How do you export Filevine data for an AI data license?
Filevine runs a firm's cases as projects, each with notes, tasks, deadlines and documents. Almost everything in a project is about a client, and the client's confidence applies to it. What belongs to the firm is the way it organizes the work: its project templates, task lists and workflow rules. This guide shows how each export route behaves and where a count can come from.
What a Filevine organization usually holds
| Projects | One per case or matter, with sections of fields, a project type and a phase. The type and phase structure is set by the firm. |
| Notes and activity items | Free-text entries, calls, texts and portal messages. They record real events in a client's matter. |
| Tasks and deadlines | Who must do what, and by when. The patterns across many projects show how the firm sequences work. |
| Documents | Filed pleadings, medical records, correspondence and images. These are the client's papers. |
| Workflow and template setup | Project types, phase lists, task templates and automation rules the firm configured. This is the firm's own design. |
How data leaves Filevine, route by route
| Tool | What an export gives you | What is missing or needs an admin |
|---|---|---|
| Report Builder CSV export | A CSV of a saved report. Filevine's support article says CSV exports have no row limit and can be used to take data out of Filevine. | Only the columns the report holds. A report with more than 20,000 rows cannot be viewed on screen, though it can still be saved. |
| Data Connector delivery | The same CSV report delivered to an AWS S3 bucket or Azure Blob storage, instead of the Saved Reports page. | Turning it on requires contacting a Filevine representative. A history report in Report Builder shows past runs. |
| Collection section export | A section's collection data as Excel or Word, or as a PDF. | One section at a time, so it suits a small table and not a whole organization. |
| The Filevine API (v2 gateway) | A developer can read projects, notes, documents and other items. An account admin creates a personal access token, which is exchanged for a short-lived bearer token. | Rate limits apply, and sources give different figures for different endpoint groups. Check the current rate-limit page on the developer portal before planning a pull. |
Tool names belong to their owners and are used only to say where records usually live. Export features change by plan and version, so check the current rules for your account.
The client's confidence comes first
A Filevine project is a working file. A personal injury project may contain medical history, an insurer's letters and a client's own texts. None of that is the firm's to license, and removing a name does not make it the firm's. Whether any case material could ever be used is a question for the firm's counsel under the rules where its lawyers are admitted. Nothing here is legal advice; it is background for that conversation.
What the firm can look at is how the system itself is arranged. A list of project phases, the standard tasks that appear at each one, the number of days between them and the wording of internal checklists come from the firm's design. They can be described without opening a single case.
Project counts by type, and the opened dates
The unit to report is the project, grouped by project type. A Report Builder report can list projects with their type and opened date, and the row count of the saved file is a verified count. A figure read from a dashboard tile is an estimate and should be called one.
Also note how many project types have a written template and whether the firm changed its phases partway through. The documentation we found does not give a retention period or a cap on how many projects an organization may keep.
Access, plan and limits
Report exports are run by users with report access, and the API token comes from an account admin. The Data Connector depends on arrangements with Filevine, so ask the firm's representative what the contract includes. Check the current rules for the account, since features differ between organizations.
What stays out of a Filevine set
| Project contents | Notes, documents, texts and portal messages describe clients' cases. They are left out of the license. |
| Contacts on a project | Clients, witnesses, experts, adjusters and opposing parties are not licensed in any form. |
| Deadlines tied to named matters | A deadline list for one case identifies the case. Only the generic pattern of task timing can be described. |
| Billing and settlement figures | Amounts on a client's matter are confidential and stay out. |
A worked case: a workers' compensation firm
A regional workers' compensation firm has used Filevine for seven years. A paralegal manager exports a report that lists project types, phases and task templates, with no case names, and counts the types from the saved file. She also writes up the firm's phase checklist as plain text. Counsel reviews the report columns to be sure no client identifier slipped in. A short sample of the checklist and task template set is cut, and the owner approves it before anything leaves the firm.
Questions owners ask about this
Does a CSV export with no row limit mean everything can go?
No. The limit is a technical one. Whether any row may leave depends on whose information it holds, and project data is mostly clients' information.
Who can create the API token?
The developer documentation we read says account admins generate personal access tokens in the Account Manager. Tokens expire, so a long pull may need a fresh one.
Is the Data Connector part of every plan?
We did not find a published statement on plans. The support article says to contact a Filevine representative to set it up.
Could the firm license only its task timing?
That is one of the cleaner options, since it can be described as patterns. Counsel still reviews it so that no identifying detail rides along.
Didn't find your question? Ask us directly.
Sources
The vendor's own pages this guide draws on. Some help centers did not open for us, and where a step rests on a summary and not the page itself, the guide says so. Menus and limits change by plan and version, so check the current pages for your account.
Keep reading
Related kinds of records
- Project and task history: Jira, Asana, Linear, Monday, Trello, ClickUp and Airtable comments and status changes, not task titles.
- SOPs and knowledge bases: Procedures with their edit history and comments; published help articles add nothing.
- Client deliverables and drafts: Each draft beside its final version with the comments that changed it, kept only where the client agrees.
Industries that keep these records
- Law firms: Revision trails and intake emails, with privileged matter files kept out entirely.