Express Load

MasterFile's unique Express Load tool will make short work of bulk loading existing evidentiary documents, transcripts, e-discovery files, production, authorities or any other kind of document in its native format including work-product from disk. You can process folders and subfolders or simply select specific files to load. Its simple to use controls let you manage all document ingestion yourself.

To speed loading, whether loading native files, images, PDFs or splitting aggregate PDFs, simply set defaults for profile fields, where appropriate, and the remaining fields are completed according to the Express Load mode you've chosen.

We suggest you load manageable batches of 2,000 - 3,000 documents at a go.

Modes

Express Load has three modes which let you load documents semi-automatically or automatically. In two modes, Power Assist and Batch Load, you can set default values for fields and speed up your work. CSV mode imports metadata from a CSV or Concordance load file.

Power Assist mode

In Power Assist mode, you manually complete any remaining required fields as each document is processed. This mode is useful when adding small batches of new documents on a regular basis.

Batch Load mode

Batch Load is typically used to load documents quickly without metadata or without completing all required profile information. Any required fields without specific values will be set with MasterFile's defaults.

  • The summary field is filled with the file path and name so you can identify documents until a file summary is completed. This is also  useful to classify case-related work-product imported from your servers or workstations.
  • Profiles missing required field values appear in the "by Issue/Topic" views where they can be selected and corrected using [R+ Review and Revision Tools > Power Assisted Edit] or [R+ Review and Revision Tools > Global Replace].

Batch Load is also useful to load documents which can be organized in batches thereby allowing common values for fields to be set as defaults. For example, grouping documents first by case file ID, then as correspondence and finally as "from John Smith" enables you to specify default values for these required fields. Any remaining required profile fields will be filled automatically on import with MasterFile's  standard internal values and the profiles created without any further assistance from you.

CSV mode

CSV mode is designed for large batches of documents. Profile field values are provided in a CSV load file.  Concordance format load files are also mapped and loaded. 

Besides large batches of documents, CSV mode can also be used

  • to load documents when required profile fields are missing meta data,
  • to update profile information,
  • to update profile information and document files,
  • to automatically split a PDF bundle into its actual documents and load them into their own profiles, and
  • to perform other tasks where profiles or meta data needs to be updated.

MasterFile CSV load file specifications are covered in our CSV Import/Export guide here.

  • As with Batch Load mode, any required fields without specific values will be set with MasterFile's defaults.
  • Profiles missing required field values appear in the "by Issue/Topic" views where they can be selected and corrected using [R+ Review and Revision Tools > Power Assisted Edit] or [R+ Review and Revision Tools > Global Replace].

During Express Load, a CSV log of the documents loaded is created. Each line of the CSV log contains the unique MasterFile document ID (the UNID) for each document. At the end of processing, the CSV log is itself loaded into MasterFile in its own profile, and can later be used to reload or update profile data of the documents loaded. See the section 'Using "Revised profile data" to reload profile data' in the MasterFile CSV Import/Export guide here for more details.