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Importing a brief

These guides cover the full workspace included in the Pro trial. Compare Free, Starter and Pro for ongoing access; Assist and iPad Companion require Pro.

Everything in Lexware starts with a brief. There are three ways to bring one in. Whichever you choose, Lexware stores working copies in the matter's own storage and leaves your delivered files unchanged. Your originals are never moved or renamed.

Brief import remains available on Free within its matter limit, as does Bring in attached files for a PDF already in the matter. New ad-hoc arrivals through the Intray require Starter or Pro, including the Pro trial.

Three ways to bring one in

• A zip folder, including an eBrief Ready download. Choose the .zip your solicitor sent. Lexware unpacks its documents and recognises the brief's sections.
• A court book PDF. Where the bookmarks identify separate documents, Lexware offers to split the book into those documents. The preview shows the proposed sections and any warnings; a PDF without suitable bookmarks can remain one document. PDFs carrying attached files follow the bundle workflow below.
• A folder of files. Lexware copies the supported documents into the matter and remembers the source folder. For each new folder import, choose Keep the folder structure to start with volumes and section dividers, or Import everything into a single list to put the documents together in Loose papers.

Open Import brief…, then Choose a file (.zip / .pdf)… or Choose a folder…. Check the document count, sections, storage location and warnings in the preview before confirming the import. A password-protected zip asks for its password. Dates found in filenames become suggestions in Review; importing does not itself accept them into the chronology.

Where Lexware can recognise a heading in a document named only by its court registry number, it uses that heading as the title. Ordinary brief imports also recognise exact copies: one document can appear at several brief positions as a cross-reference, and the import report names the copies folded together. Members of a delivered PDF bundle are kept as separate documents, even if their bytes match another paper.

PDFs with attached files

A PDF carrying attached PDFs is imported as one delivered bundle: the intact cover comes first, followed by its attached PDFs in delivered order, in a binder named for the bundle. Bookmarks remain inside the cover, even if they would otherwise be suitable for splitting. This happens automatically during a brief import; follow the work and any recovery actions in Activity. Non-PDF attachments stay inside the intact cover and are listed as unsupported.

When more files reach the source folder

Check for new documents manually reads the remembered folders again. New documents arrive in the Intray for you to file. Documents the matter already holds are left alone, including ones you have renamed, moved to another volume or hidden. There is no automatic folder watch, and checking a folder does not rebuild your shelf arrangement.

Use Brief folders… to manage sources or add another folder. Older folders marked Indexed in place still depend on their original location; choose Bring into Lexware there to copy their documents into the matter without disturbing the shelf.

What Lexware can open

The reading pane handles the usual brief formats. The available preview and search tools depend on the file type:

• PDFs — including bookmarked court books, with their hyperlinks intact.
• Word documents — .docx and legacy .doc, with conversion and preview limits explained in the Documents guide.
• Emails — Outlook .msg and standard .eml.
• Spreadsheets — .xlsx, .xlsm, .xlsb, .xls and .ods, shown in a grid.
• PowerPoint presentations — .pptx, as a simplified preview of each slide's text and embedded images.
• Images — .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif and .webp, shown as the picture itself.

Give a document a short name

If a document has an awkward, mile-long filename, give it a Short name so it's easy to recognise in lists and in your chronology. The real filename is never touched — the short name is a friendlier label for you.

Searching your brief

You can search document titles the moment a brief is in. To search the actual words inside your documents, Lexware first needs to have read through them — and it does that by itself, in the background, as soon as documents arrive, so search is usually ready shortly after an import finishes. If anything is still waiting, the activity tray shows it and offers Index remaining. Emails are searchable as soon as they're in.

Image-only PDFs can be read on the device using Apple Vision on macOS 26 (Tahoe) or later, and Windows OCR on Windows where an OCR language pack is installed. On earlier macOS versions, or without the required Windows language pack, they remain image-only unless they already contain a text layer.

Next step

With a brief in, the next move is to get to know it in the Brief section — read, search and mark it up (the Documents guide covers it) — and then build your chronology.