Otter.ai: How to Create Transcripts

Note: Otter.ai is an external tool that is not affiliated with MSU Denver.

Otter Voice Meeting Notes is an application that will record and automatically transcribe oral content with a 90% accuracy. Otter is also intuitive, meaning it will learn to recognize your voice and tag you in the transcript automatically. This guide will introduce the basic functions of Otter.ai and detail instructions on how to use the program from a computer (the mobile app has some but not all of the features).

Disclaimer: Otter.ai has a basic version and an upgraded version. The basic version is free and has limited features. The upgraded version is subscription based, but education professionals get 50% off the price. This guide will only cover the features included in the basic package. 

Getting Started:

1. Sign up: Go to Otter.ai on your web browser or download the app in the Apple Store or Google Play and create your account.
2. Add your voiceprint: recording
3. On a computer, click the drop-down menu in the upper left-hand corner (this is where you can personalize your profile)
4. Click Account Settings and click My Voiceprint. Follow the on-screen instructions and Otter will now start to pick up on your voice during recordings.

Conversations:

Recording, Uploading, and Tagging Conversations

1. Once you have signed in, there are two buttons in the upper right-hand corner.
   1. Click Record to start a live conversation
      • You can change the name of the file during the conversation by clicking Note
   2. Click Import audio/video to upload an existing video or audio file.
      • The file will have the same name as it does on your computer
2. Once you have a conversation, it will appear in My Conversations and Recent Activity 
   1. Click the conversation to open it.
   2. You can rename the file by clicking the file name at the top.
3. Click the circle next to the text to tag known speakers
   1. This circle may say Speaker 1, or it may be a grey human figure.
   2. Tagging speakers like this teachers Otter to recognize these voices later.

Playback and Editing

1. Click the text to play the recorded audio from that point.
   1. Keyboard shortcuts for audio playing:
      • Ctrl-space or ESC = play/pause
      • Ctrl-R = rewind 5 seconds
      • Ctrl-3 or F3 = slow down
      • Ctrl-4 or F4 = speed up
2. Click Edit to open the transcript for editing.
   1. This is where you can make the necessary changes to the text, so your transcript is as accurate as possible.
   2. Keyboard shortcuts for editing
      • Enter/Return = insert paragraph break
      • Backspace/delete = delete paragraph break and merge with previous paragraph
      • Ctrl-Z = undo
      • Ctrl-Y = redo
   3. Click Done when finished

Export Audio and Transcript:

1. Click on the three dots in the upper right-hand corner. This will create a dropdown menu where you can select Export Text or Export Audio.
   • The free version only allows you to Export to your clipboard or as TXT file.
   • Exporting the audio file will automatically download it to your computer.
2. Once you have your exported files, you can put your transcript in an obvious location where it can be easily accessed by students.