How to import an audio file into Transcriber

Audio recorded somewhere else can be transcribed just like an interview recorded in the app.

On iPhone and iPad

The quickest route for something already on your phone is the share sheet:

1. Open the app the audio is in — Voice Memos and WhatsApp are the common ones.
2. Press and hold the audio you want, then choose Forward or the equivalent share action.
3. Tap the share button.
4. Under the apps row, choose Transcriber.
5. The audio is imported and a new interview appears in your list.

For a file in iCloud Drive or anywhere the Files app can reach, open Transcriber, go to My Recordings and tap the import button in the toolbar instead.

On Mac

1. Open Transcriber.
2. Click Import File in the toolbar. Its tooltip reads Imports a file, either a Transcriber document or an Audio into your folder.
3. Choose the file in the open panel.

The same button takes both audio files and .trbr Transcriber documents, so it is also how you open an interview a colleague has sent you.

What happens to the original

The file is copied into Transcriber as a new interview. The original stays exactly where it was, untouched.

Then transcribe it

An imported interview arrives with audio but no text. Open it and set the language of the audio in the Transcription setup box — this matters more for imported files than for your own recordings, since they may well be in a different language from the one you usually work in. Then choose Transcribe.

If an import fails, the file is most likely in a format Transcriber cannot read. Export it from the source app as a standard audio file and try again.