Item Links - Introduction

What is an Item Link?

An Item Link is a connection made between two Items. This parallels, for example, the connection between two pieces of paper, whether that connection is physical (e.g. one is attached to or enclosed with another) or by reference (e.g. one is mentioned in another).

[Distinguish this from Name Links - links between Names and Items - such as "Copied To" (the item was copied to a person).]

You can select the Item Link Type, that is, the nature of the relationship between two Items. Item Link Types come in pairs; the most common is Has as an Attachment / Is Attached to. This and other common Item Link Types are available in every Case by default and you can add your own.

Item Links provide a way of connecting these diverse things without necessarily coding them in the same way and expecting to find them all in a single search. Item Links therefore add an additional level of data mining capability to Openlaw.

There is an Item Links Tab from which you can Add Item Links, that is, create a new connection between one Item and another. You can define new Item Link Types.

Item links are used to handle Equivio Equisets see Equivio Text Compare - the pivot document is linked by an Item link to each member of the Equiset, and vice versa.

Examples of Item Links

Apart from Attachments (as to which see below) you can use Item Links to bring together a range of Items which each has its own existence and purpose but which are inter-related in some way. One example might be all the Items which relate to a meeting, such as the agenda, minutes, invitations, and other consequential documents going beyond those which were actually attached to each other. Item Links may also include Items which relate to things which are not documents at all - non-document files (e.g. PowerPoint presentations or videos), tangible things (e.g. buildings, ships or consignments which were discussed at the meeting) or intangible things (e.g. events or concepts).

Attachments - a special type of Item Link

Attachments (that is the link between two or more physical documents expressed as Has as an Attachment / Is attached to), have their own set of rules and functions in Openlaw. The options include ignoring the subject completely (and even hiding the functionality so that users do not even know it exists) through to full implementation of the Attachment functions. These include multi-level reports on Attachments, bringing Attachments in to bundles of printed images, and being warned if a document and its attachments have different In List, Privileged or Review settings

This concept, if you decide to use it, has an impact on almost every other aspect of handling a Case. See sections on Reports - Attachments and Printing Image Bundles. See also the section on Attachments in Bundles which raises a number of choices.

There is a section called Handling Attachments which provides the background to help you understand these choices, which offer a trade-off between simplicity and flexibility. It includes a detailed explanation for those who want to exploit fully the potential for handling attachments.