This page is probably the most important one to read thoroughly. Most of the rest of the Transcriva Help Book is meant to give just enough information to be useful while allowing skimming. Though this section is just as brief, the information here describes "the Transcriva concept" (that is, the specific way it's intended to be used). Many users take one look and "get it" right away. Others need the concept to be explained because it's a bit different than simply turning media into raw text. Transcriva takes a more structured approach toward organizing a transcript.
Some key concepts that may help users understand the overall concept of Transcriva's organization:
"Play, listen, type ..." it's that simple on the surface of things. You create a new transcript associated with your media clip, the you press play. When you wish to create a new entry (transcribe a segment of spoken words into a block of text), press the "New Entry" shortcut ("Cmd-N" by default) -or- press the shortcut for the person speaking (if you have people defined), then begin typing.
During transcription, the voice may be speaking too quickly (or even too slowly). Transcriva's speed controls let you speed things up or slow them down without changing the pitch. Just slide the control toward the turtle to slow things down, or toward the rabbit to speed them up. Slide to the mark in the center to return the speed to normal.
During transcription, it may be necessary to pause playback while you catch up or correct a mistake. Enable Backtrack-on-Pause to have Transcriva "rewind" the media clip a few seconds so you start a bit before where you left off when you press play again. This lets you get back into the groove after you're interrupted. You can always adjust the backtrack amount in Transcriva's preferences.
The transcript editor has a few hidden editing features that you won't even realize are there, even as you're using them. Pressing backspace or delete in an empty entry deletes the entire entry. If there is an entry before the deleted entry, the cursor jumps to the very end of the previous entry. If you were so inclined, you could merely hold down "delete" and delete entries, one after another in this way.
While editing an entry, you can press return at any time. Depending on what you've selected in Transcriva's preferences, one of the following three things will happen:
Transcriva's ease of use would be nowhere near what it is without its powerful keyboard shortcut system. All critical transcription actions can be driven from the keyboard, keeping your hands and fingers where they're most useful. All editing-centric keyboard shortcuts can be modified in Transcriva's preferences.
Sometimes it's easier just to transcribe everything and ignore who's speaking. Other times, a speaking person may be misidentified - an entry misattributed to the wrong person. In any case, it's an easy enough error to correct. Merely click to select the errant entry, then click the person label in the entry to pop up a list of available people. Select the correct person and the problem is solved!