4.2.22. Exporting a document to Shoebox

All Shoebox files that were imported into ELAN (see Section 4.2.16) can be exported back into Shoebox. In this case, the time code information is kept.

To export a file into Shoebox, do the following:

  1. Click on File menu.

  2. Click on Export as > Shoebox file ….

    The Shoebox Export dialog box appears. Make a choice and click on OK to continue.

    Shoebox Export dialog window

    Figure 4.36. Shoebox Export dialog window


    • By selecting Wrap block you can let ELAN wrap a whole block if one of the line in a block is longer than a specified number of character (default is 80 characters).

    • By selecting Add master media time offset to annotation times you can add to the annotation times the time offset from the master media that originated from the synchronization of media files (see Section 4.2.2).

  3. Specify the name and directory of the exported file, e.g.:

    Name and directory of exported file

    Figure 4.37. Name and directory of exported file


  4. Click Save to export the file; otherwise click Cancel to exit the dialog box without exporting the file.

    The file is exported as a *.txt file.

    If there already exists a file of the same name, ELAN will ask you whether or not it should overwrite the existing file, e.g.:

    File Exists

    Figure 4.38. File Exists


  5. Open the exported file in Shoebox.

    It contains the following information:

    1. All tiers and annotations.

      Each ELAN parent annotation (including all its referring annotations) corresponds to one Shoebox record. E.g., in the illustration below, the ELAN parent annotation “Ligya-001” corresponds to the Shoebox record “Ligya-001”.

    2. The time code information for each parent annotation.

      Each ELAN parent annotation (i.e., each Shoebox record) contains the additional field markers \ELANBegin and \ELANEnd (i.e., the begin and end time of the parent annotation).

      This timecode information allows you to import the Shoebox file back into ELAN, without having to manually re-align the file (see Section 4.2.17).

    ELAN file and exported file

    Figure 4.39. ELAN file and exported file