DepoScriptpage:line

Deposition transcript to Markdown

Convert a deposition transcript PDF to Markdown

The Markdown keeps what a lawyer needs from the page: which page, which line, who is speaking. Each page has a heading, every line starts with its page:line, and errata and the certificate are labelled instead of blending into the testimony.

Free to try: 1 file per day, up to 10 pages, no account

Transcript workbench

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First page number is used only when the PDF prints no page numbers.

Sample loaded: Full-size pages. 3 pages (1–3), 25 lines per page: no problems found. Your own file: 1 file per day, up to 10 pages, no account.

Transcript pages · click a line number to start a cite, click another to end it

Page 1front matter
  1. IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
  2. FOR THE DISTRICT OF EXAMPLE
  4. HARBOR POINT LOGISTICS, INC.,
  5. Plaintiff,
  6. vs. Civil Action No.
  7. 1:24-cv-01234
  8. NORTHGATE FREIGHT, LLC,
  9. Defendant.
  10. ______________________________
  12. VIDEOTAPED DEPOSITION OF
  13. JOHN A. SMITH
  14. Taken on behalf of the Plaintiff
  15. June 14, 2024
  16. 10:02 a.m.
  18. Example City, Example State
  23. Reporter: Dana R. Whitfield, CSR
  24. Example Reporting Group
  25. (555) 010-0100
Page 2
  1. FOR THE PLAINTIFF: AMARA OKAFOR, ESQ.
  2. FOR THE DEFENDANT: DANIEL BAKER, ESQ.
  3. ALSO PRESENT: LEE PARK, VIDEOGRAPHER
  4. JOHN A. SMITH,
  5. having been first duly sworn, was examined and
  6. testified as follows:
  7. EXAMINATION
  8. BY MS. OKAFOR:
  9. Q. Good morning, Mr. Smith. Please state your full
  10. name for the record.
  11. A. John Allen Smith.
  12. Q. And where are you employed?
  13. A. I am the director of operations at Northgate
  14. Freight, LLC.
  15. Q. How long have you held that position?
  16. A. Since March of 2019. Before that I was a regional
  17. dispatch manager for about six years.
  18. Q. I am handing you what has been marked as Exhibit 1.
  19. Do you recognize it?
  20. A. Yes. That is the master transportation agreement
  21. between Northgate and Harbor Point.
  22. Q. Did you sign that agreement on behalf of Northgate?
  23. A. I did, on June 3, 2022.
  24. MR. BAKER: Objection. Form. You can answer.
  25. THE WITNESS: I signed it after our legal department had
Page 3
  1. reviewed the schedules.
  2. Q. Did you personally read Schedule B, the temperature
  3. requirements, before you signed?
  4. A. I skimmed it. I relied on legal and on our
  5. operations team for the details.
  6. Q. Who on the operations team?
  7. A. Our compliance lead, Priya Nair, and the lane
  8. managers.
  9. Q. What was your understanding of the temperature
  10. requirement for refrigerated loads?
  11. A. That trailers had to hold between thirty-four and
  12. thirty-eight degrees for the entire transit.
  13. Q. Was that understanding communicated to your
  14. drivers?
  15. A. It was in the dispatch notes for every refrigerated
  16. load, and drivers acknowledged the notes on their
  17. handhelds.
  18. Q. Were those acknowledgments retained?
  19. A. For ninety days. After that they roll off the
  20. system.
  21. Q. Who had access to those records during the ninety
  22. days?
  23. A. Dispatch, the lane managers and compliance. Drivers
  24. could see only their own acknowledgments.
  25. Q. Who had the authority to turn that access off?
# Deposition of John A. Smith

Cite as Smith Dep. page:line, for example Smith Dep. 45:12–46:3. Pages 1–3, 25 numbered lines per page. Converted from a PDF by software: check every quotation against the certified transcript before you rely on it.

## Page 1 (front matter, not in turns index)

1:1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
1:2 FOR THE DISTRICT OF EXAMPLE
1:3
1:4 HARBOR POINT LOGISTICS, INC.,
1:5 Plaintiff,
1:6 vs. Civil Action No.
1:7 1:24-cv-01234
1:8 NORTHGATE FREIGHT, LLC,
1:9 Defendant.
1:10 ______________________________
1:11
1:12 VIDEOTAPED DEPOSITION OF
1:13 JOHN A. SMITH
1:14 Taken on behalf of the Plaintiff
1:15 June 14, 2024
1:16 10:02 a.m.
1:17
1:18 Example City, Example State
1:19
1:20
1:21
1:22
1:23 Reporter: Dana R. Whitfield, CSR
1:24 Example Reporting Group
1:25 (555) 010-0100

## Page 2

2:1 FOR THE PLAINTIFF: AMARA OKAFOR, ESQ.
2:2 FOR THE DEFENDANT: DANIEL BAKER, ESQ.
2:3 ALSO PRESENT: LEE PARK, VIDEOGRAPHER
2:4 JOHN A. SMITH,
2:5 having been first duly sworn, was examined and
2:6 testified as follows:

2:7 EXAMINATION

2:8 BY MS. OKAFOR:

2:9 Q. Good morning, Mr. Smith. Please state your full
2:10 name for the record.

2:11 A. John Allen Smith.

2:12 Q. And where are you employed?

2:13 A. I am the director of operations at Northgate
2:14 Freight, LLC.

2:15 Q. How long have you held that position?

2:16 A. Since March of 2019. Before that I was a regional
2:17 dispatch manager for about six years.

2:18 Q. I am handing you what has been marked as Exhibit 1.
2:19 Do you recognize it?

2:20 A. Yes. That is the master transportation agreement
2:21 between Northgate and Harbor Point.

2:22 Q. Did you sign that agreement on behalf of Northgate?

2:23 A. I did, on June 3, 2022.

2:24 MR. BAKER: Objection. Form. You can answer.

2:25 THE WITNESS: I signed it after our legal department had

## Page 3

3:1 reviewed the schedules.

3:2 Q. Did you personally read Schedule B, the temperature
3:3 requirements, before you signed?

3:4 A. I skimmed it. I relied on legal and on our
3:5 operations team for the details.

3:6 Q. Who on the operations team?

3:7 A. Our compliance lead, Priya Nair, and the lane
3:8 managers.

3:9 Q. What was your understanding of the temperature
3:10 requirement for refrigerated loads?

3:11 A. That trailers had to hold between thirty-four and
3:12 thirty-eight degrees for the entire transit.

3:13 Q. Was that understanding communicated to your
3:14 drivers?

3:15 A. It was in the dispatch notes for every refrigerated
3:16 load, and drivers acknowledged the notes on their
3:17 handhelds.

3:18 Q. Were those acknowledgments retained?

3:19 A. For ninety days. After that they roll off the
3:20 system.

3:21 Q. Who had access to those records during the ninety
3:22 days?

3:23 A. Dispatch, the lane managers and compliance. Drivers
3:24 could see only their own acknowledgments.

3:25 Q. Who had the authority to turn that access off?
CiteSpeakerText
—FOR THE PLAINTIFF: AMARA OKAFOR, ESQ. FOR THE DEFENDANT: DANIEL BAKER, ESQ. ALSO PRESENT: LEE PARK, VIDEOGRAPHER JOHN A. SMITH, having been first duly sworn, was examined and testified as follows:
—EXAMINATION
—BY MS. OKAFOR:
QGood morning, Mr. Smith. Please state your full name for the record.
AJohn Allen Smith.
QAnd where are you employed?
AI am the director of operations at Northgate Freight, LLC.
QHow long have you held that position?
ASince March of 2019. Before that I was a regional dispatch manager for about six years.
QI am handing you what has been marked as Exhibit 1. Do you recognize it?
AYes. That is the master transportation agreement between Northgate and Harbor Point.
QDid you sign that agreement on behalf of Northgate?
AI did, on June 3, 2022.
MR. BAKERObjection. Form. You can answer.
THE WITNESSI signed it after our legal department had reviewed the schedules.
QDid you personally read Schedule B, the temperature requirements, before you signed?
AI skimmed it. I relied on legal and on our operations team for the details.
QWho on the operations team?
AOur compliance lead, Priya Nair, and the lane managers.
QWhat was your understanding of the temperature requirement for refrigerated loads?
AThat trailers had to hold between thirty-four and thirty-eight degrees for the entire transit.
QWas that understanding communicated to your drivers?
AIt was in the dispatch notes for every refrigerated load, and drivers acknowledged the notes on their handhelds.
QWere those acknowledgments retained?
AFor ninety days. After that they roll off the system.
QWho had access to those records during the ninety days?
ADispatch, the lane managers and compliance. Drivers could see only their own acknowledgments.
QWho had the authority to turn that access off?

3 pages (1–3), 25 lines per page: no problems found

  • Page numbers were read from the top of each page.
  • p. 1 Page 1 looks like front matter (caption, appearances) with no Q/A. It is in the Markdown but left out of the turns index.

Clean checks mean the page and line sequence is consistent in the converted text. They do not prove the text matches the PDF; check every quotation against the certified transcript.

Pages found
3 (1–3)
Layout
full page
Page numbers
3 read from the page (top of page), 0 inferred
Lines per page
25
Turns indexed
28 (12 Q, 11 A, 2 colloquy, 3 notes)
Not in turns index
1 front
Headers/footers removed
“Example Reporting Group | (555) 010-0100”
Deponent
John A. Smith

Cite builder

— 
Click line numbers in the transcript pages, or type a start and end.

Check every quotation against the certified transcript. Adjust the prefix to your court’s citation form.

What the Markdown contains

Deposition transcript to Markdown means turning the reporter's PDF into plain text with light structure: a heading for each page, the page and line number in front of every line, and each question and answer set apart as a turn. The text can be searched, pasted into notes, kept under version control and handed to other software without losing where each sentence came from.

This page is about the file you get back. If you want to know what the converter checks before it hands the file over, see the checks on the home page.

How it works

  1. Open the PDF in the workbench

    Drop the transcript on the bar above or press Choose transcript PDF. The sample that is showing now stays until your own file has been converted.

  2. Pick the shape of the text

    Numbered lines suit quoting: every line starts with page:line. Clean paragraphs suit reading: each turn is one paragraph that starts with its range. You can switch back and forth without converting again.

  3. Look at the page headings and the checks

    Each transcript page gets a heading. Pages that are not testimony are labelled. The Checks tab lists anything that looks wrong in the numbering, and which page numbers were inferred rather than read.

  4. Copy or download

    Copy Markdown or Download .md for the text. The Turns and Checks tabs each have their own JSON download. The Cite tab builds a cite and a quotation block for any range.

What the file looks like

The top of the file for the full-size sample in the workbench, as the code produced it:

# Deposition of John A. Smith

Cite as Smith Dep. page:line, for example Smith Dep. 45:12–46:3. Pages 1–3, 25 numbered lines per page. Converted from a PDF by software: check every quotation against the certified transcript before you rely on it.

## Page 1 (front matter, not in turns index)

1:1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
1:2 FOR THE DISTRICT OF EXAMPLE
1:3

A testimony page further in, first as numbered lines and then as clean paragraphs:

## Page 3

3:1 reviewed the schedules.

3:2 Q. Did you personally read Schedule B, the temperature
3:3 requirements, before you signed?
## Page 3

[3:2–3] Q. Did you personally read Schedule B, the temperature requirements, before you signed?

[3:4–5] A. I skimmed it. I relied on legal and on our operations team for the details.

In the clean format a paragraph is anchored where its turn starts. Line 3:1 finishes a turn that began on page 2, so its words are in the paragraph marked [2:25–3:1] and not repeated at the top of page 3.

What each part is for

Title
The deponent's name when a caption page gives one, for example Deposition of John A. Smith. Otherwise the file is titled Transcript.
Cite line
The prefix the cite builder will use, such as Smith Dep., the page range, the lines per page, and the reminder to check against the certified transcript.
Page headings
## Page 45. A page that is not testimony is labelled in the heading, for example errata or certificate, and is left out of the turns index.
Line prefix
45:12 in front of each line, or [45:12–13] at the start of a paragraph in the clean format.
Placeholder
[line not extracted] where a numbered line could not be read.

Compared with the other routes

Aspect Copy from the PDF by hand Generic PDF-to-text DepoScript
Page boundaries You note the page as you copy, and it is easy to drift by one. Page breaks can be dropped, or page numbers left inside the running text. One heading for each transcript page, using the number printed on it. A number that had to be inferred is labelled.
Line numbers Retyped into each quotation. They can sit apart from their lines or inside them. A prefix on every line (2:11), or a range at the head of each paragraph ([2:9–10]).
Speakers Added by hand. Not recognised. Q. and A. lines, named speakers such as MR. BAKER: and THE WITNESS:, examiner lines and parentheticals are read as turns.
Pages that are not testimony You judge each page as you go. Treated as text like any other page. Front matter, errata sheets and the reporter's certificate are labelled and left out of the turns index.
Output you can reuse Whatever you typed. Text or Markdown without cites. Markdown, Turns JSON, Checks JSON, and a cite for any range.
General descriptions of copying by hand and of generic PDF-to-text tools. Results vary by tool and by PDF.

What it does not do

Before you rely on it

The Markdown is a machine reading of a PDF. Words can be misread and lines can be lost, and a clean Checks tab does not prove otherwise. Check every quotation against the certified transcript before it goes into anything you file or send.

DepoScript does not review a transcript for privilege or confidentiality, does not check it against a protective order, and gives no legal advice. Read the privacy policy and decide with your supervising attorney whether this transcript may be sent to an outside service.

Questions

Why Markdown rather than Word or plain text?

Markdown is plain text with light structure that people can read as it is. It opens in any editor, pastes cleanly into note and drafting tools, searches well, and can be compared line by line when two versions of a transcript are compared. If you want it in Word, paste it in. The page:line prefixes travel with the text.

What do the page headings mean?

A heading such as ## Page 45 is the transcript page number printed on the page, not the position of the page in the PDF. When a page prints no number, its number is worked out from the pages around it and the heading says so.

Can I get the testimony without the caption page and the certificate?

Pages recognised as front matter, errata or certificate are labelled in the Markdown and left out of the Turns list. They stay in the Markdown so that page numbers match the transcript. Delete those sections from the copy if you do not want them, and read the Checks tab to see which pages were set aside.

How are speakers marked?

Lines that begin Q. or A. are questions and answers. Named speakers such as MR. BAKER: or THE WITNESS:, examiner lines such as BY MS. OKAFOR:, and parentheticals in brackets are recognised as turns of their own, so an objection is not run into the answer around it. In the clean format a turn is one paragraph that begins with its range.

What is [line not extracted]?

A placeholder for a numbered line whose text could not be read from the PDF. It keeps the lines after it on their own numbers. The Checks tab names the page, and the cite builder warns you if a passage you select includes one. Read that line in the PDF before you quote around it.

Is the Markdown the certified transcript?

No. It is a machine reading of the PDF and says so in the note at the top of the file. The certified transcript is the reporter's. Cite to the transcript and check each quotation against it.

What about scanned transcripts?

A scan has to be read by optical character recognition, which is less reliable than reading a text PDF. The checks will show missing lines and pages, but they cannot tell you that a word was misread. Look closely at any passage you mean to quote.

How long a transcript can I convert?

Free: 1 file per day, up to 10 pages, no account. Pro and Firm take files up to 150 pages. A 300-page transcript is over the current 150-page file limit. Split the PDF into parts of 150 pages or fewer and convert each part. Page numbers are read from the printed pages, so cites keep the transcript's own numbering; if a part prints no page numbers, set the first page number under Options.

Can I use the Markdown with an AI tool?

It is plain text with a page and line on every line, which is what a tool needs to cite back to the transcript. Whether you may send a transcript to an AI service is a separate question for you and your supervising attorney. See Summarising a deposition with AI before you do.