The present invention is a multimedia re-editor that, either as a stand alone tool or embedded in a text processor, would provide the capability to create powerful multimedia applications from text documents with a few simple keystrokes. It can thereby provide powerful multimedia authoring capabilities without adding complexity to the word processing.

A variety of text-based materials can benefit from multimedia enhancements provided by re-editor software due to increased effectiveness of documents.

This is an ideal tool for transforming a conventional foreign language course that was not designed as a computer application and includes a textbook and audio CD's into a much more effective multimedia computer application.

The re-editor also contains features that allow a lesson creator to implement a variety of exercises that require student input of text as well as sound. At the lesson creator's discretion the student can see and/or hear the correct answers to the exercises by simply clicking the mouse or pressing a function key.

Lines of a stage play can be linked to a recording on an audio CD, a WAVE or MP3 file. Each line can be heard by simply clicking on it. Any group of sequential lines of text can be heard by simply clicking the right mouse button. An actor can record and play back individual lines or any part of a text as an aid to memorizing it. Sound effects can also be linked to areas of text and activated at a live performance by clicking a mouse button.

Exercises in a logic book can be linked to an external program that allows a student to create and/or edit a proof and check its validity. Sounds can be linked to a text of a children's book. Any sound can be heard by simply clicking the mouse on the text area linked to the sound.

A lesson creator can create a glossary to aid in vocabulary acquisition and/or permit a student to create a personal glossary. Words in the text may be found in the glossary with a simple menu selection.

Adding multimedia features to textual materials can greatly enhance effectiveness of documents. There are many different authoring tools that support audio, video, graphics, and text for a wide variety of applications. However, there is no widely used word processing software and e-book authoring tool that can readily convert text documents into rich multimedia applications. Additionally, many of the stand-alone multimedia authoring tools are difficult to use to their full capacity. The multimedia re-editor is a Microsoft Windows application that facilitates creation of text-based multimedia projects. Any text document, such as a Microsoft Word document, can be imported and processed with the present invention to map up to 9 different multimedia elements to any single area of text. The multimedia files that can be mapped include but are not limited to WAVE, MP3, and MIDI sound files, AVI and MPEG videos, as well as text files. In addition, any external executable program can be mapped to an area of text, which provides limitless functionality.

The multimedia re-editor can be operated in both user and edit modes. In user mode, clicking on a text area can activate multimedia attributes. Sounds (WAVE, MP3, and MIDI files as well as any segment of a CD track or an entire audio CD track), for instance, can be played either one at a time or in a sequence. As the sounds are played in sequence, the corresponding text areas are highlighted. The playing speed of sound files can be specified by the user. In edit mode, the multimedia re-editor gives a document creator the ability to easily map sound, video, text, and other external programs to particular segments of a text. The re-editor also provides a complete set of word processing features to originate and modify documents. The multimedia mapping procedure utilizes only conventional mouse and keyboard operations. The product is very easy to use and anyone familiar with word processing should have no trouble learning to use the re-editor features.