Label who is speaking

In an interview or a podcast, labelling who is speaking makes the script easier to edit and puts names in your subtitles. Rooster does not work out who is speaking by itself - you name each person, once per stretch of what they said.

Label a speaker

1. In the script, select some of what one person said. The label applies to every sentence your selection touches.
2. Right-click and choose Label the speaker… - or press More in the bar over the selection, where there is one.
3. Type the name in Speaker name, or choose one from Names already in this project.
4. Press Label, or Return.

In a transcribed script, the box says how many sentences it will label and over what span of time.

Where names appear

• In the script, a name heads each paragraph where the speaker changes. A new paragraph starts wherever the speaker does.
• In the Captions list, beside each card's time. A card that spans two speakers shows no name.
• In SRT and VTT subtitle files, before what each person says. See Export SRT or VTT subtitles.

Names are not drawn on the video, and the text and Markdown transcript exports do not include them.

Change or remove a name

Select the passage and choose Label the speaker… again. Type a different name to replace it, or press Remove label. Each change is one step you can undo with ⌘Z.

When you transcribe again

Rooster carries each name onto the new transcript wherever the new sentences fall within passages that share that name. If it cannot place a name, the script lists the ones it could not carry over, with where they were, so you can label them again.

Labels on a script you typed, rather than one Rooster transcribed or aligned, cannot be carried and are lost; Rooster warns you before it transcribes.