Kleenex vs. Tissue | E-Transcript vs. Electronic Transcript

Like Kleenex is a trademark and represents a brand name for tissue, e-transcript is RealLegal’s trademarked name for their electronic transcript.  However, in the court reporting business, “e-transcript” or “e-tran” can mean many different things.  There is a bit of confusion in the marketplace about what an “e-transcript” means to you.

An “electronic transcript” is a transcript in digital format that can be sent over the Internet, attached to an e-mail, put in Dropbox or delivered by any other means except paper.  It could mean a compressed transcript in digital form, an ASCII and/or a PDF file.

Types of electronic transcripts:

Standard PDF – looks just like a paper transcript but can be read on the computer using Adobe Reader and Acrobat.  The PDF is viewable, searchable, printable, you can copy and paste key testimony, highlight, and you can read it off a computer, iPad, reader and Smartphone.  Also, because it uses Adobe, you have access to all the advanced searching and digesting features that Adobe products have to offer.

Min-U-Script® - a PDF version of a transcript where you can view the transcript as four pages of testimony on one screen or full page.  The MUS PDF also has an interactive word index.  The word index wheel shows the page and line number for each occurrence of a word.  Click on the page and line number and it will take you to that word.  Additionally, if you would like the exhibits scanned and linked, MUS PDF supports it.  It can do all the things that a standard PDF can do and much more.

E-transcript – made by RealLegal, this product is similar to a Min-U-Script PDF with one major difference.  You need an e-transcript viewer downloaded onto your notebook to open the PTX file.  Like the Adobe PDF files, you can view, search, and print full-sized transcripts, condensed transcripts and word indexes.  E-transcript files are Windows-based only.

ASCII – an electronic file that can be imported into Word or other litigation support software such as CaseViewNet (free), Summation and LiveNote.  These software packages allow you to print, search, annotate and add issue codes to a transcript.

The next time you order an electronic transcript from the court reporter, be sure to specify which of the formats described above you would like to receive.

Doris O. Wong Associates, Inc., can help you select the product that best suits your needs.  Our firm is your technology solution.