Check and correct the chronology in a table

Before the chronology goes to the partner or to counsel, someone goes through it line by line: is every date right, does every title say what happened, does every event rest on a document. On the timeline itself that means opening one event at a time. The table view lays the events out as rows, so you can work down a column the way you would check a schedule of facts, and correct each mistake in the cell where you find it.

Decide before you start what this pass is for: the dates, the sources, or one issue from beginning to end. Each calls for a different filter and a different set of columns.

Open the chronology as a table

1. Open the timeline and click Table in the view switcher at the top of the page. Juristic remembers the choice in this browser, so your timelines open as a table next time.

   

2. Read the rows. Each event has its Date, End date, Title, Description, Note, Documents, People, Tags, Background colour and Text colour, and the oldest event comes first. Click a column heading to sort by that column instead.

Correct the cells

1. Click the cell you want to change. A date opens a calendar where you can also type the date and a time. A title or description opens an editor; click outside it to save.

   

2. In People and Tags, click the cell to add or remove a person or a tag. In Documents, click the cell to add a document that is already in the case or upload a new one, or drop a file on the cell to upload it and attach it to the event.

3. Add an event that is missing with Add event in the toolbar. The event form opens; once you save, the event takes its place in the table by its date.

4. For anything the table does not show, click the More button at the start of the row to open the full event.

Check one issue or period at a time

1. Click Filters above the table. Filter events opens beside it and tells you how many of the events are showing.

   

2. Narrow the rows to what you are checking:

   • Under Dates, set From and To to a period, such as 1 January to 31 December of the year in issue. An event counts if any part of it falls in the period.
   • Under Tags or People, pick the issue or the person. With two or more picked, choose Any for events with at least one of them, or All for events with every one.
   • Under Text, look for a word in the Title, Description or Note.

3. The rows narrow as you choose. Click DONE to close the panel; the table keeps showing only the matching events until you click Clear all in the panel.

Change several rows the same way

1. Tick the rows that need the same change. A bar appears at the bottom of the page with the number selected.

2. Change the cell on one of the ticked rows. A new date, title, description, note, person or tag is applied to every ticked row. In Documents, every ticked row gets the same list of documents, replacing what they had.

3. For a larger change, such as numbering the titles, adding a document without removing others, or a font for all of them, click Bulk edit in the bar. See change many events at once.

Remove stray and duplicate events

1. Tick the events that should not be in the chronology: duplicates from an import, events that turned out to be wrong, drafts no one finished.

2. Click Delete in the bar at the bottom of the page. With several events ticked, the confirmation gives the number; check it, then click Delete again. Deleted events cannot be restored, so read the ticked rows once more before you confirm.

   

3. Press Esc, or click the cross in the bar, to clear the selection without changing anything.

Show only the columns you are checking

Click Columns above the table and untick the columns you are not checking in this pass, such as the colours when you are checking sources. Drag the edge of a column heading to widen it; the widths you set are kept the next time you open the table in the same browser.

Tips from practice

• One column per pass. Checking every date first, then every title, then every source, catches more than reading each row across. Sort by the column you are on when it helps.
• Gaps show up in date order. With the rows oldest first, a long jump between two dates is often an event no one has added yet.
• Sources first, before the partner reads it. Sort by the Documents column: the events with no document come first, so every event in the version that goes out can be traced to its document. See link each event to its evidence.
• Keep the filter for later. A filter you will use again, such as one issue or one party's events, can be saved as a story; see save the events for each issue as a story.

Still building the chronology? See add the key events by hand or build the chronology from the case documents. When it is checked, present the case chronology.