Using the Watch Folder
The Watch Folder lets you quickly import small numbers of new documents into the your case. Use it also to add documents you are drafting and work product keeping everything related to the case in one place.
Adding files
You'll find a shortcut to the Watch Folder on your desktop. We typically drag it to to the lower left corner so it's easy to get to.
- Double click it and Windows Explorer opens the Watch Folder.
- Copy the files to import and paste them there.
You can also drag and drop files into the Watch Folder as below. Note that if the files are on a different drive than the Watch Folder, Windows will copy during drag and drop; otherwise Windows will move files.
The Watch Folder Alert window
MasterFile monitors the watch folder for new documents, and when you switch back to it, if any files are found, it displays the Watch Folder Alert window.
Clicking 'OK' creates and opens a new 'Untitled' document profile tab as shown below.
- The 'Untitled' tab for the first document.
- The native document is attached or embedded. Any PDF version would be attached here too, and OCR text paginated and added to the 'OCR / Full Text of Document' section (not shown).
- The filename is automatically entered into the profile 'Summary' field (#3).
- This process repeats for each document in the watch folder open each in its own tab.
- Click on each 'Untitled' tab, complete the required information and save.
We suggest you allow all alerts to occur and handle them first, rather than trying to complete a profile while other tabs are opening. The Watch Folder is ideal for quickly loading a few documents. Express Load is designed for large document batches and production sets.
The Watch Monitor folder location is set in [R+ Administration > User Settings]. When you set its location, the three sub-folders (Completed, Ignored, and Error) are also automatically created.
- Processed files are moved to the "Completed" sub-folder.
- Files you do not load when prompted are moved to the "Ignored" sub-folder.
- Files that could not be embedded or attached are moved to the "Error" sub-folder.
If watch folder alerts for some file but do for others, check that file is not open and in use by another application, such as your word processor. If it is, close the application or file which will release it and allow the Watch Folder Monitor access.
Files remain in the sub-folders and you should delete them once they have been imported.
- To activate the Watch Folder, at least one MasterFile database must be open. Note that there can be a delay of a few seconds before the watch folder alert window appears.
- To stop the Watch Folder, click on clicking on Start/Stop alerts in the its window.
- To restart (or also stop) the Watch Folder, click on [R+ Document and E-mail Loading > Toggle watch monitor on/off].
Note that the watch folder will not activate unless a MasterFile database is active. To do so, click on a MasterFile database's tab on the wordspace and perform an action such as switching to a new view.
The Watch Folder Alert window
Each field in the Alert window is explained here.
- 'Delete file' will delete the new document file and associated PDF/OCR files.
- 'Add file to existing doc profile' adds the new document file and its associated PDF/OCR files to an existing document profile. Select a document profile from window displayed (see below) and the file will be attached or embedded as the primary document in the profile. This is useful for example to store a signed and scanned copy of a document already in MasterFile.
- These buttons indicate if a matching PDF and/or OCR text file has been found. Such files are also loaded into the associated document file's profile. Matching files are found by comparing filenames, excluding the file extension.
- Evidence is always attached to profiles. For documents being written, edited or revised, embed the file. This gives you document management controls for your work product.
The field 'File type (extensions) to embed' in the Express Load section of [R+ Administration > User Settings] controls which files are embedded by default. You can modify the list there or override the defaults here.
- By default, the Watch Folder imports documents into the current database (Arcase v Skyhigh above). If a document pertains to a different case, you can select it here.
- Click on "Cancel" to ignore the file. It will be moved to the 'Ignored' sunb-folder.
- Whenever you start Notes, a file with extension '.MFW' is created in the watch folder, if the Watch Folder Monitor is active.
- If you stop the WatchFolder or it stopped due to an error or for some other reason and alerts are not appearing (and files in the watch folder are not in use by another application) delete the '.MFW' file and click in Notes again. Within a few seconds, the Watch Folder Monitor will reset itself.
Check the Status Bar if you are not sure whether the Watch Folder is active or not. If you see a 'MASTERFILE -- CWD ...' message appear with a new count, it is. Other instructions might be displayed too as shown below.
As processing occurs, documents are moved into the Watch Folder's three sub-folders depending on their status.
Occasionally you might see the following message
This means
- the document being loaded is still open in its native application or viewer, or
- it exists in one of the sub-folders from a previous attempt to import it.
Close the application or delete it from the sub-folder as is appropriate and copy or move it back to the Watch Folder and repeat the import process.