When you download documents to a ZIP file it will contain copies of all the documents within Bundledocs or eBrief Ready which are set to included status at the time of the download so you should temporarily set to excluded any documents you do not want to be in the ZIP file (and set to included any currently excluded documents which you do want to include).
If you are generating a ZIP file containing key documents accompanying a Statement of Case, each key document in Bundledocs will each have a unique prefixed number in the Custom Text field e.g. RSC1, RSC2, RSC3, etc. You can set a Zip Index Source (Document Name) of @Description and a Zip Index Source (Document Name) Description of e.g. @Customtext @Date @Name so that the copy of each document saved within the ZIP file you generate will commence with that prefixed number.
You will generally want to start filenames with a serial number so that when unzipped they appear in order in a folder. If you are not using Custom Text in all the documents to provide a serial number, you can set a Zip Index Source (Document Name) of @Description and a Zip Index Source (Document Name) Description of e.g. @Order @Date @Customtext @Name so that the copy of each document saved within the ZIP file you generate will have a filename which includes a serial number generated by Bundledocs.
A serial number for each file is useful if you are generating a ZIP file of documents as part of the Disclosure of Documents stage of litigation. If you have already disclosed some documents you can start the serial number for the further set of documents where you left off by using the First Document Display Order Number option.
Note on setting ZIP Index Source (Document Name)
You can set Zip Index Source (Document Name) and Zip Index Source (Document Name) Description at the Bundle options level in Bundledocs and that will cause every section created from then on to have that setting (and therefore cause every document subsequently loaded to that section to have that setting). But any sections already created before you set the Bundle options will not be automatically changed so you need to set the options for those sections separately and, when doing so, you should tick the Apply Zip Index Source (Document Name) to child sections tickbox, and tick the Apply Zip Index Source (Document Name) Description to child documents tickbox to set these values for documents already loaded to those sections.
Tap the Generate and Customise Bundle button toward the top left of the screen in Bundledocs and set the following options:-
Generate as Source-ZIP
Zip Index Source (Container Name) should be set to Code
Apply Continuous Display Order
tick Hide Document Level Display Order if Zip Index Source (Document Name) Description does not contain @Order otherwise untick this option
Bookmark Description Source (Document) to @Order @Description
Show Date Column on Index Pages
Suppress Page Column on Index Pages
Remove Global Title Page
When the generation is complete the ZIP file will automatically be downloaded to your computer. The ZIP file will contain a PDF list of the documents with a filename of Index. By default the title at the top of the list will also be Index but you can fill in the Index Name field before generating to give a more informative title to the list of documents such as Respondent's Disclosure List.
You should not have used the Bundledocs "merge" facility on any document which you intend to include in the generated ZIP file. The problem with the merge facility can be illustrated by the following example. Suppose you load two pages of a document to Bundledocs as separate PDFs, page1.pdf and page2.pdf. You then merge page 1 and page 2 together. When you display the merged document in Bundledocs you can see it now has the two pages but if you included that document in a generated ZIP file only one of the pages will appear in the ZIP file: the other page will be missing from the ZIP file. So it is best not to use the Bundledocs merge facility. If you have already used the merge facility you should reload the original documents, before generating a ZIP file.
Using eBrief Ready you need to add the unique prefixed number (if required) to the start of the document names before creating a download.
You can use WinRAR to produce a list of the documents in the ZIP file. Select Tools - Generate Report and, in the panel, select Sort Files by... Name and untick File Size, Packed size and File Date.
(File Date is unticked because it does not show dates before 1980 correctly - and the date is correctly shown at the start of each line in any event.)
If you select an output format of text you can add a title such as Respondent's Disclosure List if you are the Respondent and you are generating a ZIP file to be sent to the other side at the Disclosure of Documents stage of litigation.
If you want to send the generated ZIP file to someone else you can either send it as an email attachment or send a download link using Bundledocs/eBrief Ready.
If you are sending as an email attachment you need to make sure that the ZIP file does not exceed the size limits of your email system. Different email systems impose different limits but 20MB is common. This may mean that in order to send as email attachments you have to unZIP a large ZIP file which exceeds the limit, distribute the documents amongst a number of folders, and then ZIP the contents of each folder separately to produce ZIP files each of which is below the limit. Then you would attach each ZIP file to a separate email.
If you send the ZIP file as an email attachment then a copy of the email with attachment will automatically be saved in your email system as a record of what you sent but if you send by download link there may be no automatic record of what was sent. It is a good idea, therefore, if sending by download link, to send a list of the documents as an email attachment - see below on how to produce a list.
If you are sending to the other side in litigation there may be restrictions on what method you can use if it is to count as "valid service". If you are sending to the tribunal office then you may find that there is an upload facility which the tribunal requires to be used (rather than emailing a download link).
Someone you have sent the ZIP file to might request a hardcopy. Typical examples of when a hardcopy might be requested are if some particular document is greater than A4 size and the recipient only has an A4 printer, or if a few documents have some unusual file type and the recipient does not have the software to read that type of file. It might be simply that the recipient has a slow printer and a large number of documents have been sent in which case the recipient is likely to request a hardcopy of all documents sent.
If you are sending paper copies of documents at the request of someone who has already received copies as a ZIP file then it should be obvious to the recipient what they are. However if the recipient for some reason will not accept a ZIP file of documents so that all they will have will be the paper copies you send them, it is good practice to number the hardcopy documents so that each can be matched with its entry on the accompanying paper document list. You can use Bundledocs or eBrief Ready to produce a single PDF containing all the documents, and a list of them, and then print. Doing it this way also has the advantage that you can print a document number (corresponding with the number on the list) in 10pt at the bottom centre of each page of each document and also print in 10pt a serial page number at the top centre so that the recipient can check that no pages are missing. You can keep the PDF and list safe as proof of what you sent on paper. An example of how to produce the single large PDF containing all documents and a list, with Bundledocs is here.
Disclaimer
This information page is designed to be used only by clients of John Antell who have entered into an agreement for the provision of legal services. The information in it is necessarily of a general nature and will not be applicable to every case: it is intended to be used only in conjunction with more specific advice to the individual client about the individual case. This information page should not be used by, or relied on, by anyone else.
Any explanation about naming conventions or other matters in the context of legal procedure is only an overview and in order to be reasonably concise I have had to leave some details out - details which are likely to affect what the procedural law would say about your own situation. So please do not rely on the above but contact me for advice.
This page was lasted updated in April 2025. Disclaimer