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Tech Tips

Find it Fast: Leveraging Meta Data

Many attorneys find that the greatest benefit of electronic document review is the ability to search millions of pages of data quickly and with precision. However, if you limit your searches to basic keywords, you may suffer the same frustration as users of popular search engines such as Yahoo!® or Google™, where too many, too few, or even irrelevant documents are returned because the search parameters were too broad. With electronic discovery, the best way to pinpoint critical documents is to harness the power of meta data.

What is meta data? Meta data literally means "data about data." It describes how, when, and by whom an electronic document was created, modified, and transmitted. Software programs embed various categories of meta data in documents.

For each document created there can be dozens of fields of meta data that are transparent to the user. In true electronic discovery, where electronic data is gathered in such a way that the meta data is preserved, searching these fields can maximize the benefits of the search process. Although most electronic discovery service providers support meta data searches, the actual search tools vary. The following examples demonstrate how to use meta data to improve search results using Applied Discovery's Online Review application.

The term meta data has taken on an unfortunate negative connotation for many legal professionals. In reality, meta data very rarely reveals a "smoking gun" document or otherwise harms a litigant's case. In all cases, use of meta data in your searches will dramatically improve the speed and accuracy of your work.

Task 1: Find all emails for custodian Beth Dole with the word "competition" in the subject line.

Most email programs offer great flexibility to users in ways to address a message to a single recipient. For example, to send a message to "Beth Dole," a sender may type the full address (beth.dole@email.com), or type a display name that will resolve to an actual address (Beth Dole, BethD, Beth, etc.). In addition, the user might send the message directly to the recipient, or may choose to send a copy (by CC or BCC). Searching only for messages sent "To" Beth Dole might exclude potentially critical messages.

Furthermore, you are looking only for messages with the word "competition" in the subject line. The results of a simple keyword search may include irrelevant messages with the word "competition" in the body of the messages.

To retrieve desired results, search specific meta data fields by following these steps:
Step 1:
View the meta data of one of Beth's emails and copy its SMTP address.

Step 2:
Paste the SMTP address in the email address field.

Step 3:
Include all the potentially relevant results by adding the same search term to each email address option (e.g., To, From, CC and BCC).

Step 4:
Narrow the results to messages that include the word "competition" in the subject line.

Task 2: Find all emails and attachments received by custodian Todd Smithson after January 1, 2002, that contain relevant terms and have not yet been reviewed.

Depositions are often scheduled early in the course of litigation, prior to a complete review of the documents. By combining a keyword search of a custodian's documents within the relevant date range, and limiting search results to documents not yet reviewed, attorneys defending the deposition can quickly find the remaining documents that must be reviewed for witness preparation prior to the deposition.

To retrieve desired results, search specific meta data fields by following these steps:
Step 1:
Enter the desired search terms into a basic search query.

Step 2:
Enter "*Smithson*"† in the email address field.

Step 3:
Include all documents received on or after January 1, 2002, by entering 01/01/2002 in the date received meta data field, then select "greater than or equal to." Step 4: Using Applied Discovery's advanced search filters, narrow the results by selecting only those documents not in the "reviewed" collection.

Task 3: Find all documents stored in a particular folder.

File directories offer great organizational flexibility to computer users with the ability to create directories, sub-directories, sub-subdirectories, shortcuts, etc. For reviewers, the challenge is to make sense of these unique file directories and find data relevant to the case. In this example, assume that the reviewer has already found an important document that contains information crucial to the case.

Chances are that other documents previously saved to that particular folder are also relevant.

To retrieve desired results, search specific meta data fields by following these steps:
Step 1:
View a document's meta data and copy its internal file path.

Step 2:
Choose the relevant custodial source or, in the case of shared folders, choose to search all documents from all custodians that have the same internal file path name.

Step 3:
In the internal file path field, paste the first document's file path into a meta data query to return all additional documents saved in the same folder.

Task 4: Find all spreadsheets that include the word "sales." To find documents that include a breakdown of financial information, such as sales by quarter or region, it makes sense to search for just spreadsheets, as that type of program is designed specifically for that type of information. Microsoft Excel is a common spreadsheet program; its file extension is ".xls".

To retrieve desired results, search specific meta data fields by following these steps:
Step 1:
Enter the word "sales" into a basic search query.

Step 2:
In the file extension field, type ".xls" into file extension meta data query to narrow the results to include only Excel documents.



† An asterisk(*) indicates a wildcard, which means the search engine will find all instances of the search term regardless of what comes before or after it.


This Tech Tips column was written by Carrie Davey, Account Manager in the award-winning Client Solutions Group at Applied Discovery. If you have a technical issue you'd like to see addressed in this column, send a message to edstandard@applieddiscovery.com.
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