How Cedent reads your documents
When a document reaches a matter — as an email attachment or an upload — Cedent reads it. That includes scanned PDFs and photos, where the text is part of the image: Cedent reads through them so the words become searchable and available to the case. This is what lets you search across a matter’s documents and what lets drafts and answers draw on what a document actually says.
What Cedent can read
Section titled “What Cedent can read”Cedent reads the common document types you work with — PDFs, Word and other Office files, images (JPG, PNG, TIFF, and the like), web pages, and plain text. For scanned PDFs and images, it reads the text out of the page so a scanned court order is just as searchable as one that started as a file.
A file in an unusual format is still stored and available to download — Cedent simply may not be able to read its text.
What reading a document enables
Section titled “What reading a document enables”- Search. Once read, a document’s contents are searchable, not just its filename — so you can find the document that mentions an appraisal even if “appraisal” is nowhere in the file name.
- Grounded answers and drafts. The matter chat and Cedent’s drafts can draw on what a document says, with the document as their source.
- Facts on the matter. Details Cedent reads from a document can flow into the synopsis and timeline, carrying the document as their source.
While a document is being read
Section titled “While a document is being read”Reading takes a short time. In the matter’s Documents, each file shows its status — Processing while Cedent is reading it, and ready to search once that finishes. A status strip at the top lets you watch progress when a batch of files is coming in at once.
Duplicates are handled for you
Section titled “Duplicates are handled for you”If the same file arrives twice — say an attachment you also upload — Cedent recognizes it as the same document and does not create a second copy. This happens quietly; you simply do not end up with clutter.
Common questions
Section titled “Common questions”Can I see the text Cedent read out of a scanned document? Yes. Open the document and its read-through text is available alongside the original file.
A document is just stored and not searchable — why? Its format may be one Cedent cannot read the text from. You can still download and view the original; it just will not turn up in a contents search.