What are Bulk Actions?
Nextpoint's "Bulk Actions" functionality allows you to edit and sort your documents en masse. We often see this functionality utilized to add a group of documents to a folder, but Bulk Actions can also be applied to update issue coding, privilege statuses, data fields, and more.
Read more below on how to take advantage of Bulk Actions in your Nextpoint database.
*Available to Advanced and Standard User Permissions
How to Use Bulk Actions
There are four key options available when using Bulk Actions to edit a list of documents:
- Update (only) Selected Documents in their Current Order
- Update (only) Selected Documents in Email Family Order
- Update Selected Documents, their Related Documents, and Sort in Email Family Order
- Update Selected Documents, their Related Documents, and Sort in Chronological Order
Note: All actions illustrated below take place in the Bulk Action pop-up window. You can reach this pop-up by navigating to any Grid View results, selecting some or all of the documents via the top-left drop-down, and clicking Bulk Action.
1. Update (only) Selected Documents in their Current Order
The first option is to apply your Bulk Action edit to your document list without adding related documents, and also without changing their sort order.
This selection will only update documents in your document list, with no regard for associated emails or attachments. Additionally, if you choose to apply a folder in your Bulk Action, the selected documents will be added to the folder in the order in which they appear in your document list.
Below, we've illustrated how you would add (only) your selected documents to a folder and sort in their "Current" order.
Example of Application: Add a Production Set to a Folder and Sort in Bates Order
If you receive a production from an opposing party, you may want to add those documents to a folder sorted in order of their provided Bates numbers.
In this case, you would search for all documents with a the opposing party's Bates prefix (e.g. Bates:Nextpoint*) sort in Bates order from your grid view "Select All" documents in your list via the top-left drop-down click "Bulk Actions" Select "Add" to "Defendant Productions" folder select "Apply update to related documents:none" select in their "Current" order click "Update".
2. Update (only) Selected Documents in Email Family Order
The second option is to apply your Bulk Action to your document list without adding related documents, and changing the sort order to group emails and attachments together.
The selection of "Family" sort order will reorder your selected documents to group email families together (email + attachments).
Below, we've illustrated how you would add (only) your selected documents to a folder and select to sort in "Family" order.
It is important to understand this selection will only consider those documents in your selection.
For example, if you run a search for "flights", and only the parent emails hit on the search term, but some emails have attachments which are not in your search results, those attachments will not be incorporated in your Bulk Action application.
To incorporate all associated family members (emails + attachments), read the next section on how to "Update Selected Documents, their Related Documents, and Sort in Email Family Order".
3. Update Selected Docs, their Related Docs, Sort in Email Family Order
The third option is to apply your Bulk Action to your document list, also update related documents (typically, email family members), and sort all included documents in Email Family order.
The selection of "Apply update to related documents:Email Family" will add related family members to the selected set prior to updating. This means, if an email is included in your selection, all attachments will be added, and if an attachment is included in your selection, the corresponding email will be added. Furthermore, the selection of "Family" sort order will reorder all included documents to group email families together (email + attachments)
Below, we've illustrated how you would add your selected documents to a folder, select which documents you would like to include (email family member, email chain members, or duplicate), and then select the "Family" sort order.
Example of Application: Ensure you Produce Complete Email Families
Oftentimes, when preparing a set of documents for production, users would like to make sure they have coded each part of an email family consistently.
For example, if a parent email has been coded as Responsive/Not Privileged, users may want to ensure the attachments are tagged in the same manner. Utilizing the aforementioned "Update Selected Documents, their Related Documents, and Sort in Email Family Order" option would keep email families together during your Bulk Action update, regardless if the attachment to the Responsive/Not Privileged email happened to be tagged differently (e.g. Non-Responsive).
In this case, you would Filter for all Responsive/Not Privileged documents without Bates numbers already applied (to exclude previously produced documents) then, select All documents in your list via the top-left drop-down click "Bulk Actions" Add to a "Pending Production" folder select "apply update to related documents:Email Family" select in "Family" order click "Update".
4. Update Selected Docs, their Related Docs, Sort in Chronological Order
The fourth and final option is to apply your Bulk Action to your document list, also update related documents (typically, email family members), and sort all included documents in "Date & Family" order.
The selection of "Apply update to related documents:Email Family" will add related family members to the selected set prior to updating. This means, if an email is included in selection, all attachments will be added, and if an attachment included in selection, the corresponding email will be added.
The selection of "Date & Family" sort order will order documents chronologically by their master family date, which is considered to be the date of the parent email. This date will then be assumed by all email family members when sorting, even if that parent email is NOT in your selected document list.
How do I remove my documents from a folder with Bulk Actions?
If you need to remove documents from a folder, first, click into the folder from your REVIEW or DOCUMENTS tab (if you are working in Discovery vs. Litigation, respectively).
Then, select all documents from the grid view and click "Bulk Actions".
Click "Remove" under the "Folder" heading in your Bulk Actions modal. Make sure to select the appropriate folder from which you would like to remove your documents.
Lastly, click the orange "Update" button. No related documents selection is necessary when removing documents from a folder.
If the documents were removed from the folder successfully, the folder should display zero documents from the REVIEW or DOCUMENTS tab.
Note: When removing documents from a folder, the actions you are taking will not remove/trash the documents from your database.
Working with Bulk Actions in Litigation
The above guide is more specific to working with Bulk Actions in Discovery, but it is important to note Bulk Actions are available in Litigation as well.
One important consideration to make in Litigation, is if you would like to apply an Issue to a list of documents via Bulk Actions, you must first set up the Issue. Otherwise, selecting an issue will not be available.
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