It can be frustrating when you search for an email address using GoldFynch's convenient advanced search feature and know that a document contains that desired email address in its pages (because you can see it,) only to find it not appearing in your search results list. Why does this happen?


A few basic troubleshooting options are provided here:

  1. Make sure the email address is correctly entered in the search.  
  2. Check if the document has metadata.  (This is discussed in more detail below)
  3. The metadata itself could have a typo
  4. The email address is an alias. (The article here provides more details)


When checking whether a document has metadata, the method of document collection and the format it was uploaded to your GoldFynch case in becomes relevant.  


For example, consider an .msg file, (Outlook email message) that was collected from the custodian's email inbox. The email is loaded to the GoldFynch case as it was collected in the native format, which contains the associated metadata. Note the email address in the "To" field of the email image as well as in the Attachment Context box.


An example of an email in the GoldFynch Document Viewer with an email address present as both metadata in the attachment context and in the rendered PDF document


Take a look at this same email but one that was first converted from the original .msg native format to a .pdf, then uploaded as a .pdf file to the GoldFynch case. 

Note that the email (.pdf) image will still show the information in the "To" field. There is, however, no information in the attachment context box i.e. there is no recognized "To" metadata information, and the visible address is just recognized as text in the body of the .pdf. 


An example of an email in the GoldFynch Document Viewer with an email address that can only be seen in the rendered PDF, with an empty attachment context (i.e. no email metadata)


The two files were tagged with the tag "EMAIL SEARCH" and a search was run for files that had both the tag "EMAIL SEARCH" and this specific "To" email address (to restrict the search to only be between these two documents in the case and any files in which the email address was recognized in the "To" field.) 


The .pdf version of the file did not appear in an advanced search using the below parameters:


Only the .msg native version of the email is listed as a search result for a search for the address in the "To" field


To ensure that emails contain metadata, make sure you are collecting it in the native format. PDF versions that include the metadata will be generated automatically by GoldFynch. If documents come from an incoming production, make sure you have an ESI protocol in place that includes these metadata fields along with the responsive documents.