Release Date: November 6, 2021
This year, we set out to improve the document review and coding experience for our user community. The objective was simple: enable users to navigate the document review process in Nextpoint easily and efficiently, regardless of their experience or case needs.
We are pleased to announce the improved document review experience released on Monday, December 6th, 2021. We outlined the updates at a glance in our New Software Releases page, and now, we dig a little deeper into the way things work in the new Document Review Experience.
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New vs. Old Document Review Experience
First, let's take a look at the document viewer before and after the December 6, 2021 release.
Document viewer – after
Document viewer – before
Navigating Search Hit Highlights
Now, when you run a search in a database with search hit highlights, Nextpoint will remove any field:value combinations, and carry any keywords through to the document-level.
For example, the below search reads folder:"BZ and BA Emails" AND (takeout test counting).
Upon clicking into any of the resulting documents and entering the document viewer, folder:"BZ and BA Emails" has been removed, but the terms takeout test counting remain in the search bar at the top center of the document viewer.
You will also notice the search terms are highlighted within the document.
The terms from the search bar will also be presented in a toolbar at the top left of the document. We refer to this as the PDF Search toolbar because PDF images are what facilitate the search hit highlights you see.
These PDF images are a new component of the document viewer and immediately upon release, will only be available in databases created on, or after, December 6. Read more at the end of this article as to how you will be able to retroactively fit your legacy databases with search hit highlights in the future.
Don't see the PDF Search toolbar? Make sure to toggle to the PDF Search Viewer Mode at the top left of your document.
A Closer Look at PDF Search Toolbar
Once in the document, you can navigate a series of tools for your document review in the PDF Search Toolbar.
- Thumbnail View, provides thumbnail image for all pages in document
- Toggle pages
- Highlight all, Match Case, Whole Words
• Highlight all: When enabled, all occurrences of the searched term(s) will be highlighted. Use the up/down arrows to toggle through the different term hits. Current term will be highlighted in green.
• Match case: When enabled, considers capitalization of searched terms.
• Whole words: When enabled, only exact matches of searched term(s) will be highlighted. - Zoom is set to Automatic Zoom by default; adjust as needed
- Drop-down menu
• Rotate: This option is not a permanent rotation, but a great temporary rotate option
• Text Selection Tool: Copy/paste of text directly from the document.
• Odd and Even Spreads: Side-by-side page view of document pages.
Document Viewer Toolbar
Search hit highlights take place on the PDF Search Viewer Mode. However, the Image Viewer Mode is still widely available in all databases. The Image Viewer allows users in legacy databases to navigate their search hits, and will also allows all users to utilize our comprehensive toolset for working with your documents.
If you are in Image Mode, you will notice the PDF Search Toolbar is removed and only the Nextpoint Document Viewer toolbar is present.
Much of the Document Viewer Toolbar remains the same post-release, but we brought more frequently used tools to the forefront (document splitting, generate PDF), and converted several text buttons to icons (print, download original, share).
- Viewer Mode: Toggle between Image, Key Term, Text and PDF Search Viewer Modes.
- Review History and Native Placeholders: Previously tabs which sat at the top left of the document, the Review History and Native Placeholders are now presented as icon next to the Viewer Mode drop-down.
- Improved zoom function: Zooming capabilities now take place right in the Document Viewer. The improved zoom functionality is now at the top center of the document in both Image and PDF Search viewer mode.
- Toggle pages: Enter specific page numbers, use the arrows to toggle from page to page, or simply scroll up and down over the document to navigate from one page to the next.
- Image Markups: Click the icon to initiate any redaction or highlight.
- Document Splitting: Click the scissor icon to enable document splitting, mark the page breaks you would like broken out from a large file by toggling on the scissor icon so it is blue, and select Split Document on Flags. Read more here on how to split a document >
- Rotate: Click the icon to rotate one or more pages from your document. Once initiated, the document will be re-imaged and re-OCR'd (if selected).
- Print: Click the icon to initiate a print job.
- Download Original: Click to download the original/native file as it was brought into Nextpoint (e.g. native excel, native email, etc.)
- Generate PDF: Click to generate PDF of document and choose to include Redaction notes, Highlights, or Page Notes.
- Share: Click to initiate a pop up modal which allows you to select Nextpoint users to share the document with and enter and enclosure message. Read more here on sharing a document >
- Ellipsis with Additional Menu Options:
Working with Related Documents
Moving to the right side of the document viewer page, you will see the improved Related Documents slider which displays the current document and any documents related by email family, thread, or duplicate status.
Many documents include a tangled web of email families and threads displayed in the Related Documents section. We simplified this section so that it’s easier to distinguish the various documents and their relationships with one another. We also improved the bulk coding feature to minimize the number of clicks required to code an entire family or thread.
Improved Display of Emails, Families & Threads
- Related Documents are now presented in a slider immediately to the right of the document in an effort to provide a more inclusive display.
- Email files are displayed in a gray color to distinguish from attachments or loose efile documents.
- Email family display
- When an email has attachments, an icon displays with a count of how many attachments are associated with the particular email
- Emails are visually tied with their associated attachments with a purple bar indicator on the left.
- Duplicate display
- We also added icons for files with duplicates. If a document in your current viewer has an independent duplicate elsewhere in the database, links to those duplicates are presented at the bottom of the Related Documents slider. For example, a PDF attachment from the current email family is also present in the database as a loose document.
- When duplicate email families exist in the email thread, we will indicate such with color duplicate icons and a count for each duplicate set (e.g. 1 of 2, 2 of 2)
What is the difference between and Email Family & Email Thread?
An email family is a parent email and any associated attachments. An email thread is an email message that includes a running list of all the succeeding replies starting with the original email. The replies are arranged visually near the original message, in chronological order from the first reply to the most recent.
Bulk Coding Email Families
Enable bulk coding with a quick toggle of the Bulk Code button at the top of Related Documents. You have the option to select the current email family, thread, or a custom selection for more consistent coding decisions.
To get started making a bulk coding decision for the current email family, take the following steps:
- Toggle the Bulk Code button at the top left of the related documents slider so it is blue.
- Click Select this family from the Bulk Code drop-down.
- We will confirm how many documents were selected for the bulk coding decision in both the related documents slider and at the top right by the Save / Save & Next buttons.
- Once your documents are selected, make your coding decisions in the coding panel to the right, click Save at the top right of your screen, and the bulk changes will be applied to all selected documents.
It is important to note, when bulk coding an email family, you must change/update the coding for which you would like to impact all selected documents. For example, if a parent email is already coded as "Responsive", but the rest of the family is not - during bulk coding, make sure to change the coding from Responsive to something else, then back to Responsive, in order for that coding to take effect on the entire family.
It's as simple as that!
Bulk Coding Workflow
It is important to note, when bulk coding in the related documents slider, only the Save option will be available and Save & Next will be disabled. This is to prevent unintentional inconsistent coding as you move to the next document in your results, which very well may be the first attachment of the email family you just bulk coded. To move through the next document(s) simply use the arrows in the top navigation.
If you would like to move more fluidly through email families using bulk coding, a workflow solution is to folder only the emails and loose efiles from your review set. In our earlier example, I would search for folder:"BZ and BA Emails" AND (document_type:email OR document_type:efile), folder those emails/efiles, and work through my new folder for review.
As you navigate each email, the full email family (email + attachments) is presented in the related documents slider. Make your bulk coding decision for the first email-family, and when you move to the next email in your results, you will be presented with the next email-family. Once your review is complete, if you access the original folder, the full families and any loose efiles will be coded consistently.
Coding Panel Updates
To simplify document coding, we reorganized the fields on the coding panel and added collapsible sections. Instead of getting lost in coding fields irrelevant to your case, you can choose what you want to see when you need to see it.
Discovery Databases
- Coding sections received a facelift, are now collapsable, and the coding panel section will scroll independent of the document and related documents.
- Relevancy, Privilege and Confidentiality coding can now be found in the Discovery Fields section and have searchable drop-downs for simplified coding.
- All other field sections such as Hot Fields, Additional Fields, Custodians, Folders, and Read-Only data can be found in their respective collapsible sections.
Litigation Databases
- All updates outlined above, less the Discovery Fields section which is specific to our Discovery suite.
- For folder assignment in Litigation, you can now search a list of folders or click the drop-down selection to see a full list.
- Once a folder is selected, you can edit the document’s position in the folder by clicking the pencil icon. A document’s position in the folder will translate to a specific exhibit number – for example, Plaintiff-7 will translate as Plaintiff Exhibit 7.
- Once the folder assignment is saved, you can exhibit stamp, edit, or remove the folder as needed.
- Issue assignment in Litigation resembles folder assignment, less the ability to apply exhibit stamps.
Search Hit Highlights in Legacy Databases
As it relates to search hit highlights, a legacy database is any Nextpoint database created before December 6, 2021. We have outlined below, several FAQ's on search hit highlights for legacy databases, but if you have more particular questions, please contact your firm's Client Success Director.
- Why doesn't my database have search hit highlights?
Search hit highlights will be available in all Nextpoint databases created on, or after, December 6th. We expect to introduce a tool next month that will allow us to implement this feature in legacy databases for an additional fee. -
How do I navigate search hits if my database does not yet have search hit highlights?If you are currently working in a legacy database, you will navigate search hits similar to before the release. When searching via the search bar at the document-level, you will be presented with hyperlinked page numbers for the result(s) and provided associated search hit context. Notably, all other updates in this release are available to you.
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How do I implement search hit highlights on my legacy database(s)?
We will release a tool in the coming weeks that allows us to implement search hit highlights in legacy databases for an additional fee. Once the tool is released, all legacy databases will have a new icon next to document-level search bar. Advanced database users will be able to click this icon to initiate a request that their database be upgraded with search hit highlights.
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