Fix a wrong speaker name

Eddie splits your audio by voice. It marks where the person talking changes, and it names a person when the audio makes the name clear — for example when someone introduces themselves. When nothing in the audio gives a name, Eddie leaves a placeholder such as Speaker 1.

This is a guess, so it can be wrong. Eddie can give a person the wrong name, split one person into two speakers, or invent a speaker who was never in the room. You correct all of this yourself, in the transcript.

Where the speaker controls are

1. Open the project and select one clip in the source list. The clip's transcript opens beside the player.
2. Under the player, click the filter icon, next to the search icon. A menu opens to the right.
3. The menu has a SPEAKERS section. It lists every speaker in this clip.

The speaker controls appear only in this single-clip transcript view. They are hidden while you look at an edit, the timeline, the compare view or the B-roll review. Go back to a clip's transcript to use them. See The editor explained for the different views.

A speaker has the wrong name

1. Move the pointer over the speaker's row in the SPEAKERS list.
2. Click the pencil.
3. Type the correct name.
4. Press Enter, or click the tick. Escape or the cross cancels.

The new name replaces the old one on every line of that speaker. This is not a per-line change.

The name is also project-wide. Every clip that carries the same speaker label shows the new name.

To go back to Eddie's original label, clear the box and save it empty.

Check your other clips after a rename. Eddie analyses each clip on its own. Speaker 1 in one clip and Speaker 1 in another clip are not always the same person. Open your other clips and confirm the name landed on the right voice.

A block of lines is on the wrong speaker

Use this when a speaker's name is right in most of a clip but wrong in a few places.

1. Move the pointer over the lines in the transcript.
2. Click the swap icon — two arrows — beside the speaker name.
3. Pick the correct speaker.

This moves the whole speech turn, which is every line in that block, to the speaker you pick. The menu offers the speakers found in this clip, plus any speaker you added yourself.

A speaker is missing from the list

Speaker detection can miss a person who says very little, or fold them into another voice. Add the person yourself:

1. Open the SPEAKERS section of the filter menu.
2. Type the name into the + new speaker box at the bottom of the list.
3. Press Enter, or click the tick.

The name then appears in the swap menu. Use the swap icon to move that person's lines onto them.

Eddie invented a speaker who was not there

There is no delete button for a speaker. Empty the speaker instead:

1. Tick that speaker in the SPEAKERS list. The transcript now shows only their lines.
2. Use the swap icon on each block. Move every block to the person who really speaks it.
3. Untick the filter.

Once no line uses the invented speaker, it leaves the clip's speaker list.

A speaker that you added by hand stays in the list, and you cannot delete it. If you add a name by mistake, rename it to the name you meant.

Eddie split one person into two speakers

There is no merge button. You have two options:

• Give both speakers the same name. Use the pencil on each one. Every line then reads the same name, and Eddie treats them as one person when you ask for that person's lines. The filter list still shows two rows.
• Move the lines. Use the swap icon to move the smaller speaker's blocks onto the correct speaker. This takes more clicks, and it leaves one speaker in the list.

Take the second option when you want a clean speaker list.

What a name change does, and what it does not

• Your cut does not change. A speaker name is a label. Eddie does not re-cut, re-render or re-export anything when you rename someone.
• The new name appears in the transcript, in the speaker filter, and in the transcript panel of an edit you already made.
• Names are saved with the project. Anyone with the share link sees them.
• Files you already downloaded keep the old name. Export again to pick up the new one.

Re-transcribing a clip can undo your work

Re-transcription rebuilds a clip's transcript from the audio. It is a paid action, and Eddie quotes the cost before it starts.

• The names you typed are kept.
• The voices are analysed again, so Eddie can label them differently. A name can end up on the wrong person.
• Lines you moved with the swap icon can end up on the wrong lines.

Check a clip's speaker names after you re-transcribe it, and fix anything that moved.

Honest limits

• Eddie cannot rename a speaker for you. Asking in the prompt box does not work — there is no tool behind it. Use the pencil in the transcript.
• There is no delete button and no merge button. Use the methods above.
• Names stay in one project. A rename does not carry into your other projects.
• A downloaded .srt, .vtt or .txt transcript can still carry the original label when that label includes a role, such as Alex (Interviewer). Check the file after you export it.
• Getting names right at import is better than fixing them later. Attach a Backgrounder dictionary before you import, so Eddie spells your names correctly from the first pass.

Related: Transcripts and speakers, Backgrounder: give Eddie context.