Help Center

Sharing Overview

Timestamped provides several ways to share cases and reports with people inside and outside your organization. Choose the method that fits your situation:

• Case transfers (escrow): Copy entire cases or selected evidence to a partner organization using a secure escrow process.
• Portal access: Grant a partner organization read-only access to a case without transferring files.
• Email invite sharing: Share a case with a specific person via email. They receive a link to view the case directly.
• Report magic links: Share a finalized report with anyone via a unique URL, no account required.

Portal Access

Portal access allows a partner organization to view a case in read-only mode without copying files. This is useful when a partner needs to review case progress or evidence but does not need their own copy.

• The partner organization must have an established partnership with your organization.
• Portal access is granted per case. Navigate to the case settings and add the partner organization under Portal Access. Admins, owners, and users with the caseAdmin ACL can grant portal access.
• You can also grant access to individual users across organizations by adding them to the case's user ACL directly.
• You can revoke portal access at any time from the case settings. Revocation takes effect immediately.

What Portal Viewers Can See

Email Invite Sharing

Share a case with a specific person by sending them an email invite. This is ideal for sharing with attorneys, insurance adjusters, or other individuals who may or may not have a Timestamped account.

• Open the case and select Share via Email from the sharing options.
• Enter the recipient's email address and choose the permission level (viewer or report viewer).
• The recipient receives an email with a secure link. If they have a Timestamped account, they can access the case directly. If not, they can create a free Viewer account to access it.
• Invites can be revoked at any time from the case's sharing settings.

Report Magic Links

Finalized reports can be shared with anyone using a magic link: a unique URL that grants read-only access to the report without requiring the recipient to create an account.

• Magic links are only available for reports with a Final status.
• Configure an optional expiration date and password protection for additional security.
• Track who accessed the report and when from the report's sharing panel.
• Revoke access at any time by disabling the link.

Case Transfers (Escrow)

Private investigation agencies often collaborate with each other: subcontracting work, providing geographic coverage in different regions, or handling referrals. Timestamped supports secure case sharing between organizations using an escrow-based system that preserves evidence integrity throughout the transfer process.

How Case Sharing Works

Case sharing follows a five-step escrow process designed to protect both parties:

1. Initiate: The sending organization selects a partner org and chooses which evidence to share. A transfer request is created and files are staged for review.
2. Escrow: Selected files are copied to a neutral escrow staging area. A SHA-256 manifest is generated to verify file integrity. Both organizations can see the escrow contents.
3. Preview: The receiving organization can preview the escrow contents before making a decision. No commitment is required at this stage.
4. Accept or Reject: The recipient chooses to accept (files are copied to their storage) or reject (escrow is deleted and no files are transferred).
5. Expiration: If no action is taken within 7 days, the escrow automatically expires and all staged files are cleaned up.

Prerequisites

Before you can share cases with another organization, two conditions must be met:

• Mutual partnership required: Both organizations must have an established partner relationship on Timestamped (see Contacts & Network). Either organization can send the initial partnership request, but both must accept before sharing is enabled.
• Admin or owner role: Only users with an admin or owner role in their organization can initiate transfers or accept incoming transfers.

What You Can Share

When initiating a case transfer, you can choose from several sharing options:

• Full case: Share the complete case including all evidence items, timeline events, metadata, and case details.
• Selected evidence: Choose specific evidence items to include in the transfer. Useful when only certain files are relevant to the receiving agency.
• Metadata only: Share case details and timeline events without the underlying evidence files. Helpful for providing context before committing to a full transfer.

Receiving Shared Cases

When your organization receives a case transfer, follow these steps:

1. You'll receive a notification that a new transfer is available for review.
2. Navigate to the Transfers page to see the incoming transfer details.
3. Preview the escrow contents to review what's being shared, including evidence items, metadata, and file integrity checksums.
4. Choose how to handle the incoming evidence:
   • Create new case: A brand new case is created in your organization with all the transferred evidence and metadata.
   • Merge into existing case: The transferred evidence is added to a case you already have, combining both sets of files under one case.
5. Confirm your selection. The files will be copied from escrow into your organization's storage. The transfer is then marked as complete.

Key Points

• Copy, not transfer: Sharing always creates a copy of the evidence. The sending organization retains their original files and case data.
• Integrity verified via SHA-256: Every file in the transfer includes a SHA-256 hash. The system verifies these hashes when files are copied to ensure nothing was modified during the escrow process.
• Audit trail: All transfer activity is logged, including who initiated the transfer, when it was created, and whether it was accepted, rejected, or expired.
• 7-day expiration: Escrow transfers that are not accepted or rejected within 7 days are automatically expired and cleaned up. You can always initiate a new transfer if needed.

Managing Transfers

The Transfers page provides three views to help you manage all sharing activity:

• Incoming: Transfers sent to your organization that are awaiting your review. You can preview, accept, or reject each transfer from this view.
• Outgoing: Transfers your organization has sent to partners. You can monitor whether the recipient has previewed, accepted, or rejected the transfer. You can also cancel a pending outgoing transfer before it is accepted.
• History: A complete log of all past transfers, including those that were accepted, rejected, or expired. Use this view to reference previous sharing activity and verify transfer details.

Case References

After a case transfer is accepted, Timestamped automatically creates a case reference for the sending organization. Case references let you track cases you have referred to partners without needing full access to their copy.

• Automatic creation: A reference is created as soon as the recipient accepts the transfer.
• Status sync: A background job syncs the partner case's status periodically so you can monitor progress. You can also trigger a manual sync at any time.
• Local notes and tags: Add your own notes and tags to references for internal tracking. These are visible only to your organization.

Case references are accessible from the partner detail page under the Cases tab. They show the partner's case number, current status, and last sync time.