I had hoped to push our latest version on Appstream out before Christmas (and we hope you had a Merry Christmas) but there was an unexpected technical problem that took some time to sort out. However – it is set to go live tomorrow 1/4/2021.

The most important feature enhancement is the development work we did to allow you to interact with new Fields that we add to document metadata. All of tools that allowed you to manipulate or use field values in our previous generation tools had the field names hard coded into the application. The application infrastructure was redesigned so that the fields available in a document set are identified when the indexes are recognized by the application. In a practical sense – this means that as we learn about the value or possibility of new fields to use to help filter documents – we can add those fields without having to re-code the application. To see the difference compare the two images below – the first one has the fields list for SC13D filings that were accessed using 4.0.6.1.

The next image show access to the fields that are available when using the latest version of the application

You can search/filter on field values – but even if you don’t the field values will be included in your SummaryExtraction and/or ContextExtraction csv output files. It would be hard to create a meaningful search pattern for ACCEPTANCE but if we wanted to identify all SC-13D filings made by Jana Partners then it is as straightforward as typing JANA* in the Value to Search box as illustrated in the next image.

Even though we did not try to use the ACCEPTANCE filed in our search the output will include that value (suppose you wanted to do an event study using the initial filing of an SC 13D filings as the event date).

While the ability to provide additional metadata access to you is probably the most consequential feature of this update there are some other enhancements that I hope improve your experience. One is that we have added a new Zoom button that allows you to more easily navigate, identify and select the documents that you might want to search.

Version 4.0.6.2 is set for release through our APPSTREAM instances at 8:00 AM on 1/4. We will stop all running instances and change the application association that morning. Those of you who have been beta testers – thank you – you should receive an email describing your new license validation step. Those of you who have not been part of the beta testing group – one or more of our contacts at your university will be receiving an email with access instructions – if you need help please contact us at support@directedgar.com.