Transcription statuses

After an upload finishes, Scribewren queues the file and moves it through a fixed set of stages. The status updates on its own, so you do not need to refresh the page. You can see it in the Library, on Home and on the transcript page.

The stages

Status	What is happening
Waiting in queue	The file is queued. The transcript page shows your place, for example Position 3 in the queue.
Fetching your file	Scribewren is fetching the uploaded file.
Preparing audio	The audio is being extracted and prepared.
Transcribing with a percentage	The speech is being turned into text.
Finding speakers	Scribewren is working out who speaks when.
Finishing up	The transcript is being saved.
Starting	The job just began and has not reported a stage yet.
Ready	The transcript is done. Choose Open.
Couldn’t transcribe	Something failed. See below.
Canceled	You canceled it.

How fast a file leaves the queue depends on your plan. The Free plan uses the Standard queue and Unlimited uses the Priority queue.

Open the progress view

Open any transcript that is still running. The Progress section shows the current stage and, while transcribing, a percentage. When the status reaches Ready, the editor opens with your text.

Cancel a transcription

While a file is waiting or running, choose Cancel transcription on the transcript page. The status changes to Canceled. Canceled items appear under Failed in the library filters, next to failed items.

When a transcription fails

The status reads Couldn’t transcribe and the page shows a reason. Choose Try again to run the file again. The most common reasons are:

Message	What it means and what to do
We couldn’t read this file. Try uploading it again, or convert it to MP3 or MP4 first.	The file is damaged or in an unusual format. Re-export it and upload it again.
This file has no audio track.	There is nothing to transcribe. Check that you picked the right file.
This took too long and was stopped. Try again.	The job timed out. Choose Try again.
Something went wrong on our side. Try again.	A general failure. Choose Try again, and contact support if it keeps happening.

If it keeps failing, see Troubleshooting and Contact support. Send the transcript link, never the transcript text.

Notices on a finished transcript

A transcript can be Ready and still show a short notice at the top of the editor. You can dismiss a notice with the close button. It comes back if you open the transcript in a new browser session.

• Only the first part of this file was transcribed because of your plan’s length limit. The file was longer than your plan allows. Choose See plans to compare plans.
• We didn’t detect any speech in this file. The transcript has no text.
• We couldn’t tell the speakers apart, so the transcript has no speaker labels. The text is fine, but all of it is shown without speaker names.
• We weren’t sure which language this is. Check the words. If they look wrong, the language detection may have guessed wrong.

Note

Scribewren detects the language automatically. If a transcript comes out in the wrong language, contact support with the transcript link.