I’m standardizing our pleading templates and tightening version control and redaction to reduce metadata and confidentiality risks. Right now I’m in NetDocuments using a naming convention like 2025-01-15_Draft2_CLIENTINITIALS_M12345 and running Adobe’s Remove Hidden Information, then logging a redaction check in the matter file — what tools or checklists are you finding reliable? Sharing general workflows only — case-specific privilege or disclosure calls should go to the responsible attorney.
I stopped putting “Draft2” in the filename and let NetDocuments handle versions; we added Litera Metadact so every attachment is scrubbed on send, and we only run Acrobat’s “Sanitize Document” on finals. Caveat: Sanitize can kill form fields and links, so test a profile first. If you want a quick free extra step, run Word’s Document Inspector before PDF: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/remove-hidden-data-and-personal-information-by-inspecting-documents-7e4fa12c-e5f8-4a6a-9b07-0f87afdae89e.
Turned ‘Remove Hidden Information’ into an Acrobat Action; free, but it can remove comments. https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/action-wizard-acrobat-pro.html.
@sarah_jones93 +1 on automation — we added a tiny speed bump: Outlook won’t send a.docx externally unless the NetDocuments profile has ‘External‑Ready’ checked, which runs Word’s Inspect Document, creates a PDF, and writes ‘Redaction review – initials/date’ to the matter profile. It’s one extra click, but it stopped those oops-we-sent-markup moments.
NetDocuments: we send secure links, not attachments; then Preflight ‘flatten annotations’ in Acrobat — watch, it kills form fields.