Set Up Team Transcription with One Shared Card (Organizations Guide)

In about five minutes, you'll have a TranscribeCat organization with one card on file, your team invited, and a shared workspace where every upload is billed to the org without anyone else seeing a payment screen. Here's the whole walkthrough, in order.

Step 1 — Create the organization

Sign in to TranscribeCat. In the left sidebar, just under the logo, you'll see the workspace switcher (it shows your personal workspace by default). Click it, choose Create Organization, give it a name, and continue. Most teams use their company name; if you're a freelancer running multiple client projects you can also use one org per client.

Once the org exists you're automatically its first admin. The workspace switcher now lists both your personal workspace and the org — you can flip between them at any time.

Step 2 — Add a billing card

Make sure the active workspace is the new org (the switcher shows its name), then open Org settings from the sidebar. Click Add billing card. You'll go to a Stripe Checkout page in “setup” mode — that means Stripe collects and saves the card without charging anything.

Use a real business card. Stripe stores it under a Customer record tied to the org, and from that point on every upload is charged to it via an off-session payment intent. No interactive payment screen for members, no manual approval per upload.

After Stripe redirects you back, the page shows Card saved. Members can now upload transcriptions and they'll be charged to this card automatically.If you ever need to swap or remove the card, both buttons are right there. Only org admins can do this — members don't see the option.

Step 3 — Invite teammates

On the same Org settings page, scroll to the Members section and click Manage members. A modal opens with an Invitations tab — type each teammate's email, pick their role, and send. They'll get a sign-up link by email; if they don't already have a TranscribeCat account, they create one in 30 seconds and land directly in the org.

The two roles split responsibility cleanly:

• Admin— manages the billing card and the member list. Can re-personalize any transcript in the org (move it back to a member's personal workspace) and delete the org if needed.
• Member — uploads transcriptions (charged to the org card), edits and shares transcripts they uploaded, and can move their own transcripts back to their personal workspace.

Promote or demote later from the same modal. Removing a member revokes their access immediately; anything they uploaded into the org stays in the org for the rest of the team.

Step 4 — Switch context and upload

With members invited and a card on file, anyone in the org can upload. The workspace switcher in the sidebar is the toggle: Personal uses your own card and your transcripts stay yours; {Org name} uses the org card and the transcripts become visible to every member.

On the Upload page in org context, a small banner above the file picker confirms the active billing setup. The shape of the banner adapts to the situation:

• Card on file— a one-line green confirmation: “Uploads will be charged to {Org}'s {brand} ending in {last4}.” Members never see a payment screen.
• Admin without a card— an amber prompt: “Add a billing card to enable team uploads.” First-time admin visits get auto-redirected to Org settings so the most useful action happens immediately.
• Member without a card — an amber prompt that gives the member two paths forward: Switch to personal & pay yourself, or Ask an admin(a pre-written email to the org's admins). No dead end.

Sharing existing transcripts: Share and Make personal

When you joined the org, your existing personal transcripts didn't move. That's deliberate — your past data is yours, never auto-migrated. If you want to make some of it available to the team, open any personal transcript and click Share with {Org} in the page header.

A confirmation modal explains exactly what's about to change: every member gets view, download, and edit access. Hit confirm and you land back on your transcripts list with a small green toast — and an Undo button if you change your mind. Reverse direction works the same way: open an org transcript, click Make personal, confirm, undo if needed. Make personal is restricted to the original uploader and to admins.

If you have multiple files to share at once, the transcripts list has a multi-select with a bulk “Share with active org” / “Make personal” action.

Common questions

Can I belong to multiple organizations?

Yes. The workspace switcher lists every org you're in plus your personal workspace. When you share a transcript, you can pick a target org from a dropdown — you don't need to switch contexts first.

What happens if the org card fails?

The member sees the upload blocked with a clear message — “Your organization's card was declined. Ask an admin to update it in Org settings.” The admin gets prompted to replace the card on the next visit to the upload page. The member can also switch to their personal workspace and pay with their own card if it's urgent.

Can a teammate avoid the org card by uploading in personal?

Absolutely. The workspace switcher is always one click away. Personal-context uploads go through the standard Stripe Checkout flow with the member's own card. The transcript stays private to that member.

Do you offer annual invoicing or NET-30 terms?

Not by default — every upload is a Stripe charge to the saved card. If you have a procurement process that needs an invoice or NET-30 terms, reach out via the in-app Inbox and we'll work something out.

What happens to shared transcripts if the org is deleted?

They return to each original uploader's personal workspace automatically. Every affected uploader gets an in-app notification explaining what moved and how many files. Nothing is ever deleted as a side effect of removing an org.

If you're weighing whether shared billing actually saves your team money compared to the per-seat tools, the cost rationale post does the math at 5, 10, and 25 seats. Otherwise, the fastest path is just to create an account and walk through the four steps above.