On Everlaw there are two main ways to reduce your bill before the beginning of the next billing period.
You can:
- Suspend a database, which puts the database into an archived state, in which the documents inaccessible for search and review. Suspended databases are billed at a lower rate. Contract your Everlaw representative to learn more about the billing rate.
- Export and delete the projects on the database so that the database can be deleted without losing documents and work product. Once a database is deleted, there is no charge associated with it, starting from the next billing period.
This article describes the options and best practices for each.
Important
We recommend that you begin preparing to close your database 2 weeks before the end of the billing period. Export speed is roughly 1.5 million docs a day and deletion speed is roughly 1 million docs a day. Please account for download speeds to your local machine as well, or contact Everlaw Support for a managed export.
Suspend the database on Everlaw
This option involves archiving the database on the Everlaw platform in a suspended state. Suspension keeps all documents, review data, and project analytics in place and accessible should the need arise to reopen the project.
The advantage of suspension is that you can immediately regain access to your data when you choose to reactivate it, without needing to import or reconfigure anything.
Given that suspension requires continuously storing all project data in the cloud, there are associated charges.
Note
Suspending partial projects has no impact on billing; suspension rates only apply when the entire database is suspended.
For more information about suspending projects and databases, see our Database Administration and Permissions article. Please review your contract or reach out to our Customer Experience team to better understand suspension costs.
Export and delete a database
If a case is closed and you don't predict needing to access the database again, you can export and then delete it.
Tip
Organization Admins and users who are both Database and Project Admins can export a project while it is suspended.
Note
Read more about what is and isn't included in a standard project export in our Exporting to ZIP article.
Everlaw managed export for self storage
Everlaw can complete a managed export of all project data for all the projects in a database. Once the data is exported, it can be stored outside of Everlaw, or added to Everlaw's Staging Drive for longterm storage. Then, you can delete the database and there will be no charge for the database starting from the beginning of the next billing period after the data is deleted.
A managed export incurs a one-time fee based on the hosted size of the files to be included, plus shipping and handling in the event physical media is requested. Everlaw will always seek your approval for any charges prior to performing the work and will notify you if there will be any adjustments to the cost.
Please contact the Customer Experience team to get specific pricing for your export. If you don't have a direct contact, email support@everlaw.com.
Should you wish to re-upload this data to Everlaw at a future date, you will need to create a new project. Re-uploaded data does not retain any document history, access logs in productions, or project level user history.
An export provides a full set of documents and review data that can be reused as needed without an ongoing outlay for storage, but you must make your own reliable storage arrangements.
User managed export for self-storage
You can manage your own data export without incurring any financial charge using the built-in exporting tools on the Everlaw platform. We recommend that you do this before deleting data from the platform.
Depending on your permissions and the status of the project, data exports can be conducted from several different areas of the platform:
Area | Description | Link to more information |
Results Table |
Location: Project documents and data can be exported from the results table. Permissions: You must be a member of the project and have the ZIP download permission to access this export option. Status: The project must also be active. |
For more information, see this article. |
Database Settings |
Location: Project documents and data can be exported from the overview page of Database settings. Permissions: You must be a database admin to access to this page and a project admin on the project(s) you want to export to have access to export options for a specific project. Alternatively, if you are an organization admin and the database is subject to OA access, you can also export project data from this page. Status: You can export projects from this page even while the database or project is suspended. |
For more information, see this article. |
Org Admin Page |
Location: Project documents and data can be exported from the "Projects and Users" page of the Organization Admin dashboard. Permissions: You must be an Org Admin to access this page. If a database has OA access disabled, then you must also be a database admin on a database to perform exports for projects in that database. Status: You can export projects from this page even while the database or project is suspended. |
For more information, see this article. |
Note
If you are planning to export your data and the project is active, you can access it in the form of a card under Batches & Exports on the homepage, but the card will expire after 28 days. This expiration is based solely on when the export was run, and is not impacted by suspension.
Delete all documents and data
The default option upon project closing is to destroy all data and associated review work from our cloud-based servers. This ensures all sensitive client data is expunged from the platform.
Even if you choose an exporting or archival option discussed above, project data is fully deleted from Everlaw once deletion is complete. This action is irrevocable, so if you do not export and store your data prior to deletion, you should be sure that you will never need to recover project data and its review work.
There are a few ways to go forwards with deleting data on Everlaw:
- For project deletion, please reference this help article.
- If you have Delete permissions and would like to delete documents from the Everlaw database, please reference this help article.
- If you are a Database Administrator and would like to delete projects and databases, please reference this help article.
- If you are an Organization Administrator and would like to delete projects and databases, please reference this help article.
Important
Before continuing with deletion, if you think there's a chance you might need to recover the work, you can always conduct a project export first.
Tip
Need help deciding which option is right for you? Please reach out to support@everlaw.com to discuss these options in more detail.