About Downloading Documents as PDFs or Natives

Selected view > Selected documents or all documents > Download as PDF | Download Native
Selected view in Navigation Tree > Download All as PDFs | Download All Natives
Selected applicable task in Work Basket > Download All as PDFs | Download All Natives
Document Viewer toolbar option > Native | PDF

Requires Document - Download PDF Permissions for PDFs and Document - Download Native Permissions for Natives

Downloading Documents as PDFs

There are several ways you can download documents as PDFs in eDiscovery:

  • Document Viewer toolbar option > PDF – From the Document Viewer for a single document, you can use this option ot download the document in PDF format, as long as the document has existing stored images, as shown by the Image tab. Stored images are made available to documents (for example, in Project Data) through an Export that requests PDF versions (conversions), as part of an Import (for example, an External Image Import into Project Data), or as part of a Load File Import with processed images and an Add to Project Data operation.
  • Download as PDF – From a document list, including a Cluster or Subcluster document list, you can use this option to download a single document, multiple selected documents on a page, or all documents in a view (with a warning) as PDFs to your local environment so that you can view the documents in PDF format.
  • Download All as PDFs — After display of a warning, you can use this option to download all documents as PDFs in a selected view (from the Navigation Tree or an applicable Work Basket task).

Naming Convention for a File Downloaded as a PDF

The default name of any file downloaded as a PDF includes the file's Doc Number (docnum) and original filename or email subject in the format <docnum>_<original_filename_or_email_subject>.pdf. Any spaces in the original filename will be replaced by an underscore (_).

Stamp Option when Downloading Files as PDFs from a Doc List or View

When you select Download as PDF or Download All as PDFs to generate PDF versions for download, you will see a popup that enables you to select the Stamp Document Number option. This option is cleared by default. If you select this option, a stamp with the document's Doc Number (the docnum field value) will appear as an identifier on the bottom right of each page in the PDF.

Warning when Downloading All Files as PDFs

In general, selecting all files for a download should be considered carefully, as it is more suitable for a small view of reasonably sized documents. If you select the top checkbox in a document list for a Download as PDF operation, or select the Download All as PDFs operation for an entire view, you will always see a Warning popup that states the following:

You are attempting to download all documents in this list as PDFs. Depending on the size of the documents, this could take considerable time and/or render the browser unresponsive. Consider creating a new export stream to produce the PDFs directly to an export location instead.

At this point, you must either confirm the operation by clicking Continue, or click Cancel instead.

ZIP File Generation and Work Basket Tasks

Whether you select one, multiple, or all documents to download as PDF from a document list or view, the software will prepare a ZIP file, by default named <projectname>_PDFs.zip. An information popup indicates that the PDFs are being prepared for downloading, and once finished, you can download the archive (ZIP) from the Work Basket.

In the Work Basket, you will see one of the following Work Basket tasks, depending on whether you downloaded selected documents as PDFs or all documents as PDFs:

  • Preparing PDFs for download for selected documents
  • Preparing PDFs for download for <viewName>

About the CSV Warnings File for PDF Generation

Certain file types are ignored for PDF generation, including the following:

  • Directory folders not removed from your Project during setup by your administrator
  • Disk images
  • File archives
  • Mail archives
  • Empty files
  • Files for which the native is not available (for example, read errors)

When files are skipped or failed PDF generation, the associated PDF-related Work Basket task displays a Warning icon (). To view information about the files skipped or that failed PDF generation, you can download the WARNING_DETAILS_REPORT.csv file from the Work Basket task. The CSV contains the following column information:

  • docnum
  • importpath
  • filename
  • filemd5
  • filetype
  • size
  • Reason
  • Notes

Review the information in the Reason column, which provides information about why a PDF was not created for a given document:

  • Skipped File — Reported for a document that was skipped (ignored) for PDF generation, including directories, disk images, file archives, mail archives, empty files, and files for which the native is not available. For this reason, the Notes column will display the following:

    • The filetype of this document is one which cannot generally be imaged.

  • PDF Generation Error — Reported for a document for which PDF generation failed. For this reason, the Notes column will display the following:

    • This document failed to image to PDF.

Downloading Native Files

There are several ways you can download native files in eDiscovery:

  • Document Viewer toolbar option > Native – From the Document Viewer for a single document, you can use this option to download a document to your local environment so that you can view it in its native format. (Any directory not removed from your Project during setup by your administrator is unavailable for download.)
  • Download Native – From a document list, including a Cluster or Subcluster document list, you can use this option to download a single native document, multiple selected native documents on a page, or all native documents in a view (with a warning) to your local environment so that you can view the documents in native format.
  • Download All Natives — After display of a warning, you can use this option to download all native files in a selected view (from the Navigation Tree or an applicable Work Basket task).

Naming Convention for a Native File Download

The default name of any native file downloaded includes the file's Doc Number (docnum) and original filename or email subject in the format <docnum>_<original_filename_or_email_subject>.<ext>, where the extension is determined as follows:

  • The origdocext field value is used, if it is populated.
  • If no origdocext value is populated, then the docext field value is used, if populated.
  • If neither origdocext or docext is populated, then just the docnum value is used with no extension.

Any spaces in the original filename will be replaced by an underscore (_).

Warning when Downloading All Natives

In general, selecting all files for a download should be considered carefully, as it is more suitable for a small view of reasonably sized documents. If you select the top checkbox in a document list for a Download Native operation, or select the Download All Natives operation for an entire view, you will always see a Warning popup that states the following:

You are attempting to download all natives in this list. Depending on the size of the documents, this could take considerable time and/or render the browser unresponsive. Consider creating a new export stream to produce the natives directly to an export location instead.

At this point, you must either confirm the operation by clicking Continue, or click Cancel instead.

ZIP File Generation and Work Basket Tasks

Whether you select one, multiple, or all natives to download from a document list or view, the software will prepare a ZIP file, by default named <projectname>_Documents.zip. An information popup indicates that the natives are being prepared for downloading, and once finished, you can download the archive (ZIP) from the Work Basket.

In the Work Basket, you will see one of the following Work Basket tasks, depending on whether you downloaded selected one or more natives or all natives in a view:

  • Preparing Natives for download for selected documents
  • Preparing Natives for download for <viewName>

About the CSV Warnings File for Native File Download

Certain file types are ignored for native file download, including the following:

  • Directory folders not removed from your Project during setup by your administrator
  • Empty files
  • Files for which the native is not available (for example, read errors)

When files are skipped, the associated Work Basket task displays a Warning icon (). To view information about the files skipped native download, you can download the WARNING_DETAILS_REPORT.csv file from the Work Basket task. The CSV contains the following column information:

  • docnum
  • importpath
  • filename
  • filemd5
  • filetype
  • size
  • Reason
  • Notes

Review the information in the Reason column, which provides information about why a native file was not downloaded:

  • Skipped File — Reported for a file that was skipped (for example, directories and empty files). For this reason, the Notes column will display the following:
    • This file cannot be provided as a native.
  • Native Download Error — Reported when the native file cannot be retrieved unexpectedly. For this reason, the Notes column will display the following:
    • Unable to retrieve the native for this file.