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What is the Report Builder?

The Report Builder is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor designed specifically for investigative reporting. It lets you drag and drop content blocks to assemble a complete case report without leaving the platform. Every report includes your firm's letterhead, a chronological timeline, evidence exhibits with keyframes, and an optional chain-of-custody appendix.

Reports can be exported as PDF or DOCX files. Free-tier users will see a small Timestamped watermark on exported reports. Paid plans remove the watermark entirely.

Report Block Types

Reports are composed of blocks. Each block type serves a different purpose. Drag and drop blocks in the editor to arrange your report layout.

How to Create a Report

1. Open a case and navigate to the Reports tab.
2. Click "New Report" to create a blank report, or select a template to start with a pre-configured structure.
3. Configure your letterhead. Choose from None, Structured, or Custom HTML (see Letterhead Options below).
4. Add blocks by clicking the "+" button or dragging from the block palette. Arrange them in the order you want.
5. Fill in content. Write narrative text, select evidence items, configure timeline filters, and add captions to exhibits.
6. Preview your report to see how it will appear as a PDF. Check page breaks, image sizing, and overall flow.
7. Export when ready. Download as PDF or DOCX, or share via a magic link for external viewers.

Cloning a Report

You can create a copy of any existing report by cloning it. This is useful when you need to produce a similar report for a different audience or create an updated version of a previous report without starting from scratch.

To clone a report, open the report you want to copy and select Clone Report from the actions menu. A new draft report is created with all the same blocks, content, and settings as the original. The clone is fully independent: edits to the clone do not affect the original.

Finalizing a Report

When a report is ready for delivery, you can finalize it to lock the content and generate the official export files. Finalizing a report:

• Sets the report status to Final, preventing further edits.
• Generates the PDF and DOCX export files, which are stored alongside the report for immediate download.
• Makes the report eligible for sharing via magic links with external viewers.

To finalize, open the report and click Finalize Report. You will be asked to confirm, since finalization cannot be reversed. If you need to make changes after finalizing, clone the report to create a new editable draft.

Export Formats

Reports can be exported as PDF or DOCX (Word) files. PDF is the standard choice for court filings and client deliverables because it preserves exact formatting and cannot be edited. DOCX is useful when clients (typically attorneys) need to add their own letterhead, redact sections, or incorporate the report into larger documents.

How to Export

1. Open the report you want to export.
2. Click the Export button in the toolbar.
3. Choose your format: PDF or DOCX.
4. Optionally enable Save to Case Files to store a copy of the export alongside your case evidence for permanent record-keeping. Enter a display name to identify the saved file.
5. The file downloads to your device. If you saved to case files, the export also appears in the case's report exports section.

Watermarks

Exports from the free Viewer tier include a small Timestamped watermark. All paid plans (Gumshoe and above) produce clean exports with no watermark.

Rate Limits

Exports are limited to 5 per minute per user. This prevents abuse since generating PDFs is resource-intensive. If you hit the limit, wait a moment before trying again.

Letterhead Options

Every report can include a letterhead at the top of the first page. Three options are available:

• None: No letterhead. The report starts directly with your first content block.
• Structured: A built-in letterhead layout that pulls from your organization profile. Includes firm name, address, phone, email, and license number. Configure these in your org settings.
• Custom HTML: Full control over the letterhead design using HTML and inline CSS. Upload your firm's logo and match your existing branding exactly.

Report Statuses

Reports move through a lifecycle of statuses to track their progress:

• Draft: Work in progress. Only team members with case access can view or edit the report.
• Review: Content is complete and ready for a second set of eyes. Reviewers can suggest changes but the report is not yet final.
• Final: Approved and locked. No further edits are allowed. Final reports can be exported and shared with external viewers.
• Archived: No longer active. Archived reports are hidden from default views but remain accessible for reference.

Version Tracking

Every report tracks a version number that increments automatically each time you save changes. The current version is displayed in the report header so you can see how many revisions have been made.

When a report is finalized, the version number is frozen. This provides an audit trail: if a court asks whether a report was modified, the version history shows exactly how many edits occurred before finalization. Cloned reports start at version 1 regardless of the original's version count.

Sharing Reports

Final reports can be shared with external viewers (attorneys, insurance adjusters, clients) using magic links. A magic link is a unique URL that grants read-only access to a specific report without requiring the recipient to create an account.

Magic links can be configured with an expiration date and optional password protection. Once shared, you can track who accessed the report and when. Revoke access at any time by disabling the link.

Chain of Custody Block

The Chain of Custody block is a specialized report block that generates an evidence integrity table. It displays file hashes (SHA-256), upload timestamps, and verification status for each piece of evidence, providing a defensible record that files have not been altered since capture.

When to Use

• Court filings that require proof of evidence integrity.
• Insurance claim documentation where the adjuster needs to verify that evidence has not been tampered with.
• Any report where the recipient may challenge the authenticity of digital files.

Block Settings

• Title: Customizable heading for the block (defaults to "Chain of Custody").
• Hash display: Toggle whether the full SHA-256 hash is shown for each evidence item.
• Verification status: Toggle the column showing whether the server-side hash matches the client-side hash computed at upload.
• Upload info: Toggle display of who uploaded the file, when, and from which device.
• File size: Toggle display of original file size.
• Evidence scope: Choose between all case evidence or only selected items. Use "selected" to limit the table to specific exhibits referenced elsewhere in the report.

AI Report Generation

AI report generation requires the Senior role or above (Senior, Admin, or Owner). This ensures that AI-generated report content is reviewed by experienced team members before being used in cases. For a complete overview of AI capabilities, see AI Features.

How It Works

Click "Generate with AI" in the Report Builder to open the generation panel. Configure the generation mode, section types, evidence scope, tone, and length. The AI analyzes your case evidence (including transcripts) and produces structured report blocks that you can review before accepting.

Generation Modes

• Full: Generates an entire report from scratch, including all selected section types.
• Sections: Generates specific sections that you select. Useful for adding new sections to an existing report.
• Blocks: Regenerates individual blocks within the report. Use this to refine a single paragraph or section without affecting the rest.

Section Types

The following section types are available for generation:

• Executive Summary
• Background
• Timeline
• Findings
• Evidence Analysis
• Conclusion
• Recommendations

Evidence Scope

Control which evidence the AI uses when generating content:

• All evidence: The AI considers every piece of evidence in the case.
• Starred only: Limits generation to evidence items you have starred. This is useful for focusing the report on key moments.
• Selected items: Manually choose which evidence items the AI should reference.

Preview and Accept

Generated blocks appear in a preview pane before being added to your report. From the preview, you can:

• Accept all: Add every generated block to the report at once.
• Accept individually: Cherry-pick specific blocks and discard the rest.
• Regenerate: Run the generation again with the same or different settings.
• Discard: Cancel and return to the editor without changes.

AI Credits

Each generation consumes AI credits based on the amount of evidence processed and the length of any associated transcripts. Cases with more evidence or longer transcripts will use more credits. Your remaining credit balance is displayed in the generation panel before you confirm.

Report Templates

Report templates are reusable report structures with pre-configured blocks and placeholders. Instead of building every report from scratch, start with a template that defines the layout, section order, and placeholder content. Then fill in the case-specific details.

Template Sources

• System templates: Platform-provided templates for common report types (surveillance summary, background check, insurance investigation).
• WYSIWYG: Templates you build directly in the Report Builder editor. Design your ideal report structure, then save it as a reusable template.
• LLM-extracted: Upload 2 to 6 example PDF reports from past cases. The AI processes each document independently (Phase 1), then distills the common patterns across all of them into a unified template (Phase 2). This also optionally produces a case template with custom fields and AI detection keywords. Review and edit the results before saving. See the AI Features page for details on the extraction workflow and credit costs.
• Copied: Templates acquired from the marketplace that other organizations have published.

Visibility

Control who can see and use your templates:

• Org-only: Visible to your organization's team members only.
• Partners: Visible to your organization and any partner organizations you are connected with.
• Public (marketplace): Listed in the template marketplace for any Timestamped user to discover and subscribe to.

Subscription Model

Public templates use a subscription model. When you find a template in the marketplace, you subscribe to it. Once subscribed, any team member in your organization can apply that template when creating a new report. If the template author publishes updates, your subscription automatically reflects the latest version.

Placeholder Types

Templates use placeholders that get filled in when you apply the template to a case:

• Text: Static placeholder text that the user replaces with custom content.
• Case field: Automatically populated from case data (title, client name, date range, location).
• Evidence: Slots where the user selects which evidence items to display.
• Timeline: Pulls in the case's event timeline, filtered by the template's configuration.
• AI-generated: Placeholders that are filled by AI generation when the template is applied. Useful for sections like executive summaries or conclusions that benefit from automated drafting.

Template Lifecycle

• Draft: The template is being built or edited. Not yet available for use in reports.
• Published: The template is active and available based on its visibility setting. Team members can apply it to new reports.
• Archived: The template is no longer available for new reports. Existing reports that used this template are unaffected.