Vault includes limited annotation capabilities for video documents (MPEG-4, QuickTime, WMV, etc.). There are three types of video annotations: Image Note annotations, Image Link annotations, and Claim Links.
Creating Annotations
To annotate a video, open the video’s Doc Info page and click View annotations in the viewer panel. Entering Annotate mode pauses playback. Click the Play icon in the video player to resume playback. If the video already has annotations, it will open in Annotate mode by default.
You can toggle between cursor modes to create note and link annotations. While in Annotate mode, click and drag on the video to create an annotation.
You can create an annotation that extends to the bottom of the video screen, including over the video player timeline and controls. However, in Annotate mode, selecting an annotation sitting over the timeline prevents you from interacting with that area of the timeline.
When you create an annotation, video playback pauses. You must save all annotations before resuming playback. Note that you must resume playback manually. When playing a video with annotations while in Annotate mode, annotation info cards appear in the sidebar for two seconds during playback.
See Annotating Documents for details about image and link annotations.
Time Signatures
When you create an annotation, Vault assigns a time signature based on the point of time in the video. The time signature displays in the header bar of all annotation Info Cards, and in the Edit Annotation dialog of all new or saved annotations. For videos under one hour in length, the time signature displays as MM:SS. Longer videos display the time signature as HH:MM:SS.
When bringing forward annotations, Vault places the annotation using the same time signature and coordinates whenever possible. If the time signature does not exist in the new version, Vault places the annotation at 00:00 with an alert icon. Moving or bringing the annotation forward to another version clears the alert icon. You can move these annotations to associate them with a specific time signature.
Selecting Annotations
You can select an annotation by:
- Clicking the annotation placemark on the video player
- Clicking the annotation info card in the sidebar
- Traversing annotations using the arrows at the top right of the annotation screen
- Navigating from a reference anchor that you created in a document
- Clicking the link in a User Mention or Favorite Document notification
When you select an annotation, the video pauses at the associated time. The selected annotation displays in the annotation sidebar to the right of the video player, along with any other annotations that have the same time signature. If more annotations exist than fit in the annotation sidebar, you can scroll to view all of the annotations.
Multiple annotations with the same time signature sort by their position on the screen. The selected annotation displays edit tools. Unselected annotations appear opaque. Click on another annotation to select that annotation. When you resume playback, Vault unselects any selected annotations.
Navigating Annotations
In Annotate mode, Vault displays Next and Previous traversal arrow icons above the annotation screen, along with a count of all visible annotations across the entire video. When you select an annotation, this number displays which annotation you are on out of all visible annotations. Note that this number does not include annotations hidden by filters. If no annotations exist, the display count is “0”.
Using the traversal arrows selects the next or previous annotation in the video and moves the video to the time signature associated with the selected annotation. If you resume playback after traversing annotations, the video resumes at the time signature of the newly selected annotation.
Moving Annotations
Vault allows you to move annotations within a video. You can move the annotation to adjust the coordinates, time signature, or both. Note that users with the Annotate permission can move all new and brought forward video annotations, as moving annotations is not restricted to the annotation author.
To move a video annotation:
- Click the Action menu on the annotation you want to move.
- Select Move.
- Click and drag the existing placemark, or click to redraw a new placemark.
- Play the video or click and drag on the timeline to adjust the time signature.
- Click Save.
While you can move annotations while a video is playing, confirming or canceling the move pauses playback. If you move an annotation to a new timestamp and then cancel the move, the previous timestamp remains.
Downloading Annotations
Users with View Content permission can download a TXT file containing all annotations that exist on a video document. The TXT file orders annotations by time signature and also includes:
- Note ID
- Author
- Timestamp
- Document version
- Note status
- Comment text
- Tags
If an annotation has replies, they exist under the parent note. Vault ignores any applied annotation filter settings and downloads all notes that exist on the current version of the video file.
To download annotations, click Download Notes in the video’s Actions menu. Vault records Download Notes in the audit trail.
Bringing Forward Video Annotations
When bringing forward video annotations (notes and links), Vault uses the same time signature and coordinates whenever possible. If the time signature and coordinates do not exist in the new version, Vault places the annotation at the 00:00 time signature with an alert icon. You can move these annotations to associate them with a specific time signature in the video or leave them as is.
Note: Video annotations created using Internet Explorer 11 and placed at the end of a video may, when brought forward, be placed at the first second of the video with an alert icon advising that the original time signature does not exist in the new version. We recommend moving the annotation to the correct time signature in the new version. Note that this issue does not occur on annotations created in other browsers.
Video Annotation Limitations
There are several features available for document annotations that are not available for video annotations, including:
- Sticky comment annotations
- Line annotations
- Download PDF with annotations
- Offline annotations
- Export and import annotations
Vault does not allow you to add, remove, or edit annotations on archived documents.
Related Permissions
You must have the Annotate document role permission to create annotations. To create link annotations, you also need the Edit Relationships document role permission.