diff --git a/src/renderer/src/stories/JSONSchemaForm.js b/src/renderer/src/stories/JSONSchemaForm.js
index 73199dd63..4bbc76abf 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/stories/JSONSchemaForm.js
+++ b/src/renderer/src/stories/JSONSchemaForm.js
@@ -113,6 +113,11 @@ hr {
     color: #ff0033;
   }
 
+  :host([requirementmode="loose"]) .required label:after {
+    color: gray;
+  }
+
+
   .required.conditional label:after {
     color: transparent;
   }
@@ -152,6 +157,7 @@ export class JSONSchemaForm extends LitElement {
             required: { type: Object, reflect: false },
             dialogType: { type: String, reflect: false },
             dialogOptions: { type: Object, reflect: false },
+            requirementMode: { type: String, reflect: true },
         };
     }
 
@@ -189,6 +195,7 @@ export class JSONSchemaForm extends LitElement {
         this.dialogType = props.dialogType;
         this.deferLoading = props.deferLoading ?? false;
 
+        this.requirementMode = props.requirementMode ?? "default";
         this.onlyRequired = props.onlyRequired ?? false;
         this.showLevelOverride = props.showLevelOverride ?? false;
 
@@ -302,7 +309,7 @@ export class JSONSchemaForm extends LitElement {
     validate = async (resolved) => {
         // Check if any required inputs are missing
         const invalidInputs = await this.#validateRequirements(resolved); // get missing required paths
-        const isValid = !invalidInputs.length;
+        const isValid = this.requirementMode === "loose" ? true : !invalidInputs.length;
 
         // Print out a detailed error message if any inputs are missing
         let message = isValid ? "" : `${invalidInputs.length} required inputs are not specified properly.`;
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/stories/pages/FormPage.js b/src/renderer/src/stories/pages/FormPage.js
index 1cd9ddc28..de82cceab 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/stories/pages/FormPage.js
+++ b/src/renderer/src/stories/pages/FormPage.js
@@ -10,12 +10,12 @@ export function schemaToPages(schema, globalStatePath, options, transformationCa
         .filter(([_, value]) => value.properties)
         .map(([key, value]) => {
             const optionsCopy = { ...options };
+
             if (optionsCopy.required && optionsCopy.required[key])
                 optionsCopy.required = {
                     [key]: optionsCopy.required[key],
                 };
-            // Only bring requirements from the current page
-            else delete optionsCopy.required;
+            else delete optionsCopy.required; // Only bring requirements from the current page
 
             const page = new GuidedFormPage(
                 transformationCallback({
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/stories/pages/guided-mode/GuidedStart.js b/src/renderer/src/stories/pages/guided-mode/GuidedStart.js
index 75c8054ff..70bb960ab 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/stories/pages/guided-mode/GuidedStart.js
+++ b/src/renderer/src/stories/pages/guided-mode/GuidedStart.js
@@ -65,16 +65,27 @@ export class GuidedStartPage extends Page {
                         <p>
                             The second section will have you provide your source data files and NWB File metadata on a per-subject basis to populate your files.
                         </p>
+
                         ${new InspectorListItem({
-                            message: html`<b>Red boxes are error messages.</b> These will block your conversion progress
+                            message: html`Red boxes are <b>Error</b> messages. These will block your conversion progress
                                 until resolved.`,
                             type: "error",
                         })}
                         ${new InspectorListItem({
-                            message: html`<b>Yellow boxes are warnings.</b> Fixing them will align your NWB files with
-                                best practices.`,
+                            message: html`Yellow boxes are <b>Warning</b> messages. Fixing them will align your NWB
+                                files with best practices.`,
                             type: "warning",
                         })}
+
+                        <p>
+                            Throughout the forms found in the GUIDE, asterisks (<span style="color:red;">*</span>) represent required properties.
+                            Attempting to move forward will throw an <b>Error</b> until these properties are filled in.
+                        </p>
+                        <p>
+                            Gray asterisks (<span style="color:gray;">*</span>) are sometimes used to represent loose requirements, where missing this property will throw an <b>Error</b>
+                            — though you don't need to specify a value at the current stage.
+                        </p>
+
                         <h4>3. Conversion Preview</h4>
                         <p>
                             In the third section, you will preview your conversion before uploading to DANDI.
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/stories/pages/guided-mode/setup/GuidedNewDatasetInfo.js b/src/renderer/src/stories/pages/guided-mode/setup/GuidedNewDatasetInfo.js
index 662adc7ff..7e44b9b5a 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/stories/pages/guided-mode/setup/GuidedNewDatasetInfo.js
+++ b/src/renderer/src/stories/pages/guided-mode/setup/GuidedNewDatasetInfo.js
@@ -30,14 +30,11 @@ const changesAcrossSessions = {
 const projectMetadataSchema = merge(projectGlobalSchema, projectGeneralSchema);
 
 Object.entries(baseMetadataSchema.properties).forEach(([globalProp, v]) => {
-    Object.keys(v.properties)
-        .filter((prop) => !(changesAcrossSessions[globalProp] ?? []).includes(prop))
-        .forEach((prop) => {
-            const globalNestedProp =
-                projectMetadataSchema.properties[globalProp] ??
-                (projectMetadataSchema.properties[globalProp] = { properties: {} });
-            globalNestedProp.properties[prop] = baseMetadataSchema.properties[globalProp].properties[prop];
-        });
+    const info = (projectMetadataSchema.properties[globalProp] = structuredClone(v));
+
+    changesAcrossSessions[globalProp]?.forEach((prop) => {
+        delete info.properties[prop];
+    });
 });
 
 export class GuidedNewDatasetPage extends Page {
@@ -111,10 +108,16 @@ export class GuidedNewDatasetPage extends Page {
 
         this.state = merge(global.data.output_locations, structuredClone(this.info.globalState.project));
 
-        const pages = schemaToPages.call(this, schema, ["project"], { validateEmptyValues: false }, (info) => {
-            info.title = `${info.label} Global Metadata`;
-            return info;
-        });
+        const pages = schemaToPages.call(
+            this,
+            schema,
+            ["project"],
+            { validateEmptyValues: false, requirementMode: "loose" },
+            (info) => {
+                info.title = `${info.label} Global Metadata`;
+                return info;
+            }
+        );
 
         pages.forEach((page) => {
             page.header = {