Loading JPG Photos to Bundledocs

Introduction 

JPG photos will contain EXIF metadata which gives information about the time and date the photo was taken, the phone/camera model used to take it, and the technical settings such as focal length. It is important that each JPG loaded to Bundledocs contains this original EXIF metadata (so that the JPG can be downloaded from Bundledocs at any time and the full metadata examined and/or printed to PDF for use as an exhibit). 

Procedure for loading JPG photos to Bundledocs

The time as well as the date the photo was taken should be recorded in Bundledocs by setting the Display Date Format for the document in Bundkedocs to d MMM yyyy HH.mm.ss There are two alternative ways of doing this. It is possible to change Display Date Format for a document after it has been loaded (see video) but, particularly if you are loading more than one photo at a time, it is easier to temporarily set the bundle default Display Date Format to d MMM yyyy HH.mm.ss (see video) immediately before loading the JPG photos. Then to load each JPG photo to Bundledocs, first sign on to Bundledocs from the device where the photo is located and load the JPG by tapping the Add Documents button as shown in the video below.

After loading the JPGs to Bundledocs check that the date/time shown in Bundledocs is the same as the EXIF date/time taken metadata of the JPG as displayed on the device. 

When displaying the "properties" or "details" of a JPG on your device make sure that you are looking at the EXIF date/time taken and not the file-system date modified which could be different. If you see the camera model shown next to the date/time then that is a good indication that you are looking at EXIF data since only EXIF data (and not file-system data) will include the camera model.

When initially setting the Document Date within Bundledocs when a JPG is loaded, Bundledocs uses the EXIF date/time taken if present but if missing it does not display any error message but simply uses the  file-system date modified date/time instead which may well be just the date/time that the JPG file happened to be copied from the camera it was taken on to whatever device you loaded it to Bundledocs from, so you need to check. If the EXIF date/time is actually missing from the JPG  (i.e. no EXIF date/time taken is shown - only file-system date/times are shown) see if you have or can obtain a copy of the JPG with intact EXIF metadata and, if you can, load that instead of the current JPG. But if there really is no JPG with intact EXIF metadata available to load, or if the EXIF date/time taken is shown but you have reason to think that the EXIF date/time is not accurate see here for what to do. 

But, assuming the EXIF date/time is shown for the photo, and you have no reason to think it is inaccurate, the next thing to do is finally to edit the Document Description column in Bundledocs to give a general description of the subject photographed, like this

If the date the photo was taken is important it is good practice, at some stage in the litigation process, to take a PDF print (or screenshot) of the JPG, showing both the image and key items of accompanying metadata, including date/time taken, and load that to Bundledocs as well. If there are a lot of photos to be loaded you don't necessarily need to take a PDF print of them all: it depends on what matters turn out to be disputed in the litigation. As a general rule it is good practice to create a PDF print for every photo which will be an exhibit in a witness statement and to exhibit the PDF print showing image and metadata rather than just exhibiting the image. 

Exhibit Mark

When you get to the stage in litigation where a statement is being prepared which will refer to a photo with an exhibit mark (e.g. a statement confirming where and when you took the photo or how it has come into your possession) you should add the exhibit mark to the start of the Document Description field e.g.:

The file can then be downloaded as a PDF (tap the Preview Document button followed by the Download PDF button) and an exhibit mark label applied to the downloaded PDF which can then be printed and verified by the witness.

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.

The information on this page about specific computer techniques is provided for information purposes only. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the information is accurate and up to date at the time it was written but no responsibility for its accuracy, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed by me. You should satisfy yourself, before using any of the techniques, software or services described, that the techniques are appropriate for your purposes and that the software or service is reliable.

This page was lasted updated in March 2024. Disclaimer