How to get a transcript of a podcast

Podcasts are usually heard in passing: on a run, during a commute, while cooking. That’s part of their appeal, and it’s also why a good point from an episode is hard to get back. You remember a guest recommending a book, or a figure about housing costs, or a framework for running one-to-ones, and you can’t remember which episode it was, let alone the minute.

This page covers how people usually get podcast transcripts, where those routes run short, and how to save episodes to Fabric so their transcripts are searchable together and you can ask questions with answers tied to timestamps.

How people usually get podcast transcripts

The listening app is the first place to look. Apple Podcasts shows transcripts for many episodes, and Spotify displays them for some shows. They’re good for following along or checking a word you didn’t catch. The text stays inside the player, which suits reading along more than gathering quotes from several episodes for an essay or a work project.

Some shows publish their own transcripts on their website, often a week or so after the episode. Coverage depends entirely on the show: well-funded interview podcasts tend to have them, and smaller shows often don’t.

For the rest, people download the MP3 and run it through a transcription service such as Otter, Rev, or a Whisper-based app. That produces a full transcript, at the cost of finding the audio file, uploading it, and then storing a text file that has no link back to the episode or to whatever notes you took while listening. Doing this for a back catalog of fifty episodes is a project in itself.

Step 1: Save the episode to Fabric

Fabric transcribes podcast links. Copy the episode’s link from your podcast app or the show’s website and paste it into Fabric, where it becomes a bookmark. On iOS or Android, use Share in the podcast app and choose Fabric; the apps are on the mobile download page. On a computer, the browser extension for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox saves the episode page while you’re on it.

If you have the audio file itself, for example episodes of your own show, upload it instead. Fabric transcribes uploaded MP3, WAV, and M4A files, and uploading handles large numbers of files at once.

You can add a comment as you save, such as “guest recommends a book around the middle”, which gives you something to search for later on top of the transcript.

Step 2: Open the transcript

Transcription needs a paid plan, as shown on the pricing page. On a paid plan, Fabric transcribes the episode and you can read the transcript from the saved item. Guest names and niche terms are worth correcting, since transcripts in Fabric can be edited.

Fabric also writes a summary of the episode and extracts the topics it covers. Smart collections you set up can use those topics, so a collection for episodes about management or nutrition gathers matching episodes from different shows without you sorting them.

Step 3: Search across every episode you’ve saved

Press Cmd+F (Mac) / Ctrl+F (Windows) or click Search. Fabric search covers transcribed audio alongside your articles, PDFs, and notes, and results open at the timestamp where the words were said. Searching “the book about habit loops” can surface the episode, and the minute, where a guest brought it up.

If you remember an exact phrase, such as a book title or a company name, put it in quotes for strict matching. Filters for tags, location in your files, and kind of item help once the library holds hundreds of episodes next to everything else you’ve saved. Tagging episodes by show as you save them makes a single-show search a quick filter.

When one episode leads you to want more like it, use similarity search: select the saved episode and Fabric finds items like it across your library, including articles and notes as well as other episodes.

Step 4: Ask the AI about one episode or a whole show

Gather a show’s episodes in a folder, open it, and open the AI assistant. It works within that folder. Ask “what does the host recommend for running remote one-to-ones?” or “which guests disagreed about remote work, and what did each say?” Answers cite the episodes with clickable timestamps, so you can listen to the original before quoting it.

You can ask follow-up questions in the same conversation, and one subscription covers models from the major labs, including Gemini, OpenAI, Claude, DeepSeek, Grok, and Qwen, if you want to try the same question on another model.

Step 5: Keep what you learn next to the episodes

Save useful answers as notes. A note titled with the theme, sitting in the same folder as the episodes it came from, is easy to extend in the Fabric editor as you listen to more. Readers who keep a commonplace book can use the same pattern; the commonplace book guide explains the approach.

Podcasts are one source among many. How to save everything you find online in one place covers bringing articles, videos, and posts into the same library so a single search covers all of them.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get a transcript of a podcast episode?

Check the listening app or the show’s website first. To get a transcript you can search and question in one library, save the episode link or audio file to Fabric on a paid plan.

Can Fabric transcribe a podcast from the link?

Yes. Fabric transcribes podcast links, so you don’t need to find and download the audio file.

Can I transcribe my own podcast episodes?

Yes. Upload the MP3, WAV, or M4A files and Fabric transcribes them on a paid plan. Transcripts can be edited before you use them.

Is podcast transcription free?

Not in Fabric. Transcription needs a paid plan, and the free plan doesn’t include it.

How do I find a quote from a podcast I heard months ago?

If the episode is saved in Fabric, search for what you remember. Search matches by meaning, so close wording is enough, and results open at the timestamp.

Can AI summarize a podcast episode?

Yes. Fabric writes a summary of each saved item, and the AI assistant can give a longer summary or answer specific questions, with timestamps cited.

Can I save podcast episodes from my phone?

Yes. Use the share sheet in your podcast app on iOS or Android and choose Fabric.

Can I compare what different podcasts say about the same topic?

Yes. Put the episodes in one folder and ask the AI assistant. It answers from everything in the folder and cites each episode it used.