Section-Scoped Styles

HeyDonna lets you apply different formatting styles to different sections of your transcript. This means your proceedings can use one style while your cover page uses another — all within the same template.

What Are Section-Scoped Styles?

A transcript has several distinct sections, each with its own formatting needs:

Section-scoped styles let you set formatting rules for each section independently. For example, you might want full speaker names in the proceedings but abbreviated labels on the cover page.

How to Apply Section Styles

You configure section styles through the Formatting Rules Editor. There are two ways:

Using AI Edit Mode

Describe what you want in plain language:

• "Use full speaker names in proceedings"
• "Center all text on the cover page"
• "Use Q. and A. labels with a period in the proceedings section"

The AI generates the appropriate section-scoped rules automatically.

Using Manual Mode

In the Manual tab, add section markers to scope your rules:

• Rules written before any section marker apply globally to all sections
• Rules written after a section marker apply only to that section

Available section markers:

• Proceedings — for the transcript body
• Cover — for the cover page
• Certificate — for the certification page
• Errata — for the corrections page

What You Can Customize Per Section

Speaker Labels

• Full names (THE WITNESS, MR. SMITH) vs. abbreviated (S1, S2)
• Label formatting and punctuation
• Indentation of speaker text

Q&A Formatting

• Label style: Q. and A. with or without periods
• Spacing between the label and the answer text
• Indentation levels for continuation lines

Text Layout

• Tab stops at different levels for nested content
• Spacing and indentation settings
• How continuation text is indented under speaker labels

How It Works

When you export your transcript or apply AI formatting:

1. HeyDonna detects each section of your transcript automatically
2. Global rules are applied first
3. Section-specific rules override the global rules for that section only
4. The result is a consistently formatted document with appropriate styling for each part

Tips

• Start with global rules for settings that should be consistent everywhere
• Add section-specific rules only where you need different formatting
• Use the Effective Rules panel in the Rules Editor to see exactly what rules apply to each section
• If a section doesn't have specific rules, it inherits the global defaults