Email threading – A powerful eDiscovery tool

Email threading is a powerful eDiscovery tool that allows reviewers to group together all the messages that make up an email conversation. This process involves collecting and presenting documents that make up the same email thread. By arranging the individual messages in chronological order, email threading makes it easier to keep emails in context, which in turn increases the chances of an effective review. When reviewing long email threads, it can be difficult to keep track of the various messages and attachments and understand the context of the conversation. Email threading solves this problem by grouping all related messages together and presenting them as a single conversation.

So how does email threading work in eDiscovery? The process starts by identifying documents that can be recognized as emails. The algorithm then analyzes segments and groups emails and attachments belonging to the same conversation. The email copy, send time, and attachments are analyzed to determine whether the email is unique or inclusive.

Email threading tools are particularly useful for reviewing large amounts of email data. By identifying inclusive emails that contain the most unique information, reviewers can save time by bypassing duplicate or redundant content. Inclusive emails are those that contain the most complete content, including all text and attachments in an email thread group. By reviewing only the inclusive emails, reviewers can examine all the unique content in the email thread without having to analyze every single message.

Another benefit of email threading is that it highlights missing emails in a chain, inserting placeholders to show where a reply or forward was once present. By doing so, reviewers can identify gaps in the conversation and follow up on any missing messages.

Overall, email threading is an essential tool for anyone who needs to review large amounts of email data. It significantly cuts down on the number of documents in your review queue, saving you time by eliminating duplicate content. By grouping email chains in chronological order, all emails in a relevant thread can be reviewed at once, improving the quality of your review. However, it’s important to note that email threading is not suitable for standalone electronic documents or cases where you anticipate needing to perform many redactions. It’s best used when reviewing a substantial amount of email data or for a data set containing email data from several different inboxes.