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.
Verdict: It's an easy-to-use text to speech software for Mac designed for business users who don't care about the high cost of ownership. Not the most accurate solution, but it has a fast and simple interface, and can be used as a feature-rich alternative to the best free typing software. If you’re a Mac user, use the free version of Express Scribe. If you’re ready to upgrade to premium transcription software, I’ve compared the main strengths (in my opinion) of each of these programs below: Express Scribe: Includes a suite of helpful audio processing tools for. A free version is available for all these programs, and most have “tiered” subscription types or flat rates for purchases. These suggestions range from as low as $5/month to $149 for full licensing. Compatibility – System Requirements. Every software recommended in this article is compatible with Windows and Mac. Express Scribe Mac. This is one of the best transcription software, mac 2020, and it is designed for the need of mac users. With this tool, users are allowed to control audio playback by the use of a transcription foot pedal or by the use of the keyboard. Give a try to this software now! The Best Free Transcription Software for Mac and PC 2019 This post may contain affiliate links. See my disclosure for more info. In today’s post, I’ll be sharing my recommendations for the best free transcription software based on my experience as a professional audio transcriptionist.
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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
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!).
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
- 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
Best Free Transcription Software For Mac Os
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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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.
Lifehacker's App Directory is a new and growing directory of recommendations for the best applications and tools in a number of given categories.
Best New Mac Software
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The best transcription software for Mac must be ideal for its users. The tool needs to have a simple interface, good options for manual transcription or automated transcription, and the ability to transcribe both audio files and video files. It’s also helpful to have a human transcription option.
Using human transcription can make transcripts more accurate when audio or video playback has problematic noise levels. If the speakers on those files have heavy accents or quiet speaking voices, a human ear more easily hears the distinctions. The transcription process is necessary for people in various fields like journalism, translation, law and more.
Best Human Transcription Option
Accuracy: Word-Error Rate
Word-Error Rate is a way to determine accuracy when transcribing using software for Mac OS. It has three items it takes into consideration. Those three items are substitution, insertion and deletion.
- Substitution: A word someone said during audio or video playback is replaced with another word. For instance, if someone says “choose,” the file shows it as “shoes.”
- Insertion: In this case, the transcription file adds an extra word the speaker didn’t say. It may mistake an “uh” for “a.”
- Deletion: This is the opposite of insertion. This might occur when someone uses an acronym like “IRS” and it chooses “I are s.”
Best Free Transcription Software For Mac 2020
The Formula for Determining Word-Error Rate
The formula for Word-Error rate is S (Substitution)+ I (Insertion)+ D (Deletion)/Number (Number of words in the transcription)
Rev’s manual transcription’s accuracy is consistently at 99%, guaranteed.
How It Works
There are a few steps for you to order human transcription services.
- First, upload your audio or video file or paste a public URL
- Then, one of over 50,000 transcriptionists available for our 24/7 service begins to work on your file
- You receive your editable transcript. Edits are easy with our tool with a simple interface, and you can share the document with anyone
Automated Transcription Software Option
Automated transcription software benefits people who need something quickly and have high-quality audio in their video or audio playback. Files from portable voice recorders and from audio players work well with this platform.
Automatic transcription is usually generated by machines rather than people. This usually means quicker turnaround times and lower costs, but also lower accuracy rates
Accuracy
If the audio quality is good, automated transcription software is 80% accurate. Good audio has limited background noise, clear voices and speakers on the audio file have minimal accents. If there are any concerns about quality, human transcription is your best bet.
How it Works
- Review the transcript: automatic transcription is not as accurate as human transcription but is great for getting a quick result.
- Edit the transcript
- Share it and export it to another file or document.
Some free features of the service include the ability to synchronize text and audio, and edit the text in the Rev Transcript Editor. Highlighting the text while you edit allows you to isolate a quote and share either that portion or the whole document. You choose whether to let others edit your transcript (sharing features & collaborative transcript editing) or simply you can share a read-only version.
Cost
The cost for automatic transcription software comes in at $0.25 per minute.
Dragon Transcription Software
How Our Options Offer the Best Transcription Software for Mac
When comparing transcript results from Rev’s automatic speech recognition (ASR) to transcription from other companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft and more, we outdo the competition. Additionally, our human transcription service offers a 99% accuracy guarantee which is not available with many transcription services.
PC Mag Recognizes Rev as the Best Transcription Service
Best Free Transcription Software For Mac Computer
PC Mag rated Rev as the top choice for transcription services. The editors at PC Mag gave the top rating due to affordability, accuracy and ease of use. The magazine also mentioned quick turnaround times as a benefit to using our services.