What is esumry?

esumry is a comprehensive AI-powered legal case management platform that dramatically reduces the time, effort, and cost of managing legal cases and reviewing documents. It provides a complete case management system with AI-powered document analysis, interactive chat sessions for case research, and comprehensive workflow tools. esumry assists you with case organization, document processing, AI-powered analysis, and generating insights for documents, pleadings, contracts, and other legal materials. The platform is powered by advanced AI models from the GPT-4.1 model family from OpenAI.

How do I use esumry?

Access esumry with your internet browser and use it from anywhere you have internet service. Start by creating a new case to organize your legal matter, then upload documents through our streamlined workflow. The platform provides a complete case management system where you can organize documents, take notes, and use AI-powered chat sessions to analyze your materials. Ask questions in natural language about your case documents and receive intelligent responses with citations. You can also generate comprehensive summaries, organize case information, and review case strategy all within the platform.

How does the case management system work?

The esumry case management system provides a complete workflow for organizing your legal matters. Create new cases with detailed information including case type (from antitrust to personal injury), contentions, and descriptions. Each case provides a central dashboard where you can access case notes, manage documents, and organize chat sessions. The system supports different case types and provides tools for tracking case progress, organizing documents, and maintaining comprehensive case records. You can easily switch between multiple cases and access everything from a unified dashboard.

What can I do with AI chat sessions?

AI chat sessions let you have intelligent conversations about your case documents in natural language. Responses stream in real time as the AI generates them, and numbered citations (e.g., [1], [2]) in each response are clickable links — clicking a citation opens the Citation Explorer, which shows the exact source text on the left and the surrounding document excerpt with page number on the right.

You can scope chat sessions to focus the AI's search on a specific subset of your documents:

• Full case: The AI searches across all documents in the case.
• Category-scoped: Limit the session to one document category (Transcripts, Pleadings, Medical Records, Exhibits, Key Documents, or Discovery Documents).
• Tag-scoped: Limit the session to documents attached to a specific user-created tag, regardless of category.

You can create multiple chat sessions for different research topics, and the AI maintains conversation context so you can follow up with additional questions.

Session management: Use the three-dot options menu in the chat header to rename or delete a session, or to download the session as a Word document (.docx).

How do I upload and organize documents?

Upload documents easily using our enhanced drag-and-drop interface or file selector. You can upload up to 10 documents simultaneously with our new multi-document upload feature, each up to 20MB. For batch processing, you can also upload ZIP files that hold multiple documents - the system automatically extracts and processes each file individually. Documents are automatically associated with your cases and processed through our AI pipeline for text extraction, entity identification, and search indexing. Monitor processing status in real-time with improved batch processing capabilities and begin analysis as soon as processing completes. The system provides clear feedback about processing progress on each document for efficient case management.

How do I manage document metadata?

esumry provides comprehensive document metadata management through a dedicated full-page interface. You can access document metadata either from case details pages or through the document workflow. The metadata page has two tabs:

• View Tab: Displays all AI-generated metadata fields — deponent name, questioner name, court system, other involved parties, locations, topics discussed, contradictions, crucial testimony, objections, crux point, and dates — in a formatted, read-only layout. Citation references (e.g., [4:2-35]) are clickable links that jump directly to the referenced page in the document viewer.
• Edit Tab: Edit any metadata field directly, with changes saved automatically as you type.

The AI automatically identifies key objections raised during depositions, hearings, and trial transcripts, capturing the objecting party, type of objection, and a page/line citation link for each entry.

Use the Download button on the metadata page to export transcript metadata as a Word (.docx) or PDF file. A field selection dialog lets you choose exactly which fields to include, with Select All and Deselect All shortcuts. If the transcript belongs to a case, you can also check Include all case transcripts to generate a single combined document covering every transcript in the case.

All metadata is automatically integrated with your case navigation and helps enhance AI-powered analysis and search capabilities.

How do you manage security and privacy?

We are SOC 2 Type I certified and take data security and privacy very seriously. Your data is encrypted using enterprise best practices for data at rest and in transit. Documents are not available except to the authenticated account user. esumry uses models from the GPT-4.1 model family from OpenAI for automated summarization. Open AI does not use the data it processes for service improvements and does not retain the data after it is processed (zero data retention). See our Terms and Conditions for details.

Our information security policy is available upon request.

How soon can I get started?

You can start as soon as you are notified that your account is approved, usually within one business day of signing up for esumry.

Can I annotate the transcript on my screen?

Yes. The Summary page for each document has two tabs that together give you a read-and-edit workflow:

• View Tab: Displays the formatted AI-generated summary. Citation references (e.g., [4:2-35]) are clickable links — click any citation to jump directly to that page in the document viewer. Use this tab to read and navigate the summary.
• Edit Tab: Modify the summary text directly. Use this tab to correct the AI output, add your own analysis, or rewrite sections. Changes are saved immediately and reflected in the View tab.

The Edit tab acts as your personal annotation and editing layer on top of the AI-generated content, allowing you to tailor each summary to your case strategy.

Does it work with Microsoft Word®?

Yes. esumry can export your work as Microsoft Word (.docx) or PDF files from several places in the platform:

• Document Word/PDF File: Available from the Document Digest page. A content selection modal lets you choose what to include: document crux point metadata, AI-generated summary, Q&A extraction table, and detailed document metadata. Choose between Word (.docx) or PDF output format. Citations in the summary or metadata text (e.g., [4:2-35]) become clickable hyperlinks in the downloaded file, linking to the referenced page in the appended source document.
• Summary Word/PDF File: Available from the Summary page. Downloads the document's AI-generated summary (including any edits you've made) as a Word (.docx) or PDF file. Citations in the summary (e.g., [4:2-35]) become clickable hyperlinks that jump to the referenced page in the appended source document.
• Chat Session Word/PDF File: Download any chat session from the session options menu (three-dot menu in the chat header). Choose between Word (.docx) or PDF output format.
• Transcript Metadata Word/PDF File: Download transcript metadata from the metadata page. A field selection dialog lets you choose exactly which fields to include. Choose between Word (.docx) or PDF output format. Citations in metadata fields (e.g., [4:2-35]) become clickable hyperlinks in the downloaded file, linking to the referenced page in the appended source document.
• Case Timeline: Export as a Word document or Excel spreadsheet from the Timeline page Download button, with options to include all events or only events from selected documents, and to group events by document or by date.
• Draft Answer Word File: Download from the Draft Answer page, with the choice to include or exclude the original complaint paragraphs.

How does the AI-powered case analysis work?

The esumry AI system provides comprehensive legal document analysis through interactive chat sessions and automated document processing. You can ask questions about your case documents in natural language and receive intelligent, cited responses. The AI understands legal context, can analyze multiple documents simultaneously, identify key entities, and provide insights across your entire case collection.

Chat sessions can be scoped to focus the AI's search on a specific subset of your documents:

• Category-specific sessions: Limit the AI to documents of a single category — Transcripts, Pleadings, Medical Records, Exhibits, Key Documents, or Discovery Documents.
• Tag-specific sessions: Limit the AI to documents attached to a user-created tag, which can span multiple categories.

Every AI response includes numbered citations (e.g., [1], [2]). Clicking a citation opens the Citation Explorer, which shows the exact source text the AI used, the surrounding document excerpt with page number, and a direct link to that location in the full document viewer. The system uses advanced models from the GPT-4.1 model family and maintains context throughout your conversations.

How do case notes work?

The case notes feature provides a dedicated, distraction-free environment for capturing and organizing your added case-related information. Notes are automatically saved as you type, and you can format text using rich text editing options. Use case notes to record client meetings, legal research findings, track case strategy, maintain case timelines, and prepare for depositions or court appearances. All notes are associated with specific cases and easily accessible from your case dashboard.

Can I manage multiple cases at once?

Yes, esumry is designed for managing multiple cases efficiently. The Cases dashboard provides an overview of all your cases, and the Cases List offers advanced search and filtering capabilities. You can quickly switch between cases, organize them by different criteria, and access recent activity across all your cases. Each case organizes its own documents, notes, and chat sessions while providing centralized access from the main dashboard.

How long does it take to process documents?

Document processing time depends on file size and complexity. Document analysis usually completes within a few minutes through our AI processing pipeline, which includes OCR text extraction, document structure analysis, entity identification, and search index generation. You can track processing status in real-time and begin using AI chat analysis as soon as processing is complete. Large document collections may take longer, but esumry can process multiple documents simultaneously, so you can start working on completed documents while others are still processing.

Do you store my documents and case information?

We securely store your case documents, AI-generated summaries, case notes, and chat conversations to provide you with a persistent, organized case management experience. All data is encrypted using enterprise-grade security practices for data at rest and in transit. You maintain full control over your data - you can delete individual documents, entire cases, or your entire account at any time. Once deleted, data is permanently removed from our servers and cannot be recovered. We also provide detailed purchase history and account management tools, so you always know what information we have about your account.

Which file formats does esumry support?

esumry supports a wide range of legal document formats including:

• PDF documents - preferred format for optimal processing
• Microsoft Word documents (.doc, .docx)
• Plain text files (.txt) - ideal for documents and transcripts
• ZIP archives (.zip) - for batch uploading multiple documents at once
• Image files (.jpg, .jpeg, .png, .webp, .tiff, .heic) - supported for Exhibits, Key Documents, and Discovery Documents

The platform can handle documents, contracts, pleadings, expert reports, and other legal documents up to 20MB each. Advanced OCR technology extracts text from scanned documents, and the AI processing pipeline optimizes content for legal analysis and search.

ZIP File Uploads: When uploading a ZIP file, the system automatically extracts all supported document types (.txt, .pdf, .doc, .docx) and processes them individually. Each file within the ZIP must meet the 20MB size limit. Nested ZIP files are automatically skipped to prevent processing issues. The total number of files (including those extracted from ZIP archives) is limited to 10 files per upload batch.

Do you support condensed or mini-script PDFs?

No, esumry does not support "condensed" or "mini-script" PDF formats. These are special PDFs where four pages of a document are displayed in quadrants on a single PDF page (one page in each corner). While this format is sometimes used to reduce printing costs, it creates significant challenges for accurate text extraction and document processing.

How to identify condensed PDFs:

• Each PDF page shows four miniature document pages arranged in a 2x2 grid.
• Text appears very small and may be difficult to read without zooming.
• Page numbers show four different numbers per PDF page.
• The document appears to have 1/4 the number of pages it should have.

What to do if you have a condensed PDF:

• Request a standard format: Contact your court reporter or document provider and request a standard single-page-per-PDF format.
• Alternative formats: Ask for the document in .txt (plain text) format, which is ideal for depositions and transcripts.
• Microsoft Word format: Request .doc or .docx format as an alternative to PDF.

Note: Most court reporters can provide transcripts in standard formats, but you may need to specifically request it. Standard-format documents ensure optimal processing, accurate text extraction, and the best experience with the esumry AI-powered analysis features.

How do I manage my account and subscription?

Your Account Profile page is the gateway to managing all aspects of your account. On this page, you can update your personal and professional information, manage subscription changes, change your password, and request account deactivation if needed. From here, you can also use our secure Stripe integration to view your complete purchase history, update payment methods, and access detailed invoices for accounting purposes. Our account management system provides full transparency and control over your esumry experience.

I found a bug. How do I report it?

Please send an email to support@esumry.com. Please include as much detail as possible, like what you were doing when the bug happened and any error codes that may have been displayed.

How can I request new features?

Please send an email to support@esumry.com.

How are documents organized into categories?

Every document uploaded to esumry belongs to one of six categories. Categories determine the Case Details page section in which a document appears and can be used to scope AI chat sessions to only that document type.

• Transcripts — depositions, hearing transcripts, trial transcripts
• Pleadings — complaints, answers, other pleadings
• Exhibits — trial and deposition exhibits
• Medical Records — processed with enhanced OCR for handwritten and scanned medical documents
• Key Documents — important reference materials for the case
• Discovery Documents — discovery-related materials

You select a category when uploading. If you want to chat with documents across multiple categories together, create a Tag and attach documents from any combination of categories to it.

How do case tags work?

Tags let you create custom, cross-category groupings of documents within a case. Use them to organize documents by topic, witness, or any other criteria relevant to your matter.

• Create up to 5 tags per case, each with a custom name, description, and color.
• Attach any document to a tag regardless of its category. A deposition, a medical record, and an exhibit can all be attached to the same tag.
• The same document can belong to multiple tags.
• Start a tag-specific AI chat session that queries only the documents assigned to that tag.
• Manage tags from the Tags page for each case — Add, edit, delete, rename, or recolor tags; manage which documents are attached from the Attach Documents page.

Tags are optional. If you do not need custom groupings, document categories alone are sufficient for organizing your case.

How does the case timeline work?

The Case Timeline is an interactive chronological display of important dates and events drawn from your case documents.

• Two Views: Chart view (visual graph) and List view (chronological text listing — easier to read and print)
• AI Extraction: The AI automatically finds dates and events, then extracts them from uploaded documents.
• Manual Events: Add your own custom events at any time. Document, Start Date, Title, and Description are required. End Date is optional for events that span a range.
• Navigation: Jump forward and backward, event-by-event, using Previous/Next buttons. Zoom in and out to focus on a date range. Show All Events to reset the view.
• Filters: Filter by date range or by specific documents; events are color-coded by source document.
• Citation Links: Click any timeline event to view the source document citation.
• Export: Download as a Word document or Excel spreadsheet (or both), with options to include all events or only events from selected documents, and group events by document or by date.

Access the timeline from the Case Options menu (three-dot menu) on the case overview page.

What is the Draft Answer feature?

The Draft Answer page helps you draft responses to complaint documents, paragraph by paragraph, with AI assistance at each step.

• Upload a complaint document to a case and navigate to its Draft Answer page.
• Each complaint paragraph is displayed in its own card with an editable answer text area below it.
• Answer Options: Choose from Deny, Lacks Info (defendant lacks sufficient information to admit or deny), Add Context, or Admit. The AI generates a tailored response based on your choice.
• Interview Mode: Start Interview walks you through each paragraph, one at a time, prompting you to provide factual context before the AI drafts a response. This produces more accurate, case-specific answers than one-click generation.
• Progress Tracking: The paragraph index on the left highlights completed paragraphs in green so you can see your progress at a glance.
• Auto-save: Answer text areas save automatically as you type.
• Download: Export the completed draft answer as a Word document, with the option to include or exclude the original complaint paragraphs.

How do Q&A pairs and the extraction table work?

The Document Digest page is the primary interface for reviewing transcripts and building extraction tables.

• Select Text: Click and drag to select any passage in the document or use the page-select button to select an entire page. When text is selected, two options appear: Copy Selection (adds the text as-is to the extraction table) or Use AI to Summarize Selection (generates an AI summary of the selected passage).
• Q&A Pairs: Toggle Show QA Borders to display colored borders around question-and-answer exchanges in the transcript, making them visually distinct. Check individual Q&A pairs to include them in the extraction table.
• Copy All QA Items: Use the Copy All QA Items button to batch-add all currently visible Q&A pairs to the extraction table at once, skipping any duplicates.
• Extraction Table: The right sidebar displays all extracted items — location, excerpt, and notes. Items can be edited or deleted individually.
• Delete All: The More Actions menu (three-dot dropdown) includes a Delete All Extraction Items option that clears the entire table after confirmation.
• Document Index: The sidebar also contains a document index for quick navigation to sections of the transcript.
• Word Cloud: Open a word cloud from the More Actions menu (three-dot button) on the Document Digest page, or from the toolbar in the document viewer. The word cloud displays the most frequently occurring terms in the document, with word size reflecting how often each term appears. Common filler words and terms that appear on every page are automatically filtered out.
• Sidebar Toggle: Use the sidebar toggle button to hide the right panel and maximize the document viewing area.
• Download: The extraction table content is optionally included in the Word document download via the content selection modal.

How do I view and edit document summaries?

The Summary page for each document has two tabs:

• View Tab: Displays the formatted AI-generated summary. Citation references (e.g., [4:2-35]) are clickable links — click any citation to jump directly to that page in the document viewer. Use this tab to read and navigate the summary.
• Edit Tab: Change the summary text directly. Use this tab to correct the AI output, add your own analysis, or rewrite sections. Changes are saved and immediately reflected in the View tab.

Additional summary actions:

• Remove Citations: Available in the More Actions menu (three-dot button), this strips all bracketed citation references from the summary — useful for producing a clean, client-ready version. This action asks you to confirm the number of citations to be removed before applying.
• Feedback: Use the thumbs up / thumbs down buttons to rate the summary and optionally include a feedback message to help improve the AI.
• Save and Download: Save your edits and download the summary as a Word (.docx) or PDF file. The format selection dialog lets you choose the output format.

Short and Long summaries: Each document can have both a Short summary (quick overview) and a Long summary (comprehensive narrative). Clicking "View" on a document list opens a selection modal where you can choose which summary to view or trigger generation of a missing variant. On the summary page, a dropdown lets you switch between available summaries. In the case summaries sidebar, a second dropdown shows all variants for the selected document.

Choosing summary length at upload: When uploading a document, you can select Short, Long, or None (skip summary generation). You can generate or regenerate either variant from the summary page at any time.

What can I download or export?

You have several export options to save your work outside the platform:

• Document File (.docx or PDF): On the Document Digest page, a content selection modal lets you choose what to include: document crux point metadata, AI-generated summary, Q&A extraction table, and comprehensive document metadata (deponent, questioner, dates, locations, contradictions, crucial testimony). Choose between Word (.docx) or PDF output format. Citations in the summary text (e.g., [4:2-35]) are converted to clickable hyperlinks in the downloaded file that jump directly to the referenced page in the appended source document.
• Document Summary File (.docx or PDF): On the Summary page, download the AI-generated summary (with any edits applied) as a Word (.docx) or PDF file. Citations in the summary (e.g., [4:2-35]) are converted to clickable hyperlinks in the downloaded file that jump directly to the referenced page in the appended source document.
• Chat Session File (.docx or PDF): Download any chat session from the session options menu (three-dot menu in the chat header). The download dialog includes an Include Citations option — when checked, AI responses include inline footnote numbers with a citations list below each response showing the source document, page, and line range. Choose between Word (.docx) or PDF output format.
• Transcript Metadata File (.docx or PDF): Download transcript metadata from the metadata page. A field selection dialog lets you choose exactly which fields to include — Deponent Name, Questioner Name, Court System, Other Involved Parties, Locations, Topics Discussed, Contradictions, Crucial Testimony, Objections, Crux Point, and Dates — with Select All and Deselect All shortcuts. For cases with multiple transcripts, checking Include all case transcripts generates a single combined file. Choose between Word (.docx) or PDF output format. Citations in the metadata fields (e.g., [4:2-35]) are converted to clickable hyperlinks in the downloaded file that jump directly to the referenced page in the appended source document.
• Case Timeline Word (.docx) or Excel Spreadsheet (.xlsx) File: Export from the Timeline page Download button. Options include: all events or selected documents only; group events by document or by date.
• Draft Answer Word File (.docx): Download from the Draft Answer page, with the choice to include or exclude the original complaint paragraphs.

Is there a guided tour of the platform?

Yes. Every major page in esumry has an interactive product tour powered by a step-by-step guide that highlights each feature and explains what it does.

Look for the lightbulb button (floating action button) on any page to launch the tour for that page. Tours are available on:

• Cases page
• Case Details page
• Document Upload page
• Document Digest page
• Summary page
• Chat page
• Case Timeline page
• Tags and Attach Documents pages
• Metadata page
• Draft Answer page
• Case Notes page
• Account page

Each tour is tailored to the specific features of that page. Tours remember when you have completed them, but you can relaunch them at any time using the lightbulb button.

What is the Citation Explorer?

The Citation Explorer is a panel that lets you verify the source of any AI-generated response. Every answer from the AI includes numbered citations (e.g., [1], [2]). Click any citation number to open the Citation Explorer, which shows:

• the exact source text the AI used on the left side of the panel
• the surrounding document excerpt with the page number on the right
• a direct link to open that location in the full document viewer

The Citation Explorer is available in all AI chat sessions and is the primary tool for verifying that the AI's responses are grounded in your actual case documents.