Home › Platforms › Google Drive

Google Drive · paste a share link

Transcribe audio or video from Google Drive.

WhipScribe transcribes an audio or video file from its Google Drive share link, with nothing to download first. Packs: $4 for 300 minutes, $18 for 3,000, $32 for 6,000; Workspace $19 a month. Up to 10 hours or 5 GB per file. Measured turnaround: about 2 minutes per audio hour. 99 languages. Checked 2 Nov 2026.

Measured here: 102 of 145 Google Drive links pasted here in the last 90 days came back as a transcript. Our production records, 28 Jul 2026 to 26 Oct 2026.

Free preview of the opening minutes Up to 10 hours or 5 GB per file 99+ languages TXT · DOCX · SRT · VTT · JSON

The file you have

Which Drive links work.

Works: A link to a single audio or video file whose General access is 'Anyone with the link'.
Does not work: Files set to Restricted or limited to your organisation; links to a folder; Google Docs, Sheets and Slides.
Typical files: Google Meet recordings (MP4, in the Meet Recordings folder), phone recordings (M4A), camera video (MP4, MOV), and MP3 or WAV uploads.
Private files: Signed in here? Library → Add → Google Drive imports files and whole folders from your own Drive without changing how they are shared.
Measured here: 102 of 145 Google Drive links pasted here in the last 90 days came back as a transcript (6,197 minutes of audio). What went wrong: the commonest causes were files not shared as 'Anyone with the link' and files Drive itself refused to serve that day; 8 failed during our own outage on 19-20 October. Our production records, 28 Jul 2026 to 26 Oct 2026.

A link works here. Paste the file's link in the box above. The one thing that must be true is the sharing setting: 'Anyone with the link'.

How it works

Three steps, the first one is the only one that takes any thought.

Set the sharing

In Drive right-click the file → Share → General access → 'Anyone with the link' (Viewer is enough).

Copy link, paste it here

The file is fetched from Drive and transcribed; a one-hour recording takes about two minutes after the fetch.

Turn sharing back off

Once the transcript exists the link is no longer needed, so you can set the file to Restricted again.

Good to know

What trips people up, and what to do about it.

Camera masters and other very large files (a public Drive file over 1.5 GB, or one over 5 GB from a connected Drive) are pulled audio-only, so a 40 GB video does not have to travel whole. Because that pull moves hours of data, it starts once the account has bought the $32 pack (6,000 minutes) or has Workspace; ordinary files start with the free preview as usual.
'We could not read that link' almost always means the file is still private. Pasting the same link again will not help; change General access, or use the Drive import in your Library, which reads private files after you connect your Google account.
Work and school accounts may not offer 'Anyone with the link'. When an administrator has switched it off, download the file and upload it, or use the Library's Drive import.
A folder link is not a file. Open the folder, right-click the recording and copy that file's own link. For many files at once, the Library's folder import is the tool.
Very popular files can hit Drive's own download quota for a day. That is Drive refusing every download, not something a retry here fixes; make your own copy of the file and share the copy.

Example. A 90-minute Google Meet recording sits in the Meet Recordings folder as a 700 MB MP4. With the link set to 'Anyone with the link' and pasted here, the transcript and a summary of decisions are ready a few minutes later, and nothing was downloaded to the laptop.

What comes back

More than a wall of text.

The same four things for every Google Drive recording, whatever its length.

A transcript with timestamps

Every line carries its time. Click a line to hear that second again, or search a name or phrase and jump to each place it was said.

A summary, chapters and key quotes

A brief with the takeaways, chapters with their start times, and the quotes worth keeping. Speakers are identified and named in the summary, key quotes and chapters.

Questions answered from the recording

Ask where a topic came up or what was decided, and get the answer with the time it was said, instead of scrolling the whole text.

Every export

TXT, DOCX, SRT, VTT, JSON from the same transcript: a document to edit, caption files for video, plain text to paste, structured data for your own tools.

Pricing

Free preview. Packs from $4, and the minutes never expire.

A 90-minute meeting recording is 90 minutes, so the $4 pack (300 minutes) covers it 3 times over. Every recording gets a free preview, and in 31 countries, or for recordings of an hour or more in most others, a summary you can read before paying; a pack opens the full transcript and every export. Packs are one-time purchases with no subscription and no seat fee.

$4300 minutesBuy $183,000 minutesBuy $326,000 minutesBuy

Pick a pack to open secure checkout. Workspace is $19 a month for unlimited transcription (300-hour fair-use mark). Full pricing

FAQ

Google Drive to text, answered.

Can I transcribe a file directly from Google Drive?

Yes. Set the file's General access to 'Anyone with the link', copy the link and paste it in the box on this page. The file is fetched from Drive and transcribed with timestamps.

Why does my Google Drive link fail?

Because the file is not shared publicly. Restricted files and files limited to an organisation only open after a Google sign-in, which a link cannot carry. Change the sharing, upload the file, or use the Drive import in your Library.

Can I transcribe private Drive files without making them public?

Yes, by signing in here and using Library → Add → Google Drive. You pick the files or a folder from your own Drive and their sharing settings stay as they are.

Does Google Drive transcribe audio itself?

Drive stores and plays the file but does not give you a transcript of an uploaded recording. Google Meet can produce its own transcript on some Workspace plans; for any other audio or video in Drive you need a transcription tool.

What does transcribing Google Drive recordings cost?

The preview is free, and so is the summary in 31 countries or for recordings of an hour or more. A pack opens the full transcript: $4 for 300 minutes, $18 for 3,000 minutes, $32 for 6,000 minutes. Packs are one-time, credits never expire, and Workspace is $19 a month if you transcribe every week.

How long can the recording be?

One file can run up to 10 hours or 5 GB. The box on this page takes files up to 500 MB; a larger file continues on the main upload page, which uploads it in parts. Most recordings come back in about two minutes per hour of audio.

Is the recording kept private?

Recordings are transcribed on our own servers and are never used for training. You can delete a recording and its transcript at any time.