Newsletter

The Benefits Of StenoCAT 8
Available For Download Now

The StenoCAT
community has spoken,
and we have listened.

StenoCAT 8 eliminates the need to carry a hardware key with you to your jobs, removing the additional stress of either forgetting or losing your hardware key. This also frees up a USB port on your computer! You never have to worry about calling for an emergency launch code or having to pay for a replacement hardware key. We have made the transferring of your license from one computer to another easy. You can do it directly from your StenoCAT program!

StenoCAT 8 now has features that allow you to not only split up and merge jobs like before, but to do this with the audio included. That’s right! You can now split up a job and include the audio for that part of the job. Gone is the tedious process of making a duplicate copy of the job, deleting out the unwanted portions, and sending the entire audio file. Now, everything is nearly automatic. You put your cursor where you want to split up the job. You then select either “Split Pages Above” or “Split Pages Below”, depending which direction you want to go. The software will automatically split the job for you and include it with the audio!

The Insert – File feature even includes an option to choose Audio! This means you can merge jobs with audio!

StenoCAT 8 has added the feature to re-synchronize the audio wherever the cursor is located. Just place the cursor where you need to re-synchronize, right-click, and select “Synchronize Audio” to fix the audio track to play correctly from that point.

We have made improvements to the condensed printing feature in StenoCAT 8: Page number direction, location, format of the page border, and a different header and footer just for the condensed version. You can even choose on what pages the condensed printing starts and stops so you can skip over cover letters and your added concordance that do not need to be condensed.

With the ongoing problems related to COVID-19 and having to take remote jobs, many reporters have had to find work outside their local courtrooms and time zones. Now you can easily adjust the time codes within the job itself. StenoCAT uses UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) which is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. For example, if your computer time and time zone is set to Eastern time, the UTC for your job would be set to -4 UTC. If you are on Pacific time, it would be set to -7 UTC and so on. All you would need to do to change the job’s time codes from Eastern to Pacific time is adjust the UTC setting from -4 to -7 in the job’s properties. These changes will not affect any other job.

Now for a quick question and answer section:

Q: Can I view my smart briefs phonetically?
A: YES. When you are flying through fast testimony, you can now see the suggested SmartBriefs by their phonetic outline, rather than just raw steno strokes. This option is on the SmartBriefs window itself; check the box that reads “Show Phonetic Steno”. The English brief suggestion and the suggested steno outlines can both be easily modified by double-clicking on the entry!

Q: Can I add comments to a job on the explorer page?
A: YES. Ever forget which job is which? Now you can add comments to any job listed in StenoCAT Explorer with a simple right-click and set comments. This way you can easily keep track of what you sent to your Scopist, or what date the finished job needs to be sent to the attorney.

In summary, StenoCAT is constantly working on adding features, fixing issues, and making the software a better experience for everyone. We use your feedback to add features the community wants in the software.

SUN Conference Highlights

The StenoCAT Users Network fall conference in September was held virtually via Zoom, and it was a complete success! There were 40 attendees with 15 different seminars to choose from.

Organizers, presenters, and attendees really are getting the hang of remote conferencing tools and navigating online presentations and discussions. Each seminar had a presenter and a moderator. The moderator assisted by managing the questions via chat and live as well.

Seminars presented included topics such as: What’s New with StenoCAT; Dictionary Maintenance; Improving your Realtime Writing I and II; User Preferences I and II; Automatic Indexing; Tech Gadgets; All About Insync; All About Zoom; Improving Your Financial Literacy; Ethics; and Court Reporter’s English, Parts I and II with special guest presenter and grammar guru, Margie Wakeman Wells. Rick Louie and Paula Mecke, representing Gigatron, also presented multiple seminars. Each participant walked away from the seminars with tools on becoming a more efficient reporter. Even though the sessions were virtual, everyone enjoyed the camaraderie. The virtual lunchtime raffle was a blast, and there were lots of prizes and lots of winners.

The popular tech support one-on-one sessions were conducted by Tim Gawlik from Gigatron with private meetings for each attendee.

These SUN seminars are held twice a year and always receive stellar reviews from the attendees so don’t miss the next one! We are always happy to support our independent users’ network and remain available to serve the court reporting community with value-added software.

For more information, visit the StenoCAT Users Network at http://stenocatusersnetwork.com

StenoCAT Key End-Of-Life ("EOL")

Celebrate the end of the hardware key era! The good ol’ key served us well, but it’s time to retire it. Soon the hardware keys will reach their end-of-life cycle, and all customers must upgrade to Version 8 by mid-year 2022. But why wait until then? Our StenoCAT Version 8 has been out since March 2020.

There are many benefits to upgrading to the latest software. As always, it’s FREE for subscribers. We invite you to read the Release Notes, attend a Webinar, or contact our team for more information.

New Webinars Now Available:
StenoCAT 8 New Features

Although many of our customers are already on Version 8, there are still some hanging on to the key dongle. When your key goes to its EOL, however, it will no longer be eligible for renewal.

Here are the steps to complete your upgrade:

Minimum System Requirements:

Windows 10, 8.1, or 8. Please note that there are known issues with Windows 7 and some important features of StenoCAT; therefore, we no longer support this Microsoft operating system. Good news...our latest release of Version 8 also works on the newly released Windows 11!

Have You Tried The Automatic Renewal Feature?
Auto Pay: available now in My Account

Auto Pay: Set it and forget it!

With your next subscription renewal you can enroll in our new Auto Pay program and never worry about forgetting a renewal! Just choose your preferred renewal term (monthly, quarterly, bi-annually, or annually) and enter your credit card information. We have partnered with PayPal to provide the service for any recurring online payments, and our payment portal is routinely checked for security. Rest assured that your data is stored according to the best industry practices. No one at Gigatron ever sees your card information.

If you change your mind, it is easy to cancel your enrollment. There is no need to call! You can also cancel or modify your renewal term, address, or credit card on file by logging into My Account and clicking on the "Manage Subscription" orange button next to your license. The detail benefits and terms of Auto Pay may be found on our updated Terms and Conditions.