Transcribing Without Foot Pedal

I started transcription without any foot pedal. I simply used the free software online called Inqscribe. It allows me to manage the audio and type at the same time.

In the beginning of my transcription career, I would simply encode everything in Inqscribe, word for word. After editing, I would copy and paste everything in MS Word, edit it once more, then it’s good to go.

I tried tinkering with Inqscribe, I found they have some shortcut option of sort. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I did not find it helpful. I wanted lots of shortcuts words. And I mean like around 50 shortcut words.

So here’s how I worked around my pained pinkie.

1. I noticed that there are words and expressions in the audio that are often repeated. First identify what often repeated words the speaker in the audio usually say. My client is fond of speaking “you know”. What I do, I open notepad file where I would save all my shortcuts. Here is what my workmode looks like. (insert pic).working with Inqscribe with listed shortcuts
2. Be sure to put a semi-colon ; after every short cut. This will simplify your life. To read more about it, read here.
3. After you’ve transcribed all of the audio and copied everything to the MS Word. You can start using the “Find” and “Replace” option. To save time and to be systematic about it, simply copy and paste from the notepad the short cut words and equivalent meaning. here’s a simple document where there are shortcut words. I’ve encircled the short cuts. 

• Look at the upper right of the MS Word screen. Make sure you are in a “Home” Mode. 

5. Click replace. Here’s what’s the box looks like and how you are going to replace the words. 

Do not leave a space after the words. Trust me. You don’t want to spend another hour or so deleting unwanted spaces.

Tadah! Congratulations. You now know within five minutes what I’ve figured out after more than 2 years.

Here’s an a real example of how many “you know” words I saved myself from typing.

In this example, you can see that I’ve saved myself typing 180 times the word ‘you know’.

P.S. If you are just starting with your shortcut routine, it can be a little frustrating in the beginning. In my case, I listed out so many shortcuts that I have to check every now and then my list if the shortcut exist. That’s already time lost. That’s just when you’re still starting. That time is considered a gain later on, when my brain was finally able to store the short-cut words. Believe me, you have an amazing brain:-D