--- title: "Express Scribe Reviews, Pros and Cons - 2026 Software Advice" description: "Reviews of Express Scribe. Learn how real users rate this software's ease-of-use, functionality, overall quality and customer support. Talk to our advisors to see if Express Scribe is a good fit for you!" source_url: "https://www.softwareadvice.com/medical-transcription/express-scribe-profile/reviews/" page_type: "reviews" language: "en" --- 1 million+ businesses helped. Get advice Get Free Advice [Home](https://www.softwareadvice.com/) / [Medical Transcription Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/medical-transcription/) / [Express Scribe](https://www.softwareadvice.com/medical-transcription/express-scribe-profile/) / Express Scribe Reviews Software Advice offers objective insights based on verified user reviews and independent product and market research. When our advisors match you to a software provider, we may earn a referral fee. [Overview](https://www.softwareadvice.com/medical-transcription/express-scribe-profile/) Reviews [Alternatives](https://www.softwareadvice.com/medical-transcription/express-scribe-profile/alternatives/) # Express Scribe User Reviews ## Reviews summary - Overall rating: 4.3/5 - Total reviews: 52 ### Secondary ratings - Ease of use: 4.3/5 - Customer support: 3.5/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Functionality: 4.1/5 ### Rating distribution - 5 stars: 27 reviews (52%) - 4 stars: 16 reviews (31%) - 3 stars: 6 reviews (12%) - 2 stars: 1 reviews (2%) - 1 star: 2 reviews (4%) ### Most mentioned pros - Staff is very helpful for any issues arising. - It provides a hands-free format to transcribe dictations and organizes my audio files in one place. - I used it for a few years with general transcription as a free product and it worked okay. ### Most mentioned cons - I stopped using it for 5 years when I worked for a company that had it's own software. When I became an independent contractor and tried to use Express Scribe again, it was very expensive, I could not get the trial to even work properly, and the sound quality was TERRIBLE. - I use trial version initially, but I face lot of technical glitches while using the application. - It is not compatible with various operating systems, such as Linux, and as a result, it can be difficult to access if you use one. ## Express Scribe customer reviews Showing reviews 1-25 of 52 (page 1). ### Transcription Simplified! - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Joseph N. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Writing and Editing - Company size: 501-1000 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 6 months - Reviewed: October 2018 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Express Scribe is such an amazing software #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros The Software has control of the files like I had not known before. With just a foot pedal, you can chose when to play, pause, fast forward or rewind your audio. It also has got options to changing the speed of the audio. To make it more convenient for the transcriber, the software offers a text box in which you will type what you hear from the audio. Sometimes in a conference or a meeting, some said things may pass me by. With Express Scribe however, I can sit down and retrace what was said. I can also put it into text for easier reference. #### Cons It however lacks format options for the transcript. #### Vendor response Hi Joseph, Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback. If you would like, you can send a suggestion directly to our Development Team to request options for the transcript be added to a future version of this app, here: http://www.nch.com.au/suggestions/index.html -NCH Software Team Replied December 2019 --- ### Well designed transcription software that can handle audio and video - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Higher Education - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: September 2018 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. I relied on Express Scribe for at least 6 years to transcribe hundreds of pages of documents. From about 2009-2011, I ran Express Scribe in WINE in a Linux host operating system for at least 2 years and did encounter a number of compatibility problems. Things may have improved dramatically since then owing to great improvements in WINE. It seems fairly priced for a professional software too. Overall, Express Scribe is an outstanding tool for transcription #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 3/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros During my graduate work, I relied on Express Scribe to help transcribe hundreds of hours of audio and video interviews. Especially useful are the program's hotkey controls that enable the user to back up the recording by increments that the user can select. This is extremely useful for reviewing recorded segments that are difficult to understand. Express Scribe supports all but the most obscure audio formats - a fact that is exceedingly helpful when dealing with student assignments that have been recorded on a wide range of mobile phones and mp3 devices. Users can use a hot-key to automatically insert time stamps throughout the transcript, or manually insert timestamps at key points though the document. The use of timestamps allows users to correlate the audio track with the exact position on the written transcript. Though I have never used a control pedal with Express Scribe, many times I wished that I had one. Use of a control pedal would free up the user's hands to focus more on typing transcripts. #### Cons Express Scribe is not available in a native version for Linux. However, Express Scribe can run in Linux using the WINE Emulator. Keep your original receipt for the software and installation codes. If you reinstall your operating system, you may encounter problems reactivating Express Scribe. --- ### Best software for dictation-cost effective!! - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Ashleigh T. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2018 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Very easy to setup, love that the foot pedal comes with the program- cost effective and very easy to use, our whole office uses it and likes it very much. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros How easy it was to set up and most of the times, it is super easy to load and transcribe the dictations. I also love the extras they offer. #### Cons Sometimes my boss/attorney records his dictation in a different format somehow, and it won't work with Express Scribe. BUT.. even then I just tell him and he saves it as the correct format and the issue is solved! Just takes an extra step! --- ### Long-time user - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Dori L. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Writing and Editing - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: June 2020 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Express Scribe was the first program I downloaded 11 years ago when I started transcribing and I still use it today. It's reliable, customizable, and has a ton of features and options, although I only use a fraction of them. The customer support has been very good, although hardly needed, and the website offers help and tutorials. My overall experience with it has been excellent. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Express Scribe is loaded with features and options, more than I have ever needed to use in my work, but the ones I use the most are the following. It accepts a wide variety of file formats. It loads multiple files at once, so that I can work efficiently through a list, which is especially useful when I have a lot of shorter audio files. It comes with built-in tools for adjusting the audio quality under the Playback tab, where I particularly use the Clarity Low Frequency Cut-Off tool to improve speakers' voices. I have also found that setting Volume Auto-Adjust (range compression) to None gives me the clearest sound with the least static. Another useful feature is the ability to bookmark speakers in the audio file. Setting up a foot pedal connection was easy, although I like Express Scribe's ability to control the audio with function keys if the foot pedal develops problems. And, finally, I find the interface is easy for me to navigate. #### Cons I would like the ability to place time stamps with a function key. I have tried to follow the time stamp shortcut instructions provided by NCH, but have not been able to use it well, so I usually insert time stamps during the proofing stage using another transcription software program that does have that feature. Another issue for a long time was that audio played in Express Scribe seemed to have higher levels of background static than the same audio played in other transcription programs. I was finally able to resolve this issue by setting the Volume Auto-Adjust (range compression) to None, as I mentioned above. I had been relying on the default setting (which I believe was Strong) and didn't realize what a difference it would make to the clarity -- at least to my ears. --- ### Loved everything except two things - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Delores G. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Writing and Editing - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: October 2020 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. I've used Express Scribe daily for the past 11 years, and never had any long-standing issues. It is my DAILY workhorse for transcription -- at least for all my first-pass-to-audio drafts, but for challenging audios most times I will switch to another brand second-audio-pass, i.e. for proofreading. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros The ability to generate automated timestamps. The feature allowing audio tweaks; volume boost, etc. Feature of being able to queue a number of projects all at once, to line up work in order of priority. I've used Express Scribe Pro DAILY for 11 years, and never had a single malfunction issue, except for a few freezes here and there, but restarting the program immediately fixed each freeze. Also loved that it plays both audio and video recordings. #### Cons I have two: (1) The timestamping feature could be improved, wherein after one has typed a lengthy document (say 150-page long Word doc); and one with countless timestamped inaudibles littered throughout, if there were a new feature embedded in the timestamped section that would say "NEXT" when the mouse is hovered over the timestamp, meaning clicking "NEXT" would jump/leap forward to the next timestamped section in the document, this would save a bunch of time, instead of having to use the "find" feature in Word to locate each one. This helps a transcriptionist when they reach the stage of wanting to zoom in just to each inaudible-timestamped section, one after the other, to make a last-ditch effort to clear up inaudible words prior to submitting. (2) There are other transcription software where the sound quality is a tad, wee-bit sharper, and when it comes to transcribing challenging audio qualities, I usually have to move to another software during proofing to ensure I catch every word when audio quality is bad. For example, FTW appears to have a tad crisper hearing quality in detecting some words during bad-quality recordings. #### Vendor response Hi Delores, Thank you so much for your review. We're glad you found our scribing software useful. Thank you for your feedback as well, we've passed this onto the development team. Replied October 2020 --- ### I have been using this software for years, and it is easily transferred from one PC to another - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Product usage: Used weekly for more than 2 years - Reviewed: March 2018 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered I was able to train people on the software remotely without issue, due to its ease of use. I earn money doing transcription using it, so I gain monetary benefits as well. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros This product continues to work even if you never update to the newest version. Sometimes newer is not better, and the time it takes to learn a newer version is always lost time. I like that this is reliable no matter what version I use. #### Cons This software does not always load the audio files the first time. It may take 1-2 times to load a file before the audio completely downloads, but that is rare and always resolves. #### Vendor response Hello there, Thank you for contacting us. We apologize for any inconvenience may have caused. If you continue to encounter any issues or have further questions, our Support Team will be more than glad to assist you here: https://www.nch.com.au/support/supportcontact.html?software=Scribe -NCH Software Team Replied December 2019 --- ### Simple and Effective Transcription Software - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Primary/ Secondary Education - Company size: 201-500 employees - Product usage: Used other for less than 12 months - Reviewed: July 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros Express Scribe was very easy to use. I had only had experience with one other transcription program before this, but I had no problems learning this one. It was easy to connect to my footpedal, but it also has hot keys for those who don't use a pedal. The volume and speed controls met my needs. I used it along with a word processing software to complete my short-term (6-12 months) job of medical transcription. For the price, it was great. #### Cons It would have been nice to have more audio filters. I didn't see options to adjust mid-range tones, though it did have an option to eliminate background noises. This was fine for the relatively quiet and clear medical transcription files I was transcribing. For those transcribing files with groups or garbled speakers, you may want to consider something with more options. (I never needed to use the background noise filter, so I can't vouch for how well it worked.) --- ### Great App - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: E-Learning - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used other for more than 2 years - Reviewed: February 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Very happy with this software - great complement to the audio recorders from Olympus and others. Well done. Many thanks. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros I love simplicity and Express Scribe has that in spades. I've used it to transcribe interviews from 3 different research studies. Like the ability to filter, enhance and slow the audio down. Great cheap option with all that I needed for my work. #### Cons Probably setting the hotkeys​ to control and pause the audio - often conflicts with other apps --- ### Absolutely fantastic! - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Product usage: Used daily for less than 12 months - Reviewed: May 2018 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros I personally love the way you can slow down or speed up audio by percentage. That makes such a huge difference with transcription! #### Cons I wish there were more options to raise/lower levels of audio. That would help transcriptionists hear different speakers, adjust the audio levels as needed, etc. --- ### Good choice - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Medical Practice - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for less than 12 months - Reviewed: January 2023 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros I like this program in comparison to others that do the same. It's easy to use and works well. #### Cons There's a few features that are a bit tricky but mostly its user friendly --- ### Not my favorite - Overall rating: 3/5 - Reviewer: Amy B. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Writing and Editing - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used other for less than 2 years - Reviewed: June 2020 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Generally I found this software irritating to use, definitely not user-friendly, with inferior sound quality despite the ability to adjust the balance. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 2/5 - Value for money: 3/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros Ability to tweak sound is a plus, although I didn't find it helped all that much. #### Cons Most frustrating was the inability to have automatic or customized timestamps, along with the overall busy appearance and complexity of the interface and generally inferior sound quality compared to other software I use. I find less is more with transcription software. I replaced ExpressScribe with FTW after a year and have never looked back. #### Vendor response Hi there, We appreciate your feedback. You may follow the steps on this tutorial to automate the time stamps - https://expeditedtranscripts.com/tutorial-express-scribe-hot-keys-timestamps-bitcs/. If you need further assistance, you may reach our support team here: https://www.nch.com.au/support/supportcontact.html?software=Scribe .Thanks -NCH Software Team Replied July 2020 --- ### It used to be the best but not reliable enough for me. - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Faith B. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Legal Services - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used monthly for more than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2024 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Easy to use. Been using it from day one, but audio has some issues compared to FTW so I use that more often. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros I have been using it for about 20 years. I also use FTR and FTW. The audio sometimes is not as good as FTW but I would rate it a 7 out of 10. Staff is very helpful for any issues arising. #### Cons Audio quality varies. Not as good as FTW. --- ### Easy and fast transcription software - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Timothy T. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Automotive - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 12 months - Reviewed: April 2021 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Very easy to use even without a guide. I like the ability to use a USB petal to rewind and fastforward the audio. Supports all of the major audio formats to import and supports copy paste and ability to save the text after transcription is done. #### Cons No issues at all. The interface is pretty basic but it just makes it much easier and faster to integrate to your transcription needs. --- ### Great for transcribing - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: erica b. - Industry: Information Services - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used daily for less than 12 months - Reviewed: October 2018 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. I do love Express Scribe. It is the best transcription software that I have used. I've tried a couple different softwares and this one is by far the easiest to transfer files and just use in general. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros I love that I was able to use my foot pedal with this software, which made my transcribing work so much faster and easier. #### Cons I had to pay for the upgraded software just to use my foot pedal. I feel as though you should be able to use the foot pedal with the basic software. --- ### Easy to use - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Rebecca F. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Publishing - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used monthly for more than 2 years - Reviewed: July 2022 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. It works well. I dislike their business model. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros It provides a hands-free format to transcribe dictations and organizes my audio files in one place. #### Cons I have to purchase it over and over if I want to upgrade to new versions. --- ### The best transcribing software I know! - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Alex C. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Entertainment - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used monthly for less than 12 months - Reviewed: July 2020 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. I looked for a good transcribing software for a long time and this is the best I one I've found thus far. I don't think I'll be looking anymore either. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros It's very easy to use. It took me 5 minutes to figure it out once I'd downloaded it. I love the hot keys feature as I don't have a foot pedal to start and stop audio. #### Cons I haven't found any issues yet. And as long as you're not using it for commercial use, there is a free version which is great if you need to try it out first. #### Vendor response Hi there, Thank you very much for your balanced and fair review. We are glad that you are happy with our software. It's something we've worked hard on and we're pleased our efforts resonated with you. -NCH Software Team Replied August 2020 --- ### Affordable and intuitive for inexperienced users - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Megan H. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Writing and Editing - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used monthly for less than 6 months - Reviewed: February 2020 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Positive, definitely a good value, though I've used programs I enjoyed more. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros It was affordable enough to purchase for a 1 time job to try it out, and it was very intuitive to use--I recommend it for anyone who needs a simple transcription program. #### Cons I like to incorporate a lot of timestamps, often adding comments, etc. It doesn't make this very easy, really. Not a deal breaker but it could be improved. #### Vendor response Hello Megan, Thank you for contacting us, we really appreciate your feedback. In our efforts to enhance our products, we want to hear from you. You can contact our Development Team directly with your feedback here: https://www.nch.com.au/suggestions/index.html We look forward to hearing form you. -NCH Software Team Replied February 2020 --- ### Best Software for Transcribing - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Caroline I. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Translation and Localization - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: September 2018 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Generally, I think express scribe is the best software for transcribing. No tool can much up to the functionality that comes with it. I would advice an upcoming transcriber to give it a shot. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros My most favorite thing about Express Scribe is that it has many features that help you work faster. Some of this features include shortcuts for starting/stopping the audio, rewinding, forwarding, playing fast speed, playing slow speed. I think my favorite feature is the setting that allows you to 'auto backstep on stop.' This allows you to automatically rewind a word or two from where you left off. I have always loved this feature because it allows you to have a smooth continuity as you are transcribing. making you work faster. Another thing I like about Express Scribe is that it easy to use. The software is less than 1 MB and the process of installing it is very starting forward and first. Once you have it installed, it is just a matter of dragging and dropping an audio file into the, and you can begin transcribing immediately. Since Express scribe is a desktop application, you do not need an internet connection to use the software. As a transcriber, this can significantly reduce your data costs. #### Cons The challenge I have always had with Express Scribe is that some of its shortcuts interfere with the application's shortcuts on your machine. For example, in Microsoft Powerpoint, the key F5 is for switching to slide mode but it doesn't work if Express Scribe is on since the same key is a shortcut to do something else in Express Scribe. Another challenge with Express Scribe is that the writing interface doesn't have auto correct options like those of word. This forces you to copy paste your work to another application for editing and proofreading. --- ### Transcription at ease with Express Scribe - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Irfanudeenj S. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: E-Learning - Company size: 5001-10000 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 12 months - Reviewed: April 2022 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Overall it was a good experience for me with Express Scribe. I use Express Scribe mostly as a text-to-speech convertor, so It is really helpful in intaking the textual contexts in an audio format, with modified speed like slow play and fast play. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 3/5 - Functionality: 3/5 #### Pros Express Scribe is very quick in its functioning, an easy to deploy and ready to use application. It is very simple to use, no need of technical knowledge or training. I used Express Scribe to hear the audio notes, sales pitch, call notes, conduction pitches. It act as my secondary transcription based audio player in my routine then. #### Cons I use trial version initially, but I face lot of technical glitches while using the application. The application went auto-stop for no reasons, after the premium subscription the issue reduces. The support team need to reduce the response time for a query. --- ### The Ultimate Tool for Transcriptionists - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Frederick o. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Computer Software - Company size: 51-200 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for less than 12 months - Reviewed: October 2018 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Generally, I think Express Scribe is the best tool for transcription. I have not come across a software that beats Express scribe regarding transcription functionality. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros I think Express Scribe is the ultimate tool for transcribers because of its numerous and powerful features. I like Express scribe because it has so many settings which help you make the process of transcribing easy. Examples of such settings include the sub-tab for 'playback' where you can specify settings for either playing 'increasing speed' or 'constant speed,' 'default slow playback speed,' 'default fast playback speed,' 'autobackstep on stop,' among other settings. Another cool thing about Express Scribe is the numerous shortcuts which help you work faster. F9 is for playing, F4 for stopping, F7 for rewinding, F8 For fast forwarding, among other shortcuts. These shortcuts are really awesome. I don't know what I would do without the shortcuts. Another advantage of Express scribe is that it is easy to integrate it with other software for more functionality. For example, you can connect Express Scribe with software that converts audio to text. Your work will be easier since the only thing you need to do is edit the transcript that has been done with the software. #### Cons The disadvantage of Express Scribe is that the interface offered by the software for typing is not the best since it doesn't help in proofreading. Like it doesn't show you misspelled words and other corrections like Microsoft Word does. I actually don't use the interface anymore. I use Express Scribe for everything else but when it comes to typing out my transcripts, I use Microsoft Word. In short, I use Express Scribe and Microsoft Word simultaneously. Another challenge with Express scribe is that it is not free. They only offer a trial period for the software. After the trial period, you have to pay for the software. --- ### Customer support is unacceptable! - Overall rating: 3/5 - Reviewer: Deborah D. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Writing and Editing - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: March 2021 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered I'm frustrated that my problem wasn't solved and that the company stopped communicating with me. Seems if a product doesn't perform then the least they could do is offer the money back. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 3/5 #### Pros I've been using Express Scribe for ten years and until this upgrade I thought I'd be using it until I retire. #### Cons I could not get the reverse F7 button to reverse, nor could I get the button on my foot pedal to reverse. I had to buy the program again (fourth time in ten years) because I bought a new computer. I had several email exchanges with several different tech support people and followed all their instructions. When I requested a link to an older version 9.11 as opposed to 10.05, they stopped replying to my emails completely. When you purchase a product it should work, no matter what the price. I am now using FTW Transcription. #### Reasons for choosing Express Scribe It was a great program until this last upgrade. You've lost a customer forever. #### Vendor response Hi Deborah, we're sorry you had a negative experience. Your feedback is very important to us and will forward this onto the relevant department. If you do want to try out a previous version of the software, you can download the file from http://www.oldversiondownload.com/ Replied March 2021 --- ### Express Scribe Makes Transcription Less Stressful - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Deloris S. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Writing and Editing - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2022 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros I can find and load my audio onto Express Scribe easily. I can listen to the audio and apply background reduction or increase the volume. You can use hot keys or a foot pedal with this software. Express Scribe allows you to use videos to transcribe. This is helpful when you are unsure of who is talking when you are transcribing. #### Cons There is no free version of this software. You have to pay a one-time fee. The background reduction feature can help or hurt the audio. It has been times when the reduction feature made the audio worse for me. Also, I never learned how to timestamp using this software. #### Reasons for switching to Express Scribe It only played for 15 minutes, unless you paid for it monthly. --- ### Most common but not the best - Overall rating: 1/5 - Reviewer: Gwen R. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Medical Practice - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2022 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered I used it for a few years with general transcription as a free product and it worked okay. I stopped using it for 5 years when I worked for a company that had it's own software. When I became an independent contractor and tried to use Express Scribe again, it was very expensive, I could not get the trial to even work properly, and the sound quality was TERRIBLE. I went searching for something else and found something that was way better in every way and have used that software ever since. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 1/5 #### Pros I did not like anything about it. I wasn't user friendly at all and the sound quality was horrible. #### Cons Terrible sound quality, not at all user friendly, expensive. --- ### Express Scribe is great. It NEVER crashes. It is very easy to install and use. I love it! - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Diana F. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: April 2018 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered The ease of install and use. It worked immediately with my peda. I recommend this for sure! #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros How easy it is to use, and it never crashes. It also has features where you can add notes to your files, which helps immensely. I have loaded 70+ files at once and it has never failed on me! #### Cons I switched computers, and was had to re-buy the program. I had my original receipt, but for some reason, I had to buy it again, which was a repeat of 1 year's time. #### Vendor response Hi Diana, Thank you for contacting us. Our Registration Support Team will be happy to re-send your registration code and installation file to the software you previously purchased without having to to purchase a different license. We are sorry for any frustrations this may have caused. You can contact our Registration Support Team here: http://www.nch.com.au/support/regcontact.html -NCH Software Team Replied December 2019 --- ### Use this program every day! - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Renee H. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Mental Health Care - Company size: 51-200 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: October 2018 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. I use Express Scribe every day at work. It is very user friendly, and I love how easy it is to customize. I love that you can personalize hot keys to make my job much quicker. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Customer support: 3/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros This software is very easy to customize and navigate and very user friendly! #### Cons Has not had many updates, which can be both good and bad. #### Vendor response Hi Renee, thank you for contacting us. You can download the latest version of Scribe here: https://www.nch.com.au/scribe/index.html If you have any questions or concerns with our software, our Support Team will be more than happy to help you here: https://www.nch.com.au/support/supportcontact.html?software=Scribe -NCH Software Team Replied December 2019 ## More reviews [Next reviews](https://www.softwareadvice.com/medical-transcription/express-scribe-profile/reviews/?page=2) --- Express Scribe Reviews, Pros and Cons - 2026 Software Advice