Processed Data Errors

This article describes errors that you may encounter uploading or modifying your documents via the Processed Uploader. To learn how to upload documents, read our articles on  how to upload processed data with a load file  and PDFs without a load file.

Load file errors

When you begin uploading processed data with a load file to Everlaw, the uploader first parses the load file to ensure that it is structured correctly. At this stage, the uploader may flag an error message if your load file contains structural issues that need to be resolved before proceeding with the upload. When the uploader encounters an error in your load file, it displays a short description of lines causing errors. Some possible errors and their descriptions are in the table below.

To assist you in identifying and addressing the issues within your load file, Everlaw produces a ZIP containing three files that you can download by selecting Download error report and load files:

  • A DAT containing only the valid lines of your original load file
  • A DAT containing only the invalid lines that could not be parsed in your original load file
  • A CSV containing brief descriptions of each invalid line and the lines in which the error occurred
    • Please note that the CSV skips the first row and column of your original load file. For example, if there is an error listed for row 79 in the CSV, the corresponding line in your original DAT file is row 80.

Load file error messages

Below are some examples of error messages that you may encounter:

Sample Error Message Explanation
Encountered more than [x] characters This error happens when a line has more characters than is able to be processed. There may be missing line and row breaks in your load file.
Line [x] is connected to errors on line [y] This error occurs when an error is found on a multi line row. You must fix the errors on line [y] for line [x] to be parsed.
Expected at least [x] columns but found [y] The uploader could not find the necessary number of columns in this row. Your load file must have at least two columns.
Expected [x] columns but found [y] The uploader could not find the necessary number of columns in this row. This can be caused by extra separators or missing separators on the erroneous line.
There were more than [x] columns This error happens when a line has more columns than is able to be processed. There may be missing line and row breaks in your load file.
A row had more than [x] characters This error happens when a line has more characters than is able to be processed. There may be missing line and row breaks in your load file.
An encapsulator [character] seems to be missing Encapsulators are the characters that surround each entry in your row. This error occurs when an entry in your row is missing an encapsulator, either before or after it.
Invalid escape character after encapsulator This error is caused by extra characters in your load file that are not encapsulated. Check to make sure there are no extraneous characters in your load file.
Encapsulator in the middle of an unencapsulated cell This error is caused by extra encapsulators in your load file. Check to make sure there are no extraneous characters on this line.
Non-special character after escape character This error is caused by extra characters in your load file that are not encapsulated. Check to make sure there are no extraneous characters in your load file.
Non-separator after closing encapsulator This error is caused by extra characters in your load file that are not encapsulated. Check to make sure there are no extraneous characters in your load file.
Reached end-of-input in the middle of an encapsulated cell The load file ended before the last line was entirely parsed. Double check that your load file is complete and that the last line is properly formatted.

Error defining Identity fields

Once the uploader has accepted your load file, you move onto the Identity fields stage. In this step, the uploader uses information from your load file to detect Bates prefixes, determine where documents begin and end, and identifies the paths for text and native files, if provided. When you select Next, the uploader examines the values in those fields to ensure there are no invalid entries.

If the uploader encounters an error, it displays a short description of lines causing errors. Some possible errors and their descriptions are in a table below.

You have the option to proceed with your upload by ignoring these errors.

Important

Please note that by selecting Skip errors and continue you do NOT upload all of the documents in your processed upload. Skipping these files and continuing with the upload will skip documents associated with the erroneous lines.

To assist you in identifying and addressing the issues within your load file, Everlaw produces a ZIP containing three files that you can download by selecting Download error report and load files:

  • A DAT containing only the valid lines of your original load file
  • A DAT containing only the invalid lines that could not be parsed in your original load file
  • A CSV containing brief descriptions of each invalid line and the lines in which the error occurred
    • Please note that the CSV skips the first row and column of your original load file. For example, if there is an error listed for row 79 in the CSV, the corresponding line in your original DAT file is row 80.

Identity Fields Error Messages

Below are some examples of error messages that you may encounter:

Sample Error message Explanation
Empty [begin Bates column]: Should have a beginBates. The column you have chosen as your begin Bates column does not have any values.
Encountered non-bates in [begin Bates column]: [x] There is a value in your chosen begin Bates column that does not match your Bates Numbering scheme.
Invalid begin bates in [begin Bates column]: [x] There is a valid Bates number in your begin Bates column, but it can not be a begin Bates value.
Bates prefix "#" is reserved for Everlaw control numbers

Your begin Bates column includes a document whose prefix is '#', and there is not a native document in your database with this control number.

If you are performing an upload, select "Change identity fields" from the error banner. On the Identity fields page, select "Assign Bates prefix". If you are performing an overlay, confirm that the load file references a document that exists in this database.

Repeated bates number: [x] A begin Bates number has appeared multiple times in your begin Bates column.
Empty [page count column]: Should have a pageCount. The column you have chosen as your page count column does not have any values.
Invalid page count in [page count column]: [x] There is a value in your page count column that is not a valid page count number.
Empty [end Bates column]: Should have an endBates. The column you have chosen as your end Bates column does not have any values.
Encountered non-bates in column [end Bates column]: [x] There is a value in your chosen end Bates column that does not match your Bates numbering scheme.
beginBates [Bates number] cannot precede endBates [Bates number] A Bates range in your load file has a larger value for the beginning of the range than the end of the range. Double check the Bates ranges of your documents.
Internal overlap: [Bates number] overlaps with [Bates number] There is a range of Bates numbers that overlap. Double check the Bates ranges of your documents. See below for more explanation
Cannot determine page count from [begin Bates number] and [end Bates number]  Everlaw could not automatically determine the page count from this Bates range. This error requires a .OPT file to resolve.
Page count conflict with pageRange [x] and pageCount [y] The page range and page count for this document do not align. This error requires a .OPT file to resolve.

Overlap Errors

An overlap is when the Bates range of two documents overlap. 

For example, documents ABC001(3 pages) and ABC002 (1 page) have overlapping Bates ranges because ABC001 (as a 3 page document) reserves ABC001, ABC002, and ABC003, which overlaps ABC002. 

There are two types of overlap: 

Internal: Overlaps in documents within the same upload

Error: “Internal overlap: [Bates number] overlaps with [Bates number]”

In internal overlaps, the upload contains documents that have a range of Bates numbers that overlap with other documents within the document set you are uploading.

Toggle_OFF_-_ABC_example_internal_overlap.png
In this example, ABC001 is a 3 page document that overlaps with documents ABC002 and ABC003. ABC004 is a 2 page document that overlaps with ABC005.

External: Overlaps with documents already in the database
Error: [Bates number] overlaps existing document: [Bates number]

In external overlaps, the upload contains documents with Bates numbers that overlap with documents that are already on Everlaw. 

External_Overlap_ABC_example__Toggle_Off_.png
Documents ABC006 and ABC007 overlap with the existing document in this database ABC004.

If you encounter overlaps, there are two solutions we typically consider:

  • Change the prefix to avoid the overlap
  • Use suffixing (e.g. ABC001.001) to create space in your Bates numbering, rather than overlapping with the Bates numbers that already exist. For example, if 3 page document ABC001 was overlapping document ABC002, you can use suffixing so that the the page numbers of ABC001 become  ABC001.001-ABC001.003

Reach out to support@everlaw.com to learn more about adjusting prefixes and/or utilizing suffixes to address overlapping Bates.

If you choose not to proceed with either of these options, there are two ways to proceed with the upload on Everlaw.

Important

Neither one of these options address the underlying issue of having overlapping Bates numbers. We suggest proceeding with caution with these two options,

  • First, skip errors and continue. This skips documents with overlapping Bates ranges and continues to upload documents that do not overlap with other documents. Everlaw selects the overlapping document with a lower Bates number to be uploaded and skips any overlapping documents with a higher Bates number. 
    • The consequence is that you will not upload all of the documents in your document set. After the upload is complete, you can download an error report to identify the documents that were not uploaded.
  • Second, a Database Administrator can enable the Overlapping Bates setting so that you can ignore overlapping Bates warnings and continue uploading documents with overlapping Bates ranges to the same database. Learn more about the Overlapping Bates setting in our article on database administration .
    • Overlapping Bates can make overlaying documents and searching tricky. The section of the article linked above describes these potential consequences in more detail.

Errors at the Select Folders step

One of the final steps to upload processed data to Everlaw is to Select folders. At this step, you select the file folders to properly direct the uploader to identify the image, native (if present) and text files to the documents that will be uploaded to Everlaw. Once the uploader is directed to the folders, it examines the files to make sure that they are formatted properly. Errors at this step can happen if there are discrepancies between information in the load file and the contents of the folder, or if the files themselves are corrupt or malformed. 

You have the option to proceed with your upload by ignoring these errors.

Important

Please note that by selecting Skip errors and continue you do NOT upload all of the documents in your processed upload. Skipping these files and continuing with the upload will skip documents associated with the erroneous lines.

Select Folders Error Messages

Below are some examples of error messages that you may encounter:

Sample Error Message Explanation

Some documents are missing image/PDF, text, or native files

The uploader was unable to identify a file (text, image, native) identified in the load file. 

This could be because it was not included in the upload, or because the file does not follow the anticipated filename.



Error preparing "/ENRON001/IMAGES/ENRON0002.pdf": ENRON0002 is 2 pages, but "/uploads/IMAGES.pdf" had 1 pages.

Page number difference: The number of pages provided in the load file is different from the number of pages present in the PDF that you have pointed the system to.

This could mean that you have single-page PDFs, all images for the same document, which Everlaw does not support. They will need to be combined into PDFs or converted into image format. Once you have converted the documents, you can click Rescan or change folders to point the uploader to the correct place.

It could also mean that  there is an error in the page count column in the load file. You can consult the OPT file (if available) to confirm the correct Page Count. If there is a discrepancy with the load file, update the load file with the correct page count.



Multiple native files: duplicate named “ “
Multiple natives:The uploader encountered more than one native file according to the native path you have selected to point the system to. 


Error preparing "/ENRON000001/pdfs/ENRON001.pdf": Timeout rewriting pdf
Error timeout rewriting PDF: The file took too long to fix in a reasonable time. This can sometimes be fixed offline.


Failed to upload [filename]: Frontend error: NotFoundError: A requested file or directory could not be found at the time an operation was processed.

Error finding file or directory: This typically occurs when you are uploading from a network that the uploader tool cannot access. 


 Avoid this by uploading directly from the user's computer/local drive instead of the network.


This can also occur when the file path character limit has been surpassed. The limit is 255 characters from the first number of the IP address to the last letter of the file path.

The solution is to change the file name or path so that it contains fewer characters. Then, retry the upload.



Error preparing “/images/0143/ENRON2341273.tif": No image reader for /mnt/uploads/1098/30907/02/8156/0235/1.tif
"No image reader" error: This error means that the uploader could not read the image file. For example, this may include documents that have a size of 0 kb.


Error verifying modifications: “Not yet published by upload”
Error modifying-document in flight: This error means that a document that you are trying to modify is not yet uploaded, but is still in progress from a previous upload. This can happen when a previous upload is in an error state.


Error preparing "/ReplacementFiles/images/#812088.1.pdf": Unable to rewrite pdf
Unable to rewrite PDF: This generally means the file is corrupt (i.e. doesn’t conform to the PDF spec).



Image conflicts with a previous image for # page
Conflicts with previous image: This occurs when multiple images were provided for the same document page. You can remove the extraneous files and upload them separately under another name if necessary.

Connection-related errors

Some errors are independent of the phase of the upload. These errors can occur at any step and often result from a slow or disrupted internet connection.  

Connection related Error Messages

Below are some examples of error messages that you may encounter:

Sample error message Explanation
Uploader at incorrect stage This error happens when the screen shows that you are on one step of the upload but on the backend, the uploader is on the next step. This can happen if there is a problem with your internet connection or if your browser is struggling to load the page.
The server was interrupted while [Task]

Server interruption errors may also come in the form of errors stating Error uploading files. Timeout on read or Client closed connection unexpectedly.

These errors mean that the upload has stopped, either because of an internal issue or an interruption in internet connection. To resume the upload, verify that your internet connection is stable and select Resume [Task]. In some instances, you may have to reselect the folders.