Senior Counsel
September 15, 2025
The portable document format (PDF) was a breakthrough for the legal profession. It allowed lawyers to share contracts and pleadings in a consistent, easily readable format regardless of the software used to create them. For preserving the appearance of a document, PDF remains an excellent tool.
However, litigation is not only about appearance. It is about substance, history, and context. When a document, especially an email, is converted into PDF, critical metadata is stripped away. That metadata can include the creation date, transmission details, recipients, and other fields that may prove vital to a case.
Why Metadata Matters in Litigation
- Context and chronology: Metadata helps establish when a document was created, sent, or modified.
- Completeness of evidence: Courts and opposing parties expect original records, including their associated metadata, not just a “picture” of what they looked like.
- Risk of spoliation: If an email is converted to PDF and the original is lost or deleted, your client may face claims of spoliation (allegedly destroying or altering evidence).
Common but Problematic Approaches
Converting to PDF
- Preserves appearance only.
- Loses metadata, creating downstream evidentiary problems.
- May not include attachments
Forwarding emails
- Preserves some metadata but adds new layers (forwarding details, new recipients, altered dates).
- The “forwarded” version becomes the record, obscuring the original transmission.
Both methods result in evidence that is incomplete, inaccurate, or harder to manage in discovery.
Recommended Best Practices
Work with IT and discovery service providers early
- Preserve accounts before action: Ensure a custodian’s entire email account is securely preserved at the server or cloud level before they forward, organize, or delete anything.
- Ensure that email collection and preservation processes are understood before litigation escalates.
- Establish protocols for exporting and transmitting emails in their original format.
Preserve emails in their native format
- Individual emails should be shared as MSG (Microsoft Outlook) or EML (standard email format) files.
- These formats maintain the original message, attachments, and all metadata.
Identify and isolate relevant messages
- Instead of mass forwarding or converting, work with your IT team to export all emails that require review by in-house or external counsel to a format such at PST or MBOX.
- This reduces confusion and duplication and keeps the original metadata intact.
Educate business users
- Non-lawyers often assume a PDF is “good enough.”
- Provide simple guidance: when litigation is anticipated, never rely on PDFs or a forwarded chain. Always preserve the original emails.
Key Takeaway
PDFs are excellent for presentation, but inadequate for preservation in litigation. To protect your client, avoid spoliation risks, and maintain evidentiary integrity, ensure custodian email accounts are preserved at the server or cloud level first. Then, share and store individual emails in MSG or EML format. This ensures counsel receives the complete record (content plus metadata) needed to assess and defend the case.
When in doubt, get expert help. Preserving email evidence correctly can be technically complex, especially across multiple custodians, systems, or cloud environments. HDC regularly assists clients with advisory and data collection services to ensure emails and their metadata are preserved and produced properly. If your organization faces litigation, or wants to be prepared for it, we can guide you through best practices and handle the technical details.
