VideoText workflow guide
GoTranscript speaker label rules: bold format, names vs roles, and ? prefix when uncertain — plus the full style reference for punctuation, verbatim, and special notations.
Choose Rev, GoTranscript, TranscribeMe, Scribie, or a custom client specification. Each guideline has distinct rules for verbatim level, speaker label format, timestamp intervals, inaudible notation, and maximum paragraph length.
Clean verbatim removes fillers, false starts, and repetitions for readability. Full verbatim preserves all spoken content. Applying the wrong level is the most common single reason transcripts fail marketplace QA — it cannot be fixed without re-reading the source audio.
A single speaker must have exactly one label format from the first occurrence to the last. Mixed formats (JOHN SMITH / John / J. Smith) require a find-and-replace pass across the full document before any other formatting work.
Rev-style: timestamps every 2 minutes or at each speaker change. GoTranscript: job-dependent — bold [00:00:00] either every 2 minutes or at every speaker change, with no timestamping on the qualification test. TranscribeMe: per-speaker-turn timestamps. Paragraph limits range from 8 lines (Rev) to roughly 500 symbols (GoTranscript).
Verify inaudible notation consistency (all [inaudible] or all [INAUDIBLE], never mixed), check bracket format for crosstalk sections, confirm verbatim level is consistent throughout, and validate that paragraph length does not exceed the client's maximum.
Clean verbatim writes slang out in standard English: gonna becomes going to, wanna becomes want to, yeah and yep become yes. Okay is always spelled in full, never OK or Ok. Spoken contractions such as don't and y'all stay exactly as spoken.
Zero through nine are spelled out and 10 upwards takes numerals, while money, years and percentages use numerals at any size.
Square brackets, lowercase, present tense, two words at most: [laughs], [laughter], [crosstalk], [silence], [background noise]. A pause beyond about 10 seconds becomes [pause 00:00:00], bold and on its own line.
Standard English punctuation throughout, including the serial comma in a list of three or more items.
Reduce revision risk before submitting marketplace jobs. A pre-delivery formatting check catches the label inconsistency, timestamp format error, or verbatim level mismatch that triggers a QA rejection and unpaid revision.
Create a consistent formatting baseline across a team of transcriptionists working on the same client account — so reviewers spend time on content accuracy, not fixing label formats.
Turn raw AI-generated transcripts into readable interview documents: speaker structure, consistent punctuation, accurate paragraph breaks, and timestamps that let readers verify context in the source recording.
Smoothing a speaker's grammar into something more fluent than what they said. A misspoken word is spelled correctly, but the grammar of the utterance stays as it was spoken.
Writing an accent out phonetically to be faithful to the recording. Standard English spelling applies regardless of accent or dialect — the meaning is transcribed, not the sound.
Clean verbatim strips repetitions, so "no, no, no" gets cut to one. Repetition used for emphasis is the exception and should stay: removing it flattens what the speaker meant.
A bracketed note that is not in the guidelines — [unclear], [mumbles], [pause] without a time. Unlisted tags read as errors, not as initiative.
Correct standard spelling is required even where the speaker mispronounces a word. The rule sits alongside the instruction not to correct grammar, and the two are easy to confuse: fix the spelling, keep the sentence.
Hold paragraphs to roughly 500 symbols, about 100 words, and break at a topic shift inside a long turn. Fixed-interval breaking produces paragraphs that cut across a thought.
A question-mark prefix on the label — ?David: — is the sanctioned way to record doubt about who is speaking, added to the guidelines in March 2022. It is a labelling rule rather than a punctuation choice, and there is no other approved way to express the doubt.
Yes. GoTranscript follows standard English punctuation which includes the Oxford (serial) comma in lists of three or more items. Example: "We discussed marketing, operations, and finance."
Transcribe technical terms as accurately as possible. If you are unsure of the spelling, use your best judgment and note it. For industry-specific terms, research the correct spelling rather than guessing. GoTranscript clients often specify the domain in job instructions.
False starts are removed in GoTranscript's clean verbatim standard. If a speaker says "I — actually, let me rephrase that", transcribe only "Let me rephrase that." Remove the incomplete thought entirely.
Use [crosstalk] when speakers talk over each other. Place it on its own line or inline where the overlap occurs. Do not substitute [inaudible] for crosstalk — they are separate tags in GoTranscript's official guidelines.
GoTranscript requires standard English spelling regardless of the speaker's accent or dialect. If a speaker says "gonna", write "going to". If they say "wanna", write "want to". Transcribe the meaning in standard English, not phonetic dialect.