data
• Organize and filter your tables
• Create thumbnail-sized 'sparkline' charts for viewing data at a glance
• Visually enhance your data with boards, highlighting, and more
• Automatically summarize your data with PivotTables
• Use VisualBasic to create macros and add additional functionality to Excel
• Use Excel's Automator actions to automate repetitive tasks
• The Excel Web App will let you access your spreadsheets from anywhere
• Comprehensive toolbar with the most commonly-used features
• Easily filter data so you're not distracted by data you don't need to see

Where It Excels

Excel is an incredibly feature-rich application, to the point where it can even get a little overwhelming, while still offering simple spreadsheet functionality. If you know how to type data into boxes and perform calculations in any spreadsheet app you know how to do it in Excel. You don't have to dive into anything too deep to perform the most common tasks. Graph and chart creation is also very easy, as those buttons are readily available in your toolbar. While Apple touts the beauty of Numbers, its spreadsheet application (see the competition section below for more information), Excel is highly capable of creating attractive images as well. Overall, it gets the job done whether that job is simple, complex, or even requires a pleasant aesthetic.

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Best Macro Software For Windows

Where It Falls Short

Excel is really a spreadsheet app for power users, so it may be overwhelming for some. It's also been around for many years and it's hard to keep adding new, useful features to an app that already does its job well. As a result, Excel has become a little bloated. It can be very overwhelming to new users. Finding what you're looking for can be tough because there is so much there.

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Free Transcription Software Mac

Excel Macro For Mac

Assuming you get past the learning curve, one of the more annoying issues with Excel for Mac is that it's different from Excel for Windows. While the applications are very similar, they're developed by different departments and often times the Windows version ends up with features and functionality that aren't present in the Mac version (and vice-versa). The most notable feature to have this problem is macro support. Macro support is finally back in Excel 2011 for Mac, but it's both been included and removed from versions in the past. Missing features can be a minor annoyance for some and a major one for others, so before you jump into Excel on the Mac you should make sure you're getting the features you expect.

The Competition

Numbers ($20) is Apple's entry into the spreadsheet software market and it's not bad. Number has always favored its stylish graphs over its feature set, but that doesn't make it useless. It's a very serviceable spreadsheet application for most people, and is a good option if you don't need something as intense as Excel.

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Mesa ($34) and Tables (~$42) are both simple spreadsheet apps that, while very good, are hard to justify because of the cost. These two apps are very focused on offering a basic feature set and remaining focused, rather than becoming bloated software. The result is two very serviceable spreadsheet apps, but you have to wonder why you're paying so much for something that's not quite as capable as some cheaper apps.

Software For Mac Computers

Calc (Free) is the spreadsheet app that comes along with LibreOffice and is your best free option for spreadsheet work. It handles everything you'd except, from equations to graphs and more, plus it's capable of handling the Excel document format.

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Have a favorite spreadsheet app we didn't mention? Share it in the comments.

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