V10 Conversion Report Andy Kass

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1 Concordance Tip Sheet October-November 2013 V10 Conversion Report Andy Kass Back in July, we explored Concordance v10 conversion. One thing I touched on but did not discuss in detail was the Conversion Report. Time (after a month s hiatus from this blog) to remedy that. As noted previously, you can manually convert a single database at a time using FILE / Administration / Convert Single Database from the Concordance 10 menu (and, if using Concordance Image, open TOOLS / Imagebase Management / <select.dir file for database> / Imagebase and click [Convert to v5]). A registry update (EnableBulkConversion) will enable bulk conversion of multiple databases under the FILE / Administration menu; there is a companion BulkConvertImagebases_v10.12.cpl in the CPLs folder. The most efficient method is to get the bulk conversion, pack and index script (ConvertDatabaseAndImageBase_v10.06.CPL) from LexisNexis Concordance Support, which converts everything at the same time for all databases found within document folders listed in a text file referenced by the CPL (remember those trailing backslash characters for each path, one path per line). One of the many reasons that the latter method is preferred is that it renders a Conversion Report which may be opened in Microsoft Excel or in a text editor. When you run the ConvertDatabaseAndImageBase_v10.06.CPL, as modified and possibly renamed to supply the text file listing the paths to convert, the CPL screen will show Concordance conversion, reindex and packing daemon as it converts, packs and reindexes each database and converts each imagebase:

$This documents all processes run within the current database folder: CONVERTED: C:\DEMODATA\C10-CONVERT-TEST\C9-C10_CONVERT_TEXT-REDLINES [and related files] ON 11/12/2013 PACKED:$

2 Concordance Tip Sheet October-November You will find a couple of new files in each database folder addressed. First, you will see MyProgressLogFile.txt. This documents all processes run within the current database folder: CONVERTED: C:\DEMODATA\C10-CONVERT-TEST\C9-C10_CONVERT_TEXT-REDLINES [and related files] ON 11/12/2013 PACKED: C:\DEMODATA\C10-CONVERT-TEST\C9-C10_CONVERT_TEXT-REDLINES ON 11/12/2013 REINDEXED: C:\DEMODATA\C10-CONVERT-TEST\C9-C10_CONVERT_TEXT-REDLINES ON 11/12/2013 CONVERTED: C:\DEMODATA\C10-CONVERT-TEST\C9-C10_CONVERT_TEXT [and related files] ON 11/12/2013 PACKED: C:\DEMODATA\C10-CONVERT-TEST\C9-C10_CONVERT_TEXT ON 11/12/2013 REINDEXED: C:\DEMODATA\C10-CONVERT-TEST\C9-C10_CONVERT_TEXT ON 11/12/2013 CONVERTED: C:\DEMODATA\C10-CONVERT-TEST\C9-C10_CONVERT_TEXT_100K-REDLINES [and related files] ON 11/12/2013 PACKED: C:\DEMODATA\C10-CONVERT-TEST\C9-C10_CONVERT_TEXT_100K-REDLINES ON 11/12/2013 REINDEXED: C:\DEMODATA\C10-CONVERT-TEST\C9-C10_CONVERT_TEXT_100K-REDLINES ON 11/12/2013 You will also find a Conversion Report.CSV file for each database converted in the current folder: The system date modified stamp in the above figure tells us at what time the conversion process completed. (I have in fact commented out the Pack portion of the

Concordance Tip Sheet October-November 2013 3 script; the database Pack process is better done in Version 9 or Version 8 before conversion.

Let s open the Conversion Report C9-C10_Convert_Text_100K-2013-11-12.csv file using Microsoft Excel; we could also use a text editor, but Excel is cleaner.

3 Concordance Tip Sheet October-November script; the database Pack process is better done in Version 9 or Version 8 before conversion.) You can see from the above that Convert_Text_100K was processed before Convert_Text_10K, as they were encountered in alphabetical filename order by the conversion script. Let s open the Conversion Report C9-C10_Convert_Text_100K csv file using Microsoft Excel; we could also use a text editor, but Excel is cleaner. It will at first come up looking a bit smushed: Pointing to the juncture of Columns A and B gets you a double-ended arrow, with which you can click and expand Column A. Do the same for Column B. Now the report will look like this:

Concordance Tip Sheet October-November 2013 4 Up top, we see the Database name, the Database Path, the original Database Version, the Conversion Date, and who ran the conversion.

4 Concordance Tip Sheet October-November Up top, we see the Database name, the Database Path, the original Database Version, the Conversion Date, and who ran the conversion. The Conversion Date is when the process began on this database, so now you know exactly how long the conversion portion of the process took: here, about 4 minutes (17:09 start [military time] / 5:13pm finish). The index (or pack) processes are not accounted for here. The remainder of the report steps through the components converted, comparing the before and after counts, providing notes, and reporting any errors. The first item above is what you probably would expect to see last (to the extent that it exists at all), the <DatabaseName>-Redlines.Key,.Ndx and.tex files. These elements are from the annotations database related to Concordance Image. If there is no Concordance Image for this database, this part won t be here. The same goes for what would be the next section, <DatabaseName>-Notes; if there aren t any notes, that section will be omitted. Notes 1 and 2 tell you that, while the.ndx and.tex files are listed, the text in each is simply converted to Unicode and copied to the V10 database. Unicode, you may recall, is the impetus behind the process, allowing the display, search and manipulation of multi-byte international alphabets (think Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hebrew). Note 3 tells us that, since the reindex process runs after the conversion in the CPL script, no comparisons that rely upon the.ivt file will be displayed. The last bit is what most interests me: comparing how many records I started and ended with, and how many Tags I started and ended with:

5 Concordance Tip Sheet October-November There s good news here: (a) The number of documents after conversion matches the number of documents before conversion. (b) The number of.key values (sort optimized short-field items) matches up. (c) The number of Tag Names and the Tag to Doc Count is the same before and after conversion (no tags in this test database, I m afraid). (d) There are no errors to report. (e) We have the same Notes 1 and 2 regarding the.ndx (non-indexed, key field word list) and.tex (indexed word container) files. I should note here that a discrepancy between Tag to Doc counts before and after is not necessarily a catastrophe. There are plausible explanations, such as: - The prior database database itself might have originated in Concordance 8, and had the Default Tag checked. - The prior database might have had Persistent Tags still defined in its.ini file. - The prior database might have had an accidental Issue (Note) checked, then doubled with a document tag. Bottom line, it s always a good idea to keep your database s previous version backup available for comparison. Comparing a Tag Query report 1 from each version can narrow down the discrepancy to the Tag or Tags where the numbers don t line up. That backup can also save you if there are errors reported. There is no compulsion to upgrade to Concordance 10; in fact, LexisNexis recognizes that you may not want to change software mid-trial, and commonly allows you to run your old and new versions side-by-side. Given the continuing development of the software and the conversion tools available, there little reason not to step up. 1 Procedure to create Tag Query report(s): - In either TOOLS / Tag/Issue Management or the Tag Pane, select all Tags and create query. - Open the REVIEW screen. - Right-Click and Save to file or Print the resulting search list from the REVIEW screen.

6 Concordance Tip Sheet October-November The views expressed in this Concordance Tip Sheet are solely the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of U.S. Legal Support, Inc. The Concordance Tip Archive (all the way back to October 2005!) lives on at our Web Site, Feel free to leave me a note, a comment, a suggestion or a Tip request. While you re there, don t miss our Resources page, which lists the Tip Sheet Archive and our current CLE offerings ( and of course, check into all the other great things U.S. Legal Support can do for you. -- Andy Kass akass@uslegalsupport.com U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT, INC. ESI & Litigation Services PROVIDING EXPERT SOLUTIONS FROM DISCOVERY TO VERDICT e-discovery Document Collection & Review Litigation Management Litigation Software Training Meet & Confer Advice Court Reporting Services At Trial Electronic Evidence Presentation Trial Consulting Demonstrative Graphics Courtroom & War Room Equipment Deposition & Case Management Services Record Retrieval Copyright 2013 U.S. Legal Support, Inc., 425 Park Avenue, New York NY (800) All rights reserved. To update your address or unsubscribe from these mailings, please reply to this with CANCEL in the subject line.

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