Transcribe Automatically

With MAXQDA's automatic transcription service, you can swiftly transcribe audio and video recordings of interviews, focus groups, and conversations. This time-saving feature handles the initial transcription,, allowing you to focus on reviewing and refining the content.

Once your recording is uploaded, MAXQDA will generate a transcript automatically. You can then review the transcript to ensure its accuracy. During this review, you can start making initial notes in memos and begin coding the text. This approach ensures that you can seamlessly transition from transcription to analysis, maintaining the integrity of your data throughout the process.

How to access MAXQDA Transcription?

There are two options for accessing MAXQDA Transcription:

• within the MAXQDA desktop software
• via the MAXQDA Transcription webpage

You can find more information about automatically transcribing within MAXQDA in the chapter MAXQDA Transcription within MAXQDA. A detailed description on how to use the web-based MAXQDA Transcription service can be found in the chapter Transcription via Webpage

How are pauses transcribed?

Pauses are transcribed using dots in brackets for short pauses and numbers in brackets for pauses longer than 3 seconds:
1 second pause: (.)
2 seconds pause: (..)
3 seconds pause: (...)
4 seconds pause: (4)

How do you get the best results with automatic transcription?

• Ensure high audio quality with minimal background noise.
• In group recordings, ensure all speakers are audibly clear.

Which languages are supported?

MAXQDA Transcription supports almost 50 languages:

Rather transcribe manually?

Consider using MAXQDA's manual transcription when:

• You want detailed transcripts capturing nuances like emphasis, interactions, gestures, or emotions.
• The audio quality is too poor for accurate automatic transcription.
• Speakers use challenging dialects, or multiple languages are present in a recording (MAXQDA Transcription supports English and Spanish bilingual media).