In WorkSite 8.2 and 8.5, Email Duplicate Detection is implemented as a simple matching of the message ID value of the email. This search for duplicates is restricted to workspace-level by default. Duplicate detection can be disabled, or can be set to process the entire WorkSite database: both approaches carry performance and/or usability penalties.
Which email is which?
- The sender’s copy, in Sent Items, does not have a standard-format message ID. Instead (with Outlook 2007 and Cached Exchange Mode) there is only a Exchange-specific tracking code on the message. Exchange does not update the ID ‘later’. It remains the internal ID. The Sent Item can be important because it is the only case in which the email retains the BCC list provided by the writer of the email.
- In the Inbox of the Outlook application, the message has a standard-format message ID: the message ID is the same for each of the message’s recipients. On a recipient’s copy, the BCC field is always empty. The standard form does not even display the BCC field.
- When WorkSite’s Communication Server captures the email, the BCC field contains the target folder’s email address, but none of the recipients added by the email’s author. Despite the difference in BCC field contents, the message ID is identical to the Ids in recipients’ Outlook Inboxes.
Message IDs and iManage WorkSite’s Email Duplicate Detection
In WorkSite 8.2 and 8.5, Email Duplicate Detection is implemented as a simple matching of the message ID value of the email. This search for duplicates is restricted to workspace-level by default. Duplicate detection can be disabled, or can be set to process the entire WorkSite database: both approaches carry performance and/or usability penalties.
When checking for duplicates, WorkSite does not consider the sent item to be the “same” as the received item. The Ids are different, as described in the three points at the start of this article. This ID distinction is exploited by a helpful feature, though using the feature leads to apparent duplicates of those emails.
iManage’s duplicate detection has several acknowledged bugs in its 8.2 and 8.5 implementations, both client-side and server-side. Most are in the form of unwanted duplicates.
DocAuto’s Email Duplicate Detection
By supporting configuration of the comparison algorithm, DocAuto allows firms to specify what constitutes a duplicate. This means the solution can be fine-tuned to suit the firm’s email and records management policies.