How to transcribe a WebEx recording

Transcribing WebEx recordings creates permanent, searchable records of your meetings, making information accessible to all team members and saving time when you need to find specific details. Transcripts help combat the fact that most meeting content is forgotten within a week and ensure important decisions are accurately documented.

Why transcribe your WebEx recordings?

Transcribing your WebEx recordings serves several practical purposes. It creates a permanent, searchable record of discussions - particularly important since research shows 80% of meeting content is forgotten within a week. Transcripts make content accessible to team members who couldn't attend or those with hearing impairments. When important decisions or technical requirements are discussed, having a word-for-word record ensures nothing gets lost. Rather than rewatching entire recordings, you can quickly search transcripts for specific information.

WebEx's built-in transcription capabilities

WebEx offers built-in transcription with some limitations. It only works for meetings in English, only on desktop versions of WebEx Meetings, Webinars, and Events, and only for recorded meetings. Processing takes about twice the meeting duration, and accuracy can be affected by background noise, accents, and audio quality.

How to enable transcription for WebEx recordings

For WebEx site administrators:

Via Site Administration:

1. Sign in to WebEx Site Administration

2. Navigate to Common Site Settings > Options

3. Scroll to Site Options

4. Toggle on "Create recording transcripts for all hosts' MP4 recordings"

5. Optionally, enable "Allow hosts to turn off recording transcripts in My WebEx preferences"

Via Control Hub:

1. Access https://admin.webex.com

2. Go to Services > Meeting > Sites

3. Select your WebEx site and click Settings

4. Under Common Settings, select Site Options

5. In the Video and recordings section, toggle on "Create recording transcripts for all hosts' MP4 recordings"

For individual users (if enabled by administrators):

If your administrator has enabled transcription, WebEx will automatically generate transcripts for your recorded meetings. The transcript will appear alongside your recording once processing is complete.

How to access WebEx transcripts

Once your recording has been transcribed:

1. Navigate to your recorded meetings

2. Open the recording you want to review

3. The transcript will appear in a panel on the side of the recording playback

4. You can search for specific text within the transcript to jump to relevant parts of the meeting

Using Circleback AI for enhanced WebEx transcription

While WebEx's built-in transcription offers basic functionality, many teams need more advanced features. Circleback AI provides a comprehensive solution designed to enhance meeting documentation.

Key advantages of using Circleback for WebEx transcription:

1. Superior accuracy: Circleback delivers enterprise-grade transcription with 98% accuracy for English-language meetings, higher than most built-in solutions.

2. Automated action item tracking: When someone says "John will update the wireframes by Friday," Circleback automatically creates a tracked task with the assignee and deadline.

3. Meeting summaries: Circleback automatically distills hour-long conversations into concise overviews. A 45-minute sprint planning meeting becomes a clear summary of sprint goals, resource allocation, and key decisions.

4. Topic segmentation: Discussions are automatically broken into labeled sections. A client call covering multiple projects would be divided into sections like "Website Redesign," "Q1 Marketing Campaign," and "Budget Review."

5. Multilingual support: Unlike WebEx's English-only transcription, Circleback supports over 100 languages with speaker identification across 12 languages.

How to use Circleback with WebEx meetings

Setting up Circleback to transcribe your WebEx meetings is straightforward:

1. Connect your calendar: Circleback integrates with both Google Calendar and Outlook, making it easy to join and record scheduled WebEx meetings.

2. Focus on your meeting: Once connected, you can participate fully in your conversations without worrying about taking notes.

3. Review your comprehensive notes: After the meeting, Circleback provides not just a transcript but organized notes, action items, and insights that you can review and share.

Real-world application examples

Here's how teams are using advanced transcription with WebEx meetings:

Marketing teams planning campaigns: Capture every creative suggestion without pausing for notes. Teams can generate dozens of tagline options in 30 minutes because no one has to stop and write them down.

Finance teams preparing budget reports: Save hours of manual documentation. Instead of spending 2-3 hours writing up a quarterly budget review, teams can generate an accurate summary with all key figures in minutes.

IT teams tracking technical requirements: Ensure nothing is missed by capturing all technical discussions and decisions, potentially reducing requirement-related bugs.

What to look for in WebEx transcription solutions

When evaluating transcription options for your WebEx meetings, consider these key factors:

Accuracy

• Transcript accuracy directly impacts productivity. A 95% accurate transcript of a 30-minute meeting takes 5 minutes to correct, while an 85% accurate transcript might take 30 minutes—negating time-saving benefits.

• Speaker identification should be reliable to avoid confusion about who said what.

Accessibility

• Implementation should be quick and straightforward.

• Regular use should require minimal training.

• File sharing must integrate with existing workflows.

Compatibility

• Ensure the solution works with your entire tech stack, not just WebEx.

• Look for integrations with communication tools like Slack, project management platforms, and document storage solutions.