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Clients & Cases
Clients and cases are the foundation of your work in Timestamped. Every investigation starts with a client, and every case belongs to a client. This guide walks you through creating clients, setting up cases, and managing restricted access for sensitive investigations.
Creating Clients
Before you can create a case, you need at least one client. Clients represent the businesses or individuals who hire your firm. They serve as the top-level organizer for all your investigations.
Why Clients Come First
- Every case must belong to a client. You cannot create a case without selecting a client first.
- Clients group related cases together, making it easy to find past investigations for the same company or individual.
- Client-level settings (like contacts and logos) flow down into cases and reports automatically.
- Access permissions can be managed at the client level, so new cases inherit the right visibility.
How to Add a Client
- Navigate to the Clients page from the main navigation.
- Click the New Client button in the top-right corner.
- Fill in the client details:
- Client Name (required): The company or individual's name.
- Industry: The client's industry or sector (e.g., Insurance, Legal, Corporate).
- Website: The client's website URL.
- Notes: Internal notes visible only to your team.
- Optionally upload a client logo (see below).
- Click Save to create the client.
Managing Client Contacts
Each client can have multiple contacts. Contacts represent the people at the client organization you work with directly, such as attorneys, claims adjusters, or HR managers. You can add contacts from the client detail page by clicking Add Contact and providing their name, email, phone number, and title. Contacts can be linked to specific cases for easy reference.
Client Logos
You can upload a logo for each client. Logos appear on the client card in your client list and can be included in reports for a professional presentation. Supported formats include PNG, JPG, and SVG. For best results, use a square image at least 200x200 pixels.
Client Statuses
Clients can have one of three statuses:
- Active: Clients you are currently working with. Active clients appear in your default client list and are available when creating new cases.
- Prospect: Potential clients you have not yet started working with. Prospects are visible in your client list but are separated from active clients.
- Archived: Clients you are no longer working with. Archived clients are hidden from the default list but can be viewed using the status filter. Their cases remain accessible.
Creating Your First Case
A case is a single investigation. It contains all of your evidence, moments, timeline events, and reports for that investigation. Think of it as the central hub where everything related to one job comes together.
How to Create a Case
- Navigate to the Cases page from the main navigation.
- Click the New Case button.
- Select the Client this case belongs to. If you haven't created a client yet, you will be prompted to do so first.
- Fill in the case details:
- Case Title (required): A descriptive name for the investigation.
- Case Number: Your internal reference number. This can follow any format your firm uses.
- Subject Name: The name of the person being investigated.
- Description: A brief summary of the investigation's purpose and scope.
- Budget: Optional budget tracking (see below).
- Click Create Case to save it. You can then begin uploading evidence and adding events.
Budget Tracking
Each case can optionally track a budget. See Time Tracking for details on logging hours and managing rates. You can choose from three budget modes:
- Hours: Set a maximum number of hours for the investigation. Team members log time entries, and the system tracks total hours against the budget. You will receive alerts at configurable thresholds (50%, 75%, 90%, and 100%).
- Dollars: Set a monetary budget. Time entries are multiplied by each team member's hourly rate to calculate costs. Multi-currency support is available for international teams.
- No Tracking: Disable budget tracking entirely. This is the default for new cases.
Custom Case Fields
Beyond the standard fields, cases support custom metadata that can be tailored to your firm's needs. Custom fields appear in the case details panel and can be included in exported reports. Common custom fields include claim numbers, policy numbers, court case references, and jurisdiction details.
Case Statuses
Cases move through a lifecycle of statuses:
- Draft: The case has been created but is not yet considered an active investigation. Draft cases can be edited freely and are useful for setting up case details before fieldwork begins. Cases created through AI intake start as drafts.
- Active: The investigation is ongoing. Active cases appear in your default case list and support all operations (uploading evidence, adding events, generating reports).
- Closed: The investigation is complete. Closed cases are read-only, meaning no new evidence or events can be added. Existing data and reports remain fully accessible. Closed cases are retained indefinitely.
- Archived: The case is no longer needed for active reference. Archived cases are hidden from the default list but can be viewed using the status filter. Like closed cases, archived cases are retained indefinitely and their data remains accessible.
AI-Powered Case Creation
In addition to manual case creation, Timestamped offers two AI-powered methods that speed up case setup by automatically extracting structured fields from your input.
Voice Intake
Record a voice note describing the case, and the AI will transcribe it and extract fields like subject name, client, location, and case type into a preview case.
- Navigate to Cases > New Case and enable the voice intake toggle
- Record your description of the investigation
- The AI transcribes the recording and creates a preview case
- Review the extracted fields and make any corrections
- Activate the preview to convert it into a draft case (consumes AI credits)
Preview Cases
Voice intake creates a preview case that expires after 7 days if not activated. Previews are read-only until you activate them. Activation converts the preview into a regular draft case that you can edit, assign, and publish as an active investigation.
Document Intake
Upload PDF or image documents (such as claim forms, assignment letters, or prior reports), and the AI will extract relevant case fields to populate the creation form.
- Navigate to Cases > New Case and upload your documents
- The AI analyzes each document and extracts structured fields
- Extracted fields auto-populate the case creation form
- Review, edit, and submit the form to create the case
- Uploaded documents are automatically promoted to case evidence in the background
Document intake does not create a preview step. The case is created directly as a draft when you submit the form. See the AI Features page for more details on how AI intake works and credit costs.
Saved Locations
Cases can store frequently used locations such as surveillance points, subject addresses, and other GPS coordinates relevant to the investigation. Saved locations make it easy to tag evidence with consistent location data and plan field work.
- Surveillance points: Good vantage points, parking spots, or observation positions. Add a description to help other investigators on the team find the same spot.
- Subject addresses: Home, workplace, gym, or other frequented locations for the person being investigated.
- GPS coordinates: Latitude and longitude for precise mapping. These can be entered manually or pulled from evidence metadata.
Saved locations can be reused when tagging evidence with a display location, eliminating the need to retype addresses repeatedly.
Case Watching
Subscribe to a case to receive notifications when important events occur. When you watch a case, you will be notified about:
- New evidence uploads
- Status changes (active, closed, archived)
- New comments and case notes
- Assignment changes
- Budget threshold alerts
To start watching, open the case and click the Watch button. Notifications are delivered both in-app and via email digest based on your notification preferences. You can unwatch at any time to stop receiving updates.
Restricted Cases
Cases can be marked as "restricted" to require explicit access (ACL) for all users, including senior-level roles and above. By default, senior investigators, admins, and owners can view every case in the organization. Restricting a case overrides that behavior and limits access to only those users who have been explicitly granted permission.
When to Use Restricted Cases
Restricted cases are designed for highly sensitive investigations where org-level access should not apply. Common scenarios include:
- Internal misconduct investigations involving members of your own organization.
- Executive background checks where confidentiality is critical.
- Cases with court-ordered confidentiality requirements.
- Any investigation where you need to control exactly who can see the case, regardless of their org role.
How to Restrict a Case
Only users with Case Admin access can restrict or unrestrict a case. To restrict a case, open the case settings and enable the restricted toggle. When you restrict a case, you are automatically granted Case Admin access to prevent locking yourself out. You can then add other users to the case's access list as needed.
Owner Emergency Access
Organization owners can access restricted cases without an ACL entry by default. This serves as a safety net to ensure that no case becomes permanently inaccessible. If your organization requires stricter controls, this setting can be disabled in Admin > Settings.
Visual Indicator
Restricted cases display a lock icon in case lists and the case header. This makes it easy to identify which cases have limited access at a glance.
Security Audit
Owners can review all restricted cases and their ACL entries in Admin > Security. This view provides a complete overview of who has access to each restricted case, helping you maintain oversight of sensitive investigations.
Legal Hold
A legal hold prevents a case and all of its evidence from being deleted. This is used when a case is subject to litigation, regulatory inquiry, or any situation where evidence must be preserved for legal compliance.
Who Can Set a Legal Hold
Only Owners and Admins can place or remove a legal hold. This restriction ensures that holds are managed by authorized personnel with responsibility for compliance.
What a Legal Hold Does
- Prevents deletion of the case itself
- Prevents deletion of any evidence within the case
- Records who placed the hold, when, and the reason
- All hold changes are logged in the case activity feed and system audit log
To place a hold, open the case, go to case settings, and enable the legal hold toggle. You will be prompted to enter a reason (for example, "Pending litigation in Smith v. Jones"). The hold remains in effect until an Owner or Admin explicitly removes it.
Deleting and Recovering Cases
When you delete a case, it enters a soft delete state with a 30-day recovery window. During this period, the case is hidden from your default case list but can be restored if needed.
How Soft Delete Works
- The case is marked as deleted and hidden from normal views
- All evidence, reports, and associated data remain intact during the recovery window
- Admins and owners can recover the case from the deleted cases view within 30 days
- After 30 days, the case and all associated data are permanently deleted
Force Delete
Admins, owners, and case admins can force-delete a case to bypass the 30-day retention period. Force deletion permanently removes the case and all associated data immediately. Cases under legal hold cannot be force-deleted; the hold must be removed first.
Case Export
You can export an entire case as a ZIP archive containing all evidence files, metadata, and case details. This is useful for:
- Creating offline backups of completed investigations
- Delivering a complete evidence package to a client
- Archiving a closed case outside of Timestamped
To export, open the case and select Export Case from the actions menu. The export is generated in the background, and you will be notified when the ZIP file is ready for download.
Clients and cases are the foundation of your work in Timestamped. Every investigation starts with a client, and every case belongs to a client. This guide walks you through creating clients, setting up cases, and managing restricted access for sensitive investigations.
Creating Clients
Before you can create a case, you need at least one client. Clients represent the businesses or individuals who hire your firm. They serve as the top-level organizer for all your investigations.
Why Clients Come First
- Every case must belong to a client. You cannot create a case without selecting a client first.
- Clients group related cases together, making it easy to find past investigations for the same company or individual.
- Client-level settings (like contacts and logos) flow down into cases and reports automatically.
- Access permissions can be managed at the client level, so new cases inherit the right visibility.
How to Add a Client
- Navigate to the Clients page from the main navigation.
- Click the New Client button in the top-right corner.
- Fill in the client details:
- Client Name (required): The company or individual's name.
- Industry: The client's industry or sector (e.g., Insurance, Legal, Corporate).
- Website: The client's website URL.
- Notes: Internal notes visible only to your team.
- Optionally upload a client logo (see below).
- Click Save to create the client.
Managing Client Contacts
Each client can have multiple contacts. Contacts represent the people at the client organization you work with directly, such as attorneys, claims adjusters, or HR managers. You can add contacts from the client detail page by clicking Add Contact and providing their name, email, phone number, and title. Contacts can be linked to specific cases for easy reference.
Client Logos
You can upload a logo for each client. Logos appear on the client card in your client list and can be included in reports for a professional presentation. Supported formats include PNG, JPG, and SVG. For best results, use a square image at least 200x200 pixels.
Client Statuses
Clients can have one of three statuses:
- Active: Clients you are currently working with. Active clients appear in your default client list and are available when creating new cases.
- Prospect: Potential clients you have not yet started working with. Prospects are visible in your client list but are separated from active clients.
- Archived: Clients you are no longer working with. Archived clients are hidden from the default list but can be viewed using the status filter. Their cases remain accessible.
Creating Your First Case
A case is a single investigation. It contains all of your evidence, moments, timeline events, and reports for that investigation. Think of it as the central hub where everything related to one job comes together.
How to Create a Case
- Navigate to the Cases page from the main navigation.
- Click the New Case button.
- Select the Client this case belongs to. If you haven't created a client yet, you will be prompted to do so first.
- Fill in the case details:
- Case Title (required): A descriptive name for the investigation.
- Case Number: Your internal reference number. This can follow any format your firm uses.
- Subject Name: The name of the person being investigated.
- Description: A brief summary of the investigation's purpose and scope.
- Budget: Optional budget tracking (see below).
- Click Create Case to save it. You can then begin uploading evidence and adding events.
Budget Tracking
Each case can optionally track a budget. See Time Tracking for details on logging hours and managing rates. You can choose from three budget modes:
- Hours: Set a maximum number of hours for the investigation. Team members log time entries, and the system tracks total hours against the budget. You will receive alerts at configurable thresholds (50%, 75%, 90%, and 100%).
- Dollars: Set a monetary budget. Time entries are multiplied by each team member's hourly rate to calculate costs. Multi-currency support is available for international teams.
- No Tracking: Disable budget tracking entirely. This is the default for new cases.
Custom Case Fields
Beyond the standard fields, cases support custom metadata that can be tailored to your firm's needs. Custom fields appear in the case details panel and can be included in exported reports. Common custom fields include claim numbers, policy numbers, court case references, and jurisdiction details.
Case Statuses
Cases move through a lifecycle of statuses:
- Draft: The case has been created but is not yet considered an active investigation. Draft cases can be edited freely and are useful for setting up case details before fieldwork begins. Cases created through AI intake start as drafts.
- Active: The investigation is ongoing. Active cases appear in your default case list and support all operations (uploading evidence, adding events, generating reports).
- Closed: The investigation is complete. Closed cases are read-only, meaning no new evidence or events can be added. Existing data and reports remain fully accessible. Closed cases are retained indefinitely.
- Archived: The case is no longer needed for active reference. Archived cases are hidden from the default list but can be viewed using the status filter. Like closed cases, archived cases are retained indefinitely and their data remains accessible.
AI-Powered Case Creation
In addition to manual case creation, Timestamped offers two AI-powered methods that speed up case setup by automatically extracting structured fields from your input.
Voice Intake
Record a voice note describing the case, and the AI will transcribe it and extract fields like subject name, client, location, and case type into a preview case.
- Navigate to Cases > New Case and enable the voice intake toggle
- Record your description of the investigation
- The AI transcribes the recording and creates a preview case
- Review the extracted fields and make any corrections
- Activate the preview to convert it into a draft case (consumes AI credits)
Preview Cases
Voice intake creates a preview case that expires after 7 days if not activated. Previews are read-only until you activate them. Activation converts the preview into a regular draft case that you can edit, assign, and publish as an active investigation.
Document Intake
Upload PDF or image documents (such as claim forms, assignment letters, or prior reports), and the AI will extract relevant case fields to populate the creation form.
- Navigate to Cases > New Case and upload your documents
- The AI analyzes each document and extracts structured fields
- Extracted fields auto-populate the case creation form
- Review, edit, and submit the form to create the case
- Uploaded documents are automatically promoted to case evidence in the background
Document intake does not create a preview step. The case is created directly as a draft when you submit the form. See the AI Features page for more details on how AI intake works and credit costs.
Saved Locations
Cases can store frequently used locations such as surveillance points, subject addresses, and other GPS coordinates relevant to the investigation. Saved locations make it easy to tag evidence with consistent location data and plan field work.
- Surveillance points: Good vantage points, parking spots, or observation positions. Add a description to help other investigators on the team find the same spot.
- Subject addresses: Home, workplace, gym, or other frequented locations for the person being investigated.
- GPS coordinates: Latitude and longitude for precise mapping. These can be entered manually or pulled from evidence metadata.
Saved locations can be reused when tagging evidence with a display location, eliminating the need to retype addresses repeatedly.
Case Watching
Subscribe to a case to receive notifications when important events occur. When you watch a case, you will be notified about:
- New evidence uploads
- Status changes (active, closed, archived)
- New comments and case notes
- Assignment changes
- Budget threshold alerts
To start watching, open the case and click the Watch button. Notifications are delivered both in-app and via email digest based on your notification preferences. You can unwatch at any time to stop receiving updates.
Restricted Cases
Cases can be marked as "restricted" to require explicit access (ACL) for all users, including senior-level roles and above. By default, senior investigators, admins, and owners can view every case in the organization. Restricting a case overrides that behavior and limits access to only those users who have been explicitly granted permission.
When to Use Restricted Cases
Restricted cases are designed for highly sensitive investigations where org-level access should not apply. Common scenarios include:
- Internal misconduct investigations involving members of your own organization.
- Executive background checks where confidentiality is critical.
- Cases with court-ordered confidentiality requirements.
- Any investigation where you need to control exactly who can see the case, regardless of their org role.
How to Restrict a Case
Only users with Case Admin access can restrict or unrestrict a case. To restrict a case, open the case settings and enable the restricted toggle. When you restrict a case, you are automatically granted Case Admin access to prevent locking yourself out. You can then add other users to the case's access list as needed.
Owner Emergency Access
Organization owners can access restricted cases without an ACL entry by default. This serves as a safety net to ensure that no case becomes permanently inaccessible. If your organization requires stricter controls, this setting can be disabled in Admin > Settings.
Visual Indicator
Restricted cases display a lock icon in case lists and the case header. This makes it easy to identify which cases have limited access at a glance.
Security Audit
Owners can review all restricted cases and their ACL entries in Admin > Security. This view provides a complete overview of who has access to each restricted case, helping you maintain oversight of sensitive investigations.
Legal Hold
A legal hold prevents a case and all of its evidence from being deleted. This is used when a case is subject to litigation, regulatory inquiry, or any situation where evidence must be preserved for legal compliance.
Who Can Set a Legal Hold
Only Owners and Admins can place or remove a legal hold. This restriction ensures that holds are managed by authorized personnel with responsibility for compliance.
What a Legal Hold Does
- Prevents deletion of the case itself
- Prevents deletion of any evidence within the case
- Records who placed the hold, when, and the reason
- All hold changes are logged in the case activity feed and system audit log
To place a hold, open the case, go to case settings, and enable the legal hold toggle. You will be prompted to enter a reason (for example, "Pending litigation in Smith v. Jones"). The hold remains in effect until an Owner or Admin explicitly removes it.
Deleting and Recovering Cases
When you delete a case, it enters a soft delete state with a 30-day recovery window. During this period, the case is hidden from your default case list but can be restored if needed.
How Soft Delete Works
- The case is marked as deleted and hidden from normal views
- All evidence, reports, and associated data remain intact during the recovery window
- Admins and owners can recover the case from the deleted cases view within 30 days
- After 30 days, the case and all associated data are permanently deleted
Force Delete
Admins, owners, and case admins can force-delete a case to bypass the 30-day retention period. Force deletion permanently removes the case and all associated data immediately. Cases under legal hold cannot be force-deleted; the hold must be removed first.
Case Export
You can export an entire case as a ZIP archive containing all evidence files, metadata, and case details. This is useful for:
- Creating offline backups of completed investigations
- Delivering a complete evidence package to a client
- Archiving a closed case outside of Timestamped
To export, open the case and select Export Case from the actions menu. The export is generated in the background, and you will be notified when the ZIP file is ready for download.