By default, Audio Notetaker will embed all imported audio into the Audio Notetaker project. This makes life simple and suits most users. However, if you would prefer, you can link to imported audio instead, thereby keeping your Audio Notetaker files compact, and making it easy to access the audio files with other tools. Whether you link or embed is an options setting which defaults to embedded. To set to the Linked option, go to App Menu → System → Settings → Audio Files and select “Linked Audio”.

Recording Live into Audio Notetaker

However you set your options, live recordings into Audio Notetaker will always be embedded.

Version 1 Files

In version 1 files all the audio was linked. If you are still working with version 1 files, but you have your options set to “embedded”, you need to be aware that the audio will remain linked unless you take explicit action to embed it.
 

In other words, if you open a version 1 .ant file and save as a .ran file, the audio will still be linked. The only circumstance where it would be embedded automatically is if you were to copy and paste it into a new tab. However, in the Save As dialog, there is a “Save As Type” drop down box, which offers you “Audio Notetaker Project (embedding all audio)”. If you select this, all audio is embedded when you save.

Changing audio between Embedded and Linked

You can manually change any audio from linked to embedded and vice versa, including live recordings. Simply go to App Menu → Properties where the type of all the audio in your current project is shown, and is changeable (see next section).

Support for Linked Audio Files

If you have never opened a version 1 (.ant) file, and you have not changed your Embedded/Linked setting in App Menu → System → Settings → Audio Files to Linked, you don’t need to read this section.
 

If you have somewhere in your search folders an Audio Notetaker file which links to external audio, the “All Project files” tab will have an extra “Audio files referenced” display at the bottom. When you select an Audio Notetaker file with linked audio, the linked audio files are listed in that bottom display:
 

If a linked audio file is missing on the computer, the file is still shown, but in red. Audio Notetaker will attempt to locate your missing file when you open your document and also if you try to play an Audio Notetaker Project containing missing audio.

You can ask Audio Notetaker to locate missing files by right clicking and selecting 'Find Lost Files' or if your document is open, from the App Menu → Properties → Find Files
 

Similarly, the “All audio files” view will have an extra column and an extra display at the bottom. Any audio files which are linked to externally by one or more Audio Notetaker Projects, have that number in the “Used by files” column, and the file is shown in black rather than blue. If you select one of these files, the Audio Notetaker Project(s) which link to it are shown in the display at the bottom.
 

The “All audio files” view will also show all missing audio files in red: Again, you can select one or all of them and ask Audio Notetaker to try to locate them by choosing “Find Lost File”.

Rename and Delete

Rename and Delete will take into account any linked audio files:
 

• Rename – If an audio file is referenced by one or more Audio Notetaker Projects, each reference will be updated to reflect the new name.
• Delete – If an audio file, it will check that it is not being referenced by any Audio Notetaker Projects. If an Audio Notetaker file, it will check whether it links to any audio files, and offer to delete them as well (if no other file links to them).

Note that Audio Notetaker will not know about Audio Notetaker files that you have put on your computer but never read from or written to with Audio Notetaker, unless you put them somewhere under Documents/Audio Notetaker Recordings. It will also not know about files on a memory stick if when the stick was originally accessed it had a different drive letter (perhaps because you had or now have an extra USB device plugged in). If you want to be quite sure, set your search folders explicitly (see Search Folders).

Find Lost File

As mentioned earlier, the File Manager offers a facility to locate a linked audio file that is no longer where it was when originally linked. This may be because it has been renamed outside of the File Manager, or because it has been moved somewhere else. With Audio Notetaker version 1 (*.ant) files, it was quite easy to lose an audio file, but in later versions (*.ran) files, the audio file will only be lost if you move it relative to the Audio Notetaker file that references it.
 

“Find Lost File” will search your Search Folders (see Search Folders), starting with the drive that the Audio Notetaker file, that has lost the file, is on. It will try to determine from the size, date and name, which file is most likely to be the lost file, and offer you that file. If you are searching for multiple lost files, it will show you the best candidate for each in a list: You can either accept the proposed file, or browse to find it yourself.