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Every service you translate with SermonWave is saved. After the service, SermonWave builds a full transcript, translations, a summary, topics, scripture references and key quotes. This article explains what you get, how long it takes, and where to find it.
Who it's for#
- Pastors who want transcripts and summaries of their sermons.
- Church admins and volunteers who manage, search and share past sermons.
Before you start#
- You've run at least one live service with a device (see Choose a device type).
- Post-processing is on for that device in Device settings. If it's off, recordings are saved but no summaries, translations or audio are made.
What SermonWave creates for each sermon#
| Item | What it is |
|---|---|
| Transcript | The full sermon, cleaned up into readable paragraphs. |
| Translations | The transcript and summary in each language your device translates into. |
| Summary | An overview, an outline of the main points, and the scriptures referenced. |
| Key quotes | Memorable lines from the sermon. |
| Topics | Themes such as grace, prayer or family, used for browsing and search. |
| Scripture references | The Bible passages mentioned, grouped by book. |
| Audio | The sermon recording, plus a translated voice version for your spoken languages. |
How long processing takes#
Processing doesn't start the moment you press Stop. SermonWave waits for the recording to settle first, so a short break in the service doesn't split it into two events.
- Waiting. For up to about two hours after the last recording ends, the event page shows Waiting for late segments with a countdown, for example "Processing starts in 1h 20m (by 1:45 PM)".
- Processing. The event page shows progress while the transcript, summary, translations and audio are built.
- Done. When it's finished, the page shows Processing complete — refreshing… and reloads. If you turned on summary emails, the people on your list get an email with the summary, scriptures and key quotes. Set this up under Manage → Notifications (Send sermon summary emails).
Step-by-step: find and read a sermon in the dashboard#
- Click Events in the dashboard menu. You'll see your services in a calendar or a searchable list.
- Click a service to open it.
- Use the tabs:
- Summary: the overview, outline, scriptures and key quotes.
- Transcript: the full text. Switch between Formatted and Plain.
- Audio: the sermon recording and Text-to-Speech Audio for each spoken language, each with Download.
- Reports: a Translation Report on how complete the translation was.
- Use the language pills above the tabs to read the summary and transcript in another language.
Search your archive#
In the dashboard. Two places search by meaning, not just exact words:
- Library: search across every recording, filter by topic (All Topics), book (All Scripture Books) and date (From / To). Click a result to open the sermon at the part that matches.
- Events: the search box in the list view.
Search works across languages. A search in Spanish finds English sermons, and the other way around. Results show a short snippet with the matching words highlighted. A Semantic label means meaning-based results. If you see Keyword only, meaning-based search is briefly unavailable and you're getting exact-word matches.
Try searches like "sermons about forgiving family" or "hope in hard times".
On your public pages.
- Your listener page has a Search sermons... box and topic filters for your recent sermons.
- Public sermons are grouped by topic and by book of the Bible on sermonwave.com, so people searching those can find you.
Edit a sermon#
- Title: click the title at the top of the event page (Click to edit title), type the new one, and save.
- Sermon start and end: church admins can open the Audio tab and click Edit sermon boundaries. Move the sermon start, set the end, or cut dead air, then click Save & reprocess. Reprocessing takes about 10 minutes and regenerates the sermon audio, translations and translated voice.
- Visibility: choose Public, Unlisted or Private at the top of the event page. See Share sermons.
- Summary email: click Resend Email to send the summary and transcript to an address you enter.
- Delete: the trash button deletes the event. This can't be undone.
What listeners see#
Each past sermon also has public pages, depending on its visibility:
- On your listener page: an audio player (skip back, change speed), Transcript, Summary and Quotes tabs, and language buttons to read it in translation. See How the listener page works.
- On your church page: a sermon page with the summary, Key Quotes, Scripture, and Show Full Transcript. See Your public church page.
Troubleshooting#
My service isn't in Events yet. Give it a few minutes after the device stops. If it still isn't there, check the device in Live monitoring.
It says "Post-processing disabled for this device." Post-processing is turned off in that device's settings, so no transcript or summary will be made. Turn it on for future services in Device settings.
The countdown has passed, but there's no summary. Processing can take a while for long services. If the page says Pipeline stopped — see details below, contact support.
The sermon starts too early or includes the announcements. Use Edit sermon boundaries to move the sermon start, then Save & reprocess.
Library says "No recordings available yet." Content appears in the Library after processing completes.
FAQ#
How long are sermons kept?#
For as long as your account is active, or until you delete them. Your archive and public pages stay online even if live translation is paused at the end of a trial. See Plans and trial.
Are translations of the archive made from the live captions?#
No. After the service, SermonWave transcribes the full recording again and translates it, so the archive is usually cleaner than the live captions.
Can I download a transcript?#
You can download the audio from the Audio tab. For the text, use Resend Email: the email includes the summary and a link to the full transcript.