The AI speech-to-text tools make sure you don't have to spend hours manually transcribing the audio files. But before you decide to pick the best dictation software and get started, there are a few things you need to consider. We've tested them all and are here to present the 3 best options for transcribing voice and generating accurate transcriptions. Let's dive in!
The Benefits of Using a Dictation App
The benefits of using a dictation app are endless, ranging from quick note-taking to writing emails without typing and sending hands-free messages when you walk in a park. You can also record and transcribe your thoughts effortlessly.
Create Meeting Notes: Many speech-to-text apps act as meeting assistants that can auto-join your meetings and transcribe everything they hear. These apps help you create quick meeting notes and even generate a shareable transcript link for your ad hoc meetings .
Draft Documents: Anyone can use dictation apps to write with their voice — instead of a keyboard or hand. Let's say you're a writer, and your thoughts often race faster than your hands. Dictation apps can help you dictate text , allowing you to record ideas quickly, improve productivity, and get things done faster.
Send Hands-Free Messages: If you do not like typing, are in bright sunlight, or just want to save time and energy, dictation apps can help. The voice-to-text feature in dictation software allows you to send messages or emails almost hands-free, which ultimately leads to improved productivity and accessibility.
Key Transcription Features in Dictation Apps
Dictation or speech-to-text apps are available in different shapes and sizes. A good dictation app should be highly accurate in converting voice into text. It should also be basic enough so that anyone can figure it out in seconds. If your job involves transcribing spoken words into different languages, you need to look for an app that can transcribe in multiple languages.
Real-Time Voice-to-Text Conversion
Dictation or speech-to-text apps offer real-time transcription abilities that allow you to convert spoken words into text. The conversion takes place with the help of AI, which eliminates the manual process of transcribing. Many real-time transcription tools, like Otter, can record the audio and then transcribe the speech into text.
However, Otter.ai is restricted to English transcriptions and often struggles with accuracy, achieving only around 83-85%. This means it frequently makes errors in transcribing. For those seeking a more reliable solution, Transkriptor is a superior choice. While it doesn’t offer real-time transcription, Transkriptor allows you to record audio and transcribe it to text with up to 99% accuracy, ensuring precise and dependable results.
Editing and Customization
Even if the AI transcription tool is accurate, it sometimes makes mistakes when transcribing voice to text. In that case, you would need to look for a speech-to-text tool with a variety of editing and customization features. Transkriptor is one such tool that offers an online text editor that allows you to listen to the audio in slow motion and edit transcripts.
Top Audio-to-Text Dictation Tools
When searching for audio-to-text dictation tools online, you'll come across a wide range of options. We tested the popular dictation tools by dictating a 100-word script containing some tricky terms and complex words. Based on the testing, here are the top 3 audio-to-text dictation tools that offer unique transcription and editing features.
#1 Transkriptor
Transkriptor is one of the best dictation tools with advanced AI transcription features. It lets you upload pre-recorded audio or video files to generate transcripts with 99% accuracy. It also separates multiple speakers if you are recording a meeting or interview. The transcripts can even be edited later with the rich text editor.
When you open the Transkriptor app and click on the Record button, you can use it as a traditional dictation app. Once you're done recording, Transkriptor will upload the file to the cloud and start transcribing audio to text. You can even generate a summary or action items from the content of the transcripts in just a click.
If you're going for a long recording where you might talk about multiple topics, there's an AI chat option where you can ask questions from the transcript. This is great for quickly summarizing the talk or for extra insights. It has an intuitive interface that makes it easy for users to transcribe notes with minimal effort.
While Transkriptor performs well in most use cases, you might need to make slight manual adjustments to the transcripts with extremely fast speech.
#2 Dragon NaturallySpeaking
Dragon NaturallySpeaking is a dictation app that lets you dictate answers to questions or write a novel without the need for typing. It offers a variety of software packages and mobile apps for different use cases, such as medical, law enforcement, and legal.
Dragon by Nuance can handle specialised industry vocabulary and comes with many excellent features, such as the ability to transcribe voice from an audio file. However, Dragon Anywhere, Nuance's mobile app, is the only version available with a free trial, and the expensive costs may be a barrier for many users.
#3 Google Docs Voice Typing
Google offers free dictation or voice typing features in its Workspace suite, which has basic transcription capabilities. The best place to use the voice typing feature is Google Docs, but you can also dictate notes in Google Slides to prepare presentations.
To get started, all you need to do is use Chrome and have a Google Docs file open. Then, go to Tools > Voice Typing and then press the microphone icon to start dictating. As you talk, the text will start appearing in your Google Docs. While it gets the job done, it is limited in advanced features and might struggle with technical language.
How to Get Started with Voice-to-Text in Dictation Software
Starting with a dictation app is easy — just open the app, start talking, and quickly transcribe the audio to text in minutes. This is great for taking meeting notes or talking out an entire novel while you walk in your favourite park. Beyond productivity, people with disabilities can use dictation apps to type more easily.
Choosing the Right Dictation App
When choosing the best dictation software for Mac , it's important to look for specific features that set it apart from the rest. The same applies when selecting dictation software for Windows PC, ensuring you find the right solution for your needs on both platforms. Here are some important factors to consider when selecting the best dictation for Microsoft Windows , Mac, and mobile apps, ensuring you find a solution that meets your needs for efficiency and accuracy across all platforms:
Format Compatibility: If you need a speech-to-text tool for accurately transcribing videos and podcasts, you need to check out the supported import and export formats. Transkriptor is a feature-rich transcribing tool that supports almost all import formats to ensure you can transcribe most files.
Easy-to-Use Editor: You need to look for transcription features in dictation apps with an easy-to-use editor. Transkriptor, for example, is an audio-to-text dictation app with a built-in editor. It allows you to change the speaker tags and edit transcripts in slow motion.
Multilingual Transcription: If your job involves transcribing content into multiple languages, you'll need a speech-to-text tool that supports multilingual transcription. Transkriptor is a versatile audio-to-text converter that supports over 100 transcription languages, including German, Spanish, French, English, and Portuguese.
Setting Up the App for Optimal Use
While the dictation app is pretty good at recognizing different voices and converting audio to text, it might make certain mistakes when transcribing complex words. Here are some of the best tips to make sure the dictation app works as best as possible:
Speak Naturally: Speech-to-text dictation apps can learn from your voice and speech patterns. It's better to use a high-quality microphone and speak naturally. If you're not getting an accuracy of above 95%, try enunciating more.
Practice: Remember, it takes time to understand how the voice recognition tool works, so make sure to practice as much as you can. If available, you should check out the tutorials, on-screen cheat sheets, and help menus to understand how the tool works.
Learn Some Commands: Take some time to learn some voice commands, such as a new line to enter a line break or a full stop to mark the end of the sentence. Remember, the voice commands will differ from app to app, so make sure to learn the ones that apply to the tool of your choice.
Using Dictation Apps for Meeting Notes and Document Creation
You can write notes anywhere: on the back of an important bill, on a napkin, or even in a notebook. But if the notes are from an important meeting, you'll need to keep them saved in an easily accessible place. A meeting ai note taker like Transkriptor can help you dictate notes and transcribe voice-to-text with a high accuracy rate of 99%.
Transkriptor's bot can auto-join the online meeting to record the conversation, which can then be transcribed for later reference. All the transcripts are saved on the Transkriptor dashboard, so you can access them anytime you would like. You can even generate a short summary or talk with the transcripts to get quick answers. Here’s how to create meeting notes with dictation apps:
Step 1: Go to the Transkriptor dashboard and click the ‘Meeting Assistant’ button.
Step 2: Enter the URL of the live meeting, and Transkriptor's meeting bot will join the meeting to start the recording process.
Step 3: Once the recording ends, Transkriptor will start the transcription process and convert voice to text in just a few minutes.
Step 4: You can click on the ‘Share’ button to directly share the transcript link with anyone or tap on the ‘Download’ button to export meeting transcripts in TXT, Word, SRT, or PDF format.
Step 5: If you want to translate the meeting transcripts, click on the three dots and then select the ‘Translate’ button. Finally, click the blue ‘Translate’ button.
Enhancing Productivity with Speech-Text App Capabilities
Dictation apps allow you to dictate your thoughts and eliminate the lengthy process of manual typing. With just a few clicks, you can draft emails, create detailed memos, and even set reminders — all while multitasking. Here are some of the best ways professionals can use dictation apps:
Improve Accessibility: Audio-to-text dictation tools can transcribe audio or video files with high accuracy, which is important for people with hearing disabilities.
Create Follow-Up Emails: Instead of manual typing, speech-to-text dictation apps help you create follow-up emails by dictating the message.
Automate Tasks: Dictation apps automate time-consuming tasks such as report generation, data entry, and filling, which frees up your time to focus on other tasks that matters the most.
Conclusion
A dictation app can reduce the strain of typing and help you do the work faster, especially if you use an online voice recorder . For example, you can dictate articles, emails, or messages, and the speech-to-text tool will transcribe everything for you. However, it is important to understand that whether you need a tool for dictation vs transcription , selecting the right one can greatly improve productivity. Transkriptor, for example, excels in both areas by offering high-accuracy transcription and easy-to-use dictation features
Transkriptor is a popular audio-to-text dictation tool that's designed to meet the needs of content creators, YouTubers, podcasters, or anyone who works with audio or video files. It can save you a lot of time and effort that comes with manual transcription. So, create a free account and start dictating with Transkriptor and convert voice to text with 99% accuracy!
