krnotley

Hi Jen, Here's from the ExpressScribe Troubleshooting page: P. DSS files do not load properly DSS is a proprietary format, not an open standard, and unfortunately some of the newer recorders don't implement DSS in a way that is compatible with our software. The only work-around that we can suggest is to make sure that the person sending you the files is using SP mode on the recorder. If the recorder supports other open formats (like mp3) it is always better to use them. If your program crashes when you attempt to load or convert a dss file it is possible that the file is corrupt. Ask the user to redock and resend the file to you. If you get a strange endless repeating of the file, or a truncation, and you first installed prior to 6 January 2005, please install the more recent dss32.exe from <A href="http://www.nch.com.au/components/index.html">www.nch.com.au/components. **** I really strongly recommend that ExpressScribe users, especially with the other components, like ExpressDictate, etc., read through the Manual and the Sound Formats page on NCH's website, and familiarize yourself with them as best you can. YOu don't have to be an Olympic class techie--heaven knows I'm not and I've been using ES since the invention of cuneiform. But it's a pretty sophisticated program, and they really do provide a lot of resources for you to help yourself out of a jam, as long as you don't panic. THEN, if you can't figure it out from things like their Troubleshooting page, you can go to the forum. Have fun--Kathy

Funny thing, I logged on for the first time in a long time, because I'm being asked to transcribe a VOB file, which is an audio format for DVD. Long story short: You can play the DVD and record it in real time with ExpressScribe, or something better if you need to. Good luck!

I've learned, with many indispensable program such as this, since they all had to change to accommodate Vista, etc., to SAVE and keep a program if I know it will continue to work, with perhaps fewer bells and whistles. That way, when I go to update (and I save that too, with a different name), if that has insurmountable problems, I can reinstall the earlier version I know worked. Scribe is such a small program, it's well worth it.

Is it possible that the "recover old files" in versions 4.15 or 4.16 is looking into the C:\documents and settings\[username]\application data\nch swift sound\scribe\current, whereas the location of earlier versions -- your correspondents say they were using v.02 -- was in c:\documents and settings[all users]\...\scribe\current? If they look in that latter file manually, I suspect they might find their wayward files, and they can move them into the new version of Scribe. I would not recommend using ExpressScribe as a place to store files. I always keep copies of my files in appropriate folders, and completely delete them from ES, using ctrl delete, when I'm done proofing them. I have very little HD space compared to the newer computers, and use slightly more than half of it. All audio files are backed up and removed from the HD every 6-12 months, or deleted if there's no reason to keep an archive. Hope that helps, KRN

I think that's pretty much true for any special processes on any program, not just NCH. If you want to "multitask" while ExpressScribe is performing a special process, then have a "Show Desktop" shortcut on your bottom taskbar, and click that. Any task that involves anything complicated will slow down, of course, while the Special Processes are doing their special processing, so anything that's not pretty simple will just have to wait. --krn

Have you installed the latest version 4.15? That resolved problems loading WMA and msv/dvf (Sony) files. Let us know if that worked. If not can you say what your OS is? Those two things... version and OS... are always useful to know to solve problems.

I'm going to take a guess at the problem: When ExpressScribe upgraded over the past year, they moved the file where they put the uncompressed dct files from c:\documents and settings\all users\application data\nch swift sound\scribe\current to c:\documents and settings\[username]\application data\... \current Go look in the pathway for all users and see if your old files are in there as wav files. Then you can load them into Scribe from there. I'd be interested to see if that solves the problem. KRN

If you can load the WMA file using XP, you can try this: fish the wav file out of c:\documents and settings\[username]\application data\nch swift sound\scribe\current and load THAT into your secretary's ES. Since the obvious next trick would be to convert the WMA into wav or mp3 and try it, why not see if ES's own conversion to wav works. That may save you some tsouris (headache). If you don't know which wav file is the one you wav in c:\...\current, go to the toolbar and click on View, and from the dropdown menu select Choose Details, and click "Date Created"; between the date and the file size you should be able to figure out which is the file you want. Hope that gets you up and running for now. KRN

You can't remove them from the Load Dictation File Window... you have to remove them from the folder itself. For instance, if you use a working folder for new dictations, once you are done transcribing them in ExpressScribe--and assuming you don't want to delete them from your hard drive altogether--create a new folder on your hard drive called "Files Completed" or "Archive" and move them into that.

I would strongly suggest you look through the manual, and play around with the functions to familiarize yourself with the workings of Express Scribe. That said, I don't use any of the automatic loading either from internet or files on my hard drive. To manually get files from My Docs or any folder, use "Load Dictation File" and follow the path to MyDocs or whatever folder you use, and then click on the file you want to load. The manual has instructions for automatically loading new files, but it has to know it's new: that is, if you delete a file from Scribe when you're finished--as I do since Scribe copies the file as a wav format, which takes up a lot of disk space, then the next time Scribe goes to look for "new files," say in MyDocs, the old one will be considered "new." So, you would have to move the completed file from MyDocs to some other folder or backup. I don't think it's worth the trouble, since manually loading takes so little time, unless you have a large number of smaller files to load each day, or if you are loading from an ftp site as the manual describes. Good luck. KRN

The first thing of course is to make sure you have the latest version of Scribe, which is 4.15, and see if that helps. But there was a similar problem with dss/vista on another thread, and tech suggested installing a dss components from http://www.nch.com.au/components/index.html There is an mp3el addon that might help. This is a pure guess, but if it works...

There are two very good pages which may help you with this: the page on the audio commpression manager http://www.nch.com.au/acm/index.html and the one on sound formats http://www.nch.com.au/acm/formats.html I would also suggest looking on Sanyo's site, or querying them directly about the problem, but NCH's technical pages are extremely useful (although they're sometimes hard to find.. ehem, ehem!) Hope that helps before or until the moderator can come up with something.

It's also wise to make sure you clean up, when you're done with a file. You can keep the original on your hdd or archive it on a flash drive, if you like. I would strongly recommend either using "done" when you've proofed and sent your work, and keep the file in the "done" folder only 2 days; or, completely delete it by using holding down Ctrl Delete at the same time, which deletes it from the hard drive. If you have a number of files you want to delete from "current," go into c:\documents and settings\[username]\application data\nch swift sound\scribe\current. The make the view "details" and if necessary, on the toolbar at the top, click View, Choose Details, and select Date Created or Date Modified. Since the files are unnamed in "Current" the dates and times will tell you which folder is which. But once there, you can delete multiple files from that folder. You might also try resetting your System Restore, as I described in another thread.

Another way to 'loop' as you call it, or rewind on stop/pause, is also in Settings: On the first tab, under "Auto backstep on Stop" you can similarly set ES to automatically back up when you hit F4, by as much as 5 seconds (5000 ms), or anything up to that. By the way, I've used ES with ONLY the hot keys for about 8 years, and installed it for both handicapped folk can't use footpedals, and others who can but don't, and we all use the hot keys. Have fun!

There are two (maybe 3) things you can do, to clean up big files on your hdd: 1) with respect to Scribe, in the C:\documents and settings\...\scribe\current folder are your wav files, which you can delete completely either by going in there any manually deleting them, or from the ExpressScribe window, highlight the files you're done with and use CTRL Delete. 2) If your Windows System Restore is enabled, even if the settings are very low, it will tend to create restore files that are extremely large, several GB. If you're not downloading lots of programs or similarly doing busy work that might require a system restore, then create a restore point, and reset System Restore, which will wipe out all previous restore points and their files. Be sure that's what you want to do, but often it's no problem. 3) Similarly, with Norton Internet Security and SystemWorks and especially if you have big files, such as some of the Express Scribe wav files, Norton has a hidden recovery file on the HDD called NProtect. If you right click on your Recycle Bin and click "Empty Norton Protected Files" you will have a choice of purging all protected files, just yours, or canceling. If you're not sure, you have to show the NProtect folder, see what's there, and manually delete the ones you're not concerned about recovering, which may include older ExpressScribe wav files. It's possible other security companies than Symantec/Norton have similar features.

Maybe this is silly, but did you try rebooting, and then see if it works? Sometimes that's all it takes. I haven't have anything like that problem, and I'm so happy to work with Sony and wma files again, I'm half-giddy. My OS is XP Pro (and Home) SP2, so I don't know if Vista makes a difference. Good luck, KRN.

That version from October 2006 obviously predates Vista's release. Try the new version 4.14, which seems to have solved the problems with Sony and wma formats, as long as they're not copy restricted (DRM).

Can you tell what version you have of Scribe? If you go to Help on the toolbar (where it's just the word, not the icon), and click, at the bottom of the dropdown menu you'll see "About ExpressScribe." That will tell you what version you are working with. The new version 4.14 is now up, and may have solved that problem... although I don't remember any posts about problems with dss, just wma and msv/dvf (Sony).

P.S. I've been using ExpressScribe, because I'm unable to use a footpedal, since at least 2000, and have helped install it in three or four countries, as well as numerous U.S. locations. The fact that the hot keys are single keys is a big plus. Simply put, I think it's the gold standard of transcription software. KRN

It looks like version 4.14 is now up and running. I tested it last night with msv files, which had been a big hair-ball since Feb., and it worked! Version 4.13 had problems with both the Sony (msv/dvf) files and wma, and I've provided both exemplars to an NCH Tech who was working on the 4.14 version. Long story short: The new version should work with wma files as long as they are not drm (copy protected). You can try it... I don't happen to be in a location where I can do that. When you go to the scribe webpage, any link to "essetup.exe" is for 4.14, the latest version. I believe their link to the zip file is to an older version, 4.05, which definitely does work for wma and Sony, BUT predates the release of Windows Vista. Maybe NCHTO admin will have more pointers, but I think we may well have clear sailing here. Good luck! KRN

In fact, there is a problem with the link to "latest" version of ExpressScribe. The link to the zip file is not to version 4.13, but to Oct. 2006 version 4.05, which is one of the last versions that did beautifully load msv/dvf and also wma files. As of now, 4.13 does not load either. I have provided one of the techs with exemplars of both msv and wma for him to work on, and he reports that version 4.14, soon to be released, will actually have the problems repaired. In between transcribing... keep your fingers crossed. In the meantime, if you're happy with 4.05, by all means stick with that. If you prefer 4.13 for some applications, you can save that version in one place and the zip file as well, as install each as needed. They install so quickly, it's worth it... KRN

Liz, did you look at the wav file at the folder where ExpressScribe converts documents, in c:\documents and settings\all users\application data\nch swift sound\scribe\current? If that file is only 1 hour, then it says one thing; if it's 5 hours (play it in a media player) then you can load it directly into ExpressScribe, and away you go. Doesn't solve the problem, but gets you going, and provides tech with something more to work with... KRN

Admin NCHTO has an addition to a thread "Please Read This" which supplies a link to a previous version v.4.05, I think from Oct 2006. If you save the current or your favorite version essetup.exe in the in c:\programs\nch swift sound, and since this is a zip file, you can switch back and forth between them for whichever works best with whatever other audio, etc. Here's the link he gave "You can also get it [version 4.05] from our site... www.audiochannel.net/software/es.zip " Good luck!

Can you say some more about the problems? Are the files all the same format or a few formats? Are they all over a given length or size? Are the operating systems all the same, or different? These details could very helpful both to tech and those of us who may recognize the issue. Thanks, KRN

Annoying ain't it? Here's your fix... go into c:\documents and settings\all users\application data\nch swift sound\scribe\current and you'll find the converted wav file for your loaded files plus the welcome message. If you want to delete the just the sound, the delete that welcome message wav file. The words for the welcome message will keep popping up, but with zero duration. If that also overly annoys you, you can delete the Welcome message dat file in that c:\documents and settings\.... scribe\current as well. I don't otherwise recommend messing with dat files, but in this case, I've been pretty safe.