Export formats and options

Output formats and the settings for exporting the Document Index.

Output formats

The Document Index can be exported as:

Word (.docx)
Excel (.xlsx)
A ZIP archive (the All Files option) containing the individual document files together with the index in both Word and Excel. Unlike Word and Excel, which download straight away, the ZIP is prepared in the background and you are emailed a link when it is ready — see Export the Document Index as a Word or Excel file. That emailed link expires after a day.

You choose by ticking these under Export Type, and the ticks are not fully independent:

Word and Excel can be ticked together, and you then get both files.
All Files cannot be combined with either: ticking All Files clears Word and Excel, and ticking Word or Excel clears All Files.
You have to tick at least one before exporting.

Preview Index PDF opens the index as a PDF on screen. It is not one of the Export Type options, but the preview's toolbar has a download button that saves it as a PDF file.

After the export

Once an export has produced something, a card for it appears at the bottom of the export panel:

All Files (ZIP) — the complete archive, showing the time it was created.
Word Index and Excel Index — one for whichever of those you ticked.

When there is nothing available to download, the panel shows No exports yet. Use the controls above to create one.

Index options (Word and PDF)

These settings control the appearance of the index table. They are not gathered in one panel — each is changed in the place named below.

Setting

Where you change it

Default

Description

Columns in the index

The columns button in the toolbar above the Document Index — it opens a panel headed Customize Columns

S/No., Date, Description of Document, Vol, Page

Which columns appear in the exported index. Their order is fixed and cannot be rearranged — see column options. The and tabs have a separate column picker of their own, which does allow reordering and does not affect the index — see Customise the file-list columns.

Header text above the index table

Click the centred space directly above the table and type

Empty

Optional text shown centred above the table. It is limited to 100 characters.

Document Font

The Create Bundle panel

Arial

The table font.

Two of the settings previously listed here affect the exported index but have no control you can reach:

Descriptions are rendered with Markdown formatting, and there is no switch to turn that off.
The table font size defaults to 10 pt and cannot be changed from the app.

Index hyperlinking is set by most Document Index presets, and there is no separate toggle for it:

Disclosure turns hyperlinking on.
Bundle of Authorities, Bundle of Documents, Record of Appeals (SG) and Records of Appeal (MY) turn it off.
The two Affidavit presets do not change it, so applying one leaves hyperlinking exactly as the last preset left it.
On an index where no preset has been applied, hyperlinking is on.

The table of contents printed inside a generated bundle is never hyperlinked, whatever preset you have applied — Create Bundle produces it with hyperlinks off. Your columns, header text and Document Font settings do still apply to it, and descriptions are Markdown-rendered there too.

Available fonts: Arial, Times New Roman, Courier New, Georgia, Helvetica, Calibri, Cambria, Tahoma, Verdana.

Attachment indentation

In the Word and PDF index, a document that is an attachment (a child of another document included in the same export) is indented in the Description column, with a - marker before its description — and indented one level deeper for an attachment of an attachment. Parent and standalone documents are not indented, so attachments are easy to tell apart at a glance.

Where it applies:

It applies only when the parent document is included in the same export.
The Excel export does not indent attachments.
Attachment indentation applies to the exported Word index and its PDF preview only — the table of contents printed inside a generated bundle is not indented.

File export options (ZIP)

These settings control a ZIP export of the individual files.

Setting

Options

Description

File Type

Original — the uploaded file in its original format; Searchable PDF (default) — the OCR'd PDF, falling back to the converted PDF or original.

The format of each exported file.

File Naming Convention

One of six presets: Original; LOD Version + Serial Number + Date + Description; LOD Version + Serial Number; Date + Description; Serial Number + Date + Description (default); Serial Number.

How each exported file is named. An overly long name is cut back at a word boundary — the trailing word is dropped, so the name is never cut mid-word, unless it has no space, hyphen or underscore to break on, in which case it is cut to fit. Nothing is added to show that it was shortened. If two files would end up with the same name in the same folder of the ZIP, the second gets (2) added before the extension, the third (3), and so on.

Word Separator in File Names

Spaces (default) or Underscores

Sets the separator shown between words in the file-name preview. Note that the files in the exported ZIP, and the names in the Excel index, currently always use spaces between words regardless of this choice.

Folder Export

No folders — put every file in one flat folder (default); Follow Original Upload Folders — mirror each document's current folder in the matter.

Whether the ZIP mirrors the folders your documents currently sit in. Despite the option's name, this is the tree as it stands now, not the layout at upload time: moving a document, or renaming a folder, changes where it lands in the ZIP. This setting only appears once you tick All Files — before that it is not shown at all, rather than shown and greyed out. Unlike the other settings here it is not saved with the matter, so it returns to No folders whenever the export panel is rebuilt.

Volumes to assemble

Create Bundle can narrow a bundle by volume, with or without a collection filter. The Volumes to assemble field sits at the bottom of its panel, just above the button.

Use single volume numbers and ascending ranges of positive whole numbers, separated by commas — for example 1,2,5-7. Anything else — a reversed range such as 7-5, a non-number, or a zero — is rejected, and the bundle is not produced.
On a watermarked bundle, a volume filter only assembles volumes 1 to 3 — paying for the bundle assembles the rest. Naming only volumes above 3 therefore assembles nothing, and Create Bundle reports "No volumes were created" rather than producing a file. Leaving the field blank still assembles every volume, watermarked or not.

Credits

Exporting the Document Index as Word, as Excel, or as the All Files ZIP charges index credits for any document that is not already part of a paid index. A Confirm Export dialog states the cost before any credits are charged. Documents already paid for are not charged again. The Preview Index PDF does not charge credits. For the rate, see Credit costs and pricing. If your balance will not cover an export, see How credits work for what BriefTech does next.

Excel columns

An Excel export contains these columns:

Serial No
Document Date
Document Description
LOD Category
File Name
Source Directory
Output File Name