The release of a Case CATalyst version always brings excitement to Stenograph.  In Development, the brilliant conjurors of code are bringing new features to life.  In Technical Support, the skillful software systems specialists are preparing to bring you the best support experience.  And everyone at Stenograph is hard at work to bring you Case CATalyst version 14.  While we are busy making the final preparations for an end of February release date, I am sharing some of the Case CATalyst version 14 features with you.

Export to PTX

Are you paying extra fees to provide PTX files? Export to PTX creates files that are compatible with RealLegal E-Transcript Viewer™ and RealLegal E-Transcript Bundle Viewer™ at no extra cost to you.

Mistran Minder

Do you have a unique set of mistranslates you search for each time you edit a transcript?  Do you bounce while stroking /A, which results in an a?  Do you sometimes write addendum when meaning to write ad damnum?   How much time do you spend finding and fixing your common mistranslates?  Mistran Minder instantly finds and lists your mistranslates along with transcript context to save you time and eliminate multiple searches.

Brief It No Nag List

Brief It Reminders are very useful to remind you of shorter strokes in your dictionary, but are there certain reminders you just want Brief It to stop nagging you about?  The Brief It No Nag List is the solution.  Now, you can see reminder briefs you want and easily eliminate the ones you don’t.

For example, your dictionaries contain perfectly stroked entries along with some misstrokes for the same text.  When you write “associated with” Brief It reminds you of your dictionary entry “SOET/W-D,” which is a misstroke.   Sending “associated with” to your No Nag List will stop Brief It from reminding you of “associated with,” for current and future jobs.

E-Mail in Finish ‘em

Take the frustration out of sending transcripts to your reporting firm and clients.  Case CATalyst’s unparalleled Finish ‘em feature puts all of the finishing touches on your transcript with one click, including attaching the transcript files you want to an email.  It offers the option to pre-address your e-mail by typing your recipients’ email address in the recipient field or you can select recipients after the e-mail message has been opened.

Enhanced Search Features

Trying to find a transcript and you’re not sure if the witness’ name was Colette, Collete, Colet or Collet?  It has never been easier to find what you are looking for in Case CATalyst.  CATalyst’s exclusive Search File Contents feature includes wildcard and regular expression searches.  Search lists the results with the file contents so you don’t need to look any further.

These plus many more exciting new features, along with enhancements to existing features, are coming in Case CATalyst version 14.  For more information you can visit the Stenograph website at stenograph.com.

Is setting up your realtime feed anything but easy? You check and maybe even swap out the plugs and cables or wireless adapters. You check the device manager. You check and double-check the com ports and baud rates. You re-install drivers. What now? Attorneys are staring and tapping their fingers. Everyone is waiting to go on the record, and now you’re completely stressed out!

Confidently get your realtime going with the Stenograph team: The Diamante, Case CATalyst, and CaseViewNet. No more cables or adapters. No baud rates or com ports. Need help? Stenograph is your single source of support, ready to assist.

Here’s what you’ll need:
1) The Diamante – The Diamante’s TrueStroke Technology will improve your tran rate by helping to eliminate stacking, shadowing, and missed keys, giving you the confidence you need to send out clean, readable interactive realtime.

2) Laptop Computer with Case CATalyst Version 13 and Connectify virtual router – Connection is as simple as connecting to your home’s wireless network; although, no internet connection is needed. With Case CATalyst’s RapidRefresh™, all globals, edits, and changes will instantly update on clients’ computers or iPads so your realtime will look better than ever!

3) Realtime viewers – Attorneys & judges can view your realtime feed on laptops, netbooks, tablets, or iPads. They will receive a clean wireless feed that can be saved as an ASCII, Livenote, or Summation file. Attorneys arriving late receive the entire transcript as soon as they connect. All marks and notations will be retained in their saved file.

At Jack W. Hunt & Associates, Inc., we were very pleased to demonstrate Stenograph’s iCVNet app at the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) Masters in Trial. The mock trial was held on Friday, October 12, 2012 in the beautiful Erie County Hall Ceremonial Courtroom in Buffalo, New York. One of the purposes of the mock trial was to showcase new technology in the courtroom, so we thought it was a perfect fit.
We arrived at the courthouse with 50 iPads ready to be lent out for the realtime viewing of testimony. We generated our WiFi connection through Apple’s Airport Express, and it worked flawlessly. After distributing more than 20 iPads, we had, at one time, 25 iPads all hooked up to the realtime feed. Thanks to two of our amazing realtime reporters, Joan Metzger-Hubbell and Lori Beck, along with David Sisson from our firm doing some quick backup editing, a stream of nearly flawless testimony flowed across the iPads. Needless to say, it was greeted with great enthusiasm from the attorneys in attendance.
At the end of an exciting day of courtroom surprises, suffice it to say that we feel Stenograph’s iCVNet iPad app stole the show. We were proud to sponsor this great event and to showcase the latest court reporting tools that are available to our clients. Thank you, Stenograph, for such an innovative and intuitive product.

One of the great things about working in Technical Support is that we have the chance to really make someone happy. Sometimes it is just the little things, like the other day when we received a call from a reporter who was required to archive her steno notes. Not just new steno notes, but all of her past work. We were able to give her a very simple solution. She was happy and so were we. But it got us thinking, if she did not know, maybe others don’t know either. So, do you know that Case CATalyst® has a feature called Print Notes to PDF?

To access Print Notes to PDF, click File, Print Notes to PDF. Select one or more of your files and then click Print. Case CATalyst will then ask where you want to save the PDF files; simply browse to your save location and then click Ok. Case CATalyst will make a separate PDF for each file you selected and save it to your chosen location.

By default Case CATalyst will print 3 columns of notes per page and use the Courier New 12 font. You can customize those options inside of Manage Notes Options. Click Tools, Options, Manage Notes.

Whether you are required to produce a copy of your notes or just want to archive your notes for safe keeping, Print Notes to PDF will quickly print one or all of your notes files to PDF. Here’s a pro tip, (the first one is free) when working inside of a case folder you don’t need to select each file inside of the case. Simply selecting the case folder will automatically select each note file inside of that case.

The other day I was speaking with a Reporter, and she asked me if I knew of a Scopist in her area that might be able to assist her. I actually knew of several Scopists she could contact, and suggested she go to our website and check out our “Find a Scopist” link.  She was surprised, as she had no idea Stenograph’s website provided such a wealth of information for court reporters, under the Support tab, Reporter Resources, located at www.stenograph.com.

Along with a list of Scopists using Case CATalyst, this page also lists all Authorized Service Providers, Case CATalyst and Diamante Training Agents, and CaseViewNet providers in your area. You can also find contact information for your Stenograph Sales Representative, an array of online dictionaries, and last, but by far not least, your opportunity to request a Case CATalyst enhancement. (I really like this one.) All of this information is listed by state making it easy to navigate.

Stenograph knows how busy reporters are, so we want to make your busy day go a little smoother by providing helpful information that you can access quickly. In addition, as Case CATalyst users, we want to give you a place to list your services, and a platform to suggest enhancements.

Now here is the really cool thing about Reporter Resources. Because Stenograph wants to make it as easy as possible for you, visitors to the site don’t need to log on, register, or even be a CATalyst user to access it. All of this information is provided free of charge to anyone who needs it.

Below is a link to this page. You might want to copy it to your desktop, so you have quick access to it.  I hope you find it very helpful.

Reporter Resources Page: http://www.stenograph.com/pages.aspx?docid=178&id=

Personal Briefs have been a part of Brief It since its introduction several years ago.  Case CATalyst comes with a large list of common phrases and briefs.  You can take that list to a whole new level by adding briefs from books, seminars, and sharing with your colleagues.

Here’s an example of what Personal briefs can do for you.  Let’s say you are talking to one of your colleagues about the briefs they use.  You really like some of the briefs, but you are not sure if the steno will conflict with entries already in your dictionaries.  Just add those briefs to the briefs.txt file inside of your System Files case.  The next time you are on a job and you write that phrase, the long way, Case CATalyst will see the Personal Brief you created, and automatically check to see if it conflicts with steno you already use. If it does not conflict, Case CATalyst displays the Personal Brief inside of your Brief It window, letting you know it’s safe to use that brief.

To access your briefs.txt file, click File, Open, List/ Table, Personal Briefs.  Go ahead check out the huge list of briefs already available, and then have fun adding your own and sharing with your Case CATalyst colleagues.

Take a look at Case CATalyst Help (F1) for more information about Personal Briefs and Brief It.

Are you preparing for your professional recertification?  Or perhaps you want to makeyourself more marketable by providing realtime services and are a bit nervous?  Well Stenograph has the answer!  The latest member of our Performance eValuator line, PeV SpeedCoach™ has been helping students AND professionals vastly clean up their writing and increase their speed and endurance with amazing results.

Why is PeV SpeedCoach™ so effective?  Just to name a few of the reasons:

• Over 200,000 individual practice files – This is WAY more than any other coaching system out there, with new fresh material being added regularly.
• Create your own custom drill practices based on your individual needs
• A true “Strategy” coaching tool to help you organize your practice time in order to get the most out of your efforts in less time – Because who doesn’t need more time?
• Comprehensive writing analysis offering dependable insight – Feedback that makes sense so you can apply it immediately for fast results with improved performance.

Not only are individual Court Reporters using PeV SpeedCoach™ to get at the top of their game but some reporting firms have adopted this for all their reporters as a way to maintain a competitive edge with their realtime services.

To learn more please visit:  http://www.stenograph.com/PeV_SpeedCoach

Stenograph has a long tradition of being committed to offering the finest customer support available in the CAT software industry. For many years Stenograph has maintained an online information source available to anyone with an Internet connection and a web browser, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. This online information source is the Stenograph HelpDesk. The HelpDesk covers detailed information on all current Stenograph products and many legacy products.

You can access the Stenograph HelpDesk from within Case CATalyst by clicking on Help, the Support HelpDesk. The HelpDesk is also available via the Stenograph web site by clicking on the Support tab, then clicking, Go to HelpDesk.

To make the HelpDesk an effective source of information for you there are a few key guidelines you need to follow which will result in locating the specific information you need quickly. The HelpDesk is arranged according to Stenograph products.  Select the product you wish to search from the “Search index” drop-down menu. Enter two or three words related to your question in the “Keywords” text field, then click search. That’s all there is to it. Most documents from the past few years have graphics or short, 30 second or less, animation to help you visualize the answer to your question. Feel free to print any document from the HelpDesk so you can refer back to it as you are editing or configuring your system. I have only scratched the surface of this great resource. Next time you are working late and need a quick answer and are not sure where to look, take a look at Stenograph’s online HelpDesk!

Answer: Because you normally realtime everything, you probably didn’t notice that your Steno Source is set to Writer, not File.  Translate believes you want to translate this file in realtime, too.  Just select File as your Steno Source and Translate will understand that you want to translate the notes in that file, not create a new file in realtime.

Do you have a Case CATalyst question you’d like to see answered in the RAQs?  E-mail it to RAQ@stenograph.com.

Case CATalyst Recently Asked Questions are written by Cindi Hartman, Stenograph’s Training Program Manager.

On August 3^rd I was fortunate enough to accompany a group of court reporting students from Prince Institute’s Great Lakes campus, along with one of their instructors, LaDonna Gray, to the Dirksen U.S. Federal Courthouse in downtown Chicago. This was an excellent place for the students to not only observe court reporters on the job but also take in the larger setting of the justice system at work.

Larry Collins, Administrative Assistant to the Chief Judge, was kind enough to coordinate our visit with Ms. Gray and show us around. Our first stop was Chief Judge James F. Holderman’s courtroom. Court was not in session at the time so the students were able to walk around the impressive space, naturally paying particular attention to where the court reporter sits. We then proceeded to the James Benton Parsons Memorial Courtroom, also known as the Ceremonial Courtroom, where high profile trials, important ceremonies and some Senate and Congressional hearings are held.  Some of the high profile cases held here were the “Family Secrets” Chicago mafia trial in 2007 and the trials of former Governors Ryan in 2006 and Blagojevich in 2010. They also swear in a staggering 280 new U.S. citizens each week in just this courtroom alone!  The group also checked out some behind the scenes locations like the Judge’s meeting room with its beautiful view of downtown and a “lock up” holding cell where prisoners waiting to come in to the court are held. Each courtroom has it’s own holding cell and as you can imagine, it is not a place you would want to hang out in. To add to the excitement we even visited two other courtrooms which were in session, observing a criminal case in progress and a
sentencing hearing.

The highlight of our visit was the people we actually got to speak with who imparted a great deal of their wisdom and advice upon the students. Mr. Collins shared many interesting facts and stories from his time there. Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman was kind enough to talk to the group about respect and the relationship between a judge and the court reporter. Then to cap off our visit Judge Coleman’s court reporter, Tracey McCollough, who has been reporting for 27 years, spoke to the group offering excellent advice and answered our many questions. You could feel the sense of pride in her work and her important contribution to our justice system when she said, “It’s an interesting profession. It’s a wonderful profession. You should be proud you chose it.”