

You can use communications or notices to send hold notices to issue legal holds, questionnaires, follow-up communications, or anything else you need to send to a custodian or group of specified custodians regarding their involvement in the project or hold.
Before creating a communication, you must add email settings. See the following:
Create custom communications using the rich text editor and email merge fields. For more information, see Email merge fields.
To create a communication:
The Create communication layout contains the following fields:
See Using the editor window and Email merge fields.
The BCC tab allows you to send a customized email to any custodian or group in Legal Hold. The email includes the text you specify, a line break, the original communication that's sent to other people through non-BCC, and an attachment listing all the people the original communication was sent to.
Note: The Legal Hold BCC feature is not a "true" BCC to all of the original emails, but rather a unique email that goes out once with the associated set of hold notices and consolidates the details from many emails into a single email.
Note: People you send BCC emails to aren't included in Legal Hold reports.
Relativity Legal Hold projects include multiple communications that are sent through Relativity to custodians. These communications range from a general legal hold notice to a release notice. These communications have different purposes such as notifying a custodian about being added to a legal hold, answering questions regarding the hold, and being released from the hold. The recipients of the communications can be legal hold custodians, data stewards, executives, or legal team members.
Communications can be scheduled for automatic reminders and escalations, particularly when a custodian isn't responsive, you would schedule the automation from the communication details. For more information, see Legal hold reminders.
The general notice is sent to active custodians in the project and describes the background, claims, and the position of the entity involved in the legal matter. It also includes a secure link to the custodian portal.
In the portal, custodians can acknowledge their participation in a hold, answer questionnaires, view all active projects they're associated with, and easily address any other outstanding tasks. For more information, see Custodian portal.
Relativity includes different templates to choose from when creating this communication. You can include merge fields and instructions tailored to your organizations.
Note: When using a General Hold Notice communication, the [PORTALLINK] merge field is no longer required when the Acknowledgment Required field is No and there is no questionnaire.
The alert group notice is sent to a pre-identified group of employees within an organization to notify that they are potentially involved in a legal hold. The alert groups may include human resources, legal, and IT or any group of individuals impacted by the custodian’s response to the question.
Their involvement, and the release of the alert communication, is based on custodians’ questionnaire responses. For example, if a response involves another individual or group in the alert group, the alert notice is sent. This communication is a custodian notification that includes a mention of future communications. For more information, see Sending questionnaires.
The email acknowledgement lets a custodian acknowledge participation in the legal hold without having to visit the Custodian Portal. The acknowledgement via email includes an in-depth description of the legal hold and a link for the custodian to click to acknowledge that the legal hold has been received.
The response to the acknowledgement email is sent to the email address listed in the Reply to Email Address field in the email settings. For more information, see Adding email settings.
The release notice is sent to a custodian when they are no longer needed in the legal hold. This is the final communication to a custodian and no further communications are sent from that legal hold project. The release notice states that the matter does not include any other pending legal holds that apply to the custodian, including any separate legal holds that may relate in any way to the same subject matter.
Use the rich text editor window to compose portal content, emails, reminders and escalations, and BCC emails. The rich text editor provides support for hyperlinks, images, and tables, and is optimized for copying and pasting from Microsoft Word to customize your communications to custodians. You can customize text with the editor icons and utilize email merge fields to insert field values in Legal Hold.
Note: When adding embedded links in the text editor, you must prefix the links with http or https, otherwise the text editor treats the link as relative to the current page. For example, but "http://google.com" is a valid, absolute link and will render correctly as a rich text field.
To add hyperlinks in the editor window:
For more information, see Using the rich text editor.
You can use email merge fields in the editor window to embed in a communication's subject line and body text, which translates into the corresponding Legal Hold field value upon sending. For example, if you type the merge field, [Communication.Name], using brackets, Legal Hold will translate that merge field to whatever value is in the Communication Name field in the Communication details tab.
One useful example for using merge fields is the Project.SubjectMatterStartDate. You can save this information in a project template so that you don't have to customize this information each time you create a project.
You can use email merge fields from the drop-down list in the editor window above the text to embed in a communication's subject line and body text, which translates into the corresponding Legal Hold field value upon sending. For example, the merge field Communication. Name would translate to the value in the Communication Name field in the Communication details tab.
Each communication has its own list of merge fields. The merge fields in one communication cannot be used in different types of communications. For example, adding a merge field from the Alert Notice communication list may not work in the Acknowledgement communication. Only use what's available in the Merge Fields drop-down menu.
Email merge fields are case insensitive, so if typing the keyword, you can enter the same merge field in different ways:
Note: If you use a merge field that does not contain any content in the field value, the merged field displays as the merge field name in the communication. For example, the merge field displays in the communication as "Custodian.FirstName" instead of "Jane".
Note: As of the Legal Hold 3.3.1 release, the [ID] merge field is no longer supported. Also note that the [PHONE] merge field is now [PHONENUMBER] and the [CURRENTTITLE] merge field is now [JOBTITLE]. If you were using any of these merge fields in communications prior to upgrading, be sure to manually update or remove them.
Communication email merge fields return information relevant to the communication for that particular project.
Merge field | Object | Field | UI location |
---|---|---|---|
[Communication.AcknowledgementReminderInterval] | Communication | Reminder Interval (in days) | Reminder & Escalation tab |
[Communication.Name] | Communication | Name | Detail tab |
[Communication.ReminderLastSentDate] | (Calculated) | - | - |
Custodian email merge fields return information relevant to the entity assigned to the project communication.
Merge field | Object | Field | UI location |
---|---|---|---|
[Custodian.Address1] | Entity | Address 1 | Entity details > Location tab |
[Custodian.Address2] | Entity | Address 2 | Entity details > Location tab |
[Custodian.ActiveProjects] | Entity | - | (Calculated) |
[Custodian.AllProjects] The Custodian.Projects merge field returns all projects that the Custodian is linked: Open, Closed, and other projects from which they have been released. | Entity | - | (Calculated) |
[Custodian.City] | Entity | City | Entity details > Location tab |
[Custodian.Company] | Entity | Company | Entity details > Company tab |
[Custodian.Country] | Entity | Country | Entity details > Location tab |
[Custodian.CurrentTitle] | Entity | Current Title | Entity details > Company tab |
[Custodian.Department] | Entity | Department | Entity details > Company tab |
[Custodian.Email] | Entity | Entity details > Basic Contact | |
[Custodian.EmploymentEndDate] | Entity | Employment End Date | Entity details > Company tab |
[Custodian.EmployeeNumber] | Entity | Employee Number | Entity details > Company tab |
[Custodian.EmploymentStartDate] | Entity | Employment Start Date | Entity details > Company tab |
[Custodian.EmploymentStatus] | Entity | Employment Status | Entity details > Company tab |
[Custodian.FirstName] | Entity | First Name | Entity details > Basic Contact |
[Custodian.LastName] | Entity | Last Name | Entity details > Basic Contact |
[Custodian.LegalHoldCommunicationLastAcknowledgeDate] | Entity | - | (Calculated) |
[Custodian.LegalHoldCommunicationLastSentDate] | Entity | - | (Calculated) |
[Custodian.LegalHoldCommunicationLastViewedDate] | Entity | - | (Calculated) |
[Custodian.LegalHoldReminderLastSentDate] | Entity | - | (Calculated) |
[Custodian.LeaveDate] | Entity | Employment End Date | Entity details > Company tab |
[Custodian.Location] | Entity | Location | Entity details > Location tab |
[Custodian.MiddleName] | Entity | Middle Name | Entity details > Basic Contact |
[Custodian.Notes] | Entity | Notes | Entity details > Other tab |
[Custodian.Phone] | Entity | Phone Number | Entity details > Company tab |
[Custodian.QuestionnaireLastCompletedDate] | Entity | - | (Calculated) |
[Custodian.SecondaryEmail] | Entity | Secondary Email | Entity details > Other tab |
[Custodian.StartDate] | Entity | Start Date | Entity details > Company tab |
[Custodian.State/Province] | Entity | State/Province | Entity details > Location tab |
[Custodian.UnacknowledgedReminderCount] | Entity | - | (Calculated) |
[Custodian.UnacknowledgedReminderLastSentDate] | Entity | - | (Calculated) |
[Custodian.UniqueId] | Entity | Unique ID | Entity details > Other tab |
[Custodian.Username] | Entity | Username | Entity details > Company tab |
[Custodian.Zip/PostalCode] | Entity | Zip/Postal Code | Entity details > Location tab |
Email Acknowledgement link merge field provides the recipient with a link to acknowledge the hold within the email itself, removing further navigation. After the custodian clicks the link, there will be a page confirming the acknowledgement.
Note: This is only available on email acknowledgements communications.
Merge field | Object | Field | UI Location |
---|---|---|---|
[EmailAcknowledgementLink] | (Calculated) | Hold Admin > Legal Hold Settings tab > Custodian Portal |
Manager email merge fields return information relevant to the custodian's manager.
Merge field | Object | Field | UI Location |
---|---|---|---|
[Manager.Address1] | Custodian | Address 1 | Entity details > Location tab |
[Manager.Address2] | Custodian | Address 2 | Entity details > Location tab |
[Manager.City] | Custodian | City | Entity details > Location tab |
[Manager.Company | Custodian | Company | Entity details > Company tab |
[Manager.Country] | Custodian | Country | Entity details > Location tab |
[Manager.Department] | Custodian | Department | Entity details > Company tab |
[Manager.Email] | Custodian | Entity details > Basic Contact | |
[Manager.EmploymentEndDate] | Custodian | Leave Date | Entity details> Company tab |
[Manager.EmployeeNumber] | Custodian | Employee Number | Entity details > Company tab |
[Manager.EmploymentStartDate | Custodian | Start Date | Entity details > Company tab |
[Manager.EmploymentStatus] | Custodian | Employment Status | Entity details > Company tab |
[Manager.FirstName] | Custodian | First Name | Entity details > Basic Contact |
[Manager.LastName] | Custodian | Last Name | Entity details > Basic Contact |
[Manager.Location] | Custodian | Location | Entity details > Location tab |
[Manager.MiddleName] | Custodian | Middle Name | Entity details > Contact tab |
[Manager.Notes] | Custodian | Notes | Entity details > Other tab |
[Manager.Phone] | Custodian | Phone Number | Entity details > Basic Contact |
[Manager.SecondaryEmail] | Custodian | Secondary Email | Entity details > Basic Contact |
[Manager.StartDate] | Custodian | Start Date | Entity details > Company tab |
[Manager.State/Province] | Custodian | State/Province | Entity details > Location tab |
[Manager.UniqueId] | Custodian | Unique ID | Entity details > Other tab |
[Manager.UserName] | Custodian | Username | Entity details > Company tab |
[Manager.Zip/PostalCode] | Custodian | Zip/Postal Code | Entity details > Company tab |
Merge field | Object | Field | UI Location |
---|---|---|---|
[PortalLink] | (Calculated) | Portal URL | Hold Admin > Legal Hold Settings tab > Custodian Portal |
[PortalHomeLink] | (Calculated) | Portal Home URL | PORTALHOMELINK is not available in the drop-down menu on general hold notices, but can be used. It's available on communication types, such as email acknowledgements, and when sending a custodian a portal link directly via the Entity > Send Portal Link button. |
Project email merge fields return information relevant to the project or hold.
Merge field | Object | Field | UI Location |
---|---|---|---|
[Project.Case] | Project | Case | - |
[Project.CloseDate] | Project | Close Date | (Calculated) |
[Project.Company] | Project | Company | (Calculated) |
[Project.Custodians] | Project | All of the people on a specific project. | (Calculated) |
[Project.Description] | Project | Description | Project Details |
[Project.ExternalCounsel] | Project | External Counsel | Project Details |
[Project.Id] | Project | Artifact ID | (Calculated) |
[Project.GeneralCounsel] | Project | General Counsel | Project Details |
[Project.Name] | Project | Name | Project Details |
[Project.OwnerEmail] | Project | Owner Email | Project Details |
[Project.OwnerName] | Project | Owner Name | Project Details |
[Project.ScopeRationale] | Project | Scope Rationale | (Calculated) |
[Project.StartDate] | Project | Start Date | (Calculated) |
[Project.Status] | Project | Hold Status | (Calculated) |
[Project.SubjectMatterEndDate] | Project | Subject Matter End Date | Project Details |
[Project.SubjectMatterStartDate] | Project | Subject Matter Start Date | Project Details |
Respondent email merge fields return information relevant to the custodian filling out the information. This is useful for alert communications. For example, if you send a system admin a communication informing them to collect from a certain person who filled out a questionnaire in a certain way, you can use these merge fields to have Legal Hold automatically list who that was.
Merge field | Object | Field | UI Location |
---|---|---|---|
[Respondent.Answers] | Custodian | (Calculated) | (Calculated) |
[Respondent.CurrentTitle] | Custodian | Current Title | Entity details > Company tab |
[Respondent.Department] | Custodian | Department | Entity details > Company tab |
[Respondent.Email] | Custodian | Entity details > Company tab | |
[Respondent.EmployeeNumber] | Custodian | Employee Number | Entity details > Company tab |
[Respondent.EmploymentEndDate] | Custodian | Employment Leave Date | Entity details > Company tab |
[Respondent.EmploymentStartDate] | Custodian | Employment Start Date | Entity details > Company tab |
[Respondent.EmploymentStatus] | Custodian | Employement Status | Entity details > Company tab |
[Respondent.FirstName] | Custodian | First Name | Entity details > Basic Contact |
[Respondent.Id] | Custodian | ArtifactID | |
[Respondent.LastName] | Custodian | Last Name | Entity details > Basic Contact |
[Respondent.LegalHoldCommunicationLastAcknowledgeDate] | Custodian | (Calculated) | (Calculated) |
[Respondent.LegalHoldCommunicationLastSentDate] | Custodian | (Calculated) | (Calculated) |
[Respondent.LegalHoldCommunicationLastViewedDate] | Custodian | (Calculated) | (Calculated) |
[Respondent.LegalHoldReminderLastSentDate] | Custodian | (Calculated) | (Calculated) |
[Respondent.PastManager] | Custodian | Past Manager | |
[Respondent.Phone] | Custodian | Phone Number | Entity details > Basic Contact |
[Respondent.Projects] | Custodian | (Calculated) | (Calculated) |
[Respondent.Question] | Custodian | (Calculated) | (Calculated) |
[Respondent.Questionnaire] | Custodian | (Calculated) | (Calculated) |
[Respondent.QuestionnaireLastCompletedDate] | Custodian | (Calculated) | (Calculated) |
[Respondent.SecondaryEmail] | Custodian | Secondary Email | Entity details > Basic Contact |
[Respondent.UnacknowledgedReminderCount] | Custodian | (Calculated) | (Calculated) |
[Respondent.UnacknowledgedReminderLastSentDate] | Custodian | (Calculated) | (Calculated) |
Merge field | Object | Field | UI Location |
---|---|---|---|
[Questionnaire.Name] | Questionnaire | Name | Library tab > Questionnaire > Name |
On this page
Why was this not helpful?
Check one that applies.
Thank you for your feedback.
Want to tell us more?
Great!