The library

Your library is a folder of ordinary files. Each meeting is a folder; each folder you make in MacParsley is a folder on disk. You can look at it in Finder, back it up like any other folder, and move it to another Mac.

Folders

• Make a folder with the + next to Folders in the sidebar. A new folder starts inside the one you've selected.
• Rename, Move…, Delete and Edit (color, icon, defaults) are in the right-click menu, and the same options appear in Settings → Folders.
• Drag meetings onto folders, and drag folders onto other folders, to reorganize.
• Select several things with ⌘-click, ⌥-click and ⇧-click (⇧ selects a range), or use the sidebar's select mode for check boxes.
• A folder with no color of its own takes its parent's color, and so do its meetings. Choose a color on the parent and the whole branch follows.
• Folders in the sidebar are always in alphabetical order.
• Open and close folders with the arrow beside them, or from the keyboard: ↑ and ↓ move through the list, → opens the selected folder, ← closes it (or, on a closed folder or a meeting, goes up to the folder it's in).
• MacParsley remembers which folders you left open, for each library, and shows them the same way next time. The very first time, the top-level folders are open.

Folder defaults

In Edit Folder you can choose, for everything in that folder and its subfolders:

The folder overview

Select a folder (without selecting a meeting) and the right side lists every meeting in it and its subfolders as cards. At the top right, Sort By offers:

• Date (Descending), Date (Ascending), Title (Ascending), Title (Descending);
• Group by Folder, which shows each folder under its own heading. Turn it off for one list across all folders, with each card showing its folder.

Both choices are remembered.

Meetings

A meeting has these parts, shown on the left of the content area:

The Audio part has the player and, below it, the transcript that follows along:

The Attachments part starts empty; drag files in or choose Add Files…, and MacParsley asks whether to copy or move them:

Meeting Info (the i button, ⌘I) shows where it came from, its folder, tags and speakers, and lets you change the title, folder and tags. Press Return in the Title box to save and close.

Original Source opens where the audio came from: Open in Plaud, Open in Pocket or Open in Browser for a service or web link, or Show in Finder for a file. A meeting recorded on your Mac and sent to Plaud or Pocket for its transcript or summary opens its copy there.

Edit… (right-click a meeting) lets you change title, folder, color and icon. Return saves.

Tags

Tags label meetings across folders. Add them in Meeting Info, or in the import window. Click tags in the box at the bottom of the sidebar to show only meetings that carry them. A tag disappears by itself when no meeting uses it any more, with one exception: tags you chose for automatically recorded calls (Settings → Recording) are kept.

A new tag starts on the next color in turn (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, gray, then red again), wherever it's made. You can pick another before you create it, and recolor it later. Manage tags (rename, recolor, delete) in Settings → Tags, which also has a search box.

Smart folders

A smart folder is a saved search. They appear under Smart Folders in the sidebar and fill themselves. New libraries start with:

• Last 7 Days
• Plaud Recordings
• Has Attachments
• Unidentified Speakers, handy after a big import

Make your own from Advanced Search.

Deleted Items

Deleting a meeting or folder moves it to Deleted Items (at the bottom of the sidebar). From there you can restore it. Empty Deleted Items removes it for good; MacParsley asks first.

What's on disk

MacParsley Library/
  Hitachi Vantara/                  a folder
    .folder.json                    its color, icon and defaults
    Pricing Call With Acme/         a meeting
      audio.m4a                     the recording (or .ogg, .mp3, .wav)
      transcript.md / transcript.pdf
      summary.md / summary.pdf
      mindmap-concise.png / mindmap-detailed.png
      Attachments/                  files and pictures
      .metadata.json                title, date, speakers, tags…
  Deleted Items/

• Summaries and transcripts are written as both Markdown (for other tools) and PDF (for reading and printing). Pictures from Plaud summaries are embedded in the PDF.
• The two mind maps are saved as pictures next to the summary.
• MacParsley also keeps a database in ~/Library/Application Support/MacParsley/ so it can search and open meetings quickly.
• Check Library for Changes (File menu) compares the folders on disk with what MacParsley knows, in case you moved or added things in Finder.

Moving the library

Settings → General → Library Location shows where it is and lets you switch to another folder. Existing files aren't moved for you; copy the folder yourself in Finder first, then point MacParsley at the new place.

Saving space

Settings → Maintenance → Archive Audio can recompress old recordings to a small size (32 kbps, mono) after a week, month, three months, six months or a year. The original audio is replaced and can't be recovered, and the lower quality could affect transcribing or identifying speakers again later. Transcripts, summaries and mind maps are not changed. It's off by default.

← The trial and buying MacParsleyImporting →