Export Documents from the Results Table

You can export document sets to make them accessible outside of Everlaw. In this article, we'll cover the different ways you can export documents and how to do each type of export — CSV, PDF, ZIP — as well as how to initiate a production from the results table.

Requirements

To export documents from Everlaw, you must have Document Export permissions. These permissions are assigned individually based on export type (e.g. you might have CSV export permissions but not PDF export permissions)

Prerequisite

Some software requires that multi-value fields use specific separators (delimiters) between them. If a specific separator is important for your export, a Project Admin can adjust the setting for the separator. This setting determines whether multi-value address fields (To, Cc, Bcc) export with their original values, commas, or semicolons separating the values. If you know the exported files will be opened with software with specific requirements, see Project Settings Metadata: Metadata Fields, Aliases,  Editable Metadata, and Other Settings for details on how to update this setting prior to running the export.

The export menu

To export documents, open a results table, select the desired documents (all are selected by default), and click Export in the toolbar.

You can then choose CSV, PDF, ZIP (which can include full project data), or Production.

Each file type has distinct settings and uses, which we'll cover individually in the following sections.

Export to CSV

To export documents to a CSV:

1. Open a results table.
2. Use the table's checkboxes to select the documents you want to export. By default, every document in your results table is selected in your export.
3. Select Export in the results table toolbar.
   
4. Select CSV.
   This opens the Export to CSV dialog.
   The Export fields for # documents list will display the fields you have selected for your export.
   
5. In the Select fields field, select any fields you would like to include. These fields are organized in the following groups:
   • Default columns
   • Special columns
   • Metadata columns
   • Freeform code columns
   • Prediction columns
   • Extraction columns (if configured)
6. In the select Categories & Codes field, select the categories or individual codes you want to include in the exported CSV. If selected, the individual code or category name will be listed as the column header in the CSV.
   When exporting a specific code or category, the corresponding column header in the CSV will be the code or category name. For category exports, cells will list the applied codes (e.g. "Category: Code") or remain blank if no codes from that category are applied. If no relevant coding is applied to a document for a selected code or category export, the cell will display "null."
7. In the Export name field, enter a name for your export.
8. [Optional] Select Expand aliased fields. An alias is a view onto multiple fields.
9. [Optional] By default, datetime fields retain and append the project time zone in the exported CSV. If you want to modify this, select Time zone options to expand your options.  Here you can:
   1. Choose the time zone of your datetime values from the Time zone field
   2. Choose whether or not to append the time zone by selecting/deselecting Append time zone to DateTime values.
   3. Choose the date and time format from the Date and Time Format fields.
10. Once you have established these criteria, select Export to CSV.  A task will be created that can be viewed on the Batches & Exports column of the homepage.
    Once completed, the export can be downloaded from the associated card. The card under Batches & Exports expires after 28 days.
11. When ready, select Export to CSV.

Your CSV export's column order largely mirrors your results table, with a few key distinctions:

• Fields added to the CSV export that are not displayed in the results table will be listed after the table fields in the order that they are added to the export.
• The Bates/Control # fields will always be in the first columns in your export, regardless of whether they are in the results table. 
• If you choose to export row numbers, the row number column will automatically be the first column in the export, before the Bates/Control # fields.

Export to PDF

PDF exports are useful for generating offline binders. On Everlaw, PDF exports use the existing image files of documents. Therefore, documents without images are represented by a blank page with the Bates/Control # listed. 

To export document information to PDF:

1. Open a results table.
2. Use the table's checkboxes to select the documents you want to export. By default, every document in your results table is selected in your export.
3. Select Export in the results table toolbar.
   
4. Select PDF.
   This opens the Export to PDF dialog, which has two steps: Options and Slipsheets.
   
    
5. In the Export name field, enter a name for the export.
6. In the Export options field, choose between:

   • Single PDF: Creates a single PDF with all documents and, optionally, a hyperlinked table of contents, PDF bookmarks, and respects the sort and grouping relationships reflected in the results table with row numbering matching those in the results table. For example, the first parent is numbered 1.0 and its attachment is numbered 1.1.
      

     Note

     There is a 2 GB cap for single PDF exports. If you try to export a PDF that is greater than 2 GB, you will receive an error at the end of the task.

   • ZIP file of individual PDFs: Creates a ZIP of individual PDFs will by default, result in individual PDFs for each document, named after their Begin Bates. If you choose this option, you have two related options to select from:
     • [Optional] To maintain the sort and grouping order of documents, select Preserve sort order in file naming. This adds its row number at the start of the file name. For example, the first parent might be named 1.0_ABC001.PDF and its attachment would be named 1.1_ABC001.PDF.

     • [Optional] To export document groups as single PDFs, choose export document groups as single PDFs. If you select this option, there is one PDF per document group or family as opposed to one PDF per document.

       Note

       There is a 500,000-page cap on zip exports of PDFs. Additionally, if any of the individual documents result in a single PDF that is larger than 2 GB, you will receive an error at the end of the task.

7. [Optional] To stamp Bates numbers on the exported documents, select Stamp Bates numbers. If the documents you plan to export are already correctly Bates stamped, you do not need to select this option. If you would like to stamp documents that have not yet been produced, and/or that have been assigned a different Bates number after upload, select this option. If you do choose this option, choose between:
   1. Stamp all documents
   2. Only stamp EVER and # documents
      If you stamp a Bates or Control number on documents that have not been produced, additional space is not provided for the stamp, and document content may be obscured. 
8. [Optional] If you want documents with images in landscape orientation to be rotated counterclockwise to portrait orientation, select Rotate images to portrait. Documents with PDFs will not be affected.
9. [Optional] To select a file naming scheme or clean up file names, select Advanced Settings. 
   Then:
   1. From the File naming scheme field, select one of the following options:
      • Bates number (e.g. ABC001.pdf) (default)
      • Filename (e.g. report.pdf)

      • Bates number and filename (e.g. ABC001-report.pdf)

        Note

        The filename used for naming exported documents is taken from the Everlaw filename metadata field, not the original filename, which may differ.

        Note

        When exporting PDFs with the filename-only naming scheme (Filename), the export will fail if it includes either (A) files without a value in the filename metadata field, or (B) if two or more files have identical values in their filename metadata field.

   2. [Optional] If you want to replace characters like colons and backslashes with underscores, select Clean up filenames. This ensures filenames will be compatible with all operating systems.
10. Select Next to move to the Slipsheets step.
    
11. Select the separate slipsheets that will accompany every document in your export. Your options are:
    • Bates separator sheets: Includes a page before each document indicating its Bates range.
    • Annotations sheets: Includes pages before each document that shows selected review work and annotations. These can include highlights, notes, and redactions. A highlight or redaction will only be listed on an annotation sheet if it has a note attached. You also have the option to include Storybuilder details like description and relevance on your annotation sheets. 
      If you choose to include highlights and redactions, those will also appear on the face of your documents regardless of whether a note is attached. Redactions on un-produced versions of documents are transparent (not burned in); you must export the produced version of a document to see it with redactions burned in. If you don’t have proper permissions to view these annotations, they will not appear on the PDF exports.
    • Metadata sheets: Includes a page before each document, including selected metadata for that document. A column describes the category of metadata field. Select fields from the Select fields field.
    • Place metadata sheets: Choose whether to place an included metadata slipsheet before the document or immediately following it

12. Once you've made your selections, select Export to PDF.

    A task is created that can be viewed on the Batches & Exports column of the homepage.

    Once completed, the export can be downloaded from the associated card. The card under Batches & Exports expires after 28 days. 

Export to ZIP

Required permissions: You must have ZIP Export permissions in the Document Export category of project permissions. 

You can export all documents, or a subset of documents, from your project in the results table. The files included in a ZIP export from the results table can include:

• Images: ZIP exports export all images into PDF's, regardless of their previous file formats (TIFF, JPG, JPEG, etc)
• Natives
• Text
• Data (DAT, DII, LFP, LST, and OPT files)
• Review work CSV
  The CSV of work product allows you to import review work to documents on Everlaw in the future, if needed.

To start an export from a results table:

1. Access a results table of the documents you want to export. To export all the documents in the project, select the View all documents button on the Homepage.
   
2. [Optional] Deselect any documents you do not want to export.
3.  Go to Export > ZIP.
   
   This opens a dialog with configuration options. In this dialog, you can view the total uncompressed size of the natives, image, and text files in your export. Selecting and deselecting the three document files will update the size displayed.
   
4.  Give your export a name in the Export name field.
5. Choose which files to include.
   
   By default, all files - images, text, natives, load files, and review work product - are included in the export. Deselect any of the included files by unchecking the box. 
   • Review work product includes the following:
     • Notes
     • Codes
     • Ratings
     • Redactions
     • Highlights
     • User-editable metadata
     • Stories (including any Stories labels applied to documents). 
       
       When you export review work, redactions are not applied to images will not be applied to images. Also note that any datetime values in the exported load file will retain and append the project timezone at the time of the export; if there are datetime values with no timezone information, they will be exported without any appended timezones
6. [Optional] Configure the Native advanced options  
   • Native file naming scheme: You can choose between several options (Bates number, original filename, or Bates number and original filename).
     If you elect to clean up native filenames, characters like colons and backslashes are replaced with underscores to be compatible with all operating systems..
   • Native encryption: For password-protected documents, you can choose to export a decrypted version of the file by default or choose to export the original encrypted file. The option to export decrypted versions is only applicable to encrypted documents with passwords provided. Encrypted documents uploaded before the March 3, 2023 release will have decrypted versions created and stored upon reprocessing. After reprocessing, decrypted versions will be available for export.
7. Select Next to move onto the Additional options step.
8. Choose whether or not to encrypt your export.
   
   AES-256 is the recommended, more secure, encryption option. However, you may need an application such as 7-Zip or WinZip to open the exported ZIP file. If you choose to encrypt, you must create a password. You can create your own or choose a randomly generated one by clicking the key icon. 
   By default, you will receive your password in an email upon export completion. The email will be sent to you only. Deselect Email me a copy of my password if you do not wish to receive it.
9. Configure Time zone options. You can choose the time zone of your exported datetime values, whether that time zone is appended to the values, and the format of the date and time values.
10. When you have configured your settings, select Export. 
    Your task begins and an export card on the homepage under the Batches and Exports column displays the export's progress.
    The export may take longer than a standard export on Everlaw, particularly if images need to be converted to PDF’s. An export with over a million documents, depending on the number of images, could take a day or more to process.

11. [Optional] You can check in on the export's progress and a see time estimate under Batches and Exports. You can pause or abort the task from this card.

12. When your export is complete, the export card will have a download button that you can click to see more details about your export or to download the ZIP file to your machine. Select See more details to see  who initiated the export, start time, completion time, and task duration. Task duration includes time paused as well.

Initiate a production (by permission only)

Required permissions: Project Administrator or Admin permissions on productions.

You can initiate productions from the results table's Export menu. To kick this off:

1. Open a results table.
2. Use the table's checkboxes to select the documents you want to export. By default, every document in your results table is selected in your export.
3. Select Export in the results table toolbar.
   
4. Select Production.
   You are redirected to the first page of the productions wizard.
   To learn more about creating productions in Everlaw, please see our productions article.

Exporting from ECA projects

In an ECA project, users with Database Admin permissions can batch export natives through the database settings page. Users can also export natives from the results table by selecting Export > ZIP.

Exporting images and texts requires you to promote the documents to the review project and export them from there. 

To learn more about other features that are available on ECA projects, visit our Early Case Assessment Databases article.