Annotations

Location: Document Viewer >> Annotation

General

This feature is used to annotate or highlight PDF in the Document Viewer. Accessing the Annotation Editor will allow users to annotate and/or highlight documents in a variety of colors directly in LEP. Documents that have been annotated outside of the Lexbe eDiscovery Platform (LEP) may be manually uploaded by clicking UPLOAD MANUAL ANNOTATION. The Annotation Editor is not available for Read-Only or Limited Users.

Accessing the Annotation Editor

All annotations are made and edited right in the Doc Viewer. To access the Annotation Editor, click on the ANNOTATION view in the Doc Viewer.

The menu in the upper right corner of the Doc Viewer titled "Annotation" can be clicked on and expanded. When expanded, the below options are available:

  • Upload Manual Annotation - Click to upload an already annotated version of the document

  • Delete Annotated Document - Click to fully delete the annotated version of the document

Adding Highlights and Annotations

Those doing case review may highlight and create text notes in the PDF version of files without affecting the original document. From the Browse or Search pages, click on the title of the document to be annotated, click on the ANNOTATION view in the Doc Viewer, and then click Generate Images.

The message "Annotation images are being created" will be displayed and the page will automatically refresh once the imageds are ready. To add an annotation or highlight, just use your mouse to draw a box in the desired area. These boxes are shown as highlights by default, but are automatically converted into an annotation if text is added.

Highlights and annotations will populate in a list on the right side of the screen. The entries within this list are where you can enter text and/or change the color of your highlights/annotations. Entries within this list will automatically reorder themselves so they correspond to their location on the page (moving from top to bottom, left to right). Additionally, hovering over a highlight or annotation on the document or in the list will cause the annotation box to be outlined, and the list entry to be highlighted.

By default, annotations and highlights are yellow in color. To change their color, click on the circle and select your preference. That color choice will perpetuate until changed.

Additionally, highlights and annotations made in the editor can be resized and moved. To resize an annotation, click on any of the four corners and resize as desired. To move the annotation or highlight, click the middle of it and move to the desired location.

To delete annotations or highlights, hover of the appropriate entry in the list and click the X that appears. To delete the entire annotated document, DELETE ANNOTATED DOCUMENT.

Once all annotations and/or highlights are made, click SAVE. Alternatively, clicking CANCEL will undo any changes made since the last time SAVE was clicked.

Upload Manually Annotated or Highlighted Document

Users can also upload PDF files that have been annotated/highlighted outside of LEP with Acrobat Pro or another desktop annotation tool. To do so via the DOC tab, click to expand the "Annotation" section, and then click UPLOAD MANUAL ANNOTATION. Alternatively, you can access the ANNOTATION tab itself, and click the upward arrow icon.

If annotated document versions of the same file already exist, uploading a new annotated PDF will overwrite existing annotated documents. See Manual Annotation for more information.

Working With Annotated and Highlighted Documents

From the Browse and Search pages the user can display the built-in field IsAnnotated and apply the Annotated filter to view only those documents containing annotations and/or highlights.

Download Annotated and Highlighted PDFs

Users may also choose to download Annotated documents to a Briefcase for use during depositions, cross-examinations, etc. Once the annotated documents have been selected, users can use the Download Briefcase feature to download and print annotated documents from the Search, Browse, and Document Viewer pages.

The downloaded briefcase will include a sub-folder titled ANNOTATED in addition to ORIGINALS, PDF, and REDACTED (if applicable).

Which Version will be in my Production?

The non-annotated/non-highlighted PDF version will be included in productions under the PDF, IMAGES, and TEXT sub-folders.