Suspend and Reactivate Databases and Projects – Knowledge Base

If your case is quiet for now, but is likely to reactivate later and you'll need to regain access quickly, suspension is a good option. Suspension deactivates your project or database, but keeps all the data on Everlaw and available to reactivate at any time. Suspended databases are billed at a lower monthly rate than active data, so you can save on your Everlaw hosting fees while your case is quiet.

This article goes over how to suspend a full database and a partial project, as well as how to reactivate from suspension.

Everlaw also offers Everlaw Archive™, which is similar to "cold storage," and options to export and delete your database. For a comparison, and to find out which option might be best for your situation, see the Options to Deactivate a Case article.

Billing implications of suspension

Partial projects vs. full database

Suspended data is billed at a lower rate than active data. When an entire database is suspended, all the data within it is suspended and billed at the suspension rate.

You can also suspend just one or more partial projects within a database. You might do this if a workstream related to a partial project is paused and you want to prevent users from applying any additional review work in that project.

Suspending a partial project restricts access to that project, but does not change your monthly billing. This is because all the data in any partial project is also contained within the database's complete project, which is still active and available unless you suspend the entire database.

The only way to reduce billing via suspension is by suspending an entire database, which puts all the data within it, including partial projects, into a suspended and inaccessible state.

Billing cycle

On Everlaw, your monthly bill is based on your peak data size for the month. Because of this, data that you suspend this month is billed for its active size this month, and the suspension rate kicks in at the beginning of the next month. As detailed in the steps below, you can schedule suspension to begin at the end of the month. This allows you to retain full access during the time you are charged the active rate, and start suspension when the month ends.

Additionally, any reactivated databases are billed for their active rate the month they are reactivated. Make sure you account for the timing of your reactivation in accordance with the billing cycle.

Requirements

Required permissions: Organization Admin or Database Admin + Project Admin

Database Admins must have Project Admin permission on at least one project within a database to suspend the database
Project Admins who do not have Database Admin permissions or Organization Admin permissions can't suspend or reactivate databases and projects
Database Admins can't suspend individual projects that they are not Project Admins of
If OA access is disabled on a database, an Organization Admin can suspend a database if they also have the following two permissions:
- Database Admin permissions on the database they plan to suspend
- Be a user on at least one project within the database

Admin actions allowed during suspension

There are a few actions that an admin (with the permissions described above) can take while a database is suspended:

Export projects
Delete partial projects
Delete the database
Adjust permissions on the Database Settings > Permissions page
Adjust the overlapping Bates setting on Database Settings > General page.

Suspend and reactivate from the organization home

Organization Admins can suspend databases and projects from the Organization home.

Suspend a database

To suspend a database from the Organization home page:

Go to Organization home > Projects & Users tab.
In the Projects tab, find the database you would like to suspend. In the More column for that database, select the three-dot menu, then Suspend database.

This opens a dialog with your options for timing the suspension.
Decide if you want to suspend the database immediately, or schedule it for the end of the month:
- The billing implications are the same for both options. You will be charged the active rate this month, and the suspended rate starting next month.
- Select Automatically suspend at the end of the current month’s billing cycle to keep access to this database until the end of the month. The database will automatically be suspended, and access restricted, starting in the next month. This is a good option if you want your team to retain their access to data in this database as long as possible.
- Select Suspend now to immediately suspend the database and restrict access. This is a good option if you want to immediately restrict anyone from accessing the data or applying review work.
Select Suspend. This immediately suspends all the projects within the database. They are flagged on the Projects table with a SUSPENDED tag.

Suspend a project

You can restrict access to a project by suspending it. This doesn't impact your billing rates, but instead allows you to restrict access to documents and review work in that project without losing any data. To suspend a project from the Organization home:

Go to Organization home > Projects & Users tab.
In the Projects tab, find the project you would like to suspend. In the More column for that project, select the three-dot menu, then Suspend project.

This opens a dialog to confirm the suspension.
Select Suspend to confirm the suspension. The project is immediately suspended. A SUSPENDED tag is added to it.

Note

You cannot suspend a complete project if it's the only active complete project in the database. Instead, you'll need to suspend the whole database.

Reactivate a database

To reactivate a database:

Go to Organization home > Projects & Users tab.
In the Projects tab, find the suspended database you would like to reactivate. In the More column for that database, select the three-dot menu, then Reactivate database.

This opens a dialog to confirm the reactivation.
[Optional] Deselect any projects that you want to keep suspended. This excludes them from reactivation.
When you're ready, select Reactivate. This immediately reactivates all the selected projects and restores access for all users.

Reactivate a project

To reactivate an individual project from the organization home:

Go to Organization home > Projects & Users tab.
In the Projects tab, find the project you would like to reactivate. In the More column for that project, select the three-dot menu, then Reactivate project.

This opens a dialog to confirm the reactivation.
Select Reactivate. This immediately reactivates the selected project and restores access for all users.

Suspend and reactivate from Database Settings

Database Admins who are also Project Admins for at least one project in the database can suspend the database, or just suspend the project(s) for which they are a Project Admin. This is done from the Database Settings page.