OWLdocs functions as a robust Record Management System, designed to efficiently handle the lifecycle management of diverse record formats within an organization. It facilitates systematic processes for creating, capturing, storing, retrieving, and managing records, which include documents, emails, audio, video, images, and data files such as XLS, CSV, and JSON. The primary focus is on records with organizational, legal, or historical significance, streamlining their accessibility and management.
See the OWLdocs Overview article for more information.
Accessible Features and Actions:
• Users can upload unlimited files.
• Folders can be created to keep different types of files separate and organized.
• Upload Zip files and unzip them after upload directly within OWLdocs.
• Access specific files by folders and Data sources.
• Access OWLxtract to extract PDF and image files.
• Access OWLtranslate to translate files.
• Access OWLidentify to search image files and identify matches within the OWL Platform.
• Access OWLimport to import Excel, CSV, and JSON files.
Steps to Access OWLdocs:
1. Click OWLdocs from the page headers. The OWLdocs page will open.
2. Select the required folder from the sidebar.
The sidebar displays both System Folders and Custom Folders.
3. Use the Search folders field to search for folders across both System and Custom Folders.
Upload a Zip file and Extract
OWLdocs enables users to upload ZIP files to organize and process multiple documents through a single upload. Users can extract the contents of a ZIP file while preserving the original folder and directory structure contained within the ZIP file.
This functionality is supported in the following folder types:
- Case Folders: When a ZIP file is uploaded to a Case Folder, its contents are extracted into a new subfolder within the corresponding Case Folder. The extracted files remain associated with the parent Case.
- Subject Folders: When a ZIP file is uploaded to a Subject Folder, its contents are extracted into a new subfolder within the corresponding Subject Folder. The extracted files remain associated with the parent Subject.
- Custom Folders: When a ZIP file is uploaded to a Custom Folder, its contents are extracted into a new subfolder within the selected Custom Folder, preserving the ZIP file's original directory structure.
After extraction, the files undergo the applicable validation and processing before becoming available in OWLdocs.
Steps to Upload Zip Files:
1. Click OWLdocs.
2. Click Upload File within the OWLdocs menu to the left.
3. Select a zip file from your local system. The zip file may or may not have multiple files or subfolders.
4. Click on Upload.
5. Now go to the folder where the zip file was uploaded.
6. Navigate to and select the Zip file action menu.
7. Select the “Unzip File” option.
8. A confirmation message will appear stating “File Unzip successful.”
The Zip file will be extracted into a new folder named after the Zip file, located within the OWLdocs directory. This folder will also be visible in the OWLdocs menu.
If the Zip file contains subfolders, they will be created within the main folder with the same directory name as provided inside the zip file, maintaining the same directory structure as on your local system.
All files originally stored in the primary folder and its subfolders will be displayed accordingly within their respective locations.
Any unsupported file types—such as those with extensions like “.exe”, “.msi”, or other executable formats—will be excluded from the unzip process and will not be uploaded to the OWL system.
Edit OWLdocs
Aside from uploading files, OWLdocs also allows you to edit and manage your files as needed.
Steps to Edit Files:
1. Click OWLdocs.
2. Select Edit Record from the Action menu for the file you’d like to edit.
3. The file will show in an editable mode with a few fields that can be edited. The fields that can be edited are Data Source, File Compliance, Record Status, and Keyword
4. To add keywords to the file, click the Add Keyword+ button. This will reveal the keyword input field. Enter the desired keywords and save.
5. Provide the Data Source and Compliance Details, including Data Access Rights, 28 CFR Part 23, and the Retention Policy.
6. Update the Record Status by selecting the appropriate option from the dropdown menu.
7. After completing all edits, click the Save button in the action menu.
8. A confirmation message will appear indicating that the information has been successfully updated.
9. If compliance fields are mandatory, ensure all required compliance options are selected before saving the record.
10. Once saved, the updated information will be visible for the file within OWLdocs.
11. If compliance is mandatory at the organizational level and not added to the file, a red warning icon will appear. If compliance is enabled but not mandatory, a yellow yield icon will be shown instead. Both icons indicate that compliance data is missing from the file
View OWLdocs Files and Filters
The Filters feature in OWLdocs allows users to quickly search for specific files based on criteria such as file name, record owner, creation date, and record status. The files available to a user depend on their license type, permissions, and collaboration settings.
To Filter OWLdocs:
Navigate to OWLdocs and select any Folder. The following filter options are available:
- File Name: Search for a specific file by entering its file name. After locating a file, click Locate in Folder to navigate directly to the folder containing the file.
- Record Owner: Search for files based on the name of the user who owns the file or associated record.
- Created From / To: Search for files uploaded within a specified date range by selecting the start and end dates.
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Record Status: Search for files based on their current record status.
The files displayed in OWLdocs are determined by the logged-in user's license type, permissions, and collaboration settings with other users or departments.
Users with a User Full license can access their own files and folders, as well as files and folders shared with them through collaboration settings or departmental associations.
Supervisors and Team Admins can view files uploaded by members of their team or department, as well as files and folders shared across the organization. They also have editing rights for files created by users they supervise.
Administrator license holders can access files uploaded by subordinate users across departments and can view and edit those files in their administrative role. Files owned by other administrators are accessible only when they have been explicitly shared or made available through collaboration.
To locate a specific file within a folder:
- Select the required folder from the OWLdocs folder menu.
- Apply the appropriate filter based on the search criteria.
- Review the filtered results to locate the required file.
- If needed, click Locate in Folder to navigate directly to the file's folder.
To refresh the contents of a specific folder, click the Refresh button next to the filter options. This refreshes the selected folder without requiring the entire page to be refreshed.
Note: The files and folders displayed in OWLdocs are limited to those the logged-in user is authorized to access based on their license, permissions, ownership, departmental associations, and collaboration settings.
Attach/Detach to Record
Files within OWLdocs can be attached to records such as cases, subjects, etc. This is helpful as users can upload files and come back later to attach records as needed. Files can also be detached from the record. Doing so will detach the file from the record and keep it within OWLdocs.
Steps to Attach to Record:
1. Click OWLdocs.
2. If the file has been uploaded directly to the OWLdocs page, by default, it will not be attached to a record, as there is no option when uploading files to attach them to records. Within the Attached to Record column, data will not be present.
3. To attach the file to a record, click the action menu under the Action column.
4. From the action menu, click Attached to Record. This will open the Attached to Record pop-up.
The pop-up will display all the record types available the file can be attached.
5. Select the appropriate records to attach to the file. All these record type dropdowns will show the respective record types based on the selected file department.
OWLdocs files can be attached to a Case/Subject/Form/Tips/Task.
- If you wanted to attach the file to a specific form/Tips or Task, you can either select them directly from the specific record type dropdown or, if these records are already attached to a case/subject, then you can select the case and subject first. This will filter the remaining record types and will show the forms/Tips/Task attached to the case and subject.
While attaching the file to any parent record, you can select the “Retain the OWLdocs Compliance and Status” option to override the parent record compliance from the OWLdocs record.
6. After clicking on the Save button, the file will be attached to the respective record that is selected.
A file that is already linked to a record cannot be simultaneously attached to another record unless it is first detached from the original one.
To detach the file from the current linked record,
- Go to the action menu from the file and click on the Detach Record option.
- A pop-up to reconfirm the detachment will be shown on the screen to confirm.
- Click on Yes to confirm the detachment.
Edit Status
There may be times a user needs to update a file's status. This is a seamless action within the OWLdocs as well.
Steps to Edit File Status:
1. Click OWLdocs.
2. Click the action menu under the Action column next to the appropriate file.
3. Click Edit Status. This will open only the status field.
4. Select the desired status. Click the green check mark to complete this action.
5. When a file is uploaded, the default status is set to OPEN only. Later, it can be edited to any other status available.
Download, Delete & Legal Hold
For easy management, files can be downloaded and deleted as needed within the OWLdocs module. Deleted files will be stored within the Trash Bin and will be permanently deleted after the timeframe set for the organization within the administration module.
Steps to Download and Delete:
- Download:
1. Download any file from OWLdocs by clicking Download in the file action menu under the Action column.
2. Each file that is deployed inside OWLdocs can be downloaded.
- Delete File:
3. Delete any file from OWLdocs by clicking Delete available in the file action menu under the Action column.
4. If no retention policy is present for the file, deleting the file will be successful.
5. Deleting a file can also be possible by updating the record status of the file to Deleted by editing the status.
Legal Hold:
6. The Legal Hold Date marks the exact time a legal hold is applied to a file or record. This action ensures that all relevant information is preserved when litigation is anticipated.
7. If a file has an existing retention policy, its legal hold date can be set to the current date and time.
8. Within the Action Menu for each file, the Legal Hold option will be available only if the file is governed by a retention policy or falls under 28 CFR compliance.
OWLvault
OWL vault has the same design and looks and feel as the OWLdocs only difference is that the OWLvault page shows all the files that are either imported, extracted, translated, or identified already in OWLdocs and are not in uploaded status.
Steps to access OWLvault and Features:
1. Click on OWLdocs from OWL headers. The OWLdocs page will be loaded by default.
2. On the right-hand side menu, select the OWLvault tab. This will load the OWLvault page with all the folder structure and design similar to OWLdocs.
There will be a limited number of features available for each file inside OWLvault:
- Edit Record
- Edit Status
- Attach/Detach Record
- Download
- Legal Hold
- Transfer File
- Delete