DISCOVERY ENGINEDOCS

Moving a case from Windows to a Mac

Take a case to a new computer with everything the app has already done: the text it read, the names it found, your reviews and highlights. It doesn't read your documents again.

#In short

On the Windows PC, Export… saves the whole case into one .decase file. You copy that file and your folder of original documents onto a USB drive. On the Mac, Import a case… opens the file and asks where the originals are now. It suggests the folder sitting next to the file and shows how many of the case's files it found there. When you open the case, the app checks every file for changes. Anything unchanged is matched to what was already read and isn't read again. Even a case that took days to read on an older PC moves this way.

Windows PCAll cases → Export… → a .decase file
USB drive (exFAT)the .decase file + your folder of originals, side by side
MacAll cases → Import a case… → Open the case

What the case file carries

  • The text of every document, including scans and recordings already read
  • The names found, the search index and the links between documents
  • Reviews, highlights, the case's settings and the agent's log
  • Files the app took out of ZIPs and e-mails
  • Unfinished work. Whatever was still waiting to be read is finished on the Mac.

What you bring yourself, or set up again

  • The original documents. You copy their folder; they're never inside the case file.
  • AI keys. Each computer keeps its own keys; enter them again in Settings.
  • Reading models (about 1.5 GB). The Mac downloads them when it needs them.
  • Reports you exported earlier, app preferences and the agent command-line setup.
  1. Before you start
  2. Step by step
  3. Example: moving the demo case
  4. Where the app keeps things
  5. Why not just copy the app's folder?
  6. If something goes wrong
  7. From the command line
  8. Going the other way

#Before you start

  • The same app version on both computers. You need version 0.1.0 build 232 or later, which added Export and Import. Install it over the current version on the PC; your cases stay. A Mac running an older build than the PC may refuse the file. If it does, update the Mac.
  • A USB drive formatted as exFAT. Both Windows and macOS can read and write exFAT. A drive formatted as FAT32 can't hold a file of 4 GB or more, and macOS can only read NTFS, not write it. The app warns you if the drive is FAT32.
  • Enough room on the drive for your folder of originals plus the case file. The Export… dialog shows the expected size of the case file and the free space on the drive you pick.
  • Know which folder holds the originals. It's shown under the case's name on the All cases screen, and under Settings → Case folder.
  • Best moment: when the case has finished reading, or at least when you've stopped adding documents. You can export while the app is still working, but anything done after the export starts isn't in the file. The Mac picks up the rest when it checks for changes.

#Step by step

On the Windows PC
  1. Open All cases. Click All cases in the left sidebar. Each case shows its folder, when it was created, and its size on disk (hover over the size for the database and attachments separately).
  2. Click Export… on the case. The button sits to the left of Open on the case's row. The dialog explains what goes into the file and shows its expected size.
  3. Choose the USB drive. In Save the case file in, pick the drive, for example E:\. The dialog shows the free space there. The Export button stays off if the drive is too small, or is FAT32 and the file would be 4 GB or more.
  4. Click Export and wait for “Saved…”. A progress bar shows how far it has got. You can keep using the app, and the case keeps reading in the background. The file is named after the case and the date, for example Harrowfield v. Vance 2026-10-27.decase. It's written under a temporary name and renamed only when complete, so a file with the final name is always whole. Show in Explorer opens the drive.
  5. Copy your folder of originals onto the same drive, next to the file. Drag the whole folder (the one the case was created from) onto the drive in File Explorer. Keep its name and everything inside it as they are: the case finds files by their place inside this folder.
  6. Eject the drive. Right-click it in File Explorer and choose Eject before you unplug it.
On the Mac
  1. Install the app. Open Discovery Engine_0.1.0-b232_aarch64.dmg and drag Discovery Engine into Applications. The first time you open it, macOS says it can't verify the app. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway. You only need to do this once.
  2. Copy the originals and the case file off the drive. In Finder, copy the folder of originals to where it'll live from now on, for example Documents. Copy the .decase file into the same place, next to the folder. You can import straight from the drive, but then the case would read its originals from the USB drive, which is slow and stops working when it's unplugged.
  3. Open All cases and click Import a case… The button is at the top right of the Cases screen. In Case file, choose the .decase file. The dialog shows the case's name, that it was exported on a Windows PC and when, how many files it has, and its size.
  4. Check where the originals are. Under Where are the original documents now? the app fills in the folder next to the case file that has the same name as the original folder. It also shows the folder's old Windows location underneath for reference. As soon as a folder is chosen, it counts the case's files there:
    • “All 10,000 files found.” You're ready.
    • “9,950 of 10,000 files found, 50 missing.” The folder isn't complete, or it's the wrong one. Fix the copy, or pick the right folder, before importing.
    • “… changed (read again)”: those files differ in size from the originals, so they'll be read again.
    If you added other folders or single files to the case after creating it, each one gets its own row here: point each at its new place.
  5. Click Import. The case is unpacked into the app's own folder and checked. Nothing about it shows up until that has finished. If this Mac already has a copy of the same case (from an earlier try), tick Replace that copy first. The old copy is kept until the new one is safely in place.
  6. Click Open the case. The app opens the case and checks every file in the folder against what it already read. Unchanged files are matched in moments. Anything still waiting to be read on the PC is read now. If a document needs OCR or speech recognition, the app asks to download its reading models first (about 1.5 GB, once per computer).
  7. Set up what doesn't move. If you use an AI provider, enter your key again in Settings. Set up the agent's command line again too, if you use one.
  8. Delete the case file from the USB drive. It holds the text of every document and every name in them. Once the case is open on the Mac you don't need the file. Keep the Windows copy of the case until you're happy with the Mac, then remove it there if you like.

Why the paths don't matter. The case doesn't remember C:\Users\…\Documents\Vance case\Productions\VANCE-0001.pdf. It remembers Productions/VANCE-0001.pdf inside “the case's folder”. On the Mac you only tell it where that folder is now. File names with accents are stored in a form that matches on both systems.

If a copy changed the files' dates. When a file's size or modified date isn't what the case recorded, the app takes a fresh fingerprint of it. That's a quick read of the file's bytes, not OCR. If the fingerprint matches, the file is treated as unchanged. Only a file whose contents really changed is read again.

#Example: moving the demo case

The demo case is Harrowfield v. Vance, a fictional lawsuit whose people, firms and amounts are all made up. It has 121 files, including PDFs, scanned pages, e-mails with attachments, voice recordings and a Bates-numbered production. The example below follows the move we tested with the installed apps: the numbers are real, and the folder names are tidied up.

Starting point on the PC

C:\Users\Public\Documents\Vance case\ ← the case's folder of originals (121 files) Correspondence\ Productions\ Recordings\ …

In All cases the case shows about 3 MB. Four recordings were still waiting to be read when we exported, on purpose, to show that unfinished work moves too.

1. Export on the PC

  1. Plug in the USB drive. It shows up as E:\ and is formatted exFAT.
  2. All cases → Export… on Harrowfield v. Vance → Save the case file in E:\ → Export.
  3. It took half a second: Saved Harrowfield v. Vance 2026-10-27.decase (0.9 MB).
  4. Drag C:\Users\Public\Documents\Vance case onto E:\.
E:\ Harrowfield v. Vance 2026-10-27.decase ← 0.9 MB Vance case\ ← the originals, copied as they are

2. On the Mac

  1. The drive appears as /Volumes/MOVE. Copy both items into Documents:
    ~/Documents/ Harrowfield v. Vance 2026-10-27.decase Vance case/
  2. All cases → Import a case… → choose ~/Documents/Harrowfield v. Vance 2026-10-27.decase.
  3. The dialog reads: Harrowfield v. Vance, exported on a Windows PC on Oct 27, 2026: 121 files, 0.9 MB.
  4. Where are the original documents now? is already filled in with /Users/you/Documents/Vance case. Underneath: It was C:\Users\Public\Documents\Vance case and All 121 files found.
  5. Import: under a second. Then Open the case.

Result. The check for changes found all 121 files unchanged. Nothing was read again, and only the 4 recordings left over from the PC were read on the Mac. Search, highlights and the document viewer worked straight away. We moved it back to Windows the same way, with the same result.

#Where the app keeps things

Discovery Engine never moves, renames or changes your original documents. It keeps its own work in an app data folder, separate from the program itself.

WhatWindowsMac
Your original documents Wherever you keep them: the folder you chose when you created the case (for example C:\Users\you\Documents\Vance case or ~/Documents/Vance case). The app only reads them.
App data: all cases, models, logs C:\Users\you\AppData\Local\appstart\Discovery Engine\ ~/Library/Application Support/Discovery Engine/
The program C:\Users\you\AppData\Local\Discovery Engine\ /Applications/Discovery Engine.app
The discovery command (for an agent, optional) C:\Users\you\AppData\Local\Discovery Engine\bin\discovery.cmd ~/.local/bin/discovery
AI keys Windows Credential Manager macOS Keychain

AppData on Windows and Library on the Mac are hidden by default. On Windows, paste the path into File Explorer's address bar. On the Mac, use Finder → Go → Go to Folder… (⇧⌘G). You won't need either for a move.

Inside the app data folder

Discovery Engine/ cases.json the list of cases: each one's name, id and where its originals are cases.lock keeps two programs from changing that list at once cases/ c36b167fcdf/ one folder per case, named by the case's id case.db the case: text, names, search index, reviews, highlights, settings case.db-wal recent changes not yet folded into case.db (part of the database) case.db-shm a working file the database uses while open cache/ files taken out of ZIPs and e-mail attachments exports/ reports you exported from the case logs/ this case's own logs writer.lock present while a program is writing to the case models/ OCR and speech-recognition models (about 1.5 GB) logs/ the app's logs, kept on this computer only app-settings.json app-wide preferences agent.json the agent's work and export folders, if set up ingest-history.json how fast this computer reads, for time estimates connection.json written while the engine is running

The two green items, case.db and cache/, are what goes into the .decase file. The database is copied as one consistent snapshot, so the -wal and -shm files aren't needed. The case's id stays the same on the Mac, so links to documents and an agent's notes keep working.

Inside a .decase file

It's an ordinary ZIP with its own extension, so double-clicking it doesn't unpack it.

Harrowfield v. Vance 2026-10-27.decase manifest.json versions, Windows or Mac, the case's name, id, old folder files.json the files the case expects, with sizes case.db the database snapshot cache/… the attachments

#Why not just copy the app's folder?

  • The database is more than one file while it's in use. Recent changes sit in case.db-wal until they're folded into case.db. If you copy case.db without its matching -wal file, or next to an old one, the result can be damaged. Export takes a consistent snapshot while the case keeps working.
  • The list of cases holds this computer's paths. cases.json says the originals are in C:\Users\…, which means nothing on a Mac. Import asks where they are now and checks the folder before it adds the case.
  • Checks before anything changes. Import refuses a file made by a newer app and a damaged database. It never leaves a half-imported case behind.

#If something goes wrong

You seeWhat it means and what to do
The drive is FAT32 / “cannot hold a file this big” FAT32 stops at 4 GB per file. Use a drive formatted as exFAT, or reformat this one as exFAT (this erases it).
“Not enough space there” Free some space on the drive, or use a bigger one. Remember the originals need room too.
“That file is not a Discovery Engine case file, or it is damaged” Pick the .decase file itself. If it is the right one, the copy may have been cut short: copy it from the drive again, or export again.
“made by a newer version of Discovery Engine” Update the app on this computer, then import again.
“This computer already has this case” It was imported before. Tick Replace that copy, or cancel and keep the one you have.
“… of … files found, … missing” Wrong folder, or the copy isn't complete. Check that you copied the whole folder of originals, then pick it again. You can still import; files you put back in the folder later are picked up the next time the case checks for changes.
The case shows Folder not found later The originals folder moved or a drive isn't connected. Open the case and click Find the folder, or use Settings → Case folder → Change folder….
“The case's database is damaged, so it cannot be copied” The case on the PC can't be moved as it is. Restore its folder from a backup; if the case still opens, its documents can be read again into a new case.

One limitation today. Folders or single files added to a case after it was created can only be pointed at their new place in the Import dialog. If you skip one there, there's no screen to fix it afterwards yet. Fill in every row before you click Import.

#From the command line

For technical users, the same move works with the discovery command, alongside a running app. Because a case file holds every document's text, both commands ask a person to confirm at the terminal. An AI agent can't run them on its own.

# Windows: find the case's id, then export it to the USB drive
discovery case list
discovery case export c36b167fcdf --out E:\     # use the id from the list

# Mac: import it, pointing at the copied originals, then check for changes
discovery case import "~/Documents/Harrowfield v. Vance 2026-10-27.decase" \
  --source "~/Documents/Vance case"
discovery ingest rescan

Added folders or files are given with --added SOURCE_ID=PATH (repeatable). --replace replaces a copy of the case this computer already has.

#Going the other way

Mac to Windows works exactly the same: Export… on the Mac, copy the file and the originals to an exFAT drive, Import a case… on the PC. The case file looks the same whichever computer made it.

Discovery Engine 0.1.0 (build 232 and later). Everyone named in the demo case is fictional.