4 – Preparing your files

Juan PortilloTraining

Preparing Your Files for Upload

If you have been converting electronic files, emails and attachments to PDF using a tool like Acrobat or Apple Preview, get ready to have your mind blown. Discovery Genie converts emails and attachments to .pdf automatically, while using the metadata (to, from, date, subject, etc.) to make your privilege review faster and more accurate.

How does the Genie do it? Simple. You create a single file containing your documents and upload it into the Genie. The Genie accepts three kinds of files: .pst (which is a type of email archive file used by Outlook for Windows), .mbox (an email archive file used by every other email client or platform, like Gmail or Apple Mail), or a .zip (a format that combines and compresses electronic files like Word docs, Excel spreadsheets, pictures, or whatever else you need to produce).

This part of the process will be done on your computer, where you will gather your materials into one place, and then convert the gathered documents into a .pst, .mbox, or .zip file. After that, in the next tutorial we will show you how to upload your file into Discovery Genie.

So lets get going! There are different directions, depending on what kind of documents you are going to produce. Don’t worry! This may seem complicated, but after you do it once or twice, you will be an expert. (It’s a bit like using a new smartphone… it may take a time or two of stepping through the process to understand it fully, but once you’ve figured it out, you’re off to the races and can’t believe you ever thought it was difficult.) If you get stuck or have any questions, just give us a call at 303-872-2410 for immediate assistance.

By the way, if you already know how to export a .pst from Outlook, or export an .mbox from your email system, and/or create a .zip file from a folder of documents, you can skip this part of the tutorial. Just create your .pst, .mbox, or .zip file, and you are ready to upload into the Genie.

IF YOU USE OUTLOOK FOR WINDOWS

  1. Within Outlook, create a new subfolder for the emails you plan to review/produce. Give it a descriptive name, like “Smith Production.”
    1. Click Folder in the menu bar.
    2. Select New Folder from the left side of the menu, which opens a dialog box.
    3. In the dialog box, give your new folder a descriptive name (like “Smith Production”), and choose where to place the new folder.
    4. Click OK.
  2. Put the emails you want to produce into that folder by clicking and dragging the emails from your other folders (like your Inbox, or if you create a folder for each client, for example, from the client folder). Don’t forget to look in your Sent folder!
  3. Click the File tab in Outlook.
  4. Choose Open & Export > Import/Export.
  5. Click Export to a file.
  6. Choose “Outlook Data File (pst)”, and then click Next.
  7. Uncheck the “include subfolders” box. Select the folder to export—your “Smith Production” Folder—and then click Next.
  8. Click Browse, and navigate to your Desktop. This is where your pst file will be placed.
  9. In the File Name box, type “Smith Production” (i.e., the name that you want to use for the new pst file), and then click OK.
  10. Do not set a password!!! Click Finish.
  11. In a matter of seconds, Outlook will export the contents of your entire folder—emails, attachments and all—into a file called “Smith Production.pst” (or whatever name you gave it) on your Desktop. You are ready to upload this .pst into the Genie. Simple!

IF YOU USE GMAIL

  1. Gmail works with “labels” rather than folders. In Gmail, create a new Label with a descriptive name, like “Smith Production.”
    1. To create a new label, first make sure your menu items are open by clicking More on the left side of the screen.
    2. Click on the Create New Label menu item. Note: You may need to move your notifications down, if they are covering up the Create New Label selection.
    3. Give your new label a descriptive name, like “Smith Production.”
    4. Your new label will appear down the left of the menu.
  2. Your new label will appear down the left menu. Add the emails you want to produce to your new label by clicking and dragging the emails from your other folders (like your Inbox, or if you create a folder for each client, for example, from the client folder). Don’t forget to look in your Sent folder!
  3. Go to https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout.
  4. Click Deselect all.
  5. Scroll down to “Mail”, and check the checkbox.
    1. Click All activity data included
    2. Click Deselect all
    3. Choose “Smith Production” (or whatever name you gave your label) to create an archive of that label.
    4. Click OK
  6. Scroll down and click Next Step.
  7. In the “Export type” area, choose “One-time archive.”
  8. Click the blue Create Archive button.
  9. Gmail will create a zip file and send you a notification email when it is ready. Click the link in the email and follow the directions to download the zip file.
  10. Decompress the zip file. Inside there will be a folder called “Mail,” and inside that a file called “Smith Production.mbox.” You are ready to upload this .mbox into the Genie.

IF YOU USE APPLE MAIL

  1. In Apple Mail, create a new mailbox by clicking on Mailbox in the menu bar and selecting “Create New Mailbox.” Follow the prompts to place this mailbox where you want it, e.g., as a subfolder of your mailbox where you keep the emails you need to produce. Give your new mailbox a descriptive name, like “Smith Production.”
  2. Add the emails you want to produce to your new mailbox by clicking and dragging the emails from your other folders (like your Inbox, or if you create a folder for each client, for example, from the client folder). Don’t forget to look in your Sent folder!
  3. Highlight your “Smith Production” mailbox from your mailbox list by clicking on it.
  4. Right-click on the “Production” folder, and click “Export”.
  5. Read this part carefully: The “export” feature will place a folder on your Desktop, which will be named after the highest-level folder containing the “Smith Production” subfolder. The fastest way to find the .mbox you need is to open a Finder window, navigate to your Desktop, and sort by “Date Modified” to find the most recent folder. Open that folder and each subfolder until you get to an icon that looks like an inbox named “Smith Production.mbox.” This is actually a folder. Double-click on it to open it.
  6. Inside the “Smith Production.mbox” folder (that looks like an inbox) you will find a file called “mbox” with no extension. This “mbox” file is the one to drop onto the Discovery Genie target to upload into the system in the next step.

IF YOU ARE REVIEWING/PRODUCING ELECTRONIC FILES

  1. Create a folder on your computer, somewhere where you can easily find it, and give it a descriptive name like “Smith Docs.”
  2. Add the electronic files (Word docs, Excel spreadsheets, pictures, whatever) you want to review/produce by dragging and dropping copies into your new folder.
  3. When you are done adding all the electronic files you want into the folder, compress the folder into a .zip file. If you use Windows, click on the Smith Docs folder to highlight it, then right-click on the folder, and select “Compressed (zipped) folder” from the “Send To” menu. If you use an Apple, click on the Smith Docs folder to highlight it, then from the File menu, choose “Compress ‘Smith Docs’”.
  4. Your computer will create a file called Smith Docs.zip that is ready to upload into Discovery Genie.

IF YOU ARE USING ANOTHER EMAIL CLIENT

Check the Support screen in Discovery Genie. We have instructions on how to export an .mbox from many different email clients. If you do not see your email client, and are not sure how to export a .mbox, call us at 303-872-2410, and we will walk you through how to do it right away!

CONGRATULATIONS! THE HARDEST PART OF USING DISCOVERY GENIE IS PREPARING YOUR FILES FOR UPLOAD. YOU DID IT! NOW FOR THE EASY PART.