309 scattered documents, collected into one checked file
The client had years of attachments and shared links buried in email threads. I collected them, removed the duplicates, and handed back one file with a clear note of what could and could not be found.
The receipt, in plain terms
What I checked. Every email thread for links and attachments, including files buried in quoted replies, matched by their contents rather than their filenames.
What I found. 309 documents once duplicates were removed. The same document had sometimes been sent under four different names.
What I did not check. A handful of links pointed at documents that no longer existed anywhere. I named those in the delivery instead of leaving them out silently.
How the number was verified, not guessed
The 309 above is the recorded result. The detailed totals below are computed by this page from the underlying batch figures, so any difference between the original documents and the delivered file is shown rather than hidden.
| Batch | Found | Duplicates | Kept | Words at source | Words in file |
|---|
Missing files were named
If a source file could no longer be retrieved, it was listed with the email thread it came from. The client could follow it up instead of assuming the final folder was complete.
Time spent
The processing took less than a day of machine time and just over half an hour of the client's time for the brief and final check.