Tutorial:
Special Features
Adding images to transcripts
You can import image files in most graphics format into transcripts in TransanaSCRIBE. Position the cursor in an editable transcript, then go to the Document menu and choose Insert Image File.
You can also capture screen shots from video files. There is a button in the Media window that allows you to capture the current frame and either save it as a JPEG file or embed it directly in an editable transcript.
Flexible Screen Layout
TransanaSCRIBE lets you arrange your screen exactly the way you want to.
By default, TransanaSCRIBE’s four main windows are linked and laid out to fill a single screen. When you change the size of one window, the other windows adapt.
To re-arrange the windows, you turn off the Auto-Arrange option in the Options menu. The windows will become independent of each other so you can change their sizes and move them around. If you have a dual-monitor setup, it can be very helpful to turn Auto-Arrange off, move the Transcription Window or the Media Window to your second monitor, and re-size and re-arrange your other TransanaSCRIBE windows.
Transcript Templates
Do you want all of your Transcripts formatted the same way? Create a template transcript and export it to your Media Library folder as “default.docx”, “default.rtf”, or “default.xml”. TransanaSCRIBE will automatically load this template any time you create a new empty transcript.
Text time code conversion
If you import a transcript into TransanaSCRIBE that was created in another transcription program, it might have time code information in HH:MM:SS.hh format. If you have not inserted any TransansSCRIBE time codes into the transcript, you can use Text Time Code Conversion in the Document menu, to convert the text format time codes into TransanaSCRIBE time codes. Please note that TransanaSCRIBE time codes MUST be in linear order from the beginning to the end of the Transcript, and that TransanaSCRIBE does not support duplicate time codes. Any text time codes that do not conform to this will be left un-converted.
Importing lots of files at once
You can easily import multiple audio or video files at once using Batch Episode Creation. Select a group of files or even whole directories, and TransanaSCRIBE will import the files, automatically creating Episode and Transcript records for each. If you have a Word, Rich Text Format, or Plain Text document with the same name as a media file and in the same directory, TransanaSCRIBE will import it as the initial transcript.
Media Conversion Tool
The majority of audio and video formats work very well in TransanaSCRIBE. You just add them as Episodes and you can hear and see them immediately.
Some less common types of audio and video files don’t work in Transana without being converted into a more common format, or they may work, but have jerky or broken playback. (This is often seen with very high resolution, high bitrate video files.) Some can even cause TransanaSCRIBE to crash because they cause errors in the video player, which in turn takes down the whole program. (This appears to be true of some video files optimized for web streaming, which cannot handle the frequent stopping, starting, and position changes required by TransanaSCRIBE.)
TransanaSCRIBE includes a Media Conversion tool that allows people to convert many files into a format that will work well in the program. If you have difficulty with jerky playback, program crashes, or an unsupported format error, use the TransanaSCRIBE Media Conversion tool. If you use the tool and are still having trouble getting your media file to play, contact us and we can help you figure out how to convert your data to make it work.
Media conversion can seem daunting at first, but once you have a procedure worked out, it becomes routine surprisingly quickly.
Transfer TransanaSCRIBE transcripts to Transana
You can easily import TransanaSCRIBE transcripts into Transana for analysis. Simply export the transcript from TransanaSCRIBE (use Transana-XML format for best results, but Word DOCx and RTF formats will also work), then import the files when creating new transcripts in Transana.