| Minimum Software Version | 8.16.0 |
| Solution(s) | Cases International ✓ Cases US ✓ Institutions ⨉ Counsel ✓ |
Document metadata is data about data — it is embedded information within an electronic document that describes the document's properties, its origin, and how it was created or modified.
Overview
Document metadata enables search and retrieval of files, and the classification, organisation, and labelling of documents. Metadata fields can be imported and exported via either .csv or .xlsx file formats.
There are two types of metadata fields available in the Opus 2 platform:
- Standard metadata fields — auto-generated when a project is created
- User-defined metadata fields — can be manually added, edited, or deleted by users
Standard metadata fields
Standard metadata fields are created by default when a new project is created. They are applied to all documents by default when they are added to a project. The values shown are read-only properties of the uploaded files.
| Field type | Description |
|---|---|
| Opus ID | A unique identifier generated by the Opus 2 platform for each document. |
| Principal ID | A unique field set up with every new project instance. Displays all other metadata fields configured to be included in the principal ID, enabling readable and unique name combinations for documents in a list. |
| File name | The name of the file uploaded by the user. |
| Status | Indicates the upload status of the document. See File upload and processing (Table 3: Upload status) for more detail. |
| Pages with text | Displays the percentage of pages in a document that contain text. For example, a 100-page document with text on 75 pages displays 75%. If Opus 2 has performed OCR (optical character recognition) on the document, this is indicated by a purple halo icon. |
| Folder | The name of the folder where the document is stored. |
| Added by | The name of the user who submitted the file for upload. |
| Date added | The date on which the file was uploaded. |
| Updated by | The name of the user who last updated the document. |
| Date updated | The date on which the file was last updated. |
| Version | The sequence of files associated with a document. |
| File type | The type of the original file uploaded. The platform supports most electronic file types. |
| Size | The size of the document. Size units are displayed in bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, or gigabytes. The base for file sizes is 1,000 — therefore 1 kilobyte equals 1,000 bytes and 1 megabyte equals 1,000,000 bytes. |
| Pages | The number of pages within a document. |
| Access | The restricted visibility icon indicates that an access control list (ACL) is applied to the document. Hovering over the icon displays the list of users who have access. |
| MD5 hash | Shows the unique MD5 hash value of the document. If multiple file versions are associated with one document record, the field shows the MD5 hash of the most recent file. |
| Duplicates | Visible to users with the See duplicate metadata capability. Displays all duplicate files alongside the principal file. The first file uploaded within a duplicate group is identified as the principal file. |
| Links | Shows related content for each document, such as worksheets where the document is referenced or links to other documents. |
| Media | Applicable to transcripts only. Indicates whether the transcript has any associated media files, shown with a media icon. |
Standard metadata fields can be edited at a basic level — a field can be set as principal ID and a description can be added. Standard metadata pertaining to individual document records cannot be edited or deleted.
User-defined metadata fields
User-defined metadata fields can be created to include any additional information about an uploaded document.
| Field type | Description |
|---|---|
| Short text | Text field with a maximum of 80 characters, including special characters (e.g., &, @, £). |
| Long text | Text field with no character limit. |
| Date | Allows users to manually enter a date. The format matches the default date format for the environment or project. |
| Date and time | Allows users to manually enter a date and time, with various time zones available. |
| Number | Numerical field supporting both decimal and negative values. |
| Choice | Allows users to make a single selection from predefined options. |
| Multi-choice | Allows users to make multiple selections from predefined options. |
| Tags | Allows users to add predefined tags to the document. |
| Derived field | A derived text field that pulls metadata from either a document or text-in-a-document field within the same worksheet. Applied automatically and cannot be edited separately. |
| Compound text | Combines multiple fields into a single field. Users can also enter a conjunction between field names, for example, Document Name AND Opus ID. |
| Principal ID | A unique field set up with every new project instance. Displays all other metadata fields configured to be included in the principal ID, enabling readable and unique name combinations for documents in a list. |
| Custom ID | Provides a mechanism for allocating structured IDs to documents. A custom ID field is structured with an optional prefix, a configurable separator, a number of a specified width, and optionally a further separator with a suffix. Users can specify whether to allow duplicate IDs and can pick from existing prefixes or add a new one when entering a value. |
| Family | Read-only field indicating whether a document is part of a family. Relationships can be predefined types (such as an email and its attachments, or a document and its duplicates) or user-defined types. |
| Collection number | Shows the number(s) assigned to a document within each collection it has been added to. Numbering can include letters and separators, for example "A.2.3". |
| Collections | Shows which collections, if any, a document belongs to. Displays the collection name and the document's number within that collection. |
| Folder path | Shows the full path of a document's position, from the Home folder to its current folder. |
Data added to a user-defined metadata field can be edited or deleted.
Document types and documents
Document types can be assigned to documents so that selected metadata fields are applied only to those documents. The most common document types are Document and Transcript.
By default, both standard and user-defined metadata fields are applied to all documents. It is possible to apply user-defined metadata fields to selected document types only.
Document types are not set by default — they must be created in the metadata fields manager and can be given any name. Once a document type has been created, metadata fields can be added for that type.
A document can have multiple document types and inherits all the metadata fields from each assigned type.
Document types, collections, and folders
Document types can be applied to a collection, resulting in all documents in the collection sharing the same document types. Changes to the document types for a collection do not affect the source documents unless the source document already has a document type assigned.
Document types can also be applied to folders. Any document added to a folder with a document type applied has that document type applied directly to it. Removing the document from the folder does not remove the document type.
Related links
Related documentation
Opus 2 has help information accessible within the application; click the question mark and then select Documentation in the upper-right area of the platform. You can also access the documentation at: Opus 2 Support.
How to contact us
To contact us about the documentation, or if you have any other questions or issues about Opus 2 solutions, contact Opus 2 Platform Support by emailing Opus 2 Platform Support.