Reviewing Documents Offline

This technical note discusses how to review and code documents offline. 

The Lexbe eDiscovery Platform (LEP) is designed for online access, review, and coding.  However, documents may also be reviewed and coded offline. Examples would include document review or privilege review during a long airplane ride without Internet access or the need for document access during a deposition without Internet access.

Advantages

• Access to a list of documents with a clickable link for offline review in a Briefcase by using Control Numbers.

• Access to PDF versions from a clickable link.

• Access to native (e.g., Word, Excel) Redacted and Annotated versions available offline.

• Access to coding and metadata fields (in Excel spreadsheet).

• A Briefcase can be downloaded or made available to a recipient through a secure downloadable link.  This option is helpful for cases that require experts to access a set of documents.

Steps to Share and Access Documents Offline

From Case->Add Case documents, run or update control numbers on selected documents.  Wait for processing to complete (time is dependent on size of the case and number of documents selected). 

Go to Browse.  Show fields to view, sort on, filter on or edit.  Examples include:  Control Number, Is Responsive, Is Confidential, Is Privileged, Work-Product, Doc Date, Date Sent, Author/Sender, Receiver, Subject, Bates, etc.  The user may also show the Folder field if used for coding, but this field cannot be updated on the metadata upload. 

The user may create a custom check-box tag to identify and keep track of documents to share with non-users or experts offline (e.g., For Atty Smith Review Briefcase or For Expert Jones Review).

Excel Report

Download the view to an Excel spreadsheet (Export Log to Excel).  This may be named using the custom tags applied to a set of documents (e.g., For Atty Smith Review Briefcase). The Excel spreadsheet will include the document links and downloaded coded data to be used in conjunction with the Briefcase.  Save an archival version if intending to use the working version to update the LEP database after local coding.  

Open Excel spreadsheet.

For ease of use, hide column A (Platform Doc ID).  Do not delete or re-order as this would break document association. The user may delete if there is no need to edit and re-upload.  For ease of use, freeze Column 1 to make scrolling easier.  To open a document locally, click on the document link in Excel under the Doc ID column.  This will open the PDF version of the file.

Download Briefcase

Select documents and export to a Briefcase. The user may modify coded document data and tag multiple files (modify multiple fields simultaneously) or import load files by generating custom Excel spreadsheets that can be uploaded into a case in LEP.

From the Export to Briefcase dialog box, note the following options:

On the Name Files section, select the option Using Control Numbers. 

On the Control Number section, select Stamp Existing Bates Numbers on PDF Pages.  Click the Send Notification Upon Completion option under the Notification section.  On the Control Number section, you may also select Stamp Existing Control Numbers on PDF Pages and add an optional prefix to the numbering in the Control Number Prefix textbox.

After exporting the documents to a briefcase, you may either Go to Download Briefcase Page, Stay on Current Page or Cancel Briefcase. 

Expect a 10 GBs/day rate (~200,000 pages) (approximately) within LEP (combined all cases) to create a Briefcase (including Control Number/Bates numbering).   Creation of a briefcase increases monthly hosting.  Wait for Briefcase to be completed and the email notification.  Download and expand Briefcase on desktop.

Update Coding and Apply Mass Tagging After Reviewing Documents Offline

Use the Excel spreadsheet report downloaded to update document coding.  This feature is for Power Upload users with familiarity using complex formulas and data management features in Excel.  See Upload Metadata for more information.  

Steps to Update or Tag Fields in LEP.

• Retain the original version of the spreadsheet to allow restoration of original data if incorrectly coded. 

• Use the Metadata Update function.  Any unused fields or records (documents) can be deleted. 

• The user must keep the first field Doc Id in the spreadsheet.  This is the unique document identification in LEP that will associate metadata to the respective files. If improperly sorted or otherwise unassociated, data corruption will occur in the case on upload.

• Depending on the field, code Yes or No (check-boxes) or enter specific metadata such as Responsive, Attorney Work Product, Confidential, and information in the text-fields. See example below:

• Rename the Excel spreadsheet using the naming format: AnyFileName.multidocupdate.xlsx. The file name must be in an Excel format with an XLSX extension, supported by the last two versions of Excel (2010 and 2013). Older Excel formats (e.g., XLS) or other Excel formats such as XLSM are not supported. 

• After completion, apply Quality Control procedures to check results and then upload the Excel to the case.