DISCOVERY ENGINEDOCS

Adding files and folders

Add a new production or a few stray files to an existing case, pick up changes with Rescan folder, and see where a case's files are.

#When you need this

Discovery rarely arrives all at once. A second production turns up, someone e-mails you three more PDFs, or a USB stick appears with recordings on it. You don't need a new case for any of that: add the files to the case you already have.

Added files and folders stay where they are. Nothing is copied or moved. The case remembers where they are and reads them there, just like its original folder.

#Add files or folders

  1. Open the case's Progress or Documents screen.
  2. Click Add files or folders at the top.
  3. In the dialog, click Add folders… or Add files… and choose what you want. You can add several, and mix folders and files. Each chosen item is listed; click × to take one off the list.
  4. Leave the These are confidential box as it is, unless these items are confidential (see below).
  5. Click Add to case.

The app starts reading the new files right away. On Progress, a line says what the scan found; on Documents, a note says how many items were added and that Progress shows how far reading has got.

#The confidential box

If anything you add is in a folder named confidential, the box is ticked for you. Ticking it marks everything you're adding as confidential, the same as files in a confidential folder inside the case. You can then filter to them (or exclude them) with the Folder filter on Search and Documents.

#What can't be added

The app refuses a path that:

  • is already part of the case, or contains part of it;
  • is inside the app's own data folder;
  • is a shortcut or symbolic link.

#Rescan folder: pick up changes

The app does not watch your folders constantly. When files have been added to, changed in or removed from the case's folders, click Rescan folder on Progress.

  • New and changed files are read.
  • Files that haven't changed are left alone; they aren't read again.
  • Files that have gone are marked missing. Their text and highlights are kept, and the Files table shows them as Missing from the folder.

After a rescan, a line on Progress reports what happened, for example "Rescanned at 3:42 PM: nothing new or changed (412 files checked)." If one of the added folders or files can't be found right now (say, a USB drive that isn't plugged in), its files are kept as they were rather than marked missing, and the line says so.

#Where are this case's files?

The Sources section at the bottom of Progress lists every place the case reads from:

  • Case folder: the folder the case was created from.
  • Each folder or file added since, with a Folder or File tag, a Confidential tag if it was marked so, and Not found right now if it can't be reached at the moment.

The Start Up screen shows the same list under Folders → Case files.

#If the case's main folder moves

See Creating a case → When the folder moves. In short: Find the folder on Progress, or Settings → This case → Change folder…, then choose the new location. The app reports how many of the case's files it found there.