How do you transcribe a recording for NVivo? Transcribe, tidy, export DOCX, import.
Transcribe each interview as its own file, export DOCX or TXT, tidy it, and import it into NVivo as a document: one file can run up to 10 hours or 5 GB (2 GB before your first pack), and a 60-minute interview is ready in about 2 minutes, at about 2 minutes per audio hour. The first 20 minutes are free, and the $12 pack of 2,000 minutes covers twenty 1-hour interviews with 800 minutes left.
Recording to project
A transcript that is ready to code, in four steps.
One recording, one file
Upload each interview or focus group on its own, so each becomes one case in your project. The upload box on this page takes files up to 500 MB, and a larger recording continues on the upload page, still up to 10 hours or 5 GB.
Tidy before you import
Export DOCX and read it once against the audio. Correct names and terms, replace identifying details with your participant codes, and mark the interviewer's turns and each participant's in the way your coding plan needs. Doing this before import is far easier than inside the project.
Import as a document
NVivo imports Word and plain-text files as document sources; the exact menu differs between versions and between Windows and Mac. NVivo can also work with transcripts alongside audio or video files; check its documentation for the version you use before you choose that route.
Use the summary to plan codes
The brief, chapters and the questions the recording answers give a quick map of each interview before you start line-by-line coding. Speakers are named in the summary, key quotes and chapters, which helps match passages to participants in a focus group.
Typing for the project
Where qualitative projects lose their weeks.
✗ Transcribing by hand
Analysis waits while the transcripts are typed, one interview at a time.
- Four or more hours of typing per interview hour
- A focus group typed over several days
- Participant names left in the text
- Files cut to fit a tool's time limit
- Coding started on half the data
- The schedule slipping by a month
✓ Transcribing first, then tidying
Every interview is text within minutes, and your time goes into checking and coding.
- About 2 minutes for a 1-hour interview
- One DOCX per participant
- Codes in place of names before import
- Summaries to plan the codebook
- Timestamps to recheck a passage
- All interviews ready in the same week
Sample
A passage from a research interview.
Illustrative lines written for this page; not from a real study or participant.
Export
One transcript. Five clean formats.
Every pack exports all five — no format is held back for a higher tier.
Plain text
De-ummed paragraphs. Ready to paste.
SRT captions
Timed to the speech. Every video editor reads this.
WebVTT
HTML5 player + YouTube uploads.
Show notes
Formatted with chapters and pull-quotes.
Machine-readable
Timestamped text for your own tools.
Pricing
Honest pricing, no surprises.
A pack from $6 (500 minutes) opens the full transcript. After that, no subscription and no auto-renew — every tier is a one-time minute pack, and credits never expire. Buy once, use the minutes whenever you need them.
Casual pack
$6/500 min
8 hours of audio — $0.72 an hour. One-time — credits never expire.
- 500 minutes of audio
- All export formats
- AI chat over the whole transcript
- Executive summary & key quote
Best value
$12/2,000 min
33 hours of audio — $0.36 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 2,000 minutes of audio
- Summary, chapters and key quotes
- All export formats
- AI chat over the whole transcript
Bulk pack
$24/5,000 min
83 hours of audio — $0.29 an hour. Credits never expire.
- 5,000 minutes of audio
- Summary, chapters and key quotes
- API access for batch pipelines
- All export formats
FAQ
Transcripts for NVivo, answered.
Which export should I import?
DOCX keeps paragraphs and is the usual choice for a document source; TXT is the plain alternative. Both come from the same run, along with SRT, VTT and JSON.
How should I handle focus groups?
Upload the full session as one file. Speakers are named in the summary, key quotes and chapters; mark each participant's turns in the DOCX with your codes as you read it against the audio, then import it.
What does a whole study cost?
Thirty interviews of 75 minutes are 2,250 minutes, which the $24 pack of 5,000 minutes covers with 2,750 left. Twenty 1-hour interviews fit the $12 pack of 2,000 minutes. Packs are one-time and credits never expire.
Does this fit my ethics approval?
Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and are never used for training, and you can delete a recording and its transcript at any time. Check that your approval allows processing by an external service, and remove identifying details before import.
Some interviews are on cassette.
Digitise them first, then upload: play each tape into a computer or recorder and save it as MP3 or WAV. Each interview then follows the same steps.
My interviews mix languages. Will NVivo receive the right text?
Detection covers 99 languages automatically; a session that moves between two is detected on its main language. Read those passages against the audio before coding.
Related
Related research pages
Transcripts ready for coding. About 2 minutes per interview hour.
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