Your file stays yours
Existing TEI files can be edited in the shorthand. Unedited content is written back byte for byte, including markup the shorthand cannot express.
Saga-Scribe documentation
Manuscript transcription in TEI-XML, with first-class support for MENOTA. Write a plain-text shorthand; the markup takes care of itself.
This documentation is for editors and transcribers. It covers installation, the editor, every shorthand marker, lemmatization and the MENOTA analysis codes, importing existing TEI files, and export. You do not need to know XML to use Saga-Scribe, though the TEI output reference explains what the application writes.
The current release is version 0.7.0 (31 October 2026). Saga-Scribe is beta software: usable for full-length manuscripts, but features and the interface may still change. Projects saved with older versions remain loadable.
Start here
Section titled “Start here”InstallationInstall on Windows, macOS or Linux, and get past the first-launch warnings.
Your first transcriptionA short walkthrough: choose a template, type a transcription, lemmatize a word, save and export.
The shorthandHow the plain-text markers work, and how they become TEI structure.
Shorthand cheat sheetEvery marker on one page, with the TEI it produces.
The application at a glance
Section titled “The application at a glance”Saga-Scribe is a desktop application for transcribing manuscripts into TEI-XML. It was developed with Old Norse material in mind and supports the encoding recommendations of the Medieval Nordic Text Archive (MENOTA), though the shorthand is not specific to any language.
The window has three parts: a toolbar for file actions, an editor for the shorthand, and a preview showing the compiled document. Words can be lemmatized and annotated directly in the preview, and the result can be validated against the TEI and MENOTA schemas before it is exported as TEI-XML, HTML or PDF.
Written for scholars
The interface names what it does: manuscript metadata, lemmatization, diplomatic forms, MENOTA levels. No XML expertise is required to start.
Local and offline
Projects, lemmas and annotations stay on your computer. The only network request is an optional lookup in the Dictionary of Old Norse Prose.
Free software
Saga-Scribe is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. The source code, roadmap and issue tracker are on GitHub.
About this documentation
Section titled “About this documentation”The documentation is organised into four parts:
- Getting started — installation and a first transcription.
- Using Saga-Scribe — the workflow, feature by feature.
- Transcription shorthand — the syntax, construct by construct.
- Reference and contributing — cheat sheets, analysis codes, the TEI output, and how to build the application from source.
Every page has an Edit page link at the bottom. Corrections and additions are welcome: documentation fixes are as valuable as code changes.