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Getting a transcript in

Three ways to get a coaching conversation into CoachLens, plus how to handle a Zoom recording. Pick whichever fits how you already work — the rest of the process is identical.

• About 4 minutes
• Step 2 of the session wizard

1. 1

   Upload File

   A .pdf, .txt or .vtt transcript. Drag it onto the page or use Choose file. If Zoom, Otter, Descript or anything similar hands you a transcript file, this is the shortest path — Zoom's own .vtt transcript works directly. (Zoom only creates one for cloud recordings; see below.)

   Keep documents under about ten megabytes — a text transcript of a long session is nowhere near that, so you'll rarely think about it.

2. 2

   Paste Text

   Copy the transcript, paste it in. The box counts characters as you go, so you can see it landed.

   This is the most reliable option when a file won't cooperate — if an upload is misbehaving, opening the file and pasting its contents almost always works.

3. 3

   Recording on Zoom

   Zoom writes its own transcript, but only for cloud recordings — and cloud recording needs a paid Zoom account. A recording saved to your computer never gets one.

   To set it up once: in Zoom on the web, open Settings → Recording, and turn on Create audio transcript under cloud recording. Then choose Record to the Cloud when you start recording a session.

   After the session, open it on Zoom's Recordings page and download the file called Audio Transcript — it saves as a .vtt file — then upload it under Upload File. CoachLens tidies up Zoom's timestamps for you. The transcript usually appears a little while after the recording itself, so if it isn't listed yet, check back later.

4. 4

   Notes only — no transcript

   For a session you didn't record. You still get a session on the record, with your notes and your action items, and you can still send a report to your organization.

   The one thing it can't give you is an AI evaluation, because there's no conversation for it to read. That's the whole trade.