Many actions in Express Scribe can be controlled by a foot pedal controller. Each button or pedal on the controller can be mapped to a command that is triggered when that button or pedal is pressed.

Foot pedal controllers allow you to trigger commands without removing your hands from the keyboard or mouse, in a more intuitive way than keyboard short-cuts or hot-keys.

See Controllers ~ Compatible Controllers for a list of controllers that are compatible with Express Scribe.

Button or pedal presses on controllers are detected regardless of whether or not Express Scribe is in the foreground or has focus. The controller will continue to function even when Express Scribe is minimized, or while using a document in another application.

The "active controller" is the controller that has been configured for use.

See Foot Pedal and Hand-Held Controller Setup Guide and Options ~ Control for information about configuring the active controller.

Note that if the active controller is unplugged and moved to a different port, it will no longer be detected as the active controller. You must either reconnect the controller to the original port, or run the Controller setup wizard again.

An icon representing the status of the active controller appears on the right-hand side of the status bar. The icon has four possible states:

If the controller feature is enabled but no active controller is configured, a message may appear in the notification tray area when you attach a plug and play controller. Click on this message to launch the Controller setup wizard and configure it as the active controller.