Cases

A Case is the main workspace for one matter, dispute, client file, research project, or document set. It holds documents, Canvas/PenPad files, local AI suggestions, notes, section entries, and links between material.

Screenshot placeholder: Case selection area with the + New Case button.

Create Case

A dedicated workspace for one matter or research project.

1. Make sure you are signed in with a verified account.
2. Select + New Case.
3. Enter a Case name, for example ABC Pvt Ltd v. XYZ Infra.
4. Select Create.
5. CogniVenue-Legal creates the Case and opens the Documents section.

If your account is not verified, the account dialog opens first. If your allowance is used, the allowance screen opens.

Case creation is an account-controlled operation. In the production app, creating a new Case requires internet access so CogniVenue-Legal can verify the signed-in account and authorize the creation allowance before the local workspace is created. After a Case exists on the device, normal use of its local documents, OCR/text extraction, local AI suggestions, Canvas/PenPad work, annotations, exports, and review tools does not require internet access.

Creation allowance works as follows:

• A free account can create up to two Cases. Free access does not expire and is not a time-bound trial.
• The required first paid allowance is a 5-pack. It raises the total lifetime creation allowance and enables Global Library subhead creation.
• After the required 5-pack, additional Case allowance can be bought in packs of 1 or 5.
• A lifetime-unlimited account can create unlimited Cases and does not need an allowance purchase.
• Deleting a Case does not return its creation allowance.

If an account has been deleted, the current device may retain only the previously established local Case creation allowance. Verifying another email on that same installation does not add another two free Cases.

Related topics: Case allowance and access duration, Sign in or sign up, Upload documents.

Name a Case clearly

Good Case names help when searching, backing up, restoring, and switching matters.

Useful naming patterns:

• Party A v. Party B.
• Client name plus matter type.
• Court or forum plus matter number.
• Research subject plus date.

Avoid names that are too broad, such as Case or Documents, when you expect many matters.

What belongs inside a Case

A Case can contain:

• Uploaded PDFs, DOCX files, text and structured text files, email/CSV files, and images.
• Audio recordings made inside the app.
• Canvas/PenPad files.
• Legal Diary entries for hearings, deadlines, events, meetings, reminders, and dated actions.
• Issues.
• Facts.
• Evidence entries.
• Tasks and to-dos.
• Draft starters and draft notes.
• Authorities.
• Research leads.
• Page annotations, ink marks, tags, comments, and generated indexes.

See Sections inside a Case.

Sections inside a Case

The Case sections organize different kinds of work:

• Documents: source files, OCR status, Canvas/PenPad files, and document opening.
• Legal Diary: confirmed hearings, deadlines, events, meetings, reminders, dated actions, and source-backed date suggestions.
• Issues: legal and factual issues needing decision or proof.
• Facts: material factual assertions and admissions.
• Evidence: documents, correspondence, invoices, images, and proof points.
• Tasks/To-dos: follow-up work, missing material, limitation checks, and review actions.
• Drafts: draft starters, summaries, notice/reply outlines, and pleading outlines.
• Authorities: statutes, cases, clauses, rules, citations, and legal sources.
• Research: research leads, related passages, and issue-based research prompts.

Local AI can suggest entries for many of these sections after document text is ready. See AI generated entries.

These sections appear under the active Case in the left pane. When the Global Library or one of its subheads is active, Documents remains available but the Case-only sections are muted and disabled.

Related topic: Left pane sections and document panes.

Work with section entries

Select Legal Diary, Issues, Facts, Evidence, Tasks/To-dos, Drafts, Authorities, or Research in the left pane. Each section has Saved entries and Local AI Suggestions. The shared toolbar provides Add, Refresh AI, Export Calendar for confirmed dated entries, and Export to PDF.

The selected section appears in the center pane, replacing the Documents overview or open document views. Its entries belong to the Case and section, not just the last document selected. Saved appears first, followed by Local AI Suggestions, in one scrolling list beneath the toolbar. Scroll down through Saved to reach the pending suggestions. See AI and saved section lists.

Origin labels distinguish User, Needs review, and Local AI. Some Drafts and Research entries are generated directly into Saved, so being in Saved is not proof of manual acceptance or verification. Long titles and details are shortened on the card; open Edit to read them fully and Cancel if no change is wanted.

Add or edit an entry

1. Select the appropriate section and choose Add.
2. Enter a Title and Details. Legal Diary uses Diary item, Type, Date, and optional Add time; Tasks/To-dos offers Add due date and optional Add due time; the other sections offer an optional Add date.
3. Where date fields are shown, choose Day, Mon, and Year. Use a valid calendar date.
4. Select Add to place the new entry in Saved, or Cancel to discard the dialog.
5. To revise an existing entry, select its Edit button, change the fields, and select Save.

A title or diary item name is required. Adding an entry manually makes it user-created and saved. Editing an AI suggestion changes its content but leaves it pending until you select Accept.

Review, hide, or delete an entry

An entry can show its origin, review status, AI confidence, date, and source document/page when available.

• Source opens a source-linked entry’s document and navigates to the relevant passage. Entries without a source link do not have this button. After review, close the source view or select the original section again to continue working there.
• Accept moves a pending AI suggestion into Saved. For a task, it first opens the due-date choice described below.
• Dismiss removes a pending suggestion from the visible list.
• Hide removes an accepted AI entry from the visible list.
• Delete removes a user-created entry. This action applies immediately, so check the entry first.

Dismiss and Hide preserve a dismissed record; Delete removes the user-created entry. These actions affect the section entry, not its source document. Refresh AI is available for updating suggestions from the Case’s extracted text.

If Source reports Source document is no longer available., the linked file could not be found; the entry text alone is not a substitute for reviewing that source. Editing an entry does not alter its source document. AI confidence is a review aid, not a guarantee of accuracy.

Legal Diary and task dates

Legal Diary is a source-backed matter diary, not a general calendar, time tracker, or task board. Use it for legally relevant dates such as hearings, filing deadlines, limitation checks, compliance dates, meetings, reminders, and dated actions.

Local AI can extract candidate dates and times from documents, email/MSG text, and calendar text. These candidates stay in Local AI Suggestions until you review them. You can accept, edit, modify, dismiss, delete, or manually create diary entries. Accepted entries appear in Saved and are treated as confirmed inside the app.

Confirmed dated Legal Diary entries and tasks can be copied for use in another calendar. Use Copy Calendar Text on an accepted dated entry to copy a plain-text event/action summary. Select one or more accepted dated entries and choose Export Calendar to create an .ics calendar file for external calendar apps. Pending suggestions are not calendar-exportable until accepted.

Calendar export is a transfer aid only. The app does not create background reminders, manage recurring schedules, assign work, track time, or replace the source review needed for legal deadlines.

Task due dates and times

When you accept an AI task, Approve Task lets you use a due date, optionally add a due time, and select Accept, choose Accept Without Date, or Cancel the approval.

For a saved task, choose Set Due Date, or Due Date when one already exists. Enable Use due date, set a valid date, optionally enable Add due time, and select Save. Use Clear Date to remove an existing date and time. When adding or editing a task, the Add due date checkbox provides the same optional date and time fields.

A due date or due date/time is stored with the task and appears as a label. It is not an automatic reminder or notification.

Copy a section entry to Canvas

1. Make sure the intended Canvas/PenPad is selected.
2. Select Copy to Canvas on a Saved entry or Local AI Suggestion.
3. Choose a card type from the dialog, or select Use Recommended. The suggested type follows the section, such as a Legal Diary/timeline, issue, evidence, or citation card.
4. Review the new card in the current Canvas/PenPad. Its content includes the entry and its source reference when available.

Copying does not accept a pending suggestion or remove the original entry. The copied card is a separate working copy; review it again if the section entry changes later.

Export selected entries

1. Use Select for Export on each entry you want to include. You can select Saved entries, pending suggestions, or both within the current section.
2. Selected entries show Selected for Export; select that control again to remove an entry from the selection.
3. Choose Export to PDF (n) in the section toolbar to create an entry report. The button is disabled until at least one entry is selected.
4. For confirmed dated Legal Diary entries or dated tasks, choose Export Calendar (n) to create an .ics calendar file. The calendar button counts only selected accepted entries with a date.
5. Check the completion message for the exported file path.

The PDF includes the selected entries’ full titles, details, origin/review status, and available Legal Diary dates, times, due dates, due times, and source document/page references. It is saved under the app’s Documents/CogniVenue-Legal/Exports/pdf folder for that section; the completion message gives the actual path. Calendar exports are saved under Documents/CogniVenue-Legal/Exports/calendar. These exports do not include the original source PDFs or a canvas image. Pending suggestions remain identified as unreviewed work; selecting or PDF-exporting them does not accept them, and pending suggestions are excluded from calendar export. Switching sections or Cases clears the export selection.

Screenshot placeholder: Legal Diary section showing Add, Refresh AI, Export Calendar, Export to PDF, Saved entries, Local AI Suggestions, and entry action buttons.

Screenshot placeholder: Approve Task dialog with date fields and Accept Without Date, followed by a saved task with its due-date control.

Screenshot placeholder: Section-entry Copy to Canvas card picker with Use Recommended, and selected entries ready for PDF export.

Related topics: AI generated entries, Canvas and PenPad.

Switch between Cases

Use the Case list or rail to open another matter. CogniVenue-Legal autosaves open Canvas work and keeps document information in the local database.

In the left pane, expand Available Cases and select a name. Up to five names are visible at once; scroll inside that list to reach the rest. The selected matter has a checked selection circle. You can collapse the list by selecting its heading, or use the slim notch at the start of the left-pane action-icon row to hide/show the Available Cases area while keeping more rail space for the active Case.

You can also use the center-pane Case tiles: the active matter stays in the first tile, while the arrows browse candidates in the adjacent tile. Click or tap the candidate tile to switch; moving the arrows alone does not select a matter.

To switch the whole working context in one action, expand the double-arrow carousel at the top left and choose Search Case. Type part or all of the Case name, then select it from Available Cases or Short-listed Cases. The app saves and closes the earlier Case’s open documents and Canvas/PenPad, opens the selected Case’s Documents overview, and shows its most recently updated Canvas or PenPad. For a new Case, this is the default ThoughtMap_1.canvas.

Selecting a Case opens its Documents section for browsing. It does not automatically replace the Canvas/PenPad that is already open; the open Canvas/PenPad remains the receiving workspace for Copy to Canvas until you explicitly open another Canvas/PenPad. At startup, the default or last active Case opens with its default or last-open Canvas/PenPad; on first use, the default is ThoughtMap_1.canvas.

If a document is open in the center pane, selecting another Case puts the rail into browsing mode instead of changing the pinned document context. Documents selected from that browsed Case open or replace the right-pane document, so you can copy material from another matter into the currently open Canvas/PenPad. Close the center document when you want the next Case selection to become the main browsing context and open its documents in the center pane.

When the center-pane browsing overview appears, the app shifts that overview upward to reveal as many document names as possible. The document list itself still scrolls to reveal further files; scroll the outer overview back when you need the Case tiles and upload controls above it.

Before switching matters during heavy work:

• Let OCR or indexing finish if you need all AI suggestions.
• After a major Canvas/PenPad edit, pause briefly so the automatic save can complete before switching. There is no separate Save command.
• Consider creating a backup before major changes.

Global Library

The Global Library is for material that can be reused across Cases, such as standard authorities, research packs, templates, or commonly used documents.

Use a Case for matter-specific content. Use the Global Library for reusable material.

Free accounts cannot create Global Library subheads. Purchasing the required first 5-pack Case allowance enables unlimited Global Library subhead creation. Existing Global Library material and subheads have no time-bound use limitation on free or paid accounts.

When the Global Library or a subhead is selected in the left pane, its Documents list shows that location’s files. Issues, Facts, Legal Diary, Evidence, Tasks/To-dos, Drafts, Authorities, and Research are Case sections and remain muted for Global Library selections.

Opening a library document keeps the currently open Canvas/PenPad selected, so Copy to Canvas can add shared reference material to that receiving workspace. To work in a library canvas instead, explicitly open its Canvas/PenPad entry from the selected library location’s left-pane Documents list. The newly opened Canvas/PenPad remains the destination until you explicitly open another one.

See the dedicated Global Lib. Help for browsing, uploads, subheads, source navigation, and canvas destinations.

Related topics: Case allowance, Copy library material to a Case canvas, Open a Global Library canvas explicitly.

Delete a Case or items

Use Delete Items from the hamburger menu when you need to remove Cases, documents, audio, or Canvas/PenPad files.

Before deleting a Case itself, delete all documents, Canvas files, PenPad files, recordings, and other content inside it. The empty Case can then be deleted completely.

Deleting a Case does not restore, increase, or add to the account’s Case creation allowance.

Deletion is local and should be treated as permanent unless you have a backup.

Related topics: Delete Items, Case allowance after deletion.