Editing multiple files

Normally ELAN allows to edit only a single file at a time. There are situations in which it is convenient to edit multiple files at once. The menu item File > Multiple File Processing gives a number of options to do just this. When selecting either of them, you are warned that you should have copies of the files you are going to work on in case you want to restore the files (ther is no Undo for multiple file edits).

Scrub Transcriptions

When you choose Scrub Transcriptions..., you first need to specify a new domain or select an existing domain. This option helps you to "clean" the annotation files (*.eaf) of possible tabs or whitespace characters which are often overlooked by the user but are still saved in the file. Do one of the following:

  • Select an existing domain from the list and click Load. (Click Delete if you want to delete the domain.)

  • Create a new domain containing multiple files you want to edit:

    1. Click New Domain...

    2. Click in the new dialog on the Look in pull down box and browse to the directory that contains the annotation files that you would like to edit.

    3. Double-click an annotation file (*.eaf) to select it. It now appears in the rightmost box. Alternatively, you can click on the annotation file name and click the >> button.

      Repeat this for every annotation file you want to include.

      It is also possible to select a complete directory. All .eaf files in a selected directory will be included.

    4. Click OK to continue the exporting process; otherwise click Cancel to exit the dialog window without exporting.

    5. If you clicked OK you can save this domain: enter a name and click OK. If you do not want to save the domain click Cancel.

  • Create a new domain from an IMDI search:

    1. Click New Domain from IMDI Search...

    2. Browse to and select an IMDI file that has been exported from a metadata search in the standalone IMDI Browser.

    3. Click Open.

    4. You can save this domain: enter a name and click OK. If you do not want to save the domain click Cancel.

In the next dialog, you can specify what characters to delete, new line characters, tab characters and/or whitespace characters, and in what position these characters have to be. Click Start to start the scrubbing process. The progress of the scrubbing is shown in the progress bar.

Figure 5.87. Transcription Scrubber

Transcription Scrubber


Edit Multiple Files

The option Edit Multiple Files... shows, after clicking Yes in the warning dialog mentioned above, the Multi File Editor. The first thing to do here is to load a domain by clicking Load domain. Loading a domain is the same as for the Scrub Transcriptions... option. To be able to load a domain you must of course have created one beforehand. After loading a domain, the data is shown in the table. In this table you can edit tiers on the Tiers tab and linguistic types on the Linguistic Types tab.

To edit a name, annotator or participant of a tier, double click the corresponding table cell or select it and start typing. To change the linguistic type of a tier, select one from the drop down menu. You can add a tier by clicking Add tier and remove one by clicking Remove tier.

Note

If there are hierarchy inconsistencies (e.g. if a tier in one file does have a parent while a tier with the same name in another file does not) removing tiers is not possible. The button Remove tier is therefore greyed out.

Figure 5.88. Multiple File Editor

Multiple File Editor


On the Linguistic Types tab, the name of a linguistic type can be changed by double clicking the corresponding table cell in the Type Name column.

Changes made in the Tiers and Types tabs are applied to all the files in the domain after clicking the Save changes to domain files button.

Annotations from overlaps

Annotations from overlaps for multiple files is the same function as annotations from overlaps in the current open file (seethe section called “Creating annotations from overlaps” ), but applied to a selection of files. The first step allows to select a custom set of files in a file browser or to load a set of files that have been stored as a domain. The list of tiers is the sum of all tier names encountered in the selected files. The options in the next steps are the same, clicking the Finish button in the last step the new tier is created and populated with annotations in all files of the domain.

Annotation statistics

This function is similar to annotation statistics for the current file (see the section called “Annotations Statistics”). The main difference after selecting the files in the domain is that it is possible to select which tiers to include in the calculations. The tables in the tabs do not have the column showing the total annotation duration as a percentage of the media duration but most do have a column for the number of files a certain value (tier or type name etc.) has been encountered in. After changes in the selection of files or in the selection of tiers the Update Statistics button needs to be clicked before the new calculations are started.