Turn the email correspondence into events

Much of a dispute happens by email: the negotiation, the complaint, the notice that was or was not given in time. For the chronology, every message in every thread has to become its own dated event with its attachments, and a thread that sits in two people's mailboxes must not turn up twice.

Two questions shape the work. Whose mailboxes do the emails come from? And how long are the threads? A long thread quotes its earlier messages, so the same email can reach the timeline more than once.

Upload the emails

1. In Outlook, save the emails you need as .msg files. Emails saved as .eml from other mail programs work too.

2. Open the timeline and click Import in the toolbar on the left. The Upload panel opens on Emails and files.

   

3. Click Upload files and choose the emails, or drag them into the panel. You can also drop them anywhere on the timeline, and the panel opens with them. Check the list and remove any file that does not belong with its bin icon.

4. Click Upload, choose the Processing Mode (JuristIQ or Manual, as for any other case document) and click Upload again.

Juristic splits each thread into its messages and puts every message on the timeline as a dated event, with its attachments filed with it as appendices.

Mark where each email starts

When Juristic cannot tell where one message in a thread ends and the next begins, the Email panel opens and asks you. If several threads need help, the steps across the top show which one you are on.

1. Read the thread. Each The email is divided here line is a split Juristic has made.

2. Click Split email, then click the line in the thread where the next email starts, usually its From or Sent line. While splitting, click a split line to remove it. Remove all splits clears every split in the thread so you can start again.

   

3. Click Stop splitting email, then Save and next to go to the next thread, or Save on the last one.

Resolve the duplicates

When Juristic finds two email threads that look like the same correspondence, it sets the pair aside for you to decide.

1. Click the envelope with a red count in the toolbar on the left, Review potential email duplicates. The count is the number of pairs waiting.

2. The Duplicates panel shows the two emails side by side. The one Juristic suggests keeping is marked Recommended and is already selected.

   

3. Click the email you want to keep and click Save and next, or Save on the last pair. The other one is removed from the timeline.

4. If they are two different emails after all, for example the same text sent to different recipients, click Keep both.

You can Close the panel and come back: the envelope stays in the toolbar until every pair is decided.

Check the result

1. If the toolbar on the left shows a red badge, Some imported events require your input, some events came in without a date. Click it to open the first one and give it its date.

2. Go through the new events in the table of events, where you can read them in order and correct titles and dates. See check and correct the chronology in a table.

Tips from practice

• One mailbox at a time. Import each custodian's emails as a separate batch and resolve the duplicates before the next one. You then know whose copy you kept, which matters when the question is who received what.
• The last email carries the thread, but not its attachments. The final reply quotes the earlier messages, and Juristic splits them out. A quoted message does not bring its attachment with it, so import the earlier email as well when its attachment matters, and resolve the duplicate.
• Read the split before you save it. A signature block or a forwarded disclaimer can look like the start of a new email. A wrong split puts half a message on the wrong date.
• Files that would not open. An email Juristic cannot read is listed under Unprocessable files when the import finishes. See handle documents the import could not read.

Importing other case documents as well? See build the chronology from the case documents.