Review Entire Email Thread
IN THIS ARTICLE:
This workflow shows how to use MA's email threading output and the Email Thread Viewer to review email data populations at a thread, i.e., conversation level, instead of a document-by-document approach. This can reduce the amount of redundant email content to sift through by up to 70% while providing insights and context to help reduce tagging inconsistencies and hidden risks.
WHO CAN PERFORM:
You must have the Show thread viewer permission to display the Thread Viewer option, which appears in the document drop-down menu granting access to the Thread Viewer. In addition to this permission, Relativity Object and other Relativity permissions must be enabled for full functionality.
What is the Email Thread Viewer?
The Email Thread Viewer is a companion viewer that works alongside Relativity viewers to provide a map view that illustrates the flow and branching of conversations while also assembling the entire unique email content from across the thread and presenting it in a single conversation view, both in order and in context. The viewer is accessible at the bottom of the viewer screen or can be popped out of Relativity into a new synched browser window to be placed on a second monitor that automatically updates as Relativity advances to new documents. Additionally, the viewer provides options for bulk editing documents within the thread at a message level, branch level, thread level, or any combination in between, with smart propagation options to avoid or include attachments and/or duplicate spares. Three concepts are important for understanding the Email Thread Viewer when reviewing at an email thread level:
- Node: A node represents a unique message segment from an email thread. A node contains one more documents such as a duplicate spare, or attachment, or no documents, as is the case with a derived message segment.
- Derived Node: A derived node is represented with a gray box in the Map and Conversation Views and reflects a unique message segment that belongs to an inclusive or non-inclusive document in a subsequent position in the thread. These nodes cannot be edited in the Email Thread Viewer, as the edit needs to be applied to the inclusive or non-inclusive document it was derived from.
- Document: A document is a document record in Relativity, which can represent an email, attachment, or loose file.
There are four types of documents used for reviewing at the email thread level:
- Inclusive Documents: Either an email or attachment, contains unique content that is not present in documents located elsewhere in the same thread.
- Non-Inclusive Documents: Either an email or attachment that does not contain unique content or its content is present in full within a separate inclusive document.
- Derived Messages: Derived messages mean there is no actual copy of the message represented but a segment of the thread is found in a later message in the thread that points to this email's existence. The derived message will always be derived from an email that occurs after, if not immediately after.
- Duplicate Spares: Duplicate emails contain the same content and are located in the same thread location as another email.
Map and conversation views
The Map and Conversation Views communicate the number of nodes and documents within the current visible email thread. The higher the document count, the more efficient the Email Thread Viewer becomes to review at an email thread level. The Conversation View enables the reviewer to not be constrained from the visible content on an email message, but instead review the entirety of unique message content across the email thread, including branches and messages not visible in the Relativity document viewer. The Conversation View indents new branches within an email thread to simplify the reading of the assembled content with numerous branches. Email attachments display as document links within the Conversation View but are also accompanied by a pop-out icon. Clicking the pop-out icon opens a separate browser window to preview the attachment, making it unnecessary to advance Relativity to the document, making the review of attachments simple, non-disruptive, and more efficient as you make your thread-level decision
Thread Viewer editing
All documents represented in the email thread can be tagged or edited with any available Relativity review field a user has permission to edit within their available Relativity layouts. To edit the documents, select the non-derived nodes of interest using the checkbox next to the document nodes or message segments in the Conversation View and click the green Edit button at the top left of the Map View. This opens a Bulk Update dialog box that allows you to decide how to apply the editing decision, with options to apply an edit to the top email, the attachment, the duplicate emails, or the duplicate attachments.
In the redaction workflow example below, only a subset of the thread has been selected for editing (10 of 12 non-derived nodes) and the user has decided to not code the attachments as requiring redaction
Advancing to your next thread
Once you have reviewed your thread and wish to move to the next one, the Thread Viewer is positionally aware and can help you skip ahead to the start of your next email thread. To do so, click the right arrow using the thread navigation at the top of the Map View. This shifts your Relativity document and thread view to the next available thread in your current saved search or document list.