E-Discovery Software: A Smarter Choice for Handling PDFs

30 July 2024 by Anith eDiscovery PDFs

Takeaway: In the legal profession, efficiently and securely handling documents is crucial. PDFs are the standard format for legal documents, so having reliable software for creating, editing, and managing them is essential. While Adobe Acrobat has been a popular choice, eDiscovery software offers a compelling alternative tailored to the unique needs of legal professionals.

What is eDiscovery Software?

eDiscovery software, initially developed for electronic discovery in legal cases, has evolved to include many features, including advanced PDF handling capabilities. These tools let legal professionals create, edit, annotate, and manage PDFs with added benefits like advanced search, organization, and integration features. Unlike traditional PDF software, eDiscovery tools are designed specifically for legal documentation.

Why Choose eDiscovery Software to Manage Your PDFs

eDiscovery software gives you enhanced search and retrieval capabilities.

One of the standout features of eDiscovery software is its robust search functionality. Legal professionals often deal with a large number of documents, so efficient search capabilities are essential. Scanned images can also be PDFs; searching these files using a regular PDF Viewer is difficult. eDiscovery software uses Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to convert scanned images into searchable text. So when you use eDiscovery software to search your PDFs, all the files are searched; you can also build complex queries by adding multiple criteria to your search, enhancing your document retrieval process and making your reviews more efficient.

You can easily maintain the original files and their metadata.

When you open PDFs using Adobe or other tools, the tool could likely alter the metadata. Metadata, such as the creation date, author, and modification history, is crucial in legal contexts. So, if you just need to scan through files without making any changes, then eDiscovery software is a good option. You will have an accurate and reliable document trail when you use an eDiscovery tool since it preserves the integrity of the original file and its metadata.

It provides advanced document review and annotation features

eDiscovery tools offer robust document review and annotation features. Legal professionals can easily highlight text, add comments, create bookmarks, and perform redactions. These tools often include version control and collaboration features, allowing multiple users to work on the same document simultaneously. These features surpass those in traditional PDF software, offering a more tailored solution for legal needs.

eDiscovery software comes with superior file organization and management capabilities.

Managing large volumes of documents is a breeze with eDiscovery software. It allows for the categorization and tagging of documents, making it easier to organize and retrieve them as needed. This level of organization is particularly beneficial during litigation, where quick access to specific PDFs can make a significant difference.

It provides you with significant long-term savings and is cost-effective in the long run.

Cost is critical when considering the switch from Adobe Acrobat to eDiscovery software. While eDiscovery tools may have a higher upfront cost, the comprehensive features of eDiscovery software justify the cost and can lead to long-term savings. These tools often come with built-in compliance and security features, reducing the need for additional software. Moreover, the efficiency gains from improved document handling, advanced search capabilities, and organization can reduce the time spent on document management, translating to significant time and cost savings, making eDiscovery software a worthwhile investment.

Since eDiscovery applications have been developed for the legal industry they come with in-built security and compliance features.

Security is paramount in the legal industry, where you must protect sensitive client information. eDiscovery software includes robust security features like encryption, access controls, and audit trails. You can know that your documents are secure and that their management complies with legal standards and regulations when using eDiscovery software. Adobe Acrobat, while safe, does not offer the same level of tailored security features for legal professionals. The legal industry needs to meet some stringent compliance requirements and adhere to regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and other data protection laws, so you can rest assured that you can avoid compliance issues and potential legal penalties when using eDiscovery tools for your PDFs.

Managing PDFs in GoldFynch

GoldFynch is a cloud-based eDiscovery software that efficiently and effectively handles PDF files. It offers free automated processing that converts all PDFs into searchable PDFs, including those originating from scanned images. This automatic OCR processing ensures that all documents are fully searchable, enhancing the ease of document review.

Searching is easy and efficient with GoldFynch’s search engine.

GoldFynch’s search engine allows you to sift through PDFs with ease. The results returned by the search engine will be highly relevant as the system has features such as slop search, word stemming, and stop word removal built into it. The search system supports complex boolean operators like AND, NOT, and OR. These boolean operators aid in building complex queries that increase the accuracy of your search. More importantly, the interface has an interactive query builder making developing a complex query very simple. You just need to click to add parameters and drag and drop operators. You can easily move the parameters and even the conditions around as you build the query. With all this, you can easily narrow down the required PDFs for your review.

Document review is a breeze with GoldFynch’s powerful document viewer.

GoldFynch features a robust browser-based document viewer that allows you to securely review your PDFs without downloading anything, thus minimizing loss of productivity and reducing security concerns. The document viewer ensures that the most recent version of the PDF is available for all team members to review. It allows you to make notes and annotations and even redact information. All of this can be shared with others in the team, promoting easy collaboration. Additionally, GoldFynch enables users to download files as PDFs while preserving the original metadata, ensuring the integrity and reliability of the PDFs.

eDiscovery software offers a powerful alternative to Adobe Acrobat for handling PDF files. With enhanced search and retrieval capabilities, superior document management, and robust security features, eDiscovery tools are well-suited to meet the unique needs of legal professionals. As the legal industry continues to evolve, adopting eDiscovery software can provide law firms with the efficiency and effectiveness needed to stay competitive. Consider exploring the various eDiscovery software options available and take the first step towards a more streamlined and secure PDF management process.

Looking for software to streamline the review of your PDFs? Try GoldFynch

GoldFynch is an online eDiscovery subscription service that has all the essential eDiscovery review tools that are required to handle eDiscovery for PDF files. It has a simple user-friendly interface and you get a free case to try it out. Interested in learning more about GoldFynch register for our free demo.

It costs just $27 a month for a 3GB case, which is significantly less than most comparable software. With GoldFynch, you know what you’re paying for exactly—its pricing is simple and readily available on the website.
It’s easy to budget for. GoldFynch charges only for storage (processing is free). So, choose from a range of plans (3 GB to 150+ GB) and know upfront how much you’ll be paying. It takes just a few clicks to move from one plan to another, and billing is prorated – so you’ll pay only for the time you spend on any given plan. With legacy software, pricing is much less predictable.
It’s simple to use. Many eDiscovery applications take hours to master. GoldFynch takes minutes. It handles a lot of complex processing in the background, but what you see is minimal and intuitive. Just drag-and-drop your files into GoldFynch and you’re good to go. Plus, it’s designed, developed, and run by the same team. So you get prompt and reliable tech support.
It keeps you flexible. To build a defensible case, you need to be able to add and delete files freely. Many applications charge to process each file you upload, so you’ll be reluctant to let your case organically shrink and grow. And this stifles you. With GoldFynch, you get unlimited processing for free. So, on a 3 GB plan, you could add and delete 5 GB of data at no extra cost – as long as there’s only 3GB in your case at any point. And if you do cross 3GB, your plan upgrades automatically and you’ll be charged for only the time spent on each plan. That’s the beauty of prorated pricing.
Access it from anywhere. And 24/7. All your files are backed up and secure in the Cloud.

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