The Mass Document Upload tool allows you to quickly assign a large number of electronic documents to cases. This is especially efficient if you have received a CD or thumb drive containing various files pertaining to a single case. It can also be useful if you receive files of the same type that each pertain to different cases (possibly a set of Affidavits of Service from a process server, or deposition transcripts from a court reporter).

The Structure of This Page

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1. Upload Documents button. Opens a file-browsing window so you can select documents to upload.

2. Uploaded Documents table. Contains the list of documents that have been uploaded but not yet assigned to cases.

3. Preview pane. Displays a preview of the selected document.

4. Document classification fields. Used to describe the attributes of the documents being assigned, such as the case to which they are being assigned, document category, from whom the documents came, etc. All documents being assigned simultaneously must share the same attributes. If some of the documents to be uploaded have different attributes, you will be required to perform the upload process separately for each attribute set.

5. Assign Documents to Case button. Files the documents selected in the Uploaded Documents table in the case selected in the document classification fields.

6. Clear Form button. Used to reset the document classification fields.

Using This Tool

To use the Mass Document Upload tool to assign documents to cases:

1. Click the Upload Documents button. This will bring up a window allowing you to browse for the files you wish to upload.

   • The window that opens will be part of your operating system, not SmartAdvocate, so different users may have different interfaces. Consult your operating system help files if you have problems at this point.

2. Find the documents you wish to upload in your computer's file system.

3. On most systems, you should be able to select multiple files within the same folder by holding the Ctrl button and clicking each file you wish to include. Or, if all the files in a folder should be selected, you can click the top file in the folder, hold Shift, and click the bottom file in the folder, which will select all the files in that folder. If you cannot select all of the files you want, select as many as you can (possibly just one); you will be able to repeat this step to upload the rest of the files.

4. When the files you wish to upload are all selected, click the Open button in the lower right of the window. The files will be uploaded to SmartAdvocate, and their filenames will appear as rows in the Uploaded Documents table.

   • If you were unable to select all of the files you wished to upload, repeat steps 1-4 until all of the desired files have been added to the Uploaded Documents table.

5. Using the Checkbox selector column in the Uploaded Documents table, select the first group of documents to upload.

   • When uploading a group, every file in the group will have nearly identical properties, including the category and sub-category. Documents of entirely different categories should not be selected as part of the same group, even if they belong to the same case.

6. Fill out the document classification fields. See Document Classification Fields for more details.

7. Click the Assign Documents to Case button below the fields. The selected documents will be removed from the Uploaded Documents list and filed in the selected case.

   • The document classification fields will not reset. This allows you to make only a few changes if you have a set of documents that share most of their properties except, for instance, their category and subcategory, or their description. If you do want to reset the classification fields, click the Clear Form button below the fields.

8. Repeat steps 5-7 until all of the documents have been assigned and the Uploaded Documents table is empty.

Preview Pane

This area allows you to view the contents of a document before it is uploaded. Clicking any row of the Uploaded Documents table will cause that document to appear in the Preview Pane, if possible. (It will also shade the corresponding row of the table yellow.) You can change the relative size of the preview pane and the Uploaded Documents table by dragging the border between them to a point of your choosing. Most files will be visible in the preview pane, but not all file extensions are supported. Additionally, different file types are handled slightly differently by the preview pane. The pane is mainly useful in ensuring that you don't lose track of which filename in the Uploaded Documents table corresponds to which document.

Document Classification Fields

The document classification fields allow you to fill in the details of a set of documents. The fields are as follows:

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1. Case: Dropdown; the case to which to assign the documents. All cases in the SmartAdvocate system can be searched for by typing part of the case number or name in the field; however, when there is no text in the field, only the twenty most recently visited cases appear in the dropdown.

2. Date: Date-widget dropdown; the date and time the documents were added to the case.

3. Direction: Radio button; whether the document was sent from the firm, to the firm, or within the firm. Choose among Incoming, Outgoing, or Memo.

4. Search Sub-Category

5. Document Category

6. Document Sub-Category: Dropdown; choose the subcategory of the document.

7. From: Dropdown; choose the contact that sent the document. Selecting the Our Firm checkbox next to this field will automatically set this field to the name of your firm.

8. To: Dropdown; choose the contact that received the document. Selecting the Our Firm checkbox next to this field will automatically set this field to the name of your firm.

9. Priority: Radio button; sets the priority level of the document. Choose among Critical, High, Normal, or Low.

10. Description: Text input; the description of the document.

11. Append Original File Name to Description: Checkbox; whether the description field of the resulting documents should have the filename of the original file added to the end, to distinguish the documents.

Document Persistence and Deleting an Uploaded Document

Documents that have been added to the Uploaded Documents table but not assigned to a case will remain in the table, even if you leave the Mass Document Upload page and return later. If you decide that an uploaded document should not be assigned to any case, and should be deleted from the table, you can delete it by clicking the Delete icon in that document's row in the Uploaded Document table. A confirmation message will appear; click the OK button in the message to confirm the deletion. Clicking on delete does not delete the file from its original location; it merely removes the document from the Uploaded Documents table.