Identifying and Troubleshooting Native Upload Errors

This article explains how to recognize and troubleshoot basic processing errors when uploading native data to Everlaw.

Native files go through four stages during processing:

• Examine
• PDF conversion
• Text conversion
• Artifact conversion

Your data may experience issues during any of these stages. It is important to investigate these errors in order to ensure that all of your documents are uploaded properly.

Spotting upload errors

If any documents in your upload encountered errors, Everlaw displays a Complete with errors warning message and a count of the errors for each errored stage. 

For example, in the image below, there was a processing error in only stage of processing: Examine.

View an error report

To begin troubleshooting any errors, select View Report at the bottom of the upload card. 

This opens the Upload details dialog for that upload. 

Common error types

The sections below explain common uploading errors. This includes the following scenarios:

• Container file errors
• Missing passwords for password-protected documents
• No errors, but zero documents uploaded
• Unsupported file types
• Corrupted files
• Documents flagged as malware

Container file errors

Container files are documents that only contain other documents (e.g. .zip or .pst files).

In the Examine stage, you may notice errors related to container files. One cause for this error may be that your container file was not properly unpacked, which can happen if your container file is corrupt. This can be very problematic for review and billing reasons, and you should diagnose this issue before moving on to any review work. For example, a container file may contain large volumes of data, and if you do not address the issue, the documents within that container file will not be included in your document count in Everlaw and cannot be reviewed or searched for.

To identify whether you have a corrupted container file:

1. Select the View Report button on your upload card to open the Upload details dialog.
2. In the Documents with errors section, check the Container Errors section to identify if there are issues.
   
3. If there are issues, select the number of Container errors listed to go to the results table containing those files.
   

You can also:

• Use the Uploaded search term to search the upload for an Examine: Error on Container Documents.
  
  
• View the file path in the results table, which can help you locate the file on your Custodian's local machine. To do this, add the File Path column to the results table.
  
• Extract the container file on your local machine. If the container extracts correctly without error, then it is likely not corrupt.

If you find that the file is not corrupt, please reach out to support@everlaw.com, explaining the steps you have taken up to this point. This will help us expedite the process and identify what processing error might have occurred.

If the container file does not open correctly, then it’s likely corrupt. Do not reprocess a corrupt ZIP file on Everlaw. Instead, request a working copy of the data from the providing party.

Missing passwords for password-protected documents

If you are missing a password or decryption key, you will see an error on your upload card.

Checking the upload report allows you to identify whether any documents were not decrypted. To do this:

1. Select the View Report button on your upload card to open the Upload details dialog.
2. In the Documents with errors section, check the Missing passwords section to identify if there are issues.
   
   
3. If there are issues, select the number of Missing passwords listed to go to the results table containing those files.

You can also use the Uploaded search term to search the upload for an Examine: Error on Encrypted.

To provide a password, you can reprocess these documents with the password added at that time. Reprocessed documents will also use additional decryption keys you have added since your initial upload. To learn more about reprocessing, visit Reprocessing Everlaw and Non-Everlaw Processed Documents.

Documents encrypted at the folder level, for example a password-protected ZIP, are able to be reprocessed on Everlaw. PDFs that are protected from within an application and that are uploaded natively should be uploaded successfully, provided that Everlaw has the password.

No errors, but zero documents uploaded

Another reason that no documents are shown as uploaded is that the files in the container were deduplicated. Your container file will appear unpacked because the documents in the container are duplicates.

To identify duplicated document errors:

1. Select the View Report button on your upload card to open the Upload details dialog.
2. In the Upload size section, check the Deduped section to identify if there are issues.
   
   If the number is high, it’s likely that the contents of your container file were successfully unpacked and simply deduplicated. To identify which documents were deduplicated, select Download deduped info to generate a report of deduped files. 

Unsupported file types

If you notice an error in all four upload stages - Examine, Text, PDF, and Artifact - you may have attempted to upload a file that Everlaw does not support or that is corrupted.

Please refer to the accepted native data types article to learn about which file types are supported on Everlaw. If the file you tried to upload is unsupported by Everlaw, but the native upload is complete, then the document cannot be imaged or processed by Everlaw. You can still download the document to review it locally, but it will not be possible to search the text of the document or to view it via the Native or PDF views of the review window.

You can reach out to Everlaw Support to request future expanded processing support for a specific file type. 

Corrupted files

If a document uploaded in a supported format has errors in Examine, Text, Artifact, and PDF, confirm it is not corrupt by downloading and opening it on your local machine. If the document's native isn't viewable in its native software as well as Everlaw, it is likely corrupt.

If you believe that the document is in a supported format and is not corrupt, please contact Everlaw Support.

Documents flagged as malware

Everlaw’s native uploads tool scans all submitted files for malicious software, or malware. These files can potentially damage your computer and must be handled with caution.

To check for malicious files:

1. Select the View Report button on your upload card to open the Upload details dialog.
2. In the Flags section, check the Flagged malicious section to identify if there are issues.
   
   
3. If there are issues, select the number of Flagged malicious errors listed to go to the results table containing those files.

You can also use the Uploaded search term to search for any uploads with the Flag titled Flagged Malicious.

If your workflows permit you to simply discard any documents flagged as potentially malicious, then running the above search and deleting the malicious files is a simple way to reduce risk. Once you have confirmed that your team wishes to discard these files without review, follow the document deletion workflow.  

On the other hand, if your workflows require you to host, review, and/or produce files from a native upload that are flagged as malicious, you may find it helpful to view the following articles: 

• Document Access Management
• Exporting potentially malicious files
• Identifying potentially malicious documents that will be included in a production and creating rules for how those files ought to be handled

For workflow help or questions regarding reviewing and producing potentially malicious native data, you can also contact Everlaw Support.