The Library is where all your transcripts are kept. Use the Library to organize and navigate your collection.
Folders help you keep your transcript library organized and behave as one would expect. A folder can be created by right- (or control-) clicking the Library pane and clicking "New Folder". A folder can contain transcripts and other folders. You can arrange your library by drag and drop.
The "Recordings Folder" is the special folder in which transcripts are placed when created via recording media from within Transcriva.
Transcripts are the meat and bones of your library. You can create new transcripts by dragging a media clip directly into the Transcript Library pane (a new transcript will be created and associated with the dragged media clip). You can also create new transcripts (with greater control and more options) by selecting New Transcript... from the File menu. A transcript is associated with exactly one media clip. A transcript does not necessarily need to be associated with a media clip.
Any editing of a transcript or the Transcript Library can be undone via the Undo menu.
The transcripts in your library indicate their status to you. Following is a list of icons and their meanings:
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Transcript with a local media clip |
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Transcript with no media clip |
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Transcript with a remote media clip |
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Transcript with a missing or inaccessible media clip |
Media clips are the audio or audio/video files you are transcribing. A media clip must be a format supported by QuickTimeŞ in order to work with Transcriva. Some media clip formats do not work well with some of Transcriva's features (such as playback speed and seeking / backtrack-on-pause) because of their inherent technical limitations (particularly streamed content).
Media clips can be files on your Mac, your local network, or URL links to a QuickTimeŞ-compatible file on the web. Note that many of Transcriva's features (such as playback speed and seeking / backtrack-on-pause) do not work well with web content. Additionally, you can record new media within Transcriva.
Transcriva does not copy or move associated media clips. Instead, a "file system reference" is created to local (or network) media clips. The reference will follow the file wherever it's moved, so long as it stays on the same volume (disk). This means if you drag a file to a new folder, Transcriva automatically knows where it's at, whether Transcriva was running at the time or not.
You can manage a transcript's associated media clip by using the Transcript Properties editor.
Because of the file system references used for media clips, you can even reference a media clip on a removable disk (such as a USB drive or flash media). When the disk is available, Transcriva will show a normal transcript icon for the transcript associated with the media clip. If you remove the media (or the media is otherwise unavailable), the transcript icon will reflect the fact that the media is unavailable, but your transcript is still there, safe and sound. Reconnect the removable drive and Transcriva will see this and make the media available. If you happen to have the associated transcript selected, the media clip will load and the media controls will re-enable and stand at the ready!
Called "Speakers" in Transcriva 1.x, People represent the voices of those speaking in a transcript. If there is only one voice in the recording, there's no need to use the People feature. If, however, there are two or more voices in the recording, it's helpful to distinguish them by attributing entries to those who spoke them.
You can manage people by using the Transcript Properties editor.
You can show or hide the Library pane by clicking the Transcript Library button.
The Transcript Properties Editor is "on the back of" the transcript editor. Click the Transcript Properties button to flip the transcript editor over to reveal the properties of the currently-selected transcript.
The Transcript Properties Editor allows you to manage the selected transcript's associated people and associated media clip.
People can be added or removed using the "Add Person" and "Remove Person" buttons. When one or more person is associated with a transcript, the entries in the transcript editor reflect this by adding a "person label" to each entry. If an entry is attributed to a person, the label will show that person's name and their selected color code.
A person's name can be edited by double-clicking the name, typing the new name, and pressing return to end editing.
A person's color code can be designated by clicking the color button to the right of the person's name and selecting a color from the standard color picker.
A person's keyboard shortcut is always the number in which they appear on the list, staring with the number 1 (1-9, then 0). No more than ten people can have keyboard shortcuts associated with them. The eleventh person and above will never have an associated keyboard shortcut.
Removing a person from a transcript will automatically set any attributed entries to "Unknown".
Any edits to people can be undone via the Undo menu.
Transcriva allows you to change the media clips associated with a transcript. This means you can "dissociate" a transcript from any media clip using the "Dissociate" button and, if you like, re-associate the transcript with a different media clip. This is useful especially if a media clip goes missing (or is moved to another volume / disk) and you want to point the transcript to the new media clip's location.
It's important to note that if you associate a transcript with a different audio clip that is shorter in duration, any entries whose time code is beyond the total length of the new media clip will not show up on the media track nor work correctly with Follow-Along. All entries' time codes will need to be manually adjusted if necessary. There is no way to automate this process.
To associate a transcript with a media clip locally or on the web, you must first make sure it is not associated with any media clip. To do this, press "Dissociate". You can then press the "Choose ..." button. The "Associate Transcript with Media" sheet will appear. Here you can choose where the media clip is located, then press the "Associate" button.