Save a transcript of Zoom local recording

We got you covered! Saving Zoom transcripts helps you quickly find what was discussed or share the conversation with others who didn’t attend the meeting. 

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily save Zoom transcripts with Tactiq, or how to use the Zoom local recording feature to save transcripts (which is a bit more complicated).

• How does the Zoom transcription work?
• How do I enable Zoom transcripts?
• Save Zoom transcripts from local recordings with Tactiq
• Save Zoom transcripts from local recordings without an extension (complicated)
• Conclusion

How does Zoom’s transcription feature work?

The Zoom closed-captioning feature transcribes speech to text live during Zoom meetings. Only meeting hosts have the option to enable this feature and display or hide these subtitles during the meeting. Heads up - you need to enable these closed captions in your account (steps below) to use them in your meetings. 

How to enable Zoom transcripts for local recording

First enable closed captioning in your Zoom account 

1. Sign in to your Zoom account web portal
2. Navigate to settings and search for “Automated captions”, then turn them on.

Then during the Zoom meeting, the meeting host must enable live transcription and allow participants to request live transcription

1. If you are hosting the Zoom meeting - click the ‘CC’ button in the menu bar, and then click ‘Live Transcription - enable’
2. If you are a participant in the Zoom meeting - request that your host enables live transcription (they must also have closed captioning enabled in their account settings - you can always send them this article to guide them through the process)

How to save Zoom transcripts from local recordings with Tactiq

One of the easiest ways you can save Zoom transcriptions is by using Tactiq. Tactiq is a free Chrome and Zoom extension that saves, edits and shares transcriptions for you. Once installed, it automatically saves Zoom transcripts to your google drive when active in your Zoom meetings. Once you have enabled Zoom transcriptions by following the steps above, here’s how to install Tactiq to save the transcripts for you. 

1. Install Tactiq Chrome Extension.
2. Turn on Tactiq for Zoom on the Integrations page by clicking on Zoom, then click + connect to allow Tactiq to run in your Zoom meetings
3. In your next Zoom, either yourself (if hosting) or the meeting host needs to enable closed captioning in Zoom
4. Tactiq will automatically save the transcription to your google docs and Tactiq account (no extra steps needed!)

Using Tactiq you can choose whether or not you want to make a local recording. Even if you don’t save the recording locally, Tactiq will still save the transcription for you. After your Zoom ends, Tactiq sends you an email when the transcription is ready (usually a few minutes or so). If you don’t use Tactiq, you will have to record the meeting with Zoom to save the transcripts as local files. 

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Saving a Zoom transcript with a local recording (without Tactiq)

That’s right, you can still save your zoom transcripts as a local file even without the Tactiq Zoom extension! The only downside is… it’s a little more complicated and much harder to find and share the transcripts.

To save the Zoom transcript as a local file you will have to record the Zoom meeting locally (on your computer) with closed captioning, then locate the transcription file. If you use Tactiq, you don’t need to do any of these steps.

First record the Zoom meeting as a local recording with closed-captioning

If you are the host of the meeting: join your Zoom meeting with the desktop app and start recording the meeting when you are ready by pressing the record button in the menu bar.

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If you are a meeting participant: if you’re not the meeting host, you must first ask the host to enable recording permissions for everyone in the meeting (the host needs to first have meeting recording and live transcription enabled in their Zoom account).

Next, you’ll need to find the local recording to access the transcript file..

1. Log in to your Zoom desktop app
2. Click meetings -> find your meeting -> click open
   

1. In the meeting folder, you will find 4 files - the audio recording (.m4a), the transcript (closed_caption.txt) and the recording (.mp4)

After the meeting are over, Zoom usually takes a few minutes to process the files - so don’t be alarmed if you can’t see them! As you can see, it’s more complicated to save Zoom transcripts without an extension. It’s still possible, but you’ll save a lot of time by using an extension like Tactiq.

Conclusion

Now you know two ways you can save zoom transcripts from local recordings. The first way is to install the free Tactiq extension which will save the transcripts to your google docs and Tactiq app for you. The second is to record your Zoom meeting locally with closed captions, then find your recording files to see the transcript. 

Both methods work, but the second is a little more time-consuming and has more steps. To make things easier for yourself, use our free transcript tool Tactiq to save the Zoom transcripts for you.