Requests arrive as questions, not as record IDs. A case is where you assemble the answer: a titled, described collection of records that you can review, add to, hand off, and export as a unit.
Create a case
- Go to Archive → Cases and choose New case.
- Give it a Case title that will still make sense to a colleague in a year — the request number, the requester, the subject.
- Add a description with the scope of the request and any decisions about it. This is optional and always worth doing.
- Choose Create case.
Add records
Records go into a case from where you find them: from Search results, or from an individual record's detail view. Search for what the request covers, select the matching records, and choose Add to case. You can pick an open case or start a new one from the same dialog. Repeat as you refine the search — a case is built up over several passes, not one.
The case's records table shows each record with its author, when it was added to the case, and its Pinned version.
Pinned versions
When a record enters a case, the case pins the version of that record as it stood at that moment. If the underlying post is edited afterward, the case still points at the version you actually reviewed.
This matters more than it sounds. Without it, a production could quietly change between the day you assembled it and the day you delivered it. Pinning is what lets you say the set you produced is the set you examined.
Important
Removing a record from a case removes it from that collection only. The record itself stays in the archive — cases are a way of grouping records, never a way of deleting them.
Working the case
Cases carry a status — Open or Closed — so a case in progress is distinguishable from one that has been produced. Choose Close case when the matter is done: a closed case is locked, and records cannot be added to it until you choose Reopen case. The description is set when you create the case and cannot be changed from the case page, so write the scope of the request into it at the start.
Every action on a case is recorded in the audit log, including who added or removed which record and when. See The audit log.
Producing it
When the set is complete, open the case and choose Export — see Exporting records. Exporting from the case rather than from a fresh search is what makes the production reproducible: the case says exactly what was included.