Help & frequently asked questions
Find answers about uploading audio, transcribing, generating summaries, asking questions about your recordings and managing your account.
Getting started
Dolcenota turns your audio recordings (meetings, classes, interviews) into text. Upload an audio file and get the transcript with speaker identification, a summary with key points and action items, a space to ask questions about the content, and the option to export everything as TXT, PDF, or Word (.docx).
Registration is open and free. You can sign up with your email and a password, or continue with Google or Apple. If you use email, we'll send you a verification code you must enter to activate the account. Your password must be at least 12 characters and include uppercase, lowercase, numbers and symbols.
Yes — Dolcenota is free, with a monthly minute limit per account, and no invitation is needed to join. On top of that, a one-time welcome gift may cover a recording that is longer than your free minutes; the upload screen shows whether it applies (see "Can a recording longer than my free minutes be transcribed for free?" in Usage and limits). Want more minutes? When a friend joins with your invitation and completes their first transcription, you both get 60 bonus minutes.
On the home screen, drag an audio file onto the upload area (or click to select one) and press "Transcribe". You'll see the progress in the side list; when it finishes, open the transcription to read it, summarize it or ask questions.
Dolcenota works with audio in Spanish (including Latin American and European variants) and in English. The spoken language is detected automatically — there is nothing to configure, and it doesn't have to match the language you use Dolcenota in. The transcript always keeps the language spoken in the audio; AI summaries and answers are generated in whichever language you have active in Dolcenota. Audio in other languages may produce low-quality results.
Yes. Switch the language with the ES/EN selector in the top bar (next to your account menu), also available on the sign-in screen. AI summaries and answers are generated in whichever language you have active.
Tap "Invite friends" at the bottom of the sidebar (it shows how many invitations you have available) or open it from your account menu. Each cycle you get a number of invitations; enter the person's email. Your friend must sign up with exactly that email (also when using Google or Apple); with another address we can't match the bonus. When your friend joins with your invitation and completes their first transcription, you both get 60 bonus minutes — you earn them with every friend who joins. After you send an invitation, "Copy message" (or "Share" where your browser offers it) gives you a ready-to-send note for your friend, so you can tell them yourself. Your invitation allowance replenishes each cycle.
Yes. Dolcenota runs in the browser on your computer, tablet or phone, iPhone or Android, with nothing to install. Just open dolcenota.com and sign in.
Uploading audio
MP3, MP4, WAV, OGG, OPUS (WhatsApp voice notes), FLAC, AAC, M4A, WebM, MOV, QTA (QuickTime Player audio recordings on Mac) and CAF (Apple's Core Audio Format, such as voice messages saved from the Messages app), with a maximum of 2 GB and 4 hours per file. You can also upload video as MP4, MOV or WebM: only the audio track is transcribed (the images are not analyzed). And if you'd rather not upload a file, you can record audio on the spot from the «Record» tab on the home screen, right in your browser.
Recordings from Apple's Voice Memos app are saved as M4A, a fully supported format. On iPhone or iPad: open Voice Memos, pick the recording, tap the share button and choose "Save to Files"; then, in Dolcenota, tap the upload area and select the file from the Files app. On Mac: open Voice Memos and drag the recording from the list to your Desktop or a folder, then drag it onto the upload area in your browser (or find it via "Choose a file"). Audio recordings made with QuickTime Player on Mac (.qta files) are supported too — upload them as-is.
Voice messages from Apple's Messages app are CAF files, and Dolcenota accepts them. In the conversation, touch and hold the voice message and choose the option to share or save it, then pick "Save to Files" (the menu wording can vary a little between iOS versions). Then, in Dolcenota, tap the upload area and select the file from the Files app. No conversion needed.
It means your browser couldn't decode the file to determine its duration. Convert it to MP3 or WAV with any audio converter and try again.
Yes. Select several audios in the upload area and they're combined, in order, into one continuous transcription — handy for a batch of voice notes. The Free plan combines up to 5 audios per transcription; paid plans allow more. And you don't have to wait for a transcription to finish before starting another: go back home with "+ New transcription" and upload the next one.
The most common causes are an unstable connection or a file over the limits. Check your connection, confirm the file meets the format and limits (2 GB, 4 hours) and try again.
Transcriptions
Usually a few minutes; long recordings take longer. You can close the page and come back later: processing continues and the transcription will show as "Completed" when it's ready.
The system automatically separates the people speaking and labels them "Speaker 1", "Speaker 2", and so on. Accuracy depends on audio quality: clear voices, little background noise and avoiding crosstalk improve the result.
Yes. In the "Transcript" tab, tap a speaker label (e.g. "Speaker 1", next to the pencil icon) and type their name. The name is used across the transcript, in exports and in AI answers; if you had already generated a summary, the names are updated there automatically. Leave the field empty to go back to the original label. If the audio picks up an extra speaker that's really a fragment of someone already listed, use "Merge into…" to fold it into the right speaker — "Undo" reverses it at any time. When the app hears names but can't tell for sure who is who, it suggests them: tap the right one, or choose "Other name…" to type it. Names detected automatically are marked "Auto" until you check them.
Yes. Once you have around eight finished transcriptions, a folder button appears under the search box: open it to switch between folders, or choose “New folder…” to create one. To file a transcription, open its ⋯ menu and choose “Move to…” (or use the folder button in the transcript header). “Select” lets you file several at once, and “Undo” appears right after a move. Each transcription is in one folder at a time, and “Unfiled” shows the ones you haven't filed yet. Folders are free on every plan. Deleting a folder never deletes your transcriptions: they go back to Unfiled. “Export all” groups the ZIP by folder.
Record close to the speakers, in a place with little noise and no background music; use an external microphone if you can; and avoid several people talking at once.
Editing inside the app isn't available yet. If you need to fix something, export the transcript as TXT and edit it in your favorite text editor.
Yes. The search box above your list looks in the titles and in everything that was said in your transcriptions. Type at least 2 characters and the results show the passages that match, with the time they were said; click one to open the transcription at that moment. Put a phrase in “quotes” to find those exact words together. Search is free and your text stays private to your account. If the library is still being prepared, a note tells you how many transcriptions are searchable so far; titles are always searchable.
Upload the file again. If it fails again, convert the audio to MP3 or WAV and retry: corrupted files or unusual encodings are the most frequent cause. When a transcription fails, the minutes it would have used go back to your account automatically.
Yes. Open the transcription and press the trash icon next to the title; we'll ask you to confirm. Deletion is permanent and immediate: the audio, transcript, summary and Q&A conversation are erased, and it cannot be undone.
Summaries and questions
Open the transcription, go to the «Summary» tab and press «Generate summary» (many recordings summarize automatically when they finish). The summary adapts to what your audio is: alongside the overview and key points, it can include decisions and agreements, key data (names, figures, dates) and the tasks each speaker actually committed to. If the audio has no tasks, that section simply doesn't appear. A green dot on the tab means the summary is ready.
You can ask anything about that transcript's content: agreements, dates, who said what, follow-ups… Dolcinea answers questions about the recording using only the transcript as its source, and it doesn't search the internet. Questions about how Dolcenota works (plans, limits, exports…) are answered from our help guide instead. The conversation is saved with the transcription.
They're generated by AI and, while usually faithful, they can contain errors or omissions. For important decisions, verify the facts directly in the transcript.
Yes. With the summary open, use the "View in Spanish" (or "View in English") button at the top. The translation is generated once and saved, so you can switch between both languages instantly.
Press "Retry summary". If the transcription is still processing, wait until it shows "Completed" before generating the summary.
Exporting
From the "Export" tab you can download the transcript, the summary or both, as TXT, PDF, or Word (.docx). Pick the format with the selector at the top.
Yes, on every plan. Press "Export all" above your recent transcriptions on the home screen, or open the "Export" tab of any transcription and look for "Export all my transcriptions". Choose TXT, PDF or Word (.docx) and press "Prepare download": we put every finished transcription, with its summary when it has one, into a single ZIP file. Press "Download ZIP" when it is ready. The download link is short-lived: if it stops working, press "Download ZIP" again for a fresh one, or prepare a new file after a short wait. Transcriptions that are still processing are left out of that file and included the next time.
The options that include the summary are enabled after you generate it. Go to the "Summary" tab, press "Generate summary" and come back to "Export" when it's ready.
Account and security
Open your account menu (top right) → "My account" → "Profile" section. Type the new name and press "Save changes".
Open your account menu (top right) → "My account" → "Security" section. You'll need your current password. If you sign in with Google or Apple, your password is managed by that provider and isn't changed here.
On the sign-in screen, press "Forgot your password?", enter your email and we'll send you a code to create a new one. This only applies to email-and-password accounts; if you use Google or Apple, recover access with that provider.
It's an optional extra layer of security: besides your password, you'll be asked for a 6-digit code from an authenticator app (Google Authenticator, Authy, etc.). Turn it on in "My account" → "Security". It's available for email-and-password accounts; Google and Apple accounts use their own provider's security.
The account email can't be changed for now.
Open "My account" → "Danger zone" → "Delete account" and type DELETE to confirm. Your account is deactivated immediately and all your content (transcriptions, summaries and conversations) is permanently deleted after 7 days.
Yes, within the following 7 days: sign in and press "Reactivate my account". The deletion is cancelled and you get all your content back. After 7 days, deletion is final and irreversible.
Usage and limits
Each account has a per-cycle limit of transcription minutes. Check your usage and your limit in "My account" → "Usage this cycle". The counter resets every cycle, on the same day of the month you signed up.
By the actual duration of the transcribed audio. For example, a 30-minute recording uses 30 minutes of your limit, regardless of file size.
New transcriptions are blocked until your cycle resets, on the same day of the month you signed up. Meanwhile, your existing transcriptions, summaries, questions and exports remain available. If a one-time welcome gift is available to you, a recording longer than the minutes you have left may still go through once; the upload screen shows whether it applies (see "Can a recording longer than my free minutes be transcribed for free?"). If you can't wait, you can upgrade your plan from "Plans" in your account menu. On the Free plan you can also buy a one-time top-up of extra minutes there (top-ups never expire and need no subscription). Deleting your account and re-registering does not reset the limit.
It can be. Dolcenota has a one-time welcome gift for Free accounts with a verified email. When it's available, it can cover a recording that is longer than the minutes you have left this month: instead of blocking it, Dolcenota transcribes it for free the first time that happens. Availability can change, so don't count on it before you upload: when you pick your file, the upload screen shows whether the gift applies to you, how much it covers and whether your recording fits. When it applies, it doesn't use your monthly minutes and it doesn't change your plan: the Free plan keeps giving you 60 minutes every month, you aren't charged, and you're never moved to a paid plan automatically. You can use it on one recording, or on one batch of up to 5 files uploaded together. Recordings that already fit in your remaining minutes are counted as usual and don't use up the gift. If the gift isn't available, your account isn't eligible, or a recording is longer than the gift covers, the normal monthly limit applies and the upload screen tells you before you start.
Yes. Alongside the free plan (60 minutes per month with every feature), we offer the Plus, Pro and Power plans with more minutes and higher limits. On the Free plan, if you only need extra minutes once, you can also buy a top-up (no subscription, the minutes never expire). You can subscribe on the web with a card; in Mexico we also offer one-time payments via OXXO or bank transfer (SPEI). Open "Plans" in your account menu to see prices and compare; you can change or cancel your plan any time from "Plans".
Yes, within 14 days of a charge, if you haven't used the minutes it paid for: we refund that charge in full and the plan or minutes it paid for stop being active. Write to billing@dolcenota.com from your account's email address, or use "Send feedback" in your account menu, and tell us the date and amount of the charge. We aim to reply within 5 business days; the money usually takes another 5 to 10 business days to appear on your statement. "Unused" means no minutes were transcribed in the period the charge paid for, or that a top-up is still whole in your balance; AI questions and exports don't use minutes. Outside that window, or if you've already used minutes from the charge, you can cancel renewal any time from "Plans": you keep the plan until the end of the period you paid for. Full details are in section 18 of the Terms of Use.
You can cancel yourself, at any time, from "Plans" → "Manage subscription". There is no penalty and no cancellation fee, and you keep the plan until the end of the period you already paid for. Before every automatic renewal we email you the amount and the date of the charge, at least five calendar days in advance, so you can cancel first if you do not want to renew. Prepaid passes (OXXO or bank transfer) do not renew — there is nothing to cancel.
No. A subscription or minute pack is tied to the Dolcenota account you were signed in with when you bought it, and its benefits apply only to that account. If you have more than one account, sign in to the one you want to upgrade before you buy.
Privacy and data
Your content is tied to your account and is not visible to other users. It is transmitted encrypted and stored encrypted on our servers. Only our authorized personnel (operations and safety review) and the providers that process it on our behalf can access it.
Write to abuse@dolcenota.com. Use it if you own a copyright you believe was infringed, if you think someone uploaded a recording you appear in without your consent, or if you think content breaks the Terms of Use. Tell us who you are, what you're reporting and anything that helps us find it: content in Dolcenota accounts is private and is never published, so there is no public link and a description alone usually isn't enough; it helps to know who uploaded it and when and where the recording was made. Don't attach the material you believe is illegal — describe it. A person reviews every report, no system deletes anything on its own, nothing is deleted before it's reviewed, and we aim to acknowledge within 5 business days. The full procedure, including copyright counter-notices, is in section 19 of the Terms of Use.
No. Your audio, transcripts and conversations are not used to train AI models.
Only when the assistant can't answer. Then we keep the text of that question for up to 30 days to find and fix gaps in our help. We store the question without your name, your account, your IP address or the time you asked, and it is deleted within 30 days. It is never shown next to your account and we do not use it to contact you. Emails, phone and card numbers, links, file names and handles are removed automatically before storage. A name someone types into their own question can still be in the text. Only authorized Dolcenota personnel can read it. Questions you ask about your own recordings are never stored this way. Please don't include personal details in your questions. The Privacy Policy explains how to ask us to remove something you typed by mistake.
If you tap the thumbs up or down under an answer from Dolcinea, we save that rating without your name or account. We keep only the rating (up or down), the language, a general topic, whether the answer came from our help or from your recording, and the day. There is no text box, so nothing you type is saved, and we don't keep the answer itself. The rating is deleted automatically after about 90 days. We only look at totals to see where our answers can improve: a rating doesn't change the answer you were given, and we don't reply to it. If you want to tell us something specific, use "Send feedback". The Privacy Policy has the details.
The personal glossary is a list of names and terms you want spelled your way, for example a colleague's name or a product. If you use it, your terms are saved on your account (up to 300) and can include other people's names, so add only what you are comfortable keeping. We use them only to suggest spelling corrections on your own finished transcripts; the matching is automatic, does not use AI, and nothing changes until you tap Apply. Your terms are stored with the rest of your account data on Amazon Web Services (AWS), are not shared and are never used to train AI. You can remove a term whenever you like, and all of them are deleted for good when your account is deleted.
The glossary checks spelling, accents and capital letters against the terms you added, and suggests a fix when a word looks almost the same. It can't fix words the transcript split or merged, for example “tres ex” instead of “3X”. It also works on transcripts you already have: when you open a finished transcript, you'll see suggestions for your terms, not only on new ones. You add your terms under “Your glossary” in My account. Nothing changes until you tap Apply, and you can revert it afterwards.
When you name a speaker (or accept a suggested name), Dolcenota can offer that same name as a suggestion the next time you name speakers. It works from the names you typed or accepted in your own transcripts, never from anyone's voice, and it does not use AI. Names the system detected on its own (marked "Auto") and you never confirmed are not remembered. It only suggests: it never names anyone for you, and if a suggestion is wrong you ignore it or tap another name. It checks up to 400 of your transcriptions, so on a very long history some names may not appear. Your own first name can also show up as a suggestion. In your account you can switch the suggestions off, forget a single name or forget everyone; your transcripts keep the speaker names you gave them, and a forgotten name can come back if you name that person again. These names can belong to other people, so name only whom you are comfortable having remembered. The suggestions are built from your transcripts, so deleting a transcript removes the names that only came from it. They are stored with the rest of your account data on Amazon Web Services (AWS), are not shared and are never used to train AI; deleting your account removes them for good after 7 days.
Your plan sets how long each transcription is kept, counted from the day it finishes processing: Free, 30 days; Plus and Pro, 1 year; Power, no time limit. We do not delete transcriptions automatically yet: until we start, we keep them while your account is active, and we will tell you in the app and by email in advance. When the limit applies, the transcription will be deleted completely, along with its summary and conversation, and cannot be recovered. If your paid plan ends, the Free plan's 30-day limit will apply to your older transcriptions 14 days later; we will tell you by email and in the app first. Exports you generate are deleted automatically after 7 days. You can export your transcriptions at any time (Export tab: TXT, PDF or Word), export everything at once, or delete them yourself. The original audio or video file is removed automatically about 72 hours after the transcription finishes. If you delete your account, all your content is permanently deleted after 7 days (the period during which you can still reactivate it).
Troubleshooting
We're performing maintenance tasks. Your content is safe; wait a few minutes and reload the page.
Long recordings can take quite a few minutes. If it doesn't progress after a good while, reload the page; if it shows "Failed", upload the file again (ideally as MP3 or WAV).
That means the transcription finished but no words were found, so nothing was written. When that happens we try not to use your minutes, and the card tells you whether they were handed back. There is a limit on how many no-speech files are handed back per billing period; past it the minutes are counted and the card says so. Check that the recording isn't silent or cut off and that you picked the right file. Audio in languages other than Spanish or English may not work well. You can tap the audio's language on the card to tell us what it is, or send us feedback from your account menu (top right) if you think the file does have speech.
Phone browsers can pause the microphone when the screen locks or you switch to another app. While recording, keep Dolcenota open and on screen until you tap Stop. For long recordings, plug your phone in and turn on Do Not Disturb so a call or notification doesn't interrupt.
Check your spam or junk folder, confirm you typed your email correctly and wait a few minutes. Codes expire: if a lot of time has passed, request a new one.
Reload the page and sign in again. If the problem persists, clear your browser cache or try a private window.
Open your account menu (top right) → "Send feedback". Pick the type (idea, problem, something you liked) and tell us. We read every piece of feedback — it's our main guide for what to improve.