Managing hyperlinked documents remains a complex challenge in today’s digital communication landscape. As cloud-based collaboration tools become the norm, legal teams must navigate the dynamic nature of hyperlinked content and an evolving legal framework surrounding its treatment in eDiscovery. In this first installment of our series on hyperlinked data, we focus on best practices for preserving and collecting these modern attachments to ensure defensibility and completeness in discovery. 

What are Hyperlinked Files? 

Hyperlinked files, often called “modern” or “cloud” attachments, are links within emails or messages that point recipients to documents stored on cloud platforms and other locations, including: 

• Cloud storage platforms: Common destinations including Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive 

• Enterprise collaboration platforms: Applications that support real-time collaboration, such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Google Workspace 

• Third-party SaaS tools: Project management tools like Salesforce, Smartsheet, and DocuSign embedded within emails or messages 

• Public web or external repositories: Links in documents pointing recipients to publicly available content, external FTP servers, or client-hosted portals 

• Shortened or obfuscated URLs: Hyperlinked files embedded using URL shorteners or tracking tools like TinyURL and Outlook or Google link-tracking systems 

Unlike traditional attachments, these dynamic links reference external files that users can modify or delete independently of the original message, complicating preservation and collection.

Challenges in Preserving, Collecting, Reviewing, and Producing Hyperlinked Documents 

Hyperlinked documents don’t “live” in the communication that references them. Instead, they are just pointers to wherever the actual file is hosted. This separation can lead to preservation, collection, and contextual integrity challenges in eDiscovery that make it difficult to identify and preserve both the message and linked content simultaneously.   

Here are some of the legal and technical challenges hyperlinked documents present during the preservation and collection phase of eDiscovery: 

• Identification and tracking: Hyperlinked documents can reside in numerous locations, often making them difficult to locate and collect. Shortened URLs may hide where they live, further complicating the discovery process. Using Microsoft 365 email and Teams as an example, a hyperlinked document attached to a chat or email may live in an individual user’s OneDrive, within a SharePoint location designated as a group Teams channel, or as part of a shared SharePoint document library. 

• Preservation risks: Because hyperlinked files can be edited or removed after they are shared, the way they were stored and shared as attachments at the time of a communication is a significant consideration. Most enterprise productivity applications, including Microsoft 365, have difficulty presenting the version of the hyperlinked document that was present and shared at the time of the correspondence. Any discussion on this topic should emphasize preserving and collecting the ‘contemporaneous’ version of shared hyperlinked documents, as enterprise providers struggle to offer effective compliance tools.

• Contextual integrity: The relationship between the message and its hyperlinked content must be maintained to understand the context of the communications fully. This can be much more difficult than it sounds. Maintaining or re-creating the family relationships involving hyperlinked attachments can require preserving and collecting the export reporting that accompanies a data export or collection. It is often the export reporting that provides the critical metadata fields necessary for using 3rd party eDiscovery tools to find and match a hyperlinked attachment to its parent correspondence source. 

“We’re not just talking about email messages, and text messages, and Slack messages. We’re talking about linked data from databases, CRMs, JIRA networks—you name it, it can be considered modern attachments.”
—Benjamin Chi, Director of Knowledge Management & Litigation Technology, Finnegan 

Best Practices for Managing Hyperlinked Documents

Hyperlinked content must be managed very carefully to maintain integrity. Here are some best practices to consider when addressing this issue during your discovery: 

• Develop and establish clear ESI protocols: Address hyperlinked documents early in litigation to tailor protocols to the specific technologies and practices involved.

• Understand the features and limitations of application provider eDiscovery tools: compliance modules developed by Microsoft (Purview) and Google (Google Vault) offer search, retrieval, and export functionality to support eDiscovery workflows. However, these in-place applications have significant limitations with exporting hyperlinked attachment content.    

• Utilize advanced eDiscovery tools: Employ tools designed specifically to support the preservation of hyperlinked attachments, with emphasis on the ability to link the attachment to a parent email or parent chat message.   

• Implement robust archiving and preservation strategies: Consider expanding archive and retention policies to include all digital storage repositories where hyperlinked attachments may reside, including the preservation archive of all versions of hyperlinked attachments.    

• Collaborate with IT and legal teams: Communication is key when addressing the compliance impact of managing hyperlinked attachments within your organization. Consider both technical and legal perspectives when developing strategies to manage hyperlinked documents.

Judges increasingly recognize the complexities of hyperlinked documents in eDiscovery, but judicial treatment is still evolving as courts have not yet reached a full consensus on how producing parties should handle hyperlinked files. However, it is becoming much more difficult to rely on “we can’t collect modern attachments” as a defensible position.  

CDS combines deep technical expertise and legal insight through its Advisory and Forensic Services, guiding clients through every stage of the discovery process. Our Advisory Services team offers a consultative, creative approach to eDiscovery and data migration, bridging legal strategy with technical execution. CDS Digital Forensics provides defensible, forensically sound data collection and analysis across all formats—including mobile devices, cloud storage, and social media. Contact us to learn how we can support your discovery and data management needs. 

Stay tuned for future posts in this series that dive deeper into the legal considerations and compliance impact of hyperlinked files.