Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Categories and codes
• Freeform codes
• Using codes to structure review

Introduction

This article covers the setup and administration of codes in Everlaw, which are used to label and organize documents. Only users who are either Project Admins or Codes Admins can administer codes. For more information about these admin roles, please see this article.

Additionally, here's a video about administering codes:

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Categories and codes

To access the coding sheet, first go to Project Settings. Then, navigate to the Codes tab on the Project Settings navigation bar. 

The Codes page displays two tables: a categories table on the left and a codes table on the right. In Everlaw, codes are organized within categories. The category highlighted in blue is the current category you are viewing, which determines the codes that are displayed.  

To create a new category, enter the name of the category into the input field at the bottom of the Categories table. If the categories are listed alphabetically, the new category will be inserted in the correct alphabetical order. If the categories have been manually reordered, the new category will be inserted at the bottom of the list. 

The codes table on the right displays the codes associated with the selected category. To add a new code, type the code name into the input box at the bottom of the Codes table. Just as with categories, new codes are added in alphabetical order if the codes are arranged alphabetically, or at the bottom otherwise. The input field is automatically reselected after each new code is entered, allowing you to add multiple codes in quick succession. 

Once categories and codes are created, there are a number of administrative actions that are available:

• For both categories and codes:
  • To rename, click the pencil icon associated with the category or code. This will highlight the name. Simply type to make changes and click away, or hit “Enter” on the keyboard, to save. 
  • To delete, click the trashcan icon associated with the category or code. Category deletions require an additional confirmation step. 
  • To rearrange the order of categories and codes, drag-and-drop the appropriate row. To re-alphabetize, click the “Alphabetize” button associated with the category or code table. 
    • The order of categories and codes on the settings page will be reflected in the batch coding panel, as well as all instances of the query builder (e.g., search page, production wizard, etc.) for all users. The order of categories can be further customized by reviewers in the review window, but the order of codes within categories is determined by project admins on this page.
• For categories only:
  • To make a category mutually exclusive, check the appropriate mutual exclusivity box. If a category is mutually exclusive, only one code from that category can be applied to a document at any given point in time. This can help prevent errors or inconsistent coding for categories that have conflicting codes.  
    • If documents have already been coded in a manner that violates mutual exclusivity, you’ll see a warning below the category name. You can click on the link in the warning to open a results table with the documents that are in violation.   

Permissions can be set for codes by user group. To adjust coding permissions, go to the Permissions tab in the Project Settings page. You can read more about setting code permissions in this article. 

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Freeform codes

Project and Codes admins can also create freeform codes. You can think of these as codes where you set the category but reviewers can enter any value matching the type of the field as they go through their review. For more information, read our article on freeform codes.

Freeform codes are set up on the Freeform Codes page. To create a new freeform code:

• Click the “Create new freeform code” button 
• Enter the name.
• Select the format for the field, which must be one of DateTime, Number, or Text.
  • The format affects the content users can enter as the value for a freeform field and how these values can be searched. The format for a field cannot be changed after the fact. For more information on different formats, please read this article on searching for metadata and freeform codes.

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Using coding rules to structure review

You can create rules to ensure structured and consistent coding during review. For more information about coding rules, please read this article.

Keywords: code, codes, tag, tags, label, labels