Stenobox Guides

Court transcript formatting, answered

Transcript formatting conventions are barely documented anywhere — the usual advice is to hunt down an out-of-print style book. These guides answer one question at a time and pin every answer to primary sources: state manuals, statutes, court rules, and certified transcripts from the public record.

Michigan · Page format

Michigan transcript format: what the SCAO Manual requires (and what reporters actually produce)

The official 25-line page format from the SCAO Manual for Court Reporters and Recorders — margins, indents, title page, certificate — compared with the CAT-software layout (Case CATalyst, MAXScribe, Eclipse) working reporters actually deliver, and which to use for depositions vs. court transcripts.

More guides are on the way — repeated words and stutters ("the -- the"), keeping or dropping "uh" and "um," clean verbatim vs. true verbatim, and state-by-state format rules. Questions you'd like answered? Tell us.