Transcribe Your Footage
Turn the speech in your footage into a transcript that you can read on the timeline and check for mistakes.
Before you transcribe
Transcribe works on whole media files with audio. It cannot transcribe only part of a clip.
You need an AssemblyAI API key. Add it under Edit → Preferences… → API Keys. If the key is missing, click Open API Keys… in the Transcribe dialog. A saved key works on your next run without restarting Solar Sailer.
Solar Sailer extracts and uploads the selected files' audio to AssemblyAI. It may also send the transcript text to the AI provider configured for the Fast model so it can flag words worth checking. These calls use your provider accounts and may count toward their billing or usage limits. Only transcribe footage that you are allowed to send to those providers.
Transcribe files
- Select media in the bin or select clips on the timeline. You can also choose the files inside the Transcribe dialog.
- Open Process and click Transcribe…. You can also right-click selected media in the bin and choose Transcribe….
- Choose Selected in bin or On timeline, then check the files you want to transcribe.
- Adjust any options that matter for this footage.
- Click Run Transcribe.
Choose how the transcript is built
Add names, brands, or technical terms under Word Boost Terms when their spelling matters. Type each term and press Enter.
Turn on Speaker diarization for a recording with more than one speaker. Set Speakers expected to the number of voices, from 1 to 10. Solar Sailer then starts a new sentence when the speaker changes.
Under Advanced, Silence gap threshold (seconds) sets how long a pause must be before Solar Sailer starts a new sentence. The default is 3 seconds. Raise it for fewer, longer sentences. Lower it for shorter sentences.
If a run stops or a file fails
Cancelling a run keeps transcripts already saved for completed files. AssemblyAI jobs that were already submitted may keep processing and count toward your provider usage. See Run an AI Tool for the cancellation steps.
One file failing does not discard the other completed transcripts. Fix the problem, then run Transcribe again with only the failed files selected.
Review the transcript
Read the result on the timeline with The Transcript on the Timeline. Before using it for later edits, work through the words Solar Sailer flagged in Fix Transcript Mistakes.
Where transcripts are saved
Transcripts are not stored inside the .sailer project file. They live in the matching .sailer.data folder beside it. When you move or copy a project, take both the .sailer file and its .sailer.data folder.
Solar Sailer saves each completed transcript and every later correction straight to disk. You do not need to press Ctrl+S. Transcripts belong to one project, so importing the same footage into another project does not bring its transcript with it.