Set It and Forget It: Automate Transcription with Watch Folders

What a watch folder does

You point Audio Note at a folder and it keeps an eye on it. When a new audio or video file lands there, it is queued and transcribed with the settings you chose for that folder, and can be exported as subtitles or text automatically.

The point is to turn transcription from a task you schedule into part of your routine. Wherever your recorder export, phone sync, or video render drops files, transcription happens there.

Works on Mac and Windows.

When to use it, and when not to

Good fit:

Meeting recordings or interview files keep landing in the same place
A content team produces new material every day
You want processing to run in the background or overnight

Less useful:

You only handle a few files now and then; drag them into file transcription instead
You have not settled on a model and parameters yet; test a few samples by hand first, then hand the proven setup to the watch folder

A watch folder does not replace testing. It scales a workflow you have already validated.

Setting it up

Open "Folder Watch" in the sidebar.
Click "Add Watch" and choose the folder. The display name is optional and defaults to the folder name.
Set the transcription parameters for this folder: model, language, and so on.
Turn on "Auto Export" if you want files written out, and choose the format and path.
Save.

If the folder already contains media, Audio Note asks which existing files to transcribe now. Unselected files are marked as skipped and will not be offered again on the next start or resume. By default, a watch only processes files that arrive later.

Per-folder settings

Setting	What it does	Plan
Transcription parameters	Each folder has its own model and language	All
Auto export	Write subtitle or text files after transcription, with format and path	Standard and up
Recursive monitoring	Include subfolders	Pro
Include hidden folders	Process files in hidden directories	Pro
System notification	Notify on completion or failure when the app is in the background	All
Delete source file	Permanently delete the original after successful transcription	All, use with care

How many folders you can watch depends on the plan: 1 on Free, 5 on Standard, 20 on Pro. See the pricing page.

A common setup is one folder per purpose: a fast model for routine meetings, a more accurate one for important interviews, each exporting somewhere different.

Three workflows

Interviews

Record on your phone or recorder.
Save to a cloud folder that syncs to your computer.
When sync finishes, the file appears in the watched folder and transcription starts.
A text export is written automatically, and the transcript is ready to edit and summarize in the app.

Podcast production

Export the raw episode into the watched folder.
Audio Note transcribes it and exports SRT subtitles.
Use the transcript for show notes and chapters; use the subtitles for the video version.

More repurposing ideas in the content creator's toolkit.

Research archive

Put meeting recordings, lectures, and interviews into project subfolders.
Enable recursive monitoring (Pro) to cover them all.
Go do something else while the queue works through them.
Come back to a searchable archive.

Queue and task status

Each file moves through pending, converting, transcribing, and completed; failures show a reason. You can:

view and copy the transcript
export it, or export or move it to Notes
retry failed tasks one by one or in bulk
stop a running task; the record moves to "Cancelled" so you can retry later
ignore a file so it is not offered again on the next start or resume

Pausing a watch only stops discovering new files. Tasks already queued or processing keep running.

Duplicate files

If a new file has the same content as one already in the watched folder, Audio Note flags it as a duplicate and lets you keep both, replace the existing one, or skip. That prevents the same recording being transcribed several times when a cloud folder resyncs.

Common issues and tips

The watch folder reports an error. If the folder was deleted, permissions changed, a network share dropped, or an external drive was unplugged, that watch pauses automatically and shows the error. Restore access and resume.

Some files were not processed. Usually one of three things: an unsupported format (MP3, MP4, WAV, M4A and other common formats are supported), a hidden file while "Include Hidden Folders" is off, or a file locked by another app.

Cloud sync. Let files finish syncing locally first. Online-only placeholder files can give the transcriber an incomplete file.

Watching the Downloads folder. Not recommended; it fills with temporary files. Use a dedicated "to process" folder.

Delete source file. Only enable it when the originals are backed up elsewhere. Deletion is permanent.

Checklist

Item	Advice
Prove it by hand first	Transcribe a few samples manually before automating
Single-purpose folder	Only media waiting to be processed
Avoid huge folders at first	Split by project or month
Naming	Date, project, and interviewee in the file name
Review failures	A few minutes a day keeps the queue clean
Access	Check who can read shared and cloud folders

FAQ

What about files added while the computer was asleep or off? When Audio Note starts again or the watch resumes, it lists the new media and lets you pick which to transcribe. Unpicked files are skipped and not offered again.

Does watching use a lot of resources? Watching itself is cheap. Transcription is what costs time, depending on the model, hardware, and audio length.

Is it on the free plan? Yes, one folder. Auto export starts at Standard; recursive and hidden folders are Pro.

Can I transcribe other files manually at the same time? Yes. File transcription concurrency is one shared setting; more parallel tasks means each runs slower. Start with 1 or 2.