Smart folders should be set up in Journler which, at the very least, reflect the Client/Project Name on which you are working. Journler Preferences>Advanced should be set to “Use drop box for fast imports.” This will ensure that the document will be copied into Journler, rather than an alias which might later get broken if the original file or folder gets moved. Pre-case analysis Journler set up: Journler Preferences>Media (Command-,) should be set up so that “When adding new documents: Copy the documents to my journal” is selected. You can get a bates stamper here which limits ‘batch’ stamping to 10 files at time if unregistered but is otherwise free. Jones becomes SMJO000001 as a base bates number. A good start might be to choose the first two letters from the adverse party’s names as the prefix. The second, and in my view, necessary step, Bates stamp those documents in a meaningful way. Pre-case analysis document preparation: The first, but not entirely necessary step, should be to OCR the documents. The goal is to extract the nuggets of information and gather them in a single place so that they can all be viewed together, including the ability to see them in chronological order as well as filtered by issue, witness etc.
The problem: You have a bunch of PDF files (some large, some small) numbering the hundreds or thousands of pages and we both know that there are only few relevant pages in there.
Occam’s Razor – Cut the script & the cost of Adobe.
This entry will also go into more detail about setting up Journler itself, since there has been some confusion on that topic as well.
In short, the following workflow eliminates the need for either Applescript or a full license to Adobe Acrobat and creates a simpler more efficient workflow as well. So, this last week, the workflow for using Journler in case analysis underwent a hard look and, surprise, surprise… sometimes things get more complicated than they need to be. Some people don’t like the Applescript solution because it requires a full license for Adobe Acrobat Pro, others just can’t get the script to load and work properly. Response to using the Applescript for Case Analysis led to some, ummm, issues to say the least.