| Minimum Software Version | 8.18.10 |
| Solution(s) | Cases International ✓ Cases US ✓ Institutions ⨉ Counsel ✓ |
The Opus 2 Platform is designed to help users work effectively with documents, supporting workflows that range from simple document storage to complex review, sharing, and version‑controlled document lifecycles.
To support these use cases, Opus 2 follows a model commonly used in review and discovery tools, which distinguishes between three closely related concepts:
- Documents – Conceptual entities representing a single piece of content
- Metadata – Information describing a document
- Files – Electronic representations used to view the document
For simple workflows, these distinctions may not be obvious because a document often has only one associated file. In more complex workflows, however, understanding the difference becomes important.
What is a document?
A document is a container representing a single conceptual item, such as a letter, report, spreadsheet, audio file, or video. It holds:
- Document‑level metadata (both original and user‑applied)
- One or more electronic files that represent different versions of the document
Documents can be:
- Organised into folders or collections
- Tagged and enriched with metadata
- Shared with specific users or groups
- Updated as new versions become available
What is a file?
A file is an electronic file uploaded to the Opus 2 Platform. Files are:
- Uploaded and ingested
- Converted and processed (including OCR where applicable)
- Immutable once ingested (they cannot be modified)
Files have immutable properties such as:
- File type
- File size
- Creation date
- Whether readable text exists
- Duration (for media files)
The only action that can be taken on a file after ingestion is deletion.
How documents and files relate
In many cases, one document is associated with one file. In more complex scenarios, a document may have multiple files, such as:
- An original electronic document
- A scanned version of the same document
- An OCR‑processed version
- A stamped or court‑presented version
These files form a linear sequence of versions for the same document.
Key terminology
Ingestion
The process that prepares a file for use in Opus 2, including text extraction, metadata extraction, OCR (if required), and thumbnail generation.Publishing
The action of creating a document from a file, making the file the first (and initially only) version of that document.Versions
The ordered sequence of files associated with a document.Replacement
Adding a new file to an existing document makes it the primary version shown when the document is viewed.
Files not yet associated with documents
Opus 2 also supports workflows where files are uploaded without immediately creating documents. This allows:
- Support teams to ingest and validate files
- Review teams to work without disruption
- Files to be published only when they are ready for use