Forum Discussion
“Word Online Transcribe shows ‘Go Premium’ despite active Microsoft 365 Family subscription”
On all of my Chromebook devices, Word Online Transcribe shows ‘Go Premium’ despite an active Microsoft 365 Family subscription. So, I'm effectively blocked from using that function because it requires an upgrade that I already have. I have already contacted support. Support replied:
Microsoft confirmed a recent bug where Transcribe incorrectly showed “Upgrade to Premium” for active subscribers. The fix was rolled back, but cached tokens may still cause issues. Clearing cookies or signing in via InPrivate usually resolves this. The “Go Premium” message in Word Online’s Transcribe feature is a known bug, not a new paywall, and it persists for some Microsoft 365 subscribers even with an active plan.
However, their suggested fixes (clearing cache, reinstalling PWA, updating Chrome OS, setting language to English US) have not resolved this problem for me. Support was not able to provide any further potential solutions. They suggested using OneNote dictation, which uses the same transcription protocol, but I haven't figured out how to use it on OneNote, as I typically don't use it. Also, the main use case for me is to upload recorded content and having Word Online transcribe with time stamps and speaker labels. Other than buying another service to do this, MS Word Online was the best way to achieve this.
7 Replies
Thank you for your response. I have a Windows machine, and I tried Word Online using the Edge browser. Same problem as in Chrome. So, this does not appear to be a Chrome or Chrome OS issue. As for subscription recognition, the menu path you suggest doesn't exist. Word Online does not have an Account option under File.
Recording a recording for transcription is not an option for me. I use Evernote, which will automatically transcribe from a recording. However, the strength of Word's transcription is timestamps and speaker labels. The transcription is useless to me without those. Fortunately, when I opened the desktop version of Word, I noted that the transcription function is working on that desktop version. So, I will have to use that method until a solution for the online issue is found.
Thank you for your response. I have a Windows machine, and I tried Word Online using the Edge browser. Same problem as in Chrome. So, this does not appear to be a Chrome or Chrome OS issue. As for subscription recognition, the menu path you suggest doesn't exist. Word Online does not have an Account option under File.
Recording a recording for transcription is not an option for me. I use Evernote, which will automatically transcribe from a recording. However, the strength of Word's transcription is timestamps and speaker labels. The transcription is useless to me without those. Fortunately, when I opened the desktop version of Word, I noted that the transcription function is working on that desktop version. So, I will have to use that method until a solution for the online issue is found.
Some more workarounds you may consider:
- Use Microsoft Edge (via Linux container or Android app): If your Chromebook supports Linux apps, try installing Edge and accessing Word Online from there.
- Try a Different Device Temporarily: If you have access to a Windows or macOS device, try logging into Word Online there. This can help confirm whether the issue is device-specific.
- Check Subscription Recognition: Go to Word Online > File > Account and confirm that your subscription is recognized. Sometimes the service doesn’t properly detect the license on certain devices.
- Use OneNote Dictation as a Stopgap:
Open OneNote Online
Create a new page
Click the Dictate button (microphone icon) in the toolbar
Play your recording near the mic or use a virtual audio cable to route audio
While it doesn’t support file uploads or speaker labels, it can help with basic transcription
Thank you for your response. I have a Windows machine, and I tried Word Online using the Edge browser. Same problem as in Chrome. So, this does not appear to be a Chrome or Chrome OS issue. As for subscription recognition, the menu path you suggest doesn't exist. As you can see in the image below, Word online does not have an Account option under File. Recording a recording for transcription is not an option for me. I use Evernote, which will automatically transcribe from a recording. However, the strength of Word's transcription is timestamps and speaker labels. The transcription is useless to me without those. Fortunately, when I opened the desktop version of Word, I noted that the transcription function is working on that desktop version. So, I will have to use that method until a solution for the online issue is found.
Thank you for your response. I have a Windows machine and tried using Word Online in Edge. It has the same problem. So, it doesn't seem to be a Chrome or Chrome OS issue.
Subscription recognition: As pictured below, Word Online > File > Account does not exist. There is no Account under File on Word Online. Nonetheless, I opened the Windows desktop app and made sure it recognized my account. My account is recognized regardless of platform. Online transcription still does not work.
Transcription does function for the desktop app version of Word on my Windows machine, so I will have to resort to that method unless a solution to the online issue can be found.
The strength of the Word transcription is timestamps and speaker labels for uploaded recordings. So, the alternatives you suggest are not capable of doing that kind of thing. I have Evernote, which will transcribe recordings automatically without having to record from a recording. However, it does not do timestamps or speaker labels.Thanks for your response. I do have a Windows machine and I tried the transcription in Word online in Edge, and it still has the same problem, even in a non-Chrome browser. I also opened the Word app/program on the Windows machine and confirmed my subscription is recognized. None of those things has solved the problem of accessing transcription in Word Online in any browser. I think it's not a Chrome or ChromeOS issue, but a Microsoft issue. I do note that in the Word app/program on Windows, the uploading of a recording for transcription with timestamps and labels works as it should on that machine. So, for the time being, I'll have to use that method.
