Merging transcriptions


Prev		Next

Under some circumstances it might be useful to combine the contents of two separate transcription files into a single one. To achieve this, follow these steps:

Choose File > Merge Transcriptions
A dialog window appears:
Figure 17. Merge transcriptions dialog window
If one of the files to be merged is currently opened, select Use current transcription. Otherwise choose Browse… and select the first *.eaf file.
Choose the second file by clicking the Browse... button.
Check Append Annotations to choose one of the options below. Otherwise the annotations will be added to the very left of the first *.eaf file (i.e. as a result the second file's annotations are followed by the first file's annotations).
- Select after the media in first source file to append the annotations of the second file after the media duration of the first *.eaf file.
- Select after the last annotation in the first source file to append the annotations of the second file after the end time of the last annotation of the first *.eaf file (please note, the last annotation does not always end at the time the video file ends but can occur before that time).
- Select after the given time position to append the annotations of the second file after a provided point of time in the first *.eaf file (hence after a given time position).
Check Add linked media and secondary files if you would like to add the media files from the second source to the list of linked files from the first source. This is helpful if you are merging two different projects which contain different media files.
Enter a file name for the result of the merge operation.
Click on Next. A Merge Transcriptions dialog window will appear:
Figure 18. Merge transcriptions dialog window

The tiers of the first source are shown as a reference; these don't have to be selected because the first source is always copied completely. The sort buttons allow to list the tiers alphabetically, ascending or descending. The second list shows the tiers of the second source. They can be selected individually or all at once through the Select All button. This list of tiers can be sorted as well, independently of the tiers of the first source.
Select the tiers of the second source file that you want to merge with the first file.
If there are common tiers (tiers with the same name) in both files and you want to allow annotations of the second file to overwrite those of the first, make sure Allow existing annotations to be overwritten is checked. If this option is not checked, only those annotations of the second source will be added to the tier in the first source, that do not overlap any existing annotations.
If there are tiers with the same name in both files and you don't want to merge those tiers, you can select the Merge transcripts without overwriting existing tiers option. The tiers from the second source will then be copied with a suffix added to the name. E.g. if there is a tier named Event in both files, the tier from the second source will be copied as Event-1 (continuing numbering until a unique name is found).
Click on Finish to start merging.
When the merge procedure has been finished you can choose whether to open the result immediately in a new ELAN window:
Figure 19. Open new transcription