Lessons · Start here · Lesson 2
Choose your recording and start a project
Choose the recording you want edited, name its project, and see where to find it again. Video 1:29.
Captions: press CC in the player. Your speed is remembered for the next lesson in this browser.
Steps
You need
- Fair Copy Edit installed and opened once (How to install)
- Your recording saved on this computer
- On the Overview page, click Choose video (new project)... (If you already have projects, go to Recordings and click the same button.)
- A window opens on your Videos folder. If your recording is saved somewhere else, open that folder. Click your recording once: its name appears in the File name box.
- Click Open.
- Fair Copy Edit suggests a project name taken from the file. Type a different name if you like, then click OK.
You’ll know it worked when
The Overview page shows your recording at the top with its length, for example “Why bread rises (2:24)”, a note saying Finished: New project., and your next step: Get the transcript.
Good to know
- Fair Copy Edit only reads your recording. It never changes it or moves it, so keep it where it is.
- Every project is listed on the Recordings page, and the Choose video (new project)... button there starts your next one.
- Creating the project can take a little while for a big file (about 13 seconds for a 2.4-minute, 663 MB recording) while Fair Copy Edit reads it.
- Video and audio files are accepted: .mp4, .mkv, .mov, .m4v, .avi, .webm, .mpg, .mpeg, .ts, .mts, .m2ts, .vob, .mp3, .wav and .m4a. The recording must have sound.
- Nothing in this lesson costs anything or sends anything anywhere.
Next Lesson 3: getting your transcript.
Read the narration
Lesson two: starting a project. You’ll choose the recording you want edited, and Fair Copy Edit sets up a project for it.
Fair Copy Edit opens on the Overview page. Before your first project, it simply asks for your video. The original recording is safe. Fair Copy Edit only reads it. It never changes or moves it.
Step one. Click the yellow button: Choose video, new project.
A window opens on your Videos folder, where most recording programs save their videos. Step two. Click your recording once. If it’s saved somewhere else, open that folder first. Its name appears in the File name box.
Step three. Click Open.
Step four. Fair Copy Edit names the project after the file. You can type a different name if you like. Then click OK.
That’s it: your project is open, with your recording and its length at the top. Fair Copy Edit always shows the next step. Here, it’s getting the transcript: the next lesson.
Next time, you’ll find all your projects under Recordings. Here’s your project, and this button starts your next one.
Next up, lesson three: getting your transcript.