> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.rytz.com.au/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Uploading and organising

> Day-to-day flow for capturing evidence in the Portfolio — what to capture, how to tag it so you find it later, and what metadata matters most for court use.

import { Steps, Step, Frame, Note, Tip, Warning, CardGroup, Card, Check } from '@mintlify/components'

This page walks through how to add evidence to the Portfolio and tag it so it stays useful months later. The shortest version: capture in the moment, label clearly, classify the source.

## Before you start

<Check>
  * [ ] You're signed in to RYTZ at app.rytz.com.au
  * [ ] Your Master Case File has at least the parties and the children captured (so evidence can be associated with the matter)
  * [ ] You have something to upload — a screenshot, a document, a photo
</Check>

## Adding an item

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Evidence Portfolio">
    From the dashboard, click **Evidence Portfolio** in the left navigation, or go directly to `app.rytz.com.au/evidence-portfolio`. You'll land on the vault view — a grid of every item already captured, organised by category.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click 'Add evidence'">
    The button sits top-right of the vault. A modal opens with the upload form.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pick the evidence type">
    Choose from: Photograph · Document · Correspondence (SMS / email / messaging app) · Audio recording · Video · Note (something you write yourself) · Third-party record (school report, medical note, police record).

    The type drives which metadata fields appear next.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Upload the file (or write the note)">
    Drag-and-drop or click to select. The platform accepts most common formats: PDF, DOCX, PNG, JPG, HEIC, MP4, MOV, MP3, M4A. Files up to 100 MB per item. For larger files (long videos), trim before uploading.

    For Notes, type directly into the editor. Notes support basic formatting and inline links to other Portfolio items.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the date the evidence relates to">
    This is **not** the date you uploaded — it's the date the evidence is *about*. The text-message conversation that happened on 14 March, the photo taken on 28 February, the school report dated 22 April. The platform uses this date for chronology generation, calendar view placement, and Master Case File timeline.

    For documents that span a date range (a school report covering Term 1), use the document's issue date.

    <Tip>
      If the date is in the file itself (EXIF data on a photograph, send-time on an SMS screenshot, header date on a PDF) the platform pre-fills it. Check it's correct, especially for screenshots where the device's clock may have been wrong.
    </Tip>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Classify the source">
    Pick one: **Mine** (you produced it) · **Other party** (they produced it or it came from them) · **Court** (filed by either party or generated by the court) · **Professional** (a third party — solicitor, GP, school, accountant).

    Source classification matters for two reasons: (a) the platform applies different presumptions about reliability and admissibility per type, and (b) when you produce a disclosure bundle, the court typically expects the source classification visible.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add a description and tags">
    Write a one- or two-sentence description in plain English. "Text message from Lucy on 14 March 2026 saying she would not return Sophia from her weekend." Future-you will thank you when you're searching for this six months later.

    Tags are free-form. Use the same tags consistently — e.g. `changeover`, `school-comms`, `medical`, `financial`, `disparagement`. The platform suggests tags you've used before.

    <Tip>
      The strongest descriptions name **who**, **when**, **what** plainly. The court is not impressed by drama. "On 14 March 2026 at 6:47 PM, Lucy sent the message above stating she would not return Sophia until further notice" beats "Lucy refusing to return our daughter — see screenshot".
    </Tip>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click Save">
    The item appears in the vault. From the vault, you can edit any field, attach it to a calendar event, add it to a bundle, or send it to Stage Review.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What to capture

The shortest list: anything you might want a court (or a lawyer) to see, you keep. Evidence you didn't capture in the moment is essentially impossible to recreate later. Storage is cheap. Capture liberally.

Specific things to capture as they happen:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Communications with the other party" icon="message">
    Every SMS, email, messaging-app message about the children, finances, or property. Screenshot at the time, including the timestamp + sender. Don't crop out context.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Changeover events" icon="arrow-right-arrow-left">
    Photos of the children at handover. A short voice memo of the handover environment if relevant. Note any deviations — late arrivals, refusals, third-party observers, behavioural changes.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Financial documents" icon="receipt">
    Bank statements, tax returns, super statements, business records, receipts. Statements at the relationship-end date (the asset-pool snapshot date) are particularly important for property settlement.
  </Card>

  <Card title="School + medical communications" icon="school">
    Reports, parent-teacher feedback, behavioural notes, medical records, prescription lists, hospital admissions. These are third-party records — the platform classifies them as Professional source.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Family-violence evidence" icon="shield">
    Police reports, ADVO/AVO copies, photos of any injuries, screenshots of threatening messages. Capture immediately — memory fades and devices fail.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Your own notes" icon="pen">
    A contemporaneous diary entry made on the day something happened is admissible evidence. Even if you never use it in court, the act of writing reinforces what you remember.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## What NOT to capture (or capture carefully)

<Warning>
  * **Recordings of the other party that they don't know are being made** are governed by state surveillance/listening-device legislation. In most Australian states, recording a private conversation without all parties' consent is an offence. Take advice before you start audio-recording in this category — what you think is helpful evidence may be inadmissible and may expose you to a criminal charge.
  * **Children's communications with the other parent** — capturing texts the children send the other parent (or vice versa) without the children's knowledge raises both legal and ethical questions. Default position: don't.
  * **Screen recordings of the other party's social media** taken via fake accounts or pretexting — high risk of admissibility being challenged. Public-feed material captured through your real account is fine.
</Warning>

## Tagging strategy

A few tags that pay off for almost every matter:

| Tag               | Use for                                                           |
| ----------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `changeover`      | Anything related to physical handover of children                 |
| `school-comms`    | School reports, teacher emails, parent-portal notes               |
| `medical`         | GP notes, hospital records, mental-health practitioner records    |
| `financial`       | Bank statements, payslips, super, business, tax                   |
| `family-violence` | FV-related — but tag carefully; treat with sensitivity in bundles |
| `disparagement`   | Other party speaking ill of you to children or third parties      |
| `non-compliance`  | Other party not following existing orders or agreements           |
| `chronology`      | Items that should be in the chronology bundle                     |
| `affidavit-N`     | When an item becomes an annexure to a specific affidavit          |

The tags are how the platform's search + bundle features find what you need later. Consistency now saves hours of triage when a hearing approaches.

## Quick capture from a phone

For the most-common case — a screenshot you've just taken on your phone — the fastest path:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open RYTZ on your phone">
    `app.rytz.com.au` works in any mobile browser. The Evidence Portfolio screen has a prominent **Add** button.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add evidence → Photograph or Correspondence">
    Pick **Photograph** for a photo, **Correspondence** for an SMS/email/messaging-app screenshot. The latter triggers different metadata fields (sender, recipient, app).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Upload from camera roll">
    The phone offers your camera roll. Select the screenshot or photo.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Confirm date + add description">
    The platform reads the date from EXIF where it can. Confirm or correct, then write one sentence describing the item.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    Done. The item appears in the vault on every device immediately.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  The fastest pattern is to add evidence the moment it lands — don't batch up screenshots to upload "later". Later never happens, dates get fuzzy, and context fades.
</Tip>

## What's next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Stage Review" icon="layer-group" href="/evidence/stage-review">
    Once you have evidence, the Stage Review surface helps you assign each item to its court-stage relevance with AI proposals.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Court Readiness Matrix" icon="grid-2" href="/evidence/court-readiness-matrix">
    See your readiness percentage by stage at a glance.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Bundles for court" icon="folder-open" href="/evidence/bundles-for-court">
    Curate a subset of items for a specific filing or hearing.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Privacy and data" icon="lock" href="/account/privacy-and-data">
    How the platform protects evidence at rest and in transit.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>