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Screencastify · saved to Google Drive

Transcribe a Screencastify recording to text.

Screencastify saves recordings to your Google Drive. Share the file with 'Anyone with the link', paste that link here, and the transcript comes back without downloading or re-uploading anything.

Free preview and summary Up to 10 hours or 5 GB per file 99+ languages TXT · DOCX · SRT · VTT · JSON

The file you have

Where a Screencastify recording lives.

Storage: A Screencastify folder in the Google Drive of the account you recorded with.
Format: A video file in Drive; Screencastify can also export MP4 or audio only from the video's page.
School accounts: Many school and company domains do not allow 'Anyone with the link'. In that case download the file and upload it instead.

Sometimes a link works. A Google Drive link works when the file's General access is 'Anyone with the link'. Links limited to your school or company only open after a sign-in, so no outside tool can read them: download and upload the file in that case.

How it works

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

Open the file in Drive

Find the recording in the Screencastify folder, right-click → Share, and set General access to 'Anyone with the link'.

Paste the link here

Copy the link and paste it in the box. If sharing is restricted on your account, download the file and drop it in instead.

Read and export

Free preview and summary; a pack opens the full transcript, DOCX, SRT and VTT.

Good to know

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

'Restricted' links fail with an access error. The fix is the sharing setting, not a different link.
You can turn sharing off again as soon as the transcript is done; the link is only needed while the file is fetched.
Signed in here with Google? The Library's Add → Google Drive import reads private files from your own Drive without changing their sharing.

Example. A teacher's 15-minute flipped-classroom video sits in Drive. With the link set to 'Anyone with the link' and pasted here, the transcript is ready in about a minute and the VTT captions go back onto the Drive video.

What comes back

More than a wall of text.

The same four things for every Screencastify 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 15-minute lesson is 15 minutes, so the $4 pack (500 minutes) covers it 33 times over. Every recording gets a free preview and 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.

$4500 minutesBuy $81,000 minutesBuy $122,000 minutesBuy $245,000 minutesBuy

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

What we measured, last 30 days

1,901 recordings, 830 audio hours, 64 languages detected. An hour of audio came back in 3.7 minutes for half of the recordings and within 19.7 minutes for nine in ten, measured from the moment the file landed to the finished transcript. Refreshed 2026-10-02; method on how we test.

FAQ

Screencastify to text, answered.

Can I transcribe a Screencastify video without downloading it?

Yes, when the Google Drive file can be shared as 'Anyone with the link'. Paste that link in the box. If your domain blocks public links, download the file and upload it.

Why did my Drive link fail?

Almost always because the file is still Restricted or limited to your organisation. Change General access to 'Anyone with the link', or upload the file directly.

What does transcribing Screencastify recordings cost?

The preview and the summary are free. A pack opens the full transcript: $4 for 500 minutes, $8 for 1,000 minutes, $12 for 2,000 minutes, $24 for 5,000 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.