Folder Migrations: Preparing Documents for Export
Unlinked File Servers Only
These instructions should be followed if you have documents you would like to transfer and they exist on file server that is not linked to a practice management system.
Consistently Organize Documents by Matter
Over time, firms that store documents on a file server tend to have documents organized different ways. For example, a firm with multiple matters may see them organized as follows:
In the example above, the matters are not consistently organized so they will not be able to be migrated. To resolve this, the folders should be re-organized so that:
- All matters are on the same level of the hierarchy
- All matters follow an approved naming convention.
For example, after the folders have been organized, they may look like one of the following:
Acceptable Naming Conventions
When it comes to renaming your folders, we can support a variety of different naming conventions, but you should discuss with us which format is best for your migration. The optimal format below is our recommendation, however, we can often accept other formats as well.
| Pattern | Example |
| ANYTHING --- {Matter Display Number} | Smith, John - Divorce (2019) --- STX-0002 |
| ANYTHING --- {Matter Primary Key} | Doe, John - Domestic --- 123456789 |
Renaming Folders
Matter Numbers must match EXACTLY.
Copy/Paste them from your legacy system into the folder name. Do not type them in by hand.
After reorganizing your matter folders, they will look something like the following image. You'll notice that all the matter folders now contain the matter number as the last part of the folder name:
The most important thing is that the matter folders themselves contain the matter number. Any child folders do not need to contain the matter number and they will still be transferred to the matching matter. For example, the following layouts are all acceptable because the main matter folders contain the matter number:
Check, Double-Check, and Recheck Again
Once you have renamed your folders as described above, check, double-check, and recheck them again to make sure they are all correctly tagged with the appropriate matter number.
Any matters folders that do not contain the matter number or contain an incorrect matter number will either not be transferred or may be transferred to the wrong matter.
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