The Benefits of Electronic Transcripts

As technological advances march on relentlessly forward, so has the switch from paper to electronic formats. Books, textbooks, and newspapers have all been transformed to electronic formats, while their physical counterparts are on the decline.

Similarly, while physical transcripts have their role, electronic transcripts have proved their usefulness many times over. Here are just some of the benefits of e-transcripts:

1. Ease of access
Transcripts commonly span tens and even hundreds of pages, so giving others access to the document may require a lengthy process at the copier and then somehow delivering it to the other party. An e-transcript can simply be emailed in under a minute. The formats are universal (PDF, WORD, and more) so anyone can receive and read it.

2. Markup ability
You can mark paper up quite easily by highlighting, making notes, or attaching bookmarks. However, these abilities are also readily available for e-transcripts and often times are easier to perform. For example, with a PDF you can highlight in a single click, as well as make comments anywhere on the page. Unlike on paper however, you can un-highlight just as easily, so mistakes are easy to correct. Comments don’t have to be cramped in the tiny margins either; in PDFs, you can easily expand and hide comments, so they can be as long as you want without getting in the way. Bookmarks in PDFs can also allow you to go from one section to the other quickly without the tedious process of actually flipping the pages on paper.

3. Search
Last but not least, search is perhaps the most useful tool for e-transcripts. While our transcripts come with word indexes that allow one to search for certain words, the search tools available for e-transcripts are even simpler. By typing in a word into a search bar, you can bring up all instances of that word in the transcript within seconds. This is impossible on a physical transcript.

Well, there you have it. Hard copy transcripts certainly have their place in the world, and there is no replacement for actually flipping through paper, but e-transcripts are an extremely useful auxiliary tool in accessing, marking, and finding things in transcripts.