Record lectures

Lectra records a lecture while you write, so you can go back to what was said. After class, you can play the recording, read a transcript made on your iPad, tap a line you wrote to hear what was being said at that moment, and drag through the recording to watch the page fill back in. Recordings stay on your iPad, and an hour of audio takes about 15 MB.

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Before you begin

• To record and play back: Lectra on your iPad, and permission to use the microphone. Lectra asks the first time you start a recording.
• To get transcripts: an iPad that supports Apple Intelligence, with iPadOS 26 or later, and intelligence turned on in Lectra. To learn how to turn it on, see Use Apple Intelligence in Lectra.
• To tap your notes or replay a page: the Recordings panel open beside the page. This needs a wide view, for example most iPads held in landscape with Lectra full screen. On a narrower view, the panel opens as a sheet over the page, and these two features are off.

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Start a recording

You can start a recording from your library or from inside a document. A recording you start with Record for this notebook belongs to that document from the start. A recording you start from the recorder doesn’t belong to a document yet. Lectra still finds it from any document you wrote in while it was running. To learn more, see Find your recordings.

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While you record

The recorder shows a timer, a sound level meter, and a status line. While the status line says “Saved as you record.”, everything is being saved as you go.

• Keep writing. Close the recorder to get back to your page. A small Recording pill with the elapsed time floats above the app, on every screen. Tap Open on the pill to bring the recorder back.
• Switch documents or apps. Recording continues when you open another document, leave Lectra, or lock your iPad.
• Interruptions. If a phone call or another app takes the microphone, recording pauses on its own and resumes when the microphone is free. The status line says “Paused by something else on your device. Everything so far is saved, and recording resumes on its own.”
• Low storage. If your iPad runs low on space, the status line says “Running low on space. Everything recorded so far is safe.”

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Stop a recording

If Lectra closes unexpectedly during a recording, it opens the recorder at the next launch and shows Recording recovered with how much audio was saved. Tap Keep to save it, or Delete to discard it.

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Find your recordings

You can see your recordings in two places.

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In the recorder

When nothing is recording, the recorder lists every recording on your iPad under RECORDINGS, with the total space they use. Each row shows the name and length, with a play button. To delete a recording, tap the delete button on its row, and then tap Delete. A deleted recording can’t be recovered.

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In a document

In a document, tap More actions > Recordings. On some screen sizes, a Recordings button (a waveform) also sits in the toolbar. The panel has three sections: Tap a recording to expand it. To unlink or delete it, tap More options (the three dots) on the row, and then tap Unlink from this notebook or Delete recording.

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Play a recording

Tap the play button on a recording. While it plays:

• Drag the scrubber to move to another point. Playback continues from where you let go.
• Tap the speed button to cycle through 1×, 1.25×, 1.5×, and 2×.
• Tap the pause button to stop playback.

A phone call, Siri, or unplugging headphones pauses playback. You can’t play a recording while another one is recording.

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Get a transcript

Lectra turns a recording into text on your iPad. Your recording is never uploaded. After you transcribe once, Lectra transcribes new recordings on its own when they finish. In the transcript, tap any word to play the recording from that word. The word being played is highlighted.

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Tap your notes to hear that moment

When you write during a recording, Lectra remembers when you wrote each stroke. Later, you can tap a stroke to hear what was being said as you wrote it. You can also press and hold a stroke, and then tap Play From Here. If Lectra can’t play from a stroke, it tells you why: If a recording’s timing drifted, Lectra says the position is approximate, and the length shows as “about”.

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Replay how a page was written

You can drag through a recording and watch the page as it was at each moment, including ink you later erased. Replay only shows the page. It never changes your document.

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Storage and limits

• An hour of recording takes about 15 MB once Lectra finishes compressing it.
• Recordings are kept only on this iPad.
• If your recordings together go over 5 GB, Lectra deletes the oldest ones to make room. It never deletes your five newest recordings, a recording that’s running or playing, or a recording that Lectra recovered after closing unexpectedly.
• You can’t rename, export, or share a recording.
• You can’t record or play a recording while you’re connected to your Mac with Remote Desktop.

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Troubleshooting

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