Table of Contents
- Unitization tool permissions
- Using the unitization tool
- Managing unitized documents
- Undo unitization
Everlaw’s unitization tool allows you to break a compound file into separate documents. For example, you can take a 1000-page, scanned pdf and unitize it into 30 separate documents. This is useful if you happen to receive large, disorganized productions and need to break apart documents into more manageable and logical units.
Unitization tool permissions
Unitization can only be enabled and used by project administrators, or users with unitization permissions. All members of the project can see the resulting unitized documents.
To give a user group Unitization permissions, go to Project Settings, then to Permissions. Here you can select a user group and assign Unitization permissions.
Your unitization permissions are dependent on your permissions in a given project. Your permissions remain between sessions, so you can log out and back in without needing to reset your setting. Please note that only the user who has unitized a document can undo unitization.
Using the unitization tool
Once unitization is turned on, you can go to your search results and select a multiple-page document that you wish to split.
If you have Unitization permissions, the unitization tool will be turned on in the context panel of the review window (indicated by the doc split icon).
You can toggle the unitization tool on and off by pressing "u" on your keyboard, making the unitization icon appear or disappear in the context panel.
On page 1 of your document, the "Start document here" button is disabled, since the first page will always begin one of the documents. You will also see that there are no break points to begin with. Navigate to the first page of the document you'd like to create via unitization. Then, click “start document here" to create a break point in the document. You can also press "shift+u" on your keyboard to set the break point. The new document will start at the page you are currently viewing. For example, if you have a ten page document that you’d like to split into two units - say, pages 1 through 3 and pages 4 through 10 - you would navigate to page 4. You can also set multiple break points in a document.
If you want to remove a break point, click the “x” icon to the right of the break point. Click the blue “Unitize” button when you have set all desired break points.
If you navigate away from the document before unitizing, your break points will be saved. In addition, other users in the project who come across your document will also be able to see where you have created unitized documents within the larger document.
Break points can only be set from the PDF (or Image) view, or from the Text view if the image and text files share the same pagination. This means the sequence of words on one page of the image file matches the sequence on the same page of the text file, which is indicated by a link between the PDF (or Image) and Text view icons.
If the pagination is the same, the text file will be unitized along with the image file when the document is unitized. If not, the resulting unitized documents will not have accompanying text files.
Native files cannot be unitized, and break points cannot be added from the Native view. Unitizing documents with a native file will produce new unitized documents without a native file.
When you are ready to unitize the document, click Unitize. You will be asked to determine two final configurations:
- Copy the metadata: The metadata of the original document will be applied to the new, unitized documents. Please note that hash type metadata fields, such as SHA1 or MD5 Hash, will never be applied to resulting documents.
- Transfer Bates range to the new documents (available for documents with an existing Bates stamp): If selected, the original Bates range will be applied to the new, unitized documents. Your original document will be assigned a new ID number, EVERSPLIT. If the checkbox is unselected, then your new documents will receive the EVERSPLIT number. In either case, EVERSPLIT documents are searchable using the 'Bates' search term. Note that if your documents were processed on Everlaw, you cannot transfer the Bates number to unitized documents.
When you’ve established these criteria, click Unitize. Everlaw will then begin to unitize your documents.
You can check the status by looking at the progress bar on the context panel. You can also check the home page, under “Batches and Exports," where a new task card will be created. The original document will not be deleted or modified in your database. If the image and text files are linked (ie. the text on each page corresponds between the two formats), the unitized documents will also have correctly unitized text files.
Managing unitized documents
Unitized documents are given the 'EVERSPLIT' prefix. You can search for documents with this prefix using the Bates search term.
If you chose to transfer the Bates range from your original document, then you can search for unitized documents with the Bates prefix you transferred.
You can also see the original document, and its unitized documents, in the review window’s context panel. You can navigate between these documents, just like you would between email threads or duplicates.
Undo unitization
Undoing a previous unitization will remove the unitized documents and discard any review work (ratings, redactions, highlights, codes, etc.) on unitized documents. In addition, only the user who has unitized a document can undo unitization. To undo, select the red Undo button at the bottom of the context panel in the original document's review window. Confirm the action by clicking Confirm.
The original breakpoints will be saved. This allows you to easily undo an existing unitization and make changes to your break point settings without having to completely redo your original work.
If you would like the original document to be deleted, please ask a user on your project with uploader permissions to do so. You can read more about user-facing document deletion here.
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