New QA UI: The Manual
Our team has been working hard to improve our New QA UI to hopefully make your QA work easier, more efficient, and (dare we say?) enjoyable! If you have any feedback about the UI - positive, negative, something you wish were better, something you miss from the old UI - please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/g9NHnnzZtbu3bXz96
Layout & Terminology
Before we dive into the new interface, let's get a lay of the land! Come along as we tour the various aspects of the new QA UI and the terminology we'll use to describe each feature. Be sure to peruse the Quickstart Guide/FAQs section for answers and solutions to common questions.
Themes: Light or Dark
The new UI has both a Light and Dark theme option. Click your email at the top right of the screen and hover over Theme to select Light or Dark mode:
List of Sessions:
Where Do I Find...?
Not sure which way is up? Let's see where a QA's most important buttons and features reside on the new UI.
QA Actions Toolbar
At the top right you'll see the buttons for your main "QA Actions" - Preview, Show History, Reject, Cancel, Save, and Submit. Hover over the icons and a tooltip will appear showing the button's name.
Audio Bar
The Audio Bar at the top of the screen houses various settings relating to audio control and playback such as the audio speed, volume, "Play by chunk" ("Play and Stop" on the old UI), video, and (for certain Special Styles only) waveform and L/R channels. Click the hamburger menu (the three horizontal lines) to adjust additional settings and activate your foot pedal!
Side Panel
To the right of the screen is a collapsible Side Panel. Herein lies the Session Details (this is where you extend your session), StyleGuide, and Snippets manager. Remember, you can toggle the panel! Show it when you need it, hide it when you require more screen space.
QA Editor Menu (Right-Click)
Right-click anywhere within the Editor Paper to access the new QA Editor Menu. It houses the following functions:
- Set Audio to Here (you can also use the Ctrl+M hotkey)
- Copy
- Copy Chunk Text: Copy only the text of the selected chunk.
- Copy All Text: ATTENTION! This is currently the equivalent of the "Copy to Clipboard" button to copy the entire session to paste into your preferred spell-checking platform. There isn't yet a Copy button on the Preview page; it's here.
- Delete Stamps: You can delete multiple stamps in one click!
- Reject Chunk: This opens the chunk rejection popup.
- Restore Text
- Restore Chunk Text: You can restore the contents of a selected chunk using this option. Brilliant!
- Restore All Text: Click to revert the entire text to the way it was when it first hit the Sessions queue.
Ctrl+Right-Click: Native Browser Right-Click Menu
If you're accustomed to right-clicking to look up a word in M-W, google a company or term, or spell-check, don't panic! The QA Editor Menu overrides the right-click, but you can still access the browser menu by hitting Ctrl+Right-click.
What's New?
Overview of New & Improved Features
Here's a quick overview of the features you'll enjoy on the new UI:
- Grammarly & LanguageTool compatible
- More "Sessions Details": Client ID, Copy Session ID to clipboard, File name, Payment (for the file), Current extension
- Revamped Play Modes: Play by job, Loop
- Audio settings: Play with 1s shift, customize "back" and "forward" values, sync audio to cursor, pause audio while typing
- Adjustable Timestamps: no more deleting & restamping!
- Delete multiple timestamps in one click
- More efficient Speaker Manager capabilities
- New right-click menu
- Chunk Management: Copy chunk text, restore chunk text, reject chunks for multiple reasons
Sessions Screen Makeover
Toolbar
At the top right of your screen, you'll find your important Session actions and features (from left to right): Preview mode, Show History, Cancel, Reject, Save, and Submit. There is currently no Save & Exit or Submit & Exit. Don't forget to fill out the form if you object to anything you see (or miss) on the new UI!
New "Paper" Look & Features
Editor settings
- Font - Nunito or Trebuchet MS. The second option, Trebuchet MS, is the same font as the original Sessions screen. It's a little bolder and easier to distinguish things like a comma versus a period. However, work with whichever font is easiest for you!
- Paper size (Page width) - The width of your transcript's "paper" is now set! No more jumping text when you resize your window. Adjust the paper to your desired with in this menu.
- Paragraph spacing - Adjust the spacing between your speaker turns by sliding the orange dot left or right.
Right-Click Menu
The Sessions UI has a new native right-click menu! Click anywhere on your "paper" to access the menu.
Settings, Settings, and More Settings!
Audio Bar
The audio bar features actions for controlling the audio playback.
- Playback Speed
- Volume
- Play by job
- Segmented progress bar
- Video
Settings
Click the hamburger menu (the three horizontal lines) to adjust the audio playback settings for your file.
- Loop: Plays each chunk on a loop rather than segueing into the next chunk (the "play and loop" option on the old UI).
- Play with 1s shift: When you pause the audio, the next time you hit play the audio will jump back one second.
- Backward value, sec: Customize how far back the audio player goes when you hit the Back button or hotkey!
- Forward value, sec: Customize how far forward the audio player jumps when you hit the Forward button or hotkey!
- Pedal: If you use a foot pedal, you will see it indicated here if it is connected.
Left Sidebar
- Editor Settings
- Work settings
- Find & Replace
- Manage Speakers
- Hotkeys
Audio Playback Settings
- Play by job
Formerly known as "Play and stop", select this icon to play the audio in a specific job. *ALWAYS use this feature when you are filling in missing text.* - NEW - Chunk location in audio bar!
You'll notice when you enable the "Play by job" setting that two tickmarks will appear in the audio bar, showing you the location of your current chunk in the audio! - Loop
Select this to play the job in a loop. - Play with 1s Shift
The default functionality in the old Sessions UI is the audio jumps back one second when you pause. You can now turn this off in the Settings menu.
On the menu to the left of your session paper you'll see more settings. Click the Work settings icon to customize the following:
- Submit confirmation - we STRONGLY recommend keeping this enabled! It will give you a popup message when you click Submit to make sure that's your final answer.
- Sync audio to cursor: Sets the audio to the timestamp of whatever paragraph your cursor is in.
- Pause playback when typing - pretty nifty feature! When you hit a key, the audio pauses. When you stop, it goes again!
Chunk Management
As with the old UI, chunks will change color depending on which chunk you're in. But the new UI sports a few additional chunk management features we hope you'll enjoy!
Rejecting Chunks
Right click within a chunk to reject it. You can reject for multiple reasons!!
Restore chunk text
IT'S FINALLY HERE! Restore the text from a specific job without having to regenerate the whole session!
Why yes, yes I am. RESTORE! Or click Restore all Transcriber text to revert the whole session, as in the old UI.
HELP! I lost a chunk!
Well, that's a bummer. But don't panic, it's still there.
- First, try Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z for Mac).
- If that doesn't make it reappear, put your cursor at the end of the chunk before the missing chunk or at the beginning of the following chunk. Hit the arrow key to get your cursor into the runaway chunk: Type into it or right click and select "Restore Transcriber text." And voilà! It's back!
- Or use the Show History feature (click the button in the toolbar at the top right of the screen) to restore your session to a previously saved version before the chunk went poof.
Ready, Set, QA!
Let's begin our deep dive with an overview of the most important QA actions you'll perform on the QA/Session Screen.
Save Your Session
The New UI saves your session every 15 seconds or so. A message will appear showing you as it's saving and when it's successfully been saved. If your internet is unstable, you might want to keep an eye on these messages.
Where's the Save & Exit button?
It's not there yet. It's on the list though, trust us. But no need to panic, you can mimic the same functionality without losing your work.
- Hit Save and wait for the message to show your session was saved seconds ago
- Click QA at the top of the screen
- You'll then be popped back to your List of Sessions, where your file will be happily awaiting your return.
Reject & Cancel
Reject and Cancel are found at the top right in the QA Actions bar.
Extending Your Session
The session extension button is in the right side panel (the clockwise arrow/clock icon).
Where do I see *exactly* how much time is left on my session?
Currently, you only see your exact time remaining indirectly: go inactive on your session (don't touch anything for 5 minutes), then a popup will appear telling you exactly when your session expires. It still doesn't say X.X hours left, but it does give you the time, in your timezone, that your session will expire. The exact time remaining will hopefully be implemented in a future Hub update.
Preview Mode
Hit the eye icon in the QA Actions bar to open the Preview popup. Here you'll see your entire transcript as plain, uneditable text. Note that it is a popup, so anything you try to Ctrl+F will show as double, and you can't Ctrl+A to copy the text.
How do I copy the text from Preview mode?
The "Copy to Clipboard" button is currently only available in the QA Editor. Right-click anywhere on the Editor Paper (where you edit your session's text), hover over Copy, then select Copy All Text. This will copy your full transcript to your clipboard.
As for Preview, you could manually drag and select the text if you'd like, but until we reinstate the "Copy to Clipboard" button on the Preview page itself, Copy All Text in the QA right-click menu is your quickest alternative.
Show History
Oh no! I've made a terrible mistake and need to revert my session! What do I do? Have no fear, Show History is here! This is now an icon at the top of the screen with the other QA Action buttons. Clicking it will open the Show History, where you can browse previously saved versions of your session. NEW in the New UI are highlighted changes like what you see in your View window! This makes it easier to see which version you want to restore based on the highlighted changes.
Submit!
Once you're satisfied with the quality of your session, go ahead and submit! It's the big orange button at the top right, pretty hard to miss.
Is there a Submit & Exit button?
Well... no. Would you like one?? Reach out and let us know! But for now, you click Submit, then you're directed to a highly encouraging page that tells you your session has successfully submitted, and it asks you whether you want to Exit (back to the List of Sessions) or continue working (Next Work). If you have an opinion about this functionality - any opinion, any at all - let us know!
Important Session Information
Session Details
The Sessions Details portion of the page can be found on the right-hand side of the screen. As with the old UI, the Sessions Detail section gives you an overview of the file you're working on. You can hide this section by clicking the arrow to its right.
File Info
- Session ID: The full ID string (client-Recording ID-Session ID) is now available under Details. Click the Copy button to copy the ID to your clipboard.
- NEW! Client ID: The client ID is now included in the Session ID details. Click the Copy to clipboard icon to the right of the Session ID to copy the whole string:
- 793329-1611790-1250329
- Client-Recording-Session
- NEW! Client ID: The client ID is now included in the Session ID details. Click the Copy to clipboard icon to the right of the Session ID to copy the whole string:
- Name: A popular long-standing request, the file name is now visible under Details!
- Duration: The file's length.
- Rate: The per-audio-hour rate, in USD, for the file.
- Payment: NEW! Payment shows how much you will earn upon submitting the session.
- Current Extension: Current extension: x hour(s) of inactivity shows you the length of time you can be inactive on your file before it is reassigned. It's currently not the exact time remaining, but rounds to the hour.
- Extend: The Extend button (a clock face with a clockwise arrow) is located to the right of "Current extension". If you have the option to self-extend your file, click the Extension icon to open a popup to select your desired extension length.
RUSH & Overdue File Warnings
Additional warnings or information about the session - e.g. if your session is a RUSH file or is overdue to the client - will also display under Details.
Style Guidelines
The required Style Guidelines for the session can also be found in the Side Panel. If you keep the panel open, you can now work with the Style Guidelines right alongside you! Or hide the panel to increase your working space. The choice is yours! (But don't forget to check the Guidelines for every session, please and thank you.)
Audio Control & Playback Settings
Audio Player & Slider
Adjust Audio Speed
The audio playback speed is displayed in orange text in the Audio Player Toolbar. You can manually adjust the speed by clicking and dragging (click Reset to put it back at 1x), or use the hotkeys Ctrl + ; to slow down, Ctrl + ' to speed up. You can customize your hotkeys by clicking Hotkeys in the Floating Left Menu
Video
If your file was uploaded as a video, the video icon will appear in the Audio Toolbar. Click it to open the video.
Foot Pedal
The New QA UI comes with native foot pedal support! To activate your foot pedal, toggle the option in the Settings menu (the three horizontal lines) in the Audio Playbar.
Select your device and click Connect.
When your pedal is successfully connected, the hamburger menu will turn orange.
Play Modes
The new UI has three play modes that do not work in tandem with one another. That is, you can only have one of these activated at a time to achieve your desired results. If you don't want to use any playmode (known as noninteractive playing in the old UI), make sure each of these is disabled.
Sync Audio to Cursor
ATTENTION: This setting, which jumps your audio to whatever paragraph your cursor is in, is enabled by default, so if you find your audio jumping when you don't want it to, disable it. You can toggle this setting on and off by clicking Work Settings in the Floating Left Menu.
Play by Job (Chunk) - known as "Play and stop" in the old UI
This play mode jumps the audio to the chunk that your cursor is in. If your file is not spliced into chunks, this feature will not work.
New - Chunk Location in Audio Bar!
When you have Play by Job enabled, the audio bar will display the location of your chunk in relation to your total file!
Loop
Also dependent upon the chunk your cursor is in, this play mode plays the same chunk in a loop rather than stopping at the end of the chunk.
Universal Audio Playback Options
Customizable Forward & Back Hotkeys!
Click the hamburger menu in the Audio Bar to adjust how far the audio jumps back or forward when you hit the hotkeys.
Play with 1s Shift
Activating this option ensures that each time you stop the audio, when you play again the audio jumps back one second to prevent you from missing any words.
Pause Playback When Typing
Don't want to fiddle with hotkeys to pause and play the audio while you're typing? Enable this setting to have the audio automatically pause when you hit a keyboard key and play again when you pause.
Set Audio to Here
Miss being able to click to go to a timestamp? You don't need timestamps to accurately jump to a point in the audio with this handy feature! You do, however, need to be in the correct chunk (if your chunk is spliced into chunks). Right-click at the point in your transcript you want to jump to and select "Set audio to here" or use the hotkey Ctrl + M.
Spell-Check & Proofing Tools
Grammarly & LanguageTool
You can use Grammarly or LanguageTool in the new UI to show you errors and suggestions in real-time!
How do I right-click to spell check?
Hit Ctrl + Right-click to bring up the native browser right-click menu.
"Copy to Clipboard" - From the Editor's Right-Click Menu
To copy your session's text to paste into your spell-checker of choice (like the "Copy to Clipboard" button in Preview mode in the old UI), right-click anywhere on the Editor Paper and select Copy > Copy All Text.
Copy Chunk Text
Only want to copy one chunk? You can select "Copy Chunk Text" from the Editor Menu.
Tiara Features
Session Analysis
Check out the Tiara Session Analysis in the right side panel of your file for a quick statistical overview of what you can expect if you take on that session.
Why doesn't the Session Analysis show in my file?
Refresh your page. Sometimes in doesn't load in time.
Super QA Scan
A QA's secret weapon—the Super QA Scan! Click the Tiara icon at the top of your browser window and select "Super QA Scan" to run a comprehensive, TM-approved error-checker of your file. Keep in mind that not everything Tiara flags is a true error and it won't catch everything, so don't forget to perform your other proofing checks before submitting!
Timestamps & Speaker IDs
We have quite a few improvements to our timestamp and speaker ID functionality! Don't forget to leave us feedback in our form to let us know how it works!
Timestamps
The timestamps are now clickable, typeable, and adjustable!
Hit Tab to navigate your cursor from one timestamp/paragraph to the next.
The Speaker Flag and corresponding timestamp in your page will be green for the selected timestamp. Unselected stamps will be purple with purple flags.
Adjusting a Stamp
Tired of having to delete and restamp just to adjust the time on a stamp? Well, join the club. But on the new UI, you now have simple ways of adjusting those times, no deleting required!
- Click into the timestamp field and hit the up or down arrow on your keyboard. This is a bit slow since it only adjusts one millisecond at a time, but it works.
- Type your desired time in the timestamp field.
Deleting a Stamp
To delete a stamp, click the trash can icon to the right of the stamp. Same thing in the Speaker Manager popup.
Delete multiple stamps
Want to delete multiple stamps in a single click? Right click within the page:
- Delete stamps for one specific chunk
- Delete all stamps before your cursor
- Delete all stamps after your cursor
- Delete all stamps!
Speaker IDs
A big difference from the old UI is the new Speaker IDs. You will now see them automatically appear at the beginning of the paragraph that your cursor is in when you stamp - no more fussing about getting that cursor right at the beginning of the line!
Change Speaker Dropdown
Quickly change your speaker ID without opening the popup! Just click the speaker ID and select your desired speaker from the dropdown. For more options, click Manage… to open the Manage Speakers popup.
Manage Speakers Popup
Adding a new ID
Add your new ID in the ID field. This number corresponds with the number you hit after Ctrl when stamping the hotkey. For Speaker Name files, add a name the in the Name field. Click Add to add the new Speaker ID from the Speaker Manager.
Listen to a speaker selection
Hover over your desired speaker ID and click the down arrow that appears to listen to ANY instance of that speaker in the file. Pick the order you want! Listen at the beginning, then at the end! One in the middle and another at the end! No need to cycle through every. single. one!!!