Microsoft rolls out transcription service for Word

Microsoft has introduced a new feature called Transcribe in Word to its Office 365 paid applications package that automatically converts audio into text.

The feature transcribes live and pre-recorded conversations and even converts conversation from calls into text.

However, it will only be available for English language content initially.

The new feature was made available to Office 365 users on August 25, but it is expected to extend to several other products of the company, especially its notes program: OneNote.

With this service, Microsoft will be competing with similar offerings from Google and perhaps the most well-known transcription service, Otter.

According to initial impressions, the results of Microsoft’s new service seem more satisfactory in terms of results, even if the current ceiling is very low.

Subscribers will be given only 300 minutes of audio that can be recorded offline and uploaded to be transcribed, with no options to add more minutes for the moment.

For now, the feature will be available free of charge to Office 365 subscribers.

It does not cover the Arabic language, as Arabic transcription services have traditionally faced a problem with converting voice to text due to the vast differences in the pronunciation of letters and words between the local dialects of countries or even between people in the same city which adds a level of complexity to the task.

This story originally appeared on MENA Tech