The FTW Transcriber’s powerful auto-time-stamping feature is a revolutionary time-saving development for transcribers. If you already add timestamps to your transcripts, you can now do so automatically. If you do not, you can now provide that benefit to your clients at no extra effort!
It can take a little time to get used to the FTW Transcriber’s auto-timestamping feature – please persist, and ask us for support if you have difficulty.
You can set up different kinds of Automatic Time-Stamping for different clients, and save those settings. Click here for the Configurations help page for more information about saving settings.
If you are transcribing into any program except for Microsoft Word and you want to add timestamps, the FTW Transcriber uses the Windows clipboard to insert them. This means that when inserting timestamps with the FTW Transcriber you cannot use the Windows clipboard for other purposes such as inserting text. The exception is Microsoft Word. The FTW Transcriber does not normally use the Windows clipboard to insert timestamps into Word, so you can use the Windows clipboard normally.
NB: the FTW Transcriber only adds each timestamp once, for this reason: imagine you are transcribing an audio file with an unclear passage, and you want to listen repeatedly to the section from 00:00:25 to 00:00:35. In that situation, the FTW Transcriber will add the timestamp at 00:00:30 the first time you play past that point, but not thereafter, because obviously you would not want the same timestamp to be added more than once.
Two types of automatic time-stamping are offered – you can turn on just one or you can use both at the same time.
METHOD 1 – regular intervals, e.g. every 30 seconds. If you turn this option on, every 30 seconds (or other interval that you set) a time stamp is automatically inserted into the transcript.
METHOD 2 – at the start of every paragraph. If you turn this option on, every time you start a new paragraph the FTW Transcriber will automatically insert a timestamp into your transcript.
METHOD 1 – FURTHER INFORMATION.
To prevent timestamps appearing in the middle of a word, this type of timestamp is only inserted after the next time you press the space bar.
If you check the “delay” option, the timestamp is added later than normal, to compensate for the fact that the audio is always ahead of where you are typing (because obviously you have to listen to dialog before typing it). You can set the number of seconds’ delay that suits your typing style. If unsure, we recommend 5. This would mean that a timestamp of 00:00:30 would actually be added when the audio reaches 00:00:35.
METHOD 2 – FURTHER INFORMATION.
If you check the “subtract [x] seconds” box for METHOD 2, every time a timestamp is inserted at the start of each paragraph, a few seconds will be subtracted from it, for greater accuracy. Again, this is because the audio is always ahead of the point where you are typing. You can set the number of seconds to subtract that suits your typing style. If unsure, we recommend 5. This would mean that if your audio is at 00:0050 and you start a new paragraph, the FTW Transcriber will actually insert a timestamp of 00:00:45.
By default, the FTW Transcriber assumes that when you do two consecutive carriage returns (i.e. two presses of Enter), that means you are starting a new paragraph, and it will insert this type of timestamp. If you want the timestamp to added after one press of Enter, or three, change the option at the foot of this menu.
By default, the FTW Transcriber assumes that after a timestamp is inserted at the start of each paragraph, you will want an automatic carriage return after that timestamp, like this:
10:23:45
My name is John Smith.
If however you prefer no carriage return, like this:
10:23:45 My name is John Smith.
…then uncheck the box marked “After this type of timestamp, do carriage return”.