How to Get Transcripts for Webex Meetings and Recording?

With over 39 million cloud-calling users and 650 million active monthly meeting participants, Cisco Webex is a leading player in the video conferencing industry. What makes it even more effective is the Webex transcription feature, however, many people don’t know how to get around it.

In this guide, we’ll cover what Webex meeting has in stock for users seeking to transcribe their meetings and how to surmount the transcription limitation that Webex doesn’t cater to.

Does Webex have a transcribe feature?

Yes, Webex provides transcription capabilities for Webex Meetings, Webex Webinars, and Webex Events (classic). Although it is only available in the English language.

If you are the host, you can get a Webex transcript post-meeting from the audio of recorded meetings or events.  

The meeting transcripts appear during recording playback, and the production takes approximately twice the duration of the meeting. Sometimes, it may take longer (up to 24 hours), depending on the length of the meeting or due to the temporary load on the transcription engine.

While Webex transcription is generally accurate, it may not always provide 100% precision. Factors such as background noise, multiple speakers, or strong accents can affect transcription quality.

How to turn on recording transcripts for Webex? 

Before you can get the transcripts of a meeting on Webex, you need to turn on the recording transcript feature.

Site administrators can enable this feature for all hosts or specific users, or even allow individual users to activate it for themselves. Let's delve into the steps for each scenario.

Enable Webex transcription for everyone

1. As the site administrator, sign in to your Webex admin account dashboard and go to Common Site Settings.

2. Click on Options and scroll down to Site Options from the resulting menu. 

3. Next, toggle on the Create Recording Transcripts for All Hosts’ MP4 Recordings option.

Voila, the automated transcription is now turned on for all users. However, you can also toggle on the radio button next to 'Allow Hosts to Turn Off Recording Transcripts in My Webex Preferences,' so each meeting host can decide whether to create a transcript for their meeting or not.

Once the admin grants the permission, individual hosts can activate transcription for their meetings by simply navigating to Preferences > Recording > Create recording transcripts for all my MP4 recordings.

If you can’t see this option, your site administrator has chosen to create transcripts automatically for all recordings or prevent you from creating them.

Enable transcription for specific users

If you're a site administrator, you can enable transcription for specific users by following similar steps but selecting the desired users instead of the entire user base.

1. Log in to Webex Site Administration and go to User Management on the left panel.

2. Select Edit User, then search and click on the name of the user (or users) for whom you want to turn on transcripts.

   

3. Scroll to the Privileges > General section and tick the checkbox next to Create Recording Transcripts for All of This User's MP4 Recordings.

You can also turn on transcription for new users when creating their accounts by following the same steps. The only difference is you need to select Add User instead of Edit User.

How to get transcripts from a Webex recording?

Now you should have your Webex meeting recorded following the step above. 

The transcripts will appear at the side of the recording when you replay it, and you can search for text in the transcript to locate the exact information you need.

If you're the meeting host or the host gave you edit privileges for the content, you can download the transcript by following these steps:

1. Sign in to User Hub and select Recordings from the navigation panel.

2. Choose the recording you want, then click Download.

3. Under the Transcript tab, select the file format you want. You can download the transcript in WebVTT (.vtt) or text (.txt) format.

How to get real-time Webex transcription With Notta

Webex does not offer real-time transcription; instead, transcripts are generated a while after the meeting has ended. Also, the transcripts are available only in one language, which is English.

However, with a meeting transcription tool like Notta, Webex transcription is far more seamless and can be done in real-time. You are no longer confined to static documents created after the fact; the transcripts are dynamic and evolving alongside the meeting.

More so, Notta transcription comes with speaker identification and timestamps, therefore you’ll always know who says what and when in your meetings. That said. Let’s see how to transcribe a Webex meeting live step by step using Notta (available on both Web and mobile).

Step 1: Sign up and launch the Notta app.

Step 2: On the dashboard, click ‘Transcribe Live Meeting’. (You can also choose Record an Audio if you don't need to record speaker names)

Step 3: Select the transcript language and put in the Webex meeting link, then click 'Transcribe Now'.

The Notta bot will join in and start recording and transcribing in real-time.

On top of real-time transcription, Notta can make your Webex meeting more engaging and productive using these features:

• AI meeting summary: Notta uses advanced AI algorithms to extract key insights from meeting transcripts and provide a meeting summary in seconds.

• Export: Export your meeting notes and transcript to various formats, including Doc, PDF, and TXR.

• Meeting transcript on autopilot: Can't make it to a scheduled meeting? Let Notta's AI assistant stand in for you and generate a complete transcript so you can catch up on the meeting's content.

FAQs about Webex transcription

1. Is Webex transcription free?

Yes. Webex's built-in transcription feature is available to all users. Whether you are using a free or paid Webex account, you can record and transcribe your meeting without extra cost. 

Free users, however, are limited to meeting lengths of up to 40 min. 

2. Why can’t I view the transcripts of my Webex meeting recording?

This may be happening for many reasons.

First, your account may not be turned on for transcripts. If the transcript option does not appear when you play your recordings, then you do not have the transcript service turned on.

It may also be due to poor audio quality during the meeting, caused by noisy backgrounds, accents, poor acoustics, etc.

3. How long does it take to get my transcript with Webex?

According to Webex's official document, it generally takes about twice the duration of the meeting to receive the transcript. This means, if your meeting was an hour long, you’ll get the transcript within 2 hours.

But sometimes, it may take longer (up to 24 hours), depending on the length of the meeting or due to the temporary load on the transcription engine. If you want to access the full transcript immediately after the meeting ends, try the Notta meeting assistant.

Conclusion

It’s often tiring and challenging for whoever has been delegated the task of taking down notes in a meeting. You can do away with the arduous task by recording and making real-time transcriptions. This allows you and other attendees to free up their minds and engage actively in meetings.