Preferences can be changed in a dedicated dialog window. Click Edit > Preferences > Edit Preferences. Select a category in the list to the left of the dialog window. The categories and their preferences are:
Deselecting the inline text edit box commits
changes
:
If this option is not checked (default) changes made to an inline edit box are discarded if you leave the edit box without explicitly committing the changes. This happens for instance if you click outside the current edit box.
If this option is checked changes are committed if you leave the current inline edit box.
Enter key commits changes in the inline edit box
:
If this option is not checked (default) pressing ENTER will insert a line break (a.k.a. newline) in an inline edit box. To commit the changes you should hit CTRL+ENTER.
If this option is checked ENTER will not insert a line break. It commits the changes as if you pressed CTRL+ENTER.
Clear Selection after creating or editing an
annotation
This option makes ELAN clear the selection after creating or editing an annotation
Clear Selection on single mouseclick
With this option checked (default), a selection that has been made in the timeline will be cleared when you click outside of that selection.
Create new annotations on the dependent tiers when a new
annotation is created
If this option is selected, annotations on dependent tiers are created automatically when a annotation on a independent(parent) tier is created. By default , this option is not selected.
Creates annotations aligned with video frames
When annotations are created, they can be aligned with the video frames by selecting this option.
Snap Annotations
If this option is checked, you can specify the maximum value to snap annotations in (ms).
Always center the active annotation
This option if checked, always put the active annotation in the center of the viewer in annotation mode.
When copying an annotation, copy:
When you want to copy an annotation as text to an external document , you can either choose to copy the annotation + begintime + endtime, or the annotation only. The default is 'copy the annotation + begintime + endtime'. This will copy the annotation, Tier name, begin and end time.
Default language for multilingual content:
Set the preferred default language used in multilingual content, such as controlled vocabularies. When using multiple CVs, the language set here will be the CVs default language. Multilingual content is based on ISOcat data catagories (DCR). CMDI metadata is displayed in the set language, if this is available from the ISOcat catagory.
Inline edit box with a CV entry:
Specify the width of the edit box (in pixels)
In the text field a minimal width for the edit box can be specified. Useful when the default width cuts off too much of the entry values.
Show CV entry description in the inline edit box
When checked, the CV entries will be shown as a two-column table with the description of each entry in the second column.
Specify the percentage of the width of the first column (the CV entry
value column)
In combination with the above option, this determines how much of the width of the box will be reserved for the CV entry values.
Suggestion panel of the CV inline edit box:
Look for CV entries that contain instead of start with the search
string
When checked, this option will suggest entries from the CV that contain the given search string. When unchecked, only entries that start with the search string are suggested.
Also look in the descriptions of the CV entries
With this option checked, descriptions of the CV entries that contain the search string are also displayed in the suggest panel.
Ignore case
If this option is checked, case will be ignored when matching the search string entered in the CV suggest panel.
Frame forward and frame backward jump to begin of next or previous
frame
:
If this option is not checked (default) clicking the frame forward button (see The Media Player options) will put the crosshair forward by the amount of ms in one frame. So if the crosshair is in the middle of a frame, clicking frame forward will put the crosshair in the middle of the next frame. The same goes for frame backward.
If this option is checked the crosshair is put at the beginning of the next (or previous) frame no matter where it is in the current frame.
Classic (pre ELAN 4.7) frame forward and frame backward
behaviour
:
If you encounter problems with frame by frame navigation in on-going projects, checking this option will revert ELAN back to the classic behaviour. (unchecked by default)
All video's the same size, in a single row
:
When there are three or four video's linked, only one of them is displayed big; the others are small. Check this option If you want all video's to be displayed in the same size and in a single row.
Place the video / media in the center:
If selected, then the video is placed in the center and the viewers are on the left and right side of the video. By default the video is the left side of the application.
Set default directory for media files
Click Browse... to set a default directory. ELAN searches this directory for a media file if it fails to find it using the absolute or relative path the .eaf file refers to or the same directory the .eaf file is in.
The document's Changed flag is set when the media location has
changed
With this checked, you will notice when a media file has
changed its location.
Prompt for a clip filename
When this is checked (default), ELAN will prompt for a filename to save your clipped media file. You can also choose a location to save the file to. More information on using the script for clipping can be found in Media clip using script
Only clip the first media file
This option is unchecked by default. If errors occur clipping multiple videofiles and a wavefile at once, check this and only the first (or master) mediafile will be clipped.
Clip multiple media files in parallel
This is checked by default. The script will run in multiple instances next to each other when clipping the video files and wave files. When this is causing problems, e.g. incorrect output files, uncheck this option and the script will run each instance after another.
Show volume control for individual media players
Check this if you want to see and use the volume controls for each media player in the project. (see The Media Player options).
When an annotation is activated
When checked, the media will play whenever you activate an annotation, by clicking on it.
When marking current time as begin of new
annotation
Shift-enter can be used as a keyboard shortcut to mark the start (or end) of an annotation. When checked, the media will start playing when Shift-enter is pressed.
Mac OS X:
Use screen menu bar
: if checked ELAN will use the screen
menu bar in Mac OS
Use Mac Look and Feel
: if checked ELAN will use the Mac
OS Look and Feel. Otherwise a platform independent (i.e. Java) look and feel
is used. Note that if the option Use screen menu bar
is
checked, ELAN will use the Mac Look and Feel, even if you have Use Mac
Look and Feel
unchecked.
Use Mac File Dialog
: if checked ELAN will use a dialog
which is similar to the native Mac OS file dialog. Otherwise a platform
independent (i.e. Java) file dialog .
Cocoa QT
or
Quicktime for Java
Use detached media window
: if checked ELAN will show the
media in a separate window by default.
Windows:
Use Windows Look and Feel
: if checked ELAN will use the
Windows look and feel. If unchecked, an independent look and feel will be used
(default).
Java -DirectShow Framework
Java -Microsoft Media Foundation (mp4,.m4a,.m4v(win 7 only),
.wmv, .wma, .asf)
Correct the video frame when pausing the player
This is checked by default. If unchecked, the crosshair might not jump
to correct the frame, but might also be less accurate.
Synchronous interaction with the player
This option
applies to the Microsoft Media Foundation based player only (the default
player for .mp4 and .wmv files). In this Foundation operations like
"start", "stop", "jump to" etc. are performed asynchronously by default.
If strange jumps or other quirks are experienced while using the player,
the synchronous mode can be tried (it is still experimental). Changing
this option requires the file to be closed and opened again to take
effect..
Native Windows Media Player (WMP)
QuickTime for Java
Java Media Framework
Work with tier sets
When checked this enables the application of tier sets.
Number of recent items
: select the number of recent
edited item ELAN should remember.
Change the UI font size
: this allows you to set the font
size of menus, labels, buttons etc.
Tooltips
: if checked ELAN will show tool tips with
information about the data or about the functionality of ELAN, depending on
the position of the mouse cursor.
Show annotation count
show the number of annotations per
tier in the menus and tier list in the viewers.
Painting strategy for custom timeline-based viewers and
components
: this option lets you choose to set unbuffered or
buffered painting of components. Imac retina displays can only handle
unbuffered (direct) painting, for instance.
Viewers
Horizontal scroll speed
: this sets the speed of the
horizontal scrolling, which is done with Shift+scrollwheel or by swiping
with two fingers on a laptop. (default 50)
Color for symbolic annotations
: You can set the color
for symbolic annotations, e.g. non time alignable annotations. The default
color is set to orange, you can browse for colors and set them as your
favourites.
Timeline
:
Active Annotation Bold
: if checked the blue frame
of the active annotation has a bold line.
Reduced Tier Height
: if checked the height of the
tiers displayed in the timeline viewer is reduced. The results is that
more tiers are visible.
Subtitles
Number of subtitle viewers:
select the number of
Subtitle Viewers you wish to display in the Subtitle tab.
Select Viewers
If the video is placed in the center, then it is possible to select which viewers should be shown in the left and right pane of the video. Select either Left to the video or Right to the video for each viewer. The order of the viewer in the table also determines their sort order in the tab pane. To sort the viewers use the buttons Move Up and Move Down to rearrange their sort order.