Section OneGetting Started in TrialDirector Objectives Opening the Application Window Creating a New Case Using a Load or Batch File Using a Manual Load of New Items Scanning Items into your Case For this section, you will need the CD that came with this manual. Insert the CD in your CD drive and copy the contents of this disk to a location on your computerâ€&#x;s hard drive.
1.1 Open the TrialDirector Application Window To open TrialDirector 6, choose the TrialDirector 6 program from the Windows Start | Programs menu from the list of applications. The TrialDirector 6 splash screen appears, followed by the application window. The Getting Started window opens automatically when you launch the program, and will continue to launch at the start until you check the box in the lower left corner. The Getting Started window will help new users and previous users of TrialDirector get familiar with the layout and working within the program. You can access the Getting Started window at any time from the Help dropdown menu.
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When TrialDirector is first launched, it opens up to the Case Library. The Case Library provides an overview of all the documents, photos, transcripts, and videos contained in your case. The Case Library consists of the Case Explorer and the Workbooks Explorer. A key feature of this tab is the Workbooks Explorer. You use workbooks to organize and collect crucial exhibits for trial, such as trial notebooks, motion folders, or other organization aids.
Case Explorer Image Viewer
Workbooks Explorer
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1.2 Creating a New Case First, you must create a new case to hold your images, photos, video and all other exhibits you need for this case. Go to File, then select Create a new Case.
The first dialog box will ask for a case location. This is the location for the case database files. You can keep the default location or browse out to a new case location. This is not necessarily where you might keep your images, but that is a possibility. For this exercise, we will use the default that is established by TrialDirector, C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\inData\TrialDirector 6\Cases. You can create a new case database location by using the Edit button if you would rather not use the default location.
Select the Next button and the next dialog box will ask for the case description. The case description is the only piece of information that is required. Enter Jones v. Smith in the 10
Description box. Checking the Use Case description for directory name will apply the Jones v. Smith name to the directory instead of the generic case number automatically assigned to each case by TrialDirector. The Matter number and Notes are for your reference and are not required.
Once the description is entered, the Next button will become active. Select the Next button. The Case Security dialog box will appear. By checking Enable case access security you may assign user names and passwords to each case. Administrators are prompted to automatically backup case data when logging into a secure case. Case security is not a requirement to create a new case. For this exercise, please select the Create button.
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The Create button has been selected and the new case has been created. The new TrialDirector case windows will appear as shown below:
Case Name
When you first start a case in TrialDirector three workbooks appear in the Workbooks Explorer. They are Search Results, Trial Exhibits and Witnesses. You can rename these workbooks as desired, and can create as many additional workbooks as necessary. There are several ways to load new items into your case. If you outsourced your items to a vendor for scanning, make sure they provide you with a TrialDirector load file (.oll). A load file is an index to a batch of items contained most commonly on a CD or DVD. This is the easiest way to add many different types of items into your case at once.
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1.3 Using a Load or Batch File To use a load file select Import New Items from/Batch Import File from the Documents menu. Your screen will look like this: Select the Batch Import File Option.
Once selecting this option, the following dialog box appears: The Drop-Down Menu Provides Many Format Choices for Load Files.
Browse to Find the Load File the Sample CD.
Follow the rest of the prompts and the items associated with that particular load file will be loaded in your Jones v. Smith case. Exercise #1 Using the sample data from the CD provided, browse to the Jones v. Smith.oll load file and load the data. In your case you now have items under the following folders (Documents, Multimedia and Transcripts). These items were added with ease due to the load file which contained two main pieces of information about your material; the types of files and the document boundaries for all of your items. For example, notice that your first document, BK000001, contains 2 pages. This information was contained within the load file you used. Exercise #2 Click on the View By dropdown arrow at the top of the Case Explorer and view the many types of items you now have in your case.
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1.4 Using a Manual Load of New Items If you do not have a load file or batch file, but you have scanned items or digitized video that you want to load into your case, you must use the manual import option. Select Import New Items from/Manual Selection Dialog from the Documents menu. Your screen will look like this: Select Manual Selection Dialog Option.
Once you select this option, the following screen appears:
You want to select the location of the items you wish to load into your case. For example, if you copied the sample data to your hard drive of your computer, you want to look for the files in the corresponding location on your computer.
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Once you locate the items and select those you want to add, the following screen appears: Allows Case Name Select the Batch Import File Option. The Drop-Down Menu Provides Many Format Choices for Load Files.
Browse to Find the Load File the Sample CD Select Manual Selection Dialog Option. Allows for a user-defined
Allows for different options of naming your items
Can beoptions letters orof Allows forprefix. different numbers naming your items Allows you to keep items as separate documents or put multiple pages together as one document Allows for a user-defined prefix. Can be letters or numbers you toAdditional keep items optionsastoseparate name your documents or items put multiple pages together as one document
Two ways of incrementing your items
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There are different options for naming your items when they are added into your case. This screen will assist you in customizing the names so that your items are added exactly how you want them to be added. For example, you will have the option of using the file name of your images, using a Bates number, or using your own numbering system. Follow the directions on this screen and your items will be added correctly. When using a Bates number for your items, it is very common for this dialog box to be filled out as follows:
This Field Creates your Document Boundaries Customizes the Name of your Items
Prefix Field
If you are adding files in the format of multi-page TIFF files, the Create a new document for each file added box will most often be checked. If you have single-page TIFF files, then this box will most often not be checked as long as you are adding one document at a time. This option is important, because the decision you make here will determine your document boundaries in the Case Explorer view of your case. The Prefix to add to each new item ID will differ based on the unique prefix of the Bates number on your documents. This field can be letters, numbers, a combination of both, or left blank. The Name Items Using will most commonly be set to Number each page starting with, allowing for a user-defined number equal to that of the corresponding Bates number. If, however, you had a file name equal to that of the Bates number, then you would set this to File Name and the Prefix to add to each new Item ID field would be left blank. The Increment is most commonly set to with each Page. Normally, Bates numbers follow a consistent numbering sequence where each page is an increment of one number from the previous page.
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If you are adding your items and you want them to be identified by an Exhibit number, it is common for the dialog box to be filled out as follows: . Indicates the Sample ID
The Prefix to add to each new Item ID will differ based on the unique prefix of the Exhibit number you wish to use for your documents. For example, if you want to differentiate Exhibits from other items in your case, you may choose to use EX as the prefix. If you want to differentiate Defendantâ€&#x;s Exhibits from Plaintiffâ€&#x;s Exhibits, you may choose to use a P or a D. This field can be letters, numbers, a combination of both, or left blank. The Name Items Using will most commonly be set to Number each page starting with, allowing for a user-defined number equal to that of the corresponding Bates number. If, however, you had a file name equal to that of the Bates number, then you would set this to File Name and the Prefix to add to each new Item ID field would be left blank. The Increment will most commonly be set to with each Document. This allows for the specific Exhibit, and its corresponding pages, to be identified consistently. The Add hyphen to page number suffix is a user preference. It may sometimes make it easier to locate your items in the Case Explorer if you use a hyphen.
Exercise #3 Using the Sample Data from the CD provided, manually load file 001001 and 002001 from the Docs/002 folder into your case. You should end up with two new items in your case. File 001001 should have 20 pages and file 002001 should have 28 pages.
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