How to filter and copy tiers

Filtering tiers

Filtering a tier (Tier > Filter Tier…) works in a very similar way as the previously described tokenizer. The main difference is that filtering is meant for transfer of annotation information between tiers that are symbolic associations.

A step-by-step approach to filtering:

  1. Select a source tier (from which the information will be copied)
  2. Choose a destination tier. If necessary create a new tier (with the Create new tier… button)
  3. Optionally specify a filter. If a filter expression is found, it will be removed from the destination annotation. Without any filter, the complete source tier is copied to the destination tier.
  4. If the destination tier already contains annotation units, choose between overwriting or preserving them. If its still empty you can ignore this option.
  5. Select Create destination annotation for empty source annotation if you want to create for every source annotation a destination annotation, even if its empty.
  6. Click on Start to begin the filter operation or Close to go back to ELAN’s main screen.

Figure 2.102. Filter tier

Filter tier


Copying tiers

As easy as you can change the parent of a tier, it also is possible to copy the complete content of a tier. This option differs in that it does not put any constraints on the designated parent tier and it leaves you the choice whether you want to copy the tiers children.

This process can be started via the Tier > Copy tier menu. Follow the steps below:

  1. Choose a tier to copy. If you also want to create a copy its dependent tiers, check the Copy dependent tiers as well box.
  2. Specify the parent tier for the copy. To make it independent, select Transcription (no parent)
  3. By default, the tier type will be kept. If you want to change it, select another one from the dialog window and click on Finish.
  4. Now the tier (and optionally its children) will be copied. “-cp” will be added to the names in order to prevent confusion with the original tier. It is also possible to check the option to rename the original tiers, so that the copies can use the original names. This way, "-orig" will be added to the original tier(s).

Figure 2.103. Copy tier

Copy tier


Note that this is similar to the change parent tier functionality (see Changing the parent of a tier). However it differs in 2 aspects:

  • It is not mandatory to copy the child tiers.
  • The parent for the copy can be any tier in the transcription, including the tier itself, or no parent.

Copying annotations from one tier to another tier

This variant copies annotations from one tier to another, already existing, tier (so the tier itself is not copied).

This process consists of three steps and can be started via the Tier > Copy Annotations from Tier to Tier menu.

  1. In the first step select one source tier from which to copy the annotations.
  2. In the second step one destination tier can be selected. Listed are dependent tiers of the source tier and all independent, top-level tiers.
  3. The third step allows to specify which annotations to copy and whether or not existing annotations on the destination tier can be overwritten.

    Figure 2.104. Copy annotations from one to another tier

    Copy annotations from one to another tier


    The following options are provided:

    • All annotations copies all annotations regardless of their value.
    • Annotations where value is..., the value can be entered in the text field.
    • Treat as regular expression. This option can be checked if the value entered in the text field should be used as a regular expression to match annotations on the source tier. By default annotations are matched using case-sensitive, exact matching. The matching always concerns the entire value (no substring matching).
    • Allow existing annotations to be overwritten allows to protect existing annotations from being changed. This concerns both the value and the alignment.