Freelance transcription style guide cheatsheet for GoTranscript, Scribie, and custom PDF briefs

VideoText editorial team · Published · Updated · 1 min read

Illustration of a freelance transcription style-guide checklist

Every marketplace ships a PDF; your job is to remember which client wants contractions kept, which demands bracketed laughter, and which normalises numbers. A cheatsheet is just those rows in one place so you are not re-opening page 27 at 2 a.m.

Checklist diagram of speaker labels, verbatim mode, timestamps, and inaudible tags
Checklist diagram of speaker labels, verbatim mode, timestamps, and inaudible tags

Map PDF rows to VideoText presets

Start from the GoTranscript, Scribie, Rev, or TranscribeMe preset inside Format → Client guidelines. Treat each card as a cheatsheet line—contractions, tagging, timestamps, laughter placement, ellipsis usage. When an agency deviates, edit the card, note the override, and keep the export with your invoice.

  • Retention: some clients want “wanna/gonna” typed exactly; others want them expanded—match the card to the PDF, not habit.
  • Batching: group similar clients so you load the same preset order each night; fewer context switches means fewer mistakes.

Capture audio with Video → Transcript, then open the formatter before you start human polish.

Related tools and guides

Open Guideline Format