Typically, you can search for a file by its Bates number by entering the Bates number into the Quick Search bar, as outlined in this guide: Searching for Bates numbered files using the GoldFynch search bar. However, what should you do if your file appears to be Bates stamped, but that Bates number does not bring any results?
If your file appears to be Bates stamped but entering the Bates number into the Quick Search bar does not return the specific file as a search suggestion, then it's likely that your file was not uploaded/imported as a part of a load file production. The "Incoming Bates" metadata from a load file is required for files to be searchable in this way, so any file that is loosely uploaded on its own or is uploaded outside of a load file production will not contain this metadata and therefore, will not be searchable this way.
How can I tell if my file was uploaded as a part of a load file production?
Once a production import is completed by our Engineering team, the imported files are typically placed into a new folder called "YourZipFile'sName IMPORT". Because of this, the easiest way to tell if a file was uploaded and imported as a part of a load file production is to check the file's location within your directory. This can be done by searching through your "Files" page and looking for this file's location, or you can simply navigate to the file in question, open it in the Document Viewer, and take a look at the top of the page.
In our example below, we opened the "PREFIX0012316" file in our Document Viewer, and at the top of the page, the directory appears to be "Demo Production load file IMPORT". This indicates that the file was uploaded into GoldFynch as a part of a load file production.
My file was imported as a part of a load file production, why is the search not working?
If a file was imported as a part of a load file production, then it likely had an incoming Bates number listed in the load file. However, there's no guarantee that the Bates number in the load file matches the Bates stamp on the document. The listed "incoming Bates number" may be an older Bates number, associated with the production that was received and reviewed before you received the production. The Bates stamp may also be from an older production, but was not re-stamped by the producing party when new Bates numbers were assigned to the production. When this does occur, the discrepancy is usually apparent in the imported file's name.
In the example screenshot above, you can see that the Bates stamp is "PREFIX0012316" but the Bates number in the file name is "HRC00125348". These are typically going to be the same Bates number, so this discrepancy may indicate that the incoming Bates number is not the stamped value, "PREFIX0012316".
In a situation like this, the easiest way to check this file's incoming Bates number would be to enter the Bates number in the file name into the Quick Search bar at the top of your GoldFynch page. If entering "HRC00125348" brings this file as a search result suggestion, then the listed incoming Bates number is not the stamped Bates number. However, if neither of these Bates numbers returns this file as a search result suggestion, then it's possible that the file had another Bates number listed in the load file. This information would be available in your production's .DAT load file but if you have any questions, you can certainly upload the load file into your GoldFynch case and we'd be happy to take a look.
How would I find these documents if the incoming Bates numbers do not match what I have?
In the event that you have a Bates number that was not used as the incoming Bates number, but is still present in the document (either as a Bates stamp or in the file name), you can still run a search for this in a couple of ways.
If the Bates number you need to search for is in the file names, then you can create an Advanced Search query using the "NAME" parameter. Here's an example of what this query would look like if we were searching for the Bates number "ABC001" in the file name:
name CONTAINS ABC001
If the Bates number you need to search for is stamped into the document, then you can simply enter your Bates number into the Quick Search bar and press enter. This will run a search for the Bates number within the body text of your case files. Since these Bates stamps are typically caught by OCR, or are included in the provided text of the production, your document should have the stamp in its detected body text.
There are some caveats since OCR is never perfect and the provided text may not include this Bates number, but generally, this should allow you to locate your file using its stamped value. If you run into additional complications or have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us at support@goldfynch.com and we'd be happy to help.