About briefcases

A briefcase is a file that you can use to transmit documents and selected property data to external parties as a single file. Briefcases are similar to popular archive files such as ZIP and RAR except that, in addition to containing other files, a briefcase file also contains metadata about the documents it contains.

Meridian has features that work with exclusively with briefcases to aid in creating revisions to documents remotely and then importing those revisions back into a vault. You can copy documents to a briefcase for reference purposes only, or you can check out and lock documents to a briefcase so that no one can work on these documents until they are unlocked.

A completed briefcase consists of a single file with the .brc extension. You can open a briefcase file using the Meridian View Briefcase command or with BlueCielo View.

By default, Meridian creates briefcases in the .brc format. To open these briefcases, you need one of the BlueCielo products: BlueCielo Meridian Enterprise, BlueCielo TeamWork, or BlueCielo View. However, you can also create briefcases in open standard formats, such as ZIP or RAR, if the vault has been configured to make use of this feature. Such briefcases can be opened using the format’s default application, such as WinZIP and WinRAR. Document metadata is stored in these briefcases in Excel, Access, or XML format, depending on the configuration of the briefcase template. Consult a system administrator for information about the briefcase templates configured for your system.