Upload documents and keep their versions

Upload

1. Open the matter, then Documents, or open Documents in the sidebar and the matter under Browse.
2. Drop files or a whole folder anywhere on the tab, or choose Upload files (in the workspace, New, Upload files). Each file shows its own progress, and a file that is refused says why without stopping the others.
3. Choose the folder, the kind of document (pleading, correspondence, agreement, evidence, invoice, identity, title document or other) and any tags.

Every document is filed against at least one matter or party, and numbered within its matter. One document can be linked to several matters or parties without a second copy.

A document with no file yet

When an upload never finishes, the document stays on record with No file yet: in the register, filterable by File, and under Standing on its record. Its action reads Upload the file, and the first file uploaded becomes its first version. It is offered as nothing to attach until its file is on record.

The scan before it opens

Every upload is scanned for viruses before it is kept. Until the scan passes, nobody can download it.

• A clean file becomes available, its text is read for search, scanned pages are read too, and a preview is drawn.
• An infected file is kept out of reach, you are told, and the firm's administrators are alerted.

Versions

A new upload of the same document adds a version and never overwrites the last. The Versions tab lists them all with who uploaded each, when, its size and comment. Bring forward copies an old version forward as the newest; it never rewinds history. Upload a new version on a document's row adds the next one.

Compare two versions

On Versions, choose Compare versions and pick the earlier and the later, or choose Compare with current on an older version. The two are set side by side: a changed line beside the line it replaced, with the words that went struck through in red and the words that came marked in green, and lines added or removed tinted. Long stretches that did not change fold away; a Show button naming how many unchanged lines it holds opens one, and Next change steps through the changes. On a phone the comparison reads in one column, the old line above the new.

The comparison reads the text each version carries, so it works for Word, PDF and text files and for scans whose words were recognised; a picture or a scan with no recognised words is read with Preview instead. Reading two versions this way is recorded in the access log of the document, once for each.

Locks

Choose Take it out for editing before editing a file offline, so nobody else uploads over your work, and Put it back when you are done. Others see who holds it and since when. Someone allowed to can Release the hold, and the holder is told.

Read it in place

Preview reads a document without downloading it: from the document's menu, a row of the documents register or a matter's documents, or a version in Versions. A PDF or a picture shows as it is; a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file, an OpenDocument file, RTF, CSV or plain text shows as a PDF drawn of it once it has been scanned. The first time an older file is read this way its PDF is drawn, and the viewer says so while it waits. Pictures fit the window or show at their own size and zoom. From the viewer, Download saves the file, the new tab button (Open in a new tab) reads it full screen, and another version is chosen from the list. A file that cannot be shown is downloaded instead. A preview is recorded in the document's access log like a download.

Downloads and access

Downloading asks the system for a link that works for fifteen minutes at most, after checking your access and any wall. Every view and download is recorded on the document's Access tab. A document marked Partners only stays closed to anyone without that permission, even on a matter they can open.

Download many at once

Choose documents in the documents register with the ticks on each row, then Download as zip; or open a folder on a matter and choose Download as zip, with or without the folders inside it. The zip is gathered for you in the background, keeping the folders as folders, and you are told when it is ready. Follow it under Downloads in your account menu.

Each file goes in only if you could download it on its own now: a document still being checked for viruses, awaiting approval or out of your reach is left out and listed with the reason. Every file in the zip is recorded in its document's access log as a download. A zip is kept for a day and downloads once; to download it again, choose Ask again. At most a thousand documents and 2 GB go into one zip.

The firm's document settings

The firm shapes its documents under Settings, Documents:

• Document settings holds the firm's rules for uploads, the viewer, court bundles and electronic signatures, such as whether files with macros are accepted, whether restricted documents carry a watermark and how long a signing request lasts.
• Document categories are the kinds of document the firm files under, beside each document's classification. A category no longer used is retired, or merged into another with Merge into another.
• Document tags lists every tag on the firm's documents; Rename or merge changes one across every document, and a name already in use merges with it.
• Matter folder templates are the folders a matter's file starts with, firm-wide and for each kind of matter.

Deleting

Deleting a document needs its own permission and a reason. The document goes to the bin, listed under Bin in the documents rail and kept in the deleted records with the reason; Take out of the bin brings it back. Nothing is destroyed until the end of its retention period.