Import from ELAN

Bring the annotations from one ELAN file onto one video, with each tier mapped to an annotation type.

Before you start

• Open the video in the annotator. The import lands on the video you have open.
• Have your ELAN file ready. GRAPE MARS reads .eaf files only.
• Know your ELAN tiers. You map each tier to one annotation type.
• You need the editor role or the owner role on the project.

Steps

1. Open your video in the annotator. The timeline appears under the player.
2. Click Import in the dark bar at the top. A short menu opens.
3. Click ELAN (.eaf). The window Import ELAN File opens.
4. Click the file box under Select ELAN (.eaf) File. Your computer asks you to pick a file.
5. Select your .eaf file. The window changes to Map ELAN Tiers to Annotation Types. It counts the tiers and the annotations it found.
6. Select one annotation type for each tier. A colour square appears next to the tier.
7. Click Import Annotations. The window closes and your video reloads.

GRAPE MARS matches tier names to your own annotation types for you. A tier called "Gesture" picks the type "Gesture". Check each row before you go on. (Until the next update every tier creates a new type; the list of your own types is empty.)

Make a type for a tier

The box Automatically create new annotation types for unmapped tiers is ticked at the start. Leave it ticked, and each tier you do not map becomes a new annotation type with that tier's name. GRAPE MARS gives the new type a colour.

Clear the box if you only want your own types. Then you must map every tier. The window warns you until you do.

Check it worked

Your new tracks show in the timeline. The bars sit at the times from the ELAN file. Each imported annotation belongs to the video's default speaker.

If something goes wrong

• Failed to import ELAN file
• No mapping provided for tier
• Mapped type not found
• My old annotations or empty tracks are missing

Related

• What imports keep and what they lose
• Import a project from the old GRAPE
• Import (GRAPE and ELAN)
• Annotation type