dtSearch Guide – Part III: Creating an Index

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This is the third post in a multi-part blog series on the dtSearch software. In this installment we cover how to create an index.

By Tisha Davis, Derek Ametam and Joe Wanzala 

The first step in creating a dtSearch index begins in Windows Explorer. Pick a location for your index where it won’t need to be moved later, and where the documents you plan to index can also be stored. It is important these things 1) stay together and 2) don’t move so that a search will produce results. A good location is on a flash drive.

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dtSearch Guide – Part II: User Preferences

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By Tisha Davis, Derek Ametam and Joe Wanzala 

This is the second post in a multi-part blog series on using the dtSearch software. It guides you through configuring user preferences.

Setup/Preferences

After you install dtSearch, there are a few settings we recommend changing.[1] These changes will stay in place on that computer going forward. If you installed dtSearch on additional computers using the same license key, the settings on each computer will need to be changed in the same way.

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dtSearch Guide – Part I: Introduction to dtSearch

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By Tisha Davis, Derek Ametam and Joe Wanzala 

This is the first post in a multi-part blog series on using the dtSearch software. It provides an introduction to dtSearch.

What is dtSearch?

dtSearch is a software program that allows you to search large amounts of text quickly. It does this by building indexes based on the words it finds in each file you point it to, creating a word index that it continues to refer to with each search. It can be used to search entire folders of data that contain different file types. There are two steps to using dtSearch. Step 1 is building an index. Step 2 is searching it. It is a simple and effective tool for searching discovery, creating brief banks, and viewing different file types even if the associated program is not installed on your computer.

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Lab Notes: TrialPad

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By Nelson Garcia 

If you are looking for Mac-friendly courtroom presentation software, TrialPad is an option. Although NLST does not support Macs, we understand that some panel members rely on them and thus have created this overview.

TrialPad is an iPad application developed by Lit Software. It has no relation to Trial Director. It is meant to help present evidence in court, and includes the ability to mark exhibits, zoom live, and organize and search exhibits and files. It does not require internet or wi-fi, and supports multiple formats. You can find more information, including cost, here: https://www.litsoftware.com/

Note: While TrialPad works well with large document collections, you might need to use a flash drive or external drive to store documents that exceed the capacity of the device’s internal storage capacity.

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PDF Gear

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By Nelson Garcia 

If you do not have Adobe Acrobat, PDFgear is an alternative free PDF reader and editor.  It works with Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android and web browsers. It will let you edit, convert, annotate, organize, and sign PDF documents.

Here are some of the things you can do with PDFgear:

Edit: text, images, links, and fields—similar to editing in Word
Annotate and mark: highlight, underline, strikethrough, add sticky notes, comments, stamps, and shapes
Password protect: you can add a password to a PDF
Convert: you can convert PDFs to and from formats like Word, Excel, etc.
OCR: you can extract selected text
Manage forms: you can fill out forms, make new forms, and add electronic signatures
Organize pages: you can merge, split, compress, crop, rotate, and rearrange pages

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