When working with transcripts linked to audio or video recordings, you can play the media directly in the Document Browser without opening the full Media Player.
Playback controls
The playbar includes the following controls and information:
- Playback position — scrub to any point in the recording
- Total duration — shown alongside the current position
- Play/Pause — start or pause playback
- Rewind/Forward — skip backward or forward by the configured rewind interval
- Volume — adjust the playback volume
- Playback Speed — available from the
settings icon; select Playback Speed to adjust how fast the recording plays
You can also control playback with keyboard shortcuts:
- F4 or F5 — play/pause
- Ctrl (Windows) or Shift ⇧ (macOS), pressed twice in succession — play/pause without using the function keys
- F12 / Shift+F12 — skip forward or backward 5 seconds
Navigating between recording and transcript
When a transcript contains timestamps, MAXQDA automatically scrolls the transcript as the recording plays, keeping the current passage in view. Timestamp icons mark specific positions in the recording; clicking one plays the recording from that position up to the next timestamp. Moving the playhead in the playbar scrolls the transcript to the matching text.
Timestamp column
The timestamps of a transcript appear in a column at the left margin of the Document Browser. To show or hide this column, click the 
settings icon in the playbar and turn Display Timestamp Column on or off. The column is shown by default, and MAXQDA saves the setting for each document separately.
While the recording plays, a blue progress animation on the current timestamp shows where playback is. In Transcription Mode, the column is always shown.
Opening the Media Player
For advanced audio and video coding and annotation tasks, you can open the full Media Player by clicking the 
icon at the right end of the playbar. For video documents, you can also hover over the small preview in the corner of the playbar to display the icon.
Only one Media Player window can be open at a time. If you open a second media file, the first one pauses and its position is saved.
