TRANSCRIPTION TIPS AND HELPFUL HINTS

[Madeline]

I love the idea of having a transcription tips sticky. I often need a tip I have seen in the past but have trouble finding it again using the search function. If we could collect them in one thread that would save lots of time. Let's give it a try. Somebody report this and we'll see what happens.

Madeline

[dcampbell516]

Ok. I submitted it. Hopefully it will become a sticky folder.

[Madeline]

I finally found one of my favorite tips - I must have used it a dozen times this week alone. It was submitted by MARY_YBS</span> on 2/19/07:

WORD SHORTCUT:</span></span>



This is something I just figured out the other day. If you want to
change a word to bold or italics, you can put the cursor anywhere in
that word and hit CTRL+I, and it will italicize the whole word, or
CTRL+B, and it will bold the word, and you don't have to highlight the
whole word first.


Here's another one I came up with that those of you working for E
might appreciate. You know how we have to use red text sometimes? I
customized my keyboard so I can hit CTRL+D and it will change to red
text. Here's how to do that:Go to Tools, Customize. Under
the"Commands" tab, click on the "Keyboard" button at the
bottom.Under "Categories", select "Format", and then in the menu on
the right (Commands), select "Color:".When you click on "Color:", a
"Color" menu should show upwith a drop-down box for you to select the
color - select red. Thenin the box where it says "Press new shortcut
key", click in that box andpress the sequence ofkeysyou want to use
for the shortcut (in my case, I used CTRL+D). Then click "Assign".
(It will tell you if that sequence of keys is already assigned to
another shortcut).


I feel like I totally butchered that explanation. But if you want
to try it, you can PM me and I'll walk you through it. Now that I have
that shortcut set, if I want to red-text a word, I just click the
cursor anywhere in that word and hit CTRL+D, and it red-texts it. Or,
if you have a few words, you can highlight them and hit CTRL+D, and it
will red-text them.


Mary

[Madeline]

THANKS TO MARY_YBS Feb 18, 2007</span><br style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0); font-weight: bold;"><br style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0); font-weight: bold;">THIS IS A FAST WAY TO GET YOUR TYPOS INTO AutoCorrect SO YOU'LL NEVER HAVE TO DEAL WITH THEM AGAIN:</span>

If you
have a misspelled word that's underlined with a red squiggle, you can
right click that word, and you'll get a menu, and if you point to
"AutoCorrect", it will give you a list of words to choose from. [From
then on, the word will be corrected automatically as you type.] Of
course, that's in the version of Word that I have. This might be a
fairly new feature.</font>

[Madeline]

Posted by Cerene in answer to a question relating to RealPlayer and Transcription</span> on 3/8/07</span>




You can convert Real Player files to something that ES will play. The software I use is Akram Audio Converter, which costs money, but you can try Free RM to MP3
Converter, which should work just as well. I have a number of different
converters to use, because for some odd reason no one converter
converts every file, even if it's a supported format. Those should
both work very well with RM files though.

Also, there is software out there called "Real Alternative"
(there's also a QuickTime Alternative on the same pages) that are
alternate players for both of those formats. I am forced to keep Real
software on my system for one of my work players (argh) but I never use
RealPlayer for anything if I can help it. It and QuickTime are both
bloatware, and invasive - especially RealPlayer, which changes settings
back to preferred default even after youve set them not to. Those
alternative players may have hotkey control.
</font>

[leana]

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors


Use this ALL the time.

[WTranx]

I would love to find a short cut for this or maybe it's available and I don't even know it, but when I transcribe an interview, for example, and type Q: and tab over, the sentense always starts with a small capital when naturally I would want the first letter in the sentence to be capitalized. Any suggestions? So many key strokes could be saved. Greatly appreciate it. - Mary

[hollar]

I've been thinking about posting this for quite a while.

I've read more times than I care to think about how people have lost an hour, two hours, and even more work due to their computer crashing, etc., and it breaks my hearteach time. I feel their pain. I never lose more than a few minutes. Wanna know why?

I set up a special e-mail account for just this purpose (I used Hotmail, but any e-mail will do), and I always, always, always (Did I say always ?), every time I do a "Save," send a copy of the file to my Hotmail account. Just be sure it's an e-mail account you can access from any computer.

I set up a macro in Word where I only have to hit Control+Backspace and the e-mail window pops up. I've only got to type in a few characters until my e-mail address pops up. I then just hit Control+Enter (the universal shortcut to sending an e-mail), and it's gone. What I'm trying to get across is that it takes me an extra, maybe, five seconds to send this file -- five little seconds that could very possibly save me hours and hours of work later on. My file is safely stored on Hotmail just in case something happens with my machine.

I go into that e-mail account and delete any files to which my client has confirmed receipt, and all is good with the world.

I'm positive that many people already do this, but thought for those who don't, this just might save them a bit of time and heartache in the future.

Edited by: Iliketotype

[Daisy2]

Tips for converting audio file formats and recording audio to your PC:
http://www.wahm.com/forum/forum_post...68133&amp;PN=1
http://www.wahm.com/forum/forum_post...26939&amp;PN=1
http://www.wahm.com/forum/forum_post...94743&amp;PN=1
<?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />
Tips by Grandma for clarifying audio in Express Scribe:
http://www.wahm.com/forum/forum_post...09727&amp;PN=1

Tip by 4under4 on how to create “chained” style format, example:

Interviewer: Blah, blah, blah.

Interviewee: Blah, blah, blah.

http://www.wahm.com/forum/forum_post...39900&amp;PN=1


Helpful MS word links by Iliketotype
http://www.wahm.com/forum/forum_post...80811&amp;PN=1

Tips on trying to recover lost work:
http://www.wahm.com/forum/forum_post...98517&amp;PN=1

Tips on splitting audio files:
http://www.wahm.com/forum/forum_post...71842&amp;PN=1

Tips on recording from cassette tape to computer:
http://www.wahm.com/forum/forum_post...93211&amp;PN=1