For matters governed by strict firm policy or client-confidentiality concerns, this workflow explains how to stamp, reorder, highlight, and present exhibits entirely on a local device without uploading anything to the cloud, and how to safeguard that work through export and backup.
Litigation teams routinely handle matters where the sensitivity of the evidence, a client's instructions, or a firm's data-governance policy makes cloud storage a non-starter. In those situations, attorneys and litigation support staff still need to do the core exhibit work — applying exhibit stamps, keeping exhibit numbering in order, and marking up documents — without any of that material leaving the local machine. This workflow describes a local-only, or "offline," approach to exhibit preparation: how to organize and mark exhibits on a single device, how to preserve that work reliably, and how to present it at a hearing while respecting a no-cloud constraint. It also makes clear where the boundaries of a local-only approach lie, so a matter is never left dependent on a single, fragile copy of the record.
A local-only workflow keeps the entire project — the uploaded exhibits and every stamp, annotation, and ordering change — stored on the device you are working on rather than on a remote server. In Chronodocs, this is the offline mode built specifically for projects that a firm or client does not want placed in the cloud for any reason.
Working this way, you can still perform the full set of exhibit-preparation tasks:
The practical value is that none of this requires a network connection or a cloud account. The tradeoff is that the project lives in local browser storage on one machine, which shapes everything about how you should handle it.
Choosing an offline, device-only project is deliberately a scoped-down mode, and understanding its limits is part of using it responsibly.
Because the project never leaves the device, you cannot invite other users to co-manage the exhibits inside the workspace, and you cannot open the project from a second computer. Collaboration in this mode happens by exporting finished documents and sharing those exports, not by sharing live access to the project.
Just as important, a local-only project depends on the browser's local storage. If that storage is cleared — the routine "clear cache" action, whether done intentionally or by IT — the project and its exhibits are gone, and you would have to re-upload and re-stamp everything from scratch. Treating offline mode as a working environment rather than a system of record is the key mental model: it is excellent for marking, organizing, and preparing exhibits, but it is not, by itself, long-term storage.
Because a single local copy is inherently fragile, the workflow is not complete until you have moved a durable copy of the finished exhibits somewhere safe. Once the exhibits are stamped and highlighted, export them — typically to the firm's server, document management system, or another long-term repository — so the stamped and annotated versions exist independently of the device's browser memory.
For anything you will rely on at a hearing, add a backup file as a belt-and-suspenders step. It takes only a few seconds and means your exhibits exist in long-term storage in addition to local browser memory, so a cleared cache or a device problem does not put the presentation at risk.
Offline preparation does not prevent courtroom use. You can present the exhibits at a hearing directly from the local device that holds them, using the same presentation flow you would use for a cloud project — moving from your prepared exhibits to the marked-up source material as you present.
Two precautions make this dependable. First, do not clear the browser's memory between finishing preparation and the hearing, because that is the one action that would erase a local-only project. Second, prepare the backup file described above in advance, so that even in the unlikely event something happens to the working copy, the exhibits you need are still available.
Offline mode is the right tool when firm policy or client sensitivity requires that a specific matter stay off the cloud entirely, and your goal is to mark up, organize, highlight, and present exhibits and then export them. If instead you need to invite colleagues to collaborate on the exhibits, access the same project from more than one computer, or retain the project as long-term stored work, a cloud-enabled project is the appropriate choice; Chronodocs' cloud is end-to-end encrypted and hosted on Google Cloud Platform's security infrastructure. Many teams will use offline mode selectively — for the handful of matters that truly cannot touch the cloud — while keeping other projects in the standard cloud environment.
.png)
Chronodocs is a case-chronology workspace where litigators and legal teams build complex cases one document-linked event at a time. Filter by issue or witness, collaborate with your team, and present in the courtroom when it's time.
The case-chronology workspace built for litigators. Document-linked timelines, exhibit management, and a courtroom presentation display — in one workspace, from intake through trial.
