Metadata Tab of the Document Review Window

Use the Metadata tab in the document review window to quickly inspect, compare, and update key information about your documents without leaving review. From here, you can switch between Everlaw and source metadata, edit eligible fields, search for other documents with matching values, and pin your most important fields so they’re always easy to find.

Requirements

• All users can view metadata for documents they have permission to access 
• To edit metadata a field:
  • The field must be marked as editable by a Project Admin
  • You must have Edit metadata permissions

View metadata in the review window

To view a document's metadata in the review window, open window's Metadata tab.

You can learn more about a piece of metadata by hovering over it's value, in some cases selecting it.

View metadata by type

There are two types of metadata: 

• Everlaw metadata: The functional metadata parsed from your documents. For example, dates are normalized to a single format and time zone. Everlaw metadata also includes alias fields and user-editable fields. 
• Source metadata: Metadata derived directly from load files or native processing. It can come from one of four sources:
  • Load file extracted: This is metadata from a document load file of produced or processed (non-native) documents. Load file metadata shows metadata exactly as it was conveyed in the load file used during uploading.
  • Native extracted: This displays metadata as it was extracted directly from the documents during processing.
  • Text extracted: This displays metadata that was extracted from the text of the document indicating the file was an email. To learn more about text-extracted metadata, please see this article.
  • Reserved: This metadata is user-supplied, trusted input. One example is the custodian submitted with a native upload.

By default, documents only display Everlaw-type metadata. To change this:

1. Open the review window's Metadata tab.
2. Select its dropdown  button.
   This opens a popup with your options. 
   
3. Select either or both types: Everlaw and/or Source.

Edit metadata

Required permissions: Edit metadata permissions

Project Admins can make any Everlaw metadata field editable. You can tell if a field is editable when there is a edit   button next to the field value in the Metadata tab.

By default, editable fields are not shown in the review window if there is no value for the document you’re looking at. To view and edit these empty user editable fields:

1. Open the Metadata tab (shortcut: m).
2. Select the Edit button in the layout section of the panel, located just above the toolbar.
   
3. Select the edit metadata tab button in the Metadata tab.
   
4. In the left side panel, select Show empty fields.
   
5. To exit the panel, select Back to Tab Layout.
6. Select the Save current layout as button to save your changes as a new layout, or select Done editing to save them to your currently selected layout.
   

Now that you can see the empty editable fields, you can edit them:

1.  Click the edit button in the field you want to edit.

2. Type or select the value for the field.

   Note

   When you edit DateTime metadata fields, times are recorded in the project time zone, by default. However, you can select a different time zone. If you select a new time zone, the freeform code or metadata field will translate the time in the project time zone. Hover over or select the freeform code or metadata field to see the time in its original time zone.

3. Select Save.

You cannot edit values for Source metadata, only Everlaw metadata.

Any edits you make to  metadata fields like To/From/Cc/Bcc/File path/Begin family, do not influence email threading, file path information, or family grouping in the context panel of the review window or the results table. That information can only be adjusted through doing an upload modifying metadata.

Search for other documents with the same metadata field value

To find other documents that have the same metadata values as the current document, select the metadata field's value. This opens a results table listing every document with the same value for that metadata field.

Pin important metadata fields

You can pin Everlaw metadata fields in the review window's Metadata tab, allowing you to control the position of the fields in the tab. This is especially useful if you want to consistently see the same set of fields in the collapsed tab view, saving you from having to expand the tab each time.

Metadata field positions are saved per user, so you can set up your metadata exactly as you like without affecting others on your team. Metadata field positions are not shared when you share a review window layout.  

To pin fields:

1. Select the Edit button in the layout section of the panel, located just above the toolbar.
   
2. Open the Metadata tab.
3. Select the Edit metadata tab button. 
   This opens a panel that shows all available metadata in your project.
4. Select the pin button to pin a field. Pinned fields will move to the top of the Metadata tab.
   
5. [Optional] Among the pinned fields, you can drag-and-drop to rearrange the order.
6. To exit the panel, select Back to Tab Layout.
7. Select the Save current layout as button to save your changes as a new layout, or select Done editing to save them to your currently selected layout.

[Classic Review Window] Navigating and undocking the metadata panel

The metadata panel in the classic review window is found below the toolbar in the review window.  The metadata panel exists in two states: collapsed and expanded. In its collapsed state, the panel only displays a subset of the available fields. To expand the panel to show Everlaw metadata, either click on the panel or press “m” on your keyboard. Pinned fields will appear in order in the collapsed state.

If you are using the classic review window and you want to keep an expanded metadata panel open at all times during review, you can pop out the panel by clicking on the undock icon in the far right. The new movable panel can be repositioned and resized, and it will remain undocked as you navigate through documents. Click the “x” in the upper right to close the undocked panel.