Review: TranscriptPad -- review and manage depositions on your iPad

As a litigator, I read a lot of depositions, and I love the ability to review them on my iPad.  In the past, I have typically created a searchable PDF version of the deposition transcript and then read the transcripts in the GoodReader app, using the standard PDF highlight feature to mark significant text.  I'd store all of the depositions in a folder in GoodReader so I could pull them up in the future.  However, Lit Software LLC has just introduced a new $50 iPad app called TranscriptPad, an app dedicated to the task of reviewing depositions.  This is the same company that created TrialPad, a powerful trial presentation app for the iPad.  The developer, Ian O'Flaherty, sent me a free copy of the app to review, and so far I am very impressed.  The app offers many powerful features, and I think that this will be the tool I will use going forward for reviewing depositions.

To get a deposition into TranscriptPad, simply find an e-mail with a text version of the deposition (presumably an e-mail from your court reporter), tap and hold on the attachment, and select TranscriptPad.  (If you don't see TranscriptPad in the list, read my post from earlier this month about missing apps in the Open In menu.)  Or if you have the .txt deposition in your Dropbox, TranscriptPad also includes an option to import from Dropbox.

TranscriptPad will then ask you which case the deposition pertains to, or gives you the option to create a new case.  The app then scans the deposition and automatically determines the name of the deponent and the date of the deposition, although you also have the option to modify those if you wish.

Now you are ready to start reading your deposition.  You can do so in either portrait or landscape view, and if you are like me, you'll do most of your viewing in portrait mode.  A bar along the right makes it easy to jump to a particular page of the deposition, or you can just swipe up and down to go from page to page.  Or if you want, you can even use the "Play" button at the bottom to have the deposition scroll automatically (you can adjust the speed), much like a teleprompter. 

There are a few settings for changing the way that a transcript is displayed.  You can select one of four fonts.  Also, you can have the app display questions in bold, which can make it easier to distinguish questions and answers when reading a transcript.

The key feature of this app is the ability to designate text that is significant.  To do so, simply tap the line number at the beginning of the passage and tap the line number at the end of the passage.  You can then associate an issue code (created by you) with that passage, perhaps something general like "damages" or perhaps some specific issue in your case.  You can associate each issue code with any of six colors.  (You can use the colors more than once, so perhaps you want to use green for all of the issues good for yoru side, red for the issues bad for your side, etc.)  This creates a line to the left of the transcript text in the appropriate color. 

You can associate more than one issue code with a block of text; you'll just see more than one colorful line to the left of the text.  If you want to designate something as important, you can also apply a flag. 

Issue codes that you create work for all depositions in a case, so after you review your first deposition it is easy to use those same codes in other depositions.  On the other hand, when you are working with depositions from a different case, TranscriptPad lets you create a different set of codes appropriate for that case.

It is easy to see the passages that you have designated.  If you are in landscape view, there is a running list on the left, and you can easily tap to jump to specific pages and lines that you marked.  If you are in portrait view, just tap the Index button to see a pop-up list of the issue codes and designated passages, and tap to jump to a selection.

Once you are finished designating a deposition, it is easy to export a report of what has been designated.  There are several ways to do so.  First, you can create an e-mail with all of your designations, organized by issue code, with just the designated lines shown.  Any lines not designated are omitted. 

Second, you can create a report, either in text or PDF format, with just the page and line number designations, organized by issue code.  Third, you can create a report, text or PDF format, with the full text of all of the designations in a table format.  I see that this table format is not in page number order; I think each item is listed in the order that you designated it, which seems strange.  [UPDATE 1/26/12:  As the developer notes in a comment to this post, this is fixed in version 1.09 of the app.]

In addition to e-mailing a report, you can also print it to a printer associated with your iPad.  I haven't tested that feature.

It is also easy to search for words in a deposition.  Just enter a word or a phrase, and every instance of the word is highlighted in the document, with a list of page and line numbers on the left.

Unfortunately, the search is simple — just a word or a phrase and no proximity search.  For example, you can't search for one word in the same paragraph as another word.  On the other hand, I love that you can search for a term across all of the depositions in your case.  The app shows you how many instances there are in each deposition.

The app also gives you the ability to store exhibits, but it is a limited feature.  There is simply a folder called "Imported Exhibits" and any PDF file that you send to the app is located in that folder.  You cannot highlight or annotate the exhibits, although I suppose you could do so in another app such as GoodReader and then send the annotated PDF file to TranscriptPad.

This app is new, and it is still missing a lot of features that you find in more sophisticated transcript management software on a computer.  For example, as noted above you cannot do a proximity search.  Also, there is currently no way to share files with someone else, so if you want another attorney or paralegal to make a first pass at reviewing a deposition and designating key text, you're going to have to lend them your iPad.  (The developer tells me that collaboration is a feature that he is working on now, both for this app and the TrialPad app.) 

But even when that collaboration feature is added, I also would like to see a way to export a full copy of the deposition, perhaps in PDF format, with all of the colorful lines to the side to show passages that you designated.  This way, you could review a deposition on your iPad, and then share an annotated version with another attorney who doesn't even use an iPad.  (And it would be useful to create that PDF file as either a full page transcript or with four pages per page.)  The developer told me that he is thinking about adding a full transcript export option, but with only six designation colors, it can get complicated to indicate why a passage was designated.  Even so, I think that this is a major omission from the current version of the app.

Other limitations:  as noted above, the exhibit handling is very simple, and there is no way to associate specific exhibits with specific depositions.  [UPDATE:  The developer of TranscriptPad posted a comment to this post noting that you can work around this by simply creating your own folders.  Makes sense.]  The reports, although useful, are still rather simple, although I like that you can create a text report that you can then easily modify using a word processor on a computer. I wish there was a way to export all lines, in order, regardless of the issue code; that way you could add plaintiff and defendant designations in different colors but then create one continuous designated transcript to be read at trial.  And I'd love it if this app worked with real time transcript feeds, although perhaps that is too much to expect out of an iPad app.

That is a long list of missing features, but I am still very impressed with this app.  There are always missing features in the 1.0 version of any software, and the developer promises free updates.  And this 1.0 version does include tons of features that I love, especially the following:

• Reading a transcript works great, and it is easy to flip pages and jump to other pages.
• Selecting text is easy and fast.  In other apps you can highlight text by holding down at the start of a selection then dragging to the end of the selection.  It is much faster to select text in TranscriptPad because you just need two taps, one at the start and one at the end.
• Creating and applying issue codes is easy and fast.
• Searching across multiple depositions is easy and fast.  In the past, the only way I could do this on an iPad was to create a large text or PDF file containing multiple transcripts merged together into a single file.  And then when I received a new transcript I'd have to manually add that transcript to the single large file.
• You can select text and then, instead of designating the text, choose to e-mail just that snippet of text.  This creates an e-mail listing the starting page and line, the end page and line, and then the full text on those pages and lines.  Very clean, very useful.

I suppose it is worth mentioning that this app costs $50 whereas most iPad apps cost $10 or less, but that is still a lot cheaper than similar software for your computer, and I'd much rather use an iPad than a computer to review a deposition.  I prefer sitting back in a chair and reviewing the transcript on my iPad, plus I love having all of my deposition transcripts with me at all times on my iPad.  And considering that this software has appeal only to a niche audience — litigators — versus general PDF and text reading apps that are useful to millions of iPad owners, it is only natural that the app will be more expensive.  I think it is worth $50.

The TranscriptPad website is worth checking out if you use this app because it has a User Guide with helpful videos and a FAQ.

With TranscriptPad on my iPad, I'm actually looking forward to the next time I have to review a bunch of depositions, and I don't believe I've ever said that before.  This 1.0 version is full of great features, and I love that the developer already has useful additions, such as collaboration, in the pipeline for future updates.  If you are a litigator with an iPad who works with deposition transcripts, I think you will really like TranscriptPad.

Click here for TranscriptPad ($49.99): 

Comments

[Ian O'Flaherty]

Thanks for the thorough review! As we have done with TrialPad, we will continue to develop this app incorporating user suggestions into free updates.

Regarding the exhibits being placed in one "Imported Exhibits" folder, there was a lot of thought on how to best handle this. The initial plan was to have the exhibit automatically go into the individual deponent's folder, but if you did a batch import there would be no way for the app to know that Exhibit 1 belonged to the Smith depo as opposed the Jones depo. Then there also had to be a consideration if exhibits were shared across a case, and not just for the one deponent. The solution was to import all the exhibits into one Imported Exhibits folder for each case, but allow you to move each exhibit to a related deponent folder if desired. You can also duplicate an exhibit as many times as you want and move the copies to each related deponent folder.

Kind regards,

Ian O'Flaherty
ian@litsoftware.com
Lit Software, LLC
Developer of TrialPad and TranscriptPad

[Law Firm Manchester]

This looks like a great little app for my iPad, thanks for reviewing, I think I'll give this a go!

[JC]

Own it. Love it. Already using it constantly.

I agree that it's missing some features. I'd really like to see it be able to take .ptx files and to seamlessly use pdf files where a txt file is unavailable. It would also be great if one of these programs could eventually build in OCR for non-txt files. Finally, I'd like to see some deeper integration with TrialPad.

That said, this is far and away the best transcript reviewer I've used, and I've used many. Plus, the $50 becomes an easy spend, even on this initial version, when you consider the great support that these apps receive from the developer. It's nice to buy the early version with the confidence that every future version will get better and better.

[Jonathan]

I use TrialPad now and really like it, so I am naturally interested in another app from Lit Software. Unfortunately, many court reporters continue to use the .ptx format for eTrans and there is no easy way to read those files on the Mac/iPad. Being able to import .ptx files into TranscriptPad would definitely make me spring for the $50. Without that ability, I probably won't be purchasing.

[William Wilson]

What an excellent review. Missing features is always a bogey for developers. There are always good ideas, but it's easy to run into feature bloat (see Microsoft Word). Plus, at some point you have to say it's done and ship it.

It looks like Ian & Co. have done another great job. Looking forward to putting it through its paces.

[Ian O'Flaherty]

Just like with TrialPad, I wanted to come out of the gate with a solid app that does something great. I listen and respond to our users and try to add features that most people want, without the feature creep that results in a bloated app (as William noted) that does a lot of things, but none of them well.

I agree with Jonathan's comment about PTX files, but unfortunately that is a proprietary format. This issue is addressed in our Quick Start Guide within the app, and here is the FAQ that will be on our website when it's up in the next day or so:

Does TranscriptPad accept PTX files?
Not at this time. If you have a transcript in PTX format you will need to ask your court reporter to provide it in TXT format, or you can convert it on your PC by using the free West E-Transcript Bundle Viewer available here: http://store.westlaw.com/software/ebundle/viewer/default.aspx

[JC]

As an addendum to my earlier comment, I used the converter to make some ptx files into txt files and reviewed them in TranscriptPad - it was easy and the conversion was flawless. The extra step was a minor annoyance and it was easily worth it to be able to review the transcript in this excellent app. I'm putting together a summary judgment brief and being able to gather annotations across apps and have the cite provided all in one email is proving invaluable.

Not to sound like a fanboy, but if this is version 1, I can't wait to see what they do in updates. I'm one step closer to working entirely from the golf course.

(By the way, I didn't know that ptx was a proprietary format -- odd that West hasn't released an app for viewing them on an iPad).

[Jeff responds: There isn't even a way to view .ptx files on the Mac right now. But yes, it would be great to have a way to view them on iOS.]

[William]

Based on these reviews, I will stay away.

I am amazed at how bad legal apps are for the iPad. There is just no comparison to their desktop rivals.

[Jeff responds: Um... huh? I'm actually quite impressed with legal apps for the iPad, although of course there is always room for improvement.]

[Ian O'Flaherty]

An update to TranscriptPad has just been released in the App Store. This version 1.0.9 replaces the first public release which was 1.0.7. It has some minor bug fixes, including the issue that Jeff pointed out about the reports not being generated in page order.

- Fixed issue where reports were not generated in page order.
- Addressed a crash generating reports on a transcript without a date.
- Addressed an issue with day suffixes (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.) causing dates not to be detected.
- Addressed a crash with a (bad) transcript that has no line numbers, when the page up/down buttons are used.
- Addressed an issue where transcripts imported via email may be duplicated.
- Addressed a performance issue with deleting transcripts, and added a wait dialog.
- Added a warning dialog when deleting flags and designations.

Ian

Ian O'Flaherty
ian@litsoftware.com
Lit Software, LLC
Developer of TrialPad and TranscriptPad

[Ian O'Flaherty]

Here's an updated link for the Free E-Transcript Viewer that allows you to convert PTX files to TXT files to use in TranscriptPad:
http://store.westlaw.com/software/ebundle/viewer/default.aspx

[Jeff responds: I updated the link in your original comment as well.]

[William]

This link you are providing to Thomson West is useless for us Mac users out there. There is no Mac alternative for viewing PTX files.

[Jeff responds: I've mentioned this before (I have some of the folks above) and you are correct. There was a program to handle .ptx files on Mac OS 9, but ever since the switch to Mac OS X -- which was a VERY long time ago -- there is no way to handle .ptx files on the Mac. This is a serious omission and it amazes me that this hasn't been addressed. West purchased the company that developed the .ptx format and had hoped that West would put resources behind this, but we still don't have a .ptx solution for the Mac other than running Windows using virtual PC software.]