

A load file is used to transfer data and its associated metadata into a database. During import, the application reads the load file to determine what metadata should be written into each field and to copy it to the workspace. If your organization uses a processing vendor, you’ll need to upload case data with a load file. You'll also use load files when you receive a subset of data from another party, such as a production from opposing counsel.
Below are the load file specifications for Import/Export.
Import/Export supports the following file types.
Import/Export web only accepted file types:
For Unstructured Processing Jobs
For Load Files and Structured Data Sets
Import/Export uses a flat, document-level load file to load metadata, document level extracted text, and natives files. Each line should represent one document.
Import/Export does not require load file header rows. However, they are strongly recommended to ensure accuracy.
The field names in your header do not need to match the field names in your workspace.
RelativityOne doesn’t require any specific load file field order. You can create any number of workspace fields to store metadata or coding.
During the load process, you can match your load file fields to the fields in your workspace. The identifier field is required for each load. When loading new records, this is your workspace identifier.
When performing an overlay, you can use the workspace identifier or select another field as the identifier. This is useful when overlaying production data. For example, you could use the Bates number field rather than the document identifier in the workspace.
All fields except Identifier are optional; however, you may find some of the following system fields beneficial.
RelativityOne accepts date and time as one field. For example, Date Sent and Time Sent should be one field. If date sent and time sent ship separately, you must create a new field for time. You can format date fields to accept the date without the time, but not the time without the date. Dates cannot have a zero value. Format dates in a standard date format such as “6/30/2023 1:23 PM” or “6/30/2023 13:23”.
Note: To import or export data with a date/time format that differs from the US format, be sure to select the correct Regional Settings option when creating a new Import/Export job.
The table below lists the date formats recognized by Import/Export and Import Service (IAPI). It contains both valid and invalid date formats:
Entry in Load File | Object Type | Definition |
---|---|---|
Monday January 4 2023 | 1/4/2318 0:00 | |
05/28/2023 7:11 AM | 05/28/2023 7:11 AM | |
5.08:40 PM | 6/30/2023 17:08 | The current date will be entered if the date is missing. For this example, assume the import was done on 6/30/2023. |
17:08:33 | 6/30/2023 17:08 | The current date will be entered if the date is missing. For this example, assume the import was done on 6/30/2023. |
17:08 | 6/30/2023 17:08 | The current date will be entered if the date is missing. For this example, assume the import was done on 6/30/2023. |
5:08 PM | 6/30/2023 17:08 | The current date will be entered if the date is missing. For this example, assume the import was done on 6/30/2023. |
14-Apr | 4/14/2023 0:00 | The current year will be entered if the year is missing. |
9-Apr | 4/9/2023 0:00 | The current year will be entered if the year is missing. |
14-Mar | 3/14/2023 0:00 | The current year will be entered if the year is missing. |
1-Mar | 3/1/2023 0:00 | The current year will be entered if the year is missing. |
22-Feb | 2/22/2023 0:00 | The current year will be entered if the year is missing. |
20230420 | 4/20/2023 0:00 | |
20230420 2:22:00 AM | 4/20/2023 0:00 | |
4/9/2023 16:13 | 4/9/2023 16:13 | |
4/9/2023 8:49 | 4/9/2023 8:49 | |
9-Apr-23 | 4/9/2023 0:00 | |
Apr. 9, 23 | 4/9/2023 0:00 | |
4.9.2023 | 4/9/2023 0:00 | |
4.9.23 | 4/9/2023 0:00 | |
4/9/2023 | 4/9/2023 0:00 | |
4;9;2023 | 4/9/2023 0:00 | |
Wednesday, 09 April 2023 | 4/9/2023 0:00 | |
12-31-2023 | 12/31/2023 12:00 AM | |
2023-11-28T17:45:39.744-08:00 | 11/28/2023 0:00 | |
4/9/23 13:30 PM | Results in an error | |
2023-044-09 | Results in an error | |
4/9/2023 10:22:00 a.m. | Results in an error | |
00/00/0000 | Results in an error unless the CreateErrorForInvalidDate value is set to false. |
During import, you can designate which delimiters are used in your load file. You can select each delimiter from the ASCII characters, 001 – 255.
The delimiter characters have the following functions:
All checkboxes are automatically selected under each nested value. The full path to each multi-choice element is required. For example:
DocID |
New Privilege |
---|---|
NZ997.001.00000048 |
04. Redact;01. Yes\b. Solicitor/Client; |
appears as:
To select "01. Yes/a. Litigation," add it to the record after ";".
If you generate your own load files, you may choose to use the system defaults:
To import any text or native file when not using Express Transfer, you need to zip the files and upload the zip file in the Choose Load File And Location dialog in Import/Export.
The zip file structure can be either flat or hierarchical with multiple levels of sub-folders. You must ensure that file paths in the related load file match the zip file's structure.
See below for a sample of a hierarchical zip file structure and a matching load file:
^Control Number^|^Extracted Text^|^Native File^
^DOCUMENT_12345^|^MainFolder\SubFolderTextA\SubFolderTextB\TextFile12345.txt^|^MainFolder\SubFolderNatives\NativeFile12345.xls^
For image imports, Import/Export requires Opticon load files with ANSI/Western European encoding. This .opt text file references the Control ID on a page level. The first page should match up to any data you intend to load. You can use this same process for importing page-level extracted text.
Import/Export does not support Unicode .opt files for image imports. When you have a Unicode .opt file, you must save it in ANSI/Western European encoding.
You must convert images in unsupported formats using a third-party conversion tool before Import/Export can successfully upload them.
Import/Export accepts only the following file types for image loads:
The Opticon load file is a page-level load file in which each line represents one image.
A sample of Opticon load file is the following:
REL00001,REL01,D:\IMAGES\001\REL00001.TIF,Y,,,3
REL00002,REL01,D:\IMAGES\001\REL00002.TIF,,,,
REL00003,REL01,D:\IMAGES\001\REL00003.TIF,,,,
REL00004,REL01,D:\IMAGES\001\REL00004.TIF,Y,,,2
REL00005,REL01,D:\IMAGES\001\REL00005.TIF,,,,
The fields are, from left to right:
To import images when not using Express Transfer, you need to zip the image files and upload the zip file in the Choose Load File And Location dialog in Import/Export.
The zip file structure can be either flat or hierarchical with multiple levels of sub-folders. You must ensure that image file paths in the related load file match the zip file's structure.
You can also import extracted text during the image import process by setting an option in Import/Export.
No changes are needed in the Opticon load file. If the aforementioned setting is active, Import/Export looks for page level .txt files that are named identically to their corresponding TIF files. For example:
Some data originates from client files and needs processing to extract the metadata. The following table shows the delimiters that your internal processing software must use to present data as fields.
Value | Character | ASCII Number |
---|---|---|
Column | ¶ | 020 |
Quote | þ | 254 |
Newline | ® | 174 |
Multi-Value | ; | 059 |
Nested Value | \ | 092 |
You can provide this list to your vendor to help communicate the required delivery format for load files. The fielded data should be delivered as delimited files with column or field names located in the first line.
Import/Export only supports these transcript file types: .ptf, .xmptf, .rtf, .txt, .trn, and .lef. See Uploading transcripts for more information on transcripts.
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