Hi!



I have to transcribe a text in realtime, listening to a person who talks.

While writing I want to add at the beginning of each line a time code similar to that [HH:MM:SS:FF], so a text example could be:

[00:15:30:00] The Solar System formed 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a giant interstellar molecular cloud.
[00:15:45:22] The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun,
[00:15:53:12] with most of the remaining mass contained in Jupiter.

All I have to to is to click "start" on an invisible Timer starting from "00:00:00:00", and then when I press for example "Enter", at the same time I go to the next line and add automatically the correct TimeCode, until I press Stop to the invisible Timer.

In this way I have not only the transcription of the event, but I can create also subtitles for the recorded audio/video media of the event.

Does is it possible to do in Word?

There are on the market softwares which do that, but... they don't allow any change on Font size/type, 'cause they are intended only for transcription.

Instead I want to use a macro to switch between a Font type/size to another while typing in correspondence to the person who's talking.

This allows also deaf people not only to read in realtime what I'm typing, but also to understand that another person is talking.

Thank you in advance for any idea.

Daniele.

Is this possible? Yes.

Is it something you can simply push a button in Word and have it happen? No.

This will require programming. I would recommend that instead of intercepting the Enter key, which has multiple uses in Word, that you write a macro that inserts a paragraph mark (Enter key) and inserts your time code. Then perhaps use Alt+Enter to trigger it.

If someone else hasn't done it by this evening, I'll give it a shot. I am due in court soon. It shouldn't be that difficult. However, if you are in an environment where you can't run macros, it would not be a solution. Something manual using AutoText could be done but it would make it difficult for you to do your job I'm afraid.

Thank you very much Charles for your answer.

I'd like to build this "workflow" for my future job: stenotype service. It means through a special keyboard I can write extremly fast in the way that I can subtitle in real time what a speaker says.
At 32 years old I've chosen this job because few moths ago due to a retina desase I've lost my sight and I can't go ahead with my last job (3D CAD drawer). I used programming in my last job, so as you said I understand intuitivly that it is possible, but I have no idea on how to do that for two reasosn: I have never done it, and even if I can study and try by myself the workflow is not completly accessible to a screen reader.

Why I tell you all of this? Simply because I don't want someone to work for me for free.
I need a technical support for custom features of Microsoft Word. The features are listed above: Timecode + Font size/type switch.
Even if I'm not yet ready for professional job (I'm still studying to increase speed and precision), I want to have all the tools I will need when I will be ready. So, as any other freelancer asset, it needs to invest a bit of money.

Can you Charles do that? Or can you link me where can I find this specialized kind of support?

I thank you very much again.

Good job!

Daniele.

I am a tinkerer rather than a professional at this. I would recommend one of the following people:
Paul Edstein (posts as macropod)
Graham Mayor
Doug Robbins
or Greg Maxey

Specialized "real-time" transcription software is generally much more suited to what you are attempting unless you are using a standard keyboard rather than a steno keyboard.

Also investigate foot switches that attach to the computer. Such a switch could be used to trigger the font change, as well.

I do not know of any way to intercept the Enter key directly. Further, do you not want to use word-wrapping? Word is not well adapted to using the Enter key at the end of every line.

I would suggest rather than every line being time-stamped that every new thought/voice be time-stamped.

Thank you again Charles for your answer.

I tried yet a transcribe software and a foot pedal.
InqScribe allows what I need, except for font size/type switch.
Instead of loading an audio/video file, you can set just a timer (one hour, two, as you wish), then click play, and set a shortcut to stamp the timecode when you want. A freeware application allows to assign to a foot pedal one or a combination of keys from the keyboard or mouse. so for example I can say InqScribe to use F6 to go on the next line and stamp the time code. Then I assign to the right foot pedal the key F6, and it is done.

The ability to switch font size/type is something I want to use. And I haven't found a transcribe software which allows that. It is normal because a transcribe software isn't desinged for that.

I thought to a professional Word Processor simply because it has programming section, so I can customize features that I need, while a transcribe application is less flexible.

I have also to consider that to use a steno machine is exactly like using a keyboard, the Word Processor doesn't feel the difference. But the steno machine hasn't buttons like F6, Enter, PageUp, etc. I can only write words with that.
So, if I want to use steno machine to stamp timecode or change font (it is faster then using pedal foot, trust me) I have to set the Word Processor to recognize a word to activate that, for example when I type "cvc", it doesn't write "cvc" but simply stamp the timecode. This kind of feature can't be on a transcribe application unless it has a programming environment to set it.

All the 3D applications I worked with before losing my sight had a "Script Editor" environment, where you can add to your project all the features that the application had not inside.

I suppose a Word Processor could work the same.

I thank you Charles for your words. I thank you also for the name you gave to me. I will contact them.

I wish you a merry christmas!
A presto.

Daniele.

Excuse me Charles,
how can I contact the macropod? It doesn' allow private message.
Does it has a website?

Thank you very much.

Word is very much programmable, through visual basic. What I said earlier is that I am a tinkerer with that, not a professional.

• Greg Maxey - http://gregmaxey.com/word_tips.htm
• Graham Mayor - http://www.gmayor.com
• Paul Edstein -
  
• Doug Robbins - dkr@mvps.org, phone +61 (0)417 714 723 (paid work only)

Thank you Charles

I also sent a message to Paul. He may contact you. I'm not aware of a website.

A macro to insert a time and paragraph break is fairly straightforward, but what does the FF represent? Your examples don't seem to relate to the time elapsed, since the difference between 00:15:30 and 00:15:45 is 45 seconds, not the 22 in the output, though the difference between 00:15:45 and 00:15:53 is 12 seconds, which your last example reflects. If it's meant to be seconds, what happens if there are more than 60?

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Thank you Paul for your answer.
"FF" I supposed to be "frames", for a video of 25fps it should be from 00 to 24.
But the format could also be "HH:MM:SS,MMM", "00:10:15,100" where "SS.MMM" is "seconds and milliseconds".

The word document is shown in realtime while I'm typing for deaf people (but not only). The event/conference is recorded (audio or video, or both), so once it is finished I can instantly share the recorded media plus the subtitle file of the event.
So the TimeStamp format depends of the subtitle file format (.srt or similar).
I've not yet decided it because I'm still in a planning phase, and I don't know if Word Macros has some limitation to obtein that.

If you're inputting frame counts, where would they come from? Word wouldn't know anything about them, so I expect some form of user input would be required. As for the alternative of measuring the time in seconds (which Word could do), do you really need millisecond resolution?

In a previous post, you mentioned the need to change font formats. Is this just for the time-stamp, or do you have something more elaborate in mind? I get the impression you may want to change the font for each speaker. In that case, how many speakers would you want to cater for? A court-room scene, for example, might have 6 or more (complainant/prosecutor, their attorney, respondent/defendant, their attorney, witness, judge/magistrate). What kinds of font differentiation are required?

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Thank you again Paul for your answer.

You're right, to use "Frame" in TimeCode has no sense. About millisecond I don't know if it is necessary, maybe it isn't, only practical test can say. Anyway some subtitle file format uses it.

Regarding font: the FontChange should be considered for all the text and not only for the TimeCode. You're right, an event could have a lot of speakers, for the moment I think could be set 10 different shorthand, for example "crc1"=FontType1, "crc2"=FontType2, etc. The stenomachine has the ability to write numbers from 0 to 9. The combination of FootPedal+Number could be set has trigger.

But as I said I'm still in planning phase, and the possibility to test the entier process will make things well defined.

Anyway thank you for your consideration.

Daniele.

Without detailed knowledge of how your stenomachine interfaces with Word and whether its software provides an API that can be accessed via VBA, it's impossible to say whether the combination of FootPedal+Number could be used as a trigger - you might have to use a keystroke combination on the keyboard to trigger both the timestamp and an inputbox where the user could insert the speaker #.

Something else you need to consider is what will happen to the timings if the user gets interrupted/distracted while it's running. If that happens, you might end up with some ridiculously large intervals being recorded...

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Regarding possible time interval: I don't see any problem. The timer simply go ahead the end with no stop, if I need to cut some parts there are a lot of free subtitles application which allows to make adjustements.

The stenomachine trigger is the real hard problem to solve: I don't know if API are provided, I have to ask.
The stenomachine has its own application with convert keys combinations in words. This application has a very simple Output utility which allows to tranfer what you are writing into any kind of Text Field, everywhere there is a blinking cursor.
So I can write into the Notepad, a google search edit field, here in this form, etc.

But they are just words, numbers and some special character like # % $, etc. Stenomachine has no function keys, has no CTRL ALT SHIFT.

For this reason a different kind of approach must be studied: for example a second timer that every 0.01 seconds check what I'm typing and if it finds a shorthand like "crc1" for examples, it change fonts, if it finds "crc" it goes to a new paragraph and add TimeCode.

What do you think?