Enterprise DNA

Instead of Exterro Legal Hold

Review your Exterro Legal Hold bill. Own your legal hold records desk.

We build your version around your matters, review rules and evidence process. We map your available Exterro register, reconcile it with you and run the records desk through Omni by Enterprise DNA.

Exterro’s product site directs buyers to a demo. Bring your quote, hold allowance and integration list to the review.

Get your version built See it working
  • check_circleYour data in a database you own
  • check_circleOpen source, no lock-in
  • check_circleBuilt and run by Enterprise DNA

What the subscription covers

Separate the register from the preservation service

Exterro combines hold administration with connected preservation. Start with the parts your team uses and the work counsel and IT still perform. Compare your actual contract before deciding what to replace.

folder_open

Scoping and managing holds

Exterro manages holds from scope through release. Your matter names, scope decisions and review dates can also sit in your own register.

mail

Notice delivery and reminders

Exterro offers automated notices and reminders. The free version prepares drafts and records external delivery evidence. Connected delivery is a separate implementation.

verified_user

In-place preservation

Exterro provides technology to preserve data where it lives. Your records desk tracks evidence from IT. It does not itself freeze content.

person

Employee change monitoring

Exterro offers employee change monitoring. Here, recorded departure dates feed the handover review. Connected updates are work for your tailored version.

history

Reports and history

Exterro provides reporting and audit trails. Your own version keeps an action history and combines hold, response and preservation records for review.

extension

Connections to source systems

Exterro offers source-system connectors. Confirm which connections your agreement covers before changing tools. Enterprise DNA scopes and tests those connections for your version.

Your own records desk

The legal operations week, answered from your records

Acknowledgements

Know who still needs attention

Keep the difference between a draft, a delivered notice and a recorded response visible.

  • check List missing notice evidence separately from overdue responses
  • check Record the external reference behind each acknowledgement
  • check Keep all assignments attached to the right hold
  • check Prepare the chase draft for counsel to review

Preservation evidence

See the gaps before the review

Recorded confirmations sit beside failed checks, pending work and the person responsible.

  • check Track each custodian’s sources and responsible owner
  • check Find people leaving soon with no recorded confirmation
  • check Flag old confirmation evidence for another check
  • check Record failed checks without presenting them as success

Counsel reviews

Keep scope and release decisions together

Review each matter’s scope, next review date and evidence of counsel’s decision.

  • check Find overdue and upcoming reviews
  • check Retain the reference behind each recorded decision
  • check Show other unreleased holds affecting the same person
  • check Produce draft hold instructions and release worksheets

Your records

Take the register with you

Start from the report your administrator can supply, then reconcile the mapped records.

  • check Retain each imported source row for comparison
  • check Reject conflicting records instead of overwriting local work
  • check Keep imported holds as drafts until the evidence is checked
  • check Export the full register and history for private backup

Make it yours

Design your own Exterro Legal Hold replacement

Everything starts from the open-source base. Then it gets your name, the parts you run, your rules and your data from Exterro Legal Hold. Try it here, and we build the real one.

2. What it runs

3. Make it fit

4. Your colour

Your business · your Exterro Legal Hold replacement Your version
YB Your business

auto_awesome

Answered from your own database

Build my version

We build it from the open-source base, bring your Exterro Legal Hold data across and run it for you.

What it looks like

Ask it like you would ask a colleague

Real answers from the demo data that ships with Legal Holds for Claude Code. It runs in Claude Code inside the Claude app, so it feels like any chat you already use.

forum

Legal Holds for Claude Code

Connected to your own database

Whose acknowledgement do we still need?

H-101

Custodian
Maya Chen
Email
maya@example.test
Response due
2026-10-20
Notice on
2026-10-15
Reason
overdue acknowledgement

H-102

Custodian
Maya Chen
Email
maya@example.test
Response due
2026-10-28
Reason
notice evidence missing

Ask it anything

Ten questions your own records desk answers

These combine the records in the working demo. They are examples of what this version answers, not claims about the limits of Exterro’s custom reports.

chat_bubble Which departing custodians have no confirmed preservation?
chat_bubble Which people are attached to more than one unreleased hold?
chat_bubble Which overdue acknowledgements concern people leaving soon?
chat_bubble Which matters have holds with no custodians?
chat_bubble Which preservation confirmations need fresh evidence?
chat_bubble Which counsel have overdue hold reviews?
chat_bubble Which people acknowledged a notice but have no confirmed preservation?
chat_bubble Which system owners have failed or pending preservation work?
chat_bubble Which matters have the largest acknowledgement backlog?
chat_bubble Which imported holds still await activation review?

Switching

How to switch from Exterro Legal Hold

A move usually involves exporting a hold register, mapping its fields, checking the imported records and reconciling the two systems before you switch.

  1. 1

    Request your Exterro records

    Ask your Exterro administrator for a report containing the hold register and the records you plan to bring across, such as matters, people, scopes, assignments and review dates. Export what your account allows, usually CSV or Excel, and check the available export options with Exterro Legal Hold. Notice history and responses may need separate migration work, so decide what history you need before you start.

  2. 2

    Map and test the records

    The import accepts a CSV with an explicit map between your report headings and the new register fields. Native Exterro export headings are not verified, so check the report and map its columns rather than assuming they match. Run the offered test import first. It leaves records unchanged and helps you catch mapping problems before loading the records.

  3. 3

    Review and reconcile the results

    Check what the import flags, including records that need correction or review, and reconcile the results against your Exterro report. Imported holds remain drafts, so review them before activation. The import does not bring across frozen content or prove notices were delivered. Treat notice history and responses as separate migration work, and record any gaps you need counsel and IT to resolve.

  4. 4

    Run both systems together

    Keep Exterro Legal Hold running while you check the new register against it for a short period. Compare the records and open work, and ask counsel and IT to confirm that scopes, acknowledgements and preservation evidence are accounted for. Continue actual preservation in the source systems and send approved notices through your existing process. The new register records this work, but does not perform it.

  5. 5

    Switch off Exterro Legal Hold

    Only switch off Exterro Legal Hold after counsel and IT approve the reconciliation and agree how required services will continue. The free base covers record administration, not Exterro's notice delivery, authenticated portal or live preservation connectors. Keep any needed preservation and notice processes operating through the systems and approved processes your team has agreed to use.

construction

Where the real effort goes

The main work is usually mapping your own report fields to the register, deciding which rules and checks apply, and choosing how much history to bring across. Notice history, responses and frozen content need separate migration work, so a simple metadata import does not complete every part of the move. If Enterprise DNA runs the installation, it maps your Exterro records and builds your fields, rules, access controls and connected checks.

Not ready for a call?

Get your Exterro Legal Hold switch plan by email

We will send you the step-by-step plan for moving your business off Exterro Legal Hold, what the move really involves, and how we would do it for you.

One email with your plan. No spam, and you can unsubscribe any time.

Three ways to own it

Choose who builds and runs your version

Open source

Do it yourself

Free, open source

  1. 1 Clone the repo, install Node and run npm install
  2. 2 Run npm test and npm run demo, then use Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode or Cursor
  3. 3 Read the switching guide and map your available Exterro report before running import
  4. 4 Reconcile the register and keep source preservation running with counsel and IT
Get it on GitHub

Built around your business

We customise it

One setup fee, then a retainer for ongoing work

  • check Your matter references, jurisdictions and review rules
  • check Your available Exterro register mapped and checked
  • check Access controls, a web front end or a different technical foundation if needed
  • check Preservation connections and approval steps scoped and tested with your team
Get your version built

Omni by Enterprise DNA

We run it for you

One setup fee, then a retainer

  • check Installed with private access and backups
  • check The records review and draft paperwork prepared each week
  • check Kept working as people, sources and review rules change
  • check Operated through Omni by Enterprise DNA, with counsel and IT retaining their responsibilities
Book a 30-minute review

Questions

Instead of Exterro Legal Hold, answered

Does this replace every part of Exterro Legal Hold? expand_more

The free version covers the records desk: scopes, people, acknowledgements, preservation evidence and reviews. Enterprise DNA can build the connected checks, access controls and approval process around your version. Decide with counsel and IT which preservation services must continue before changing your subscription.

Will it preserve our mailboxes or send a notice? expand_more

The free version records evidence of those actions and prepares drafts. IT preserves the actual content, and approved notices go through your existing delivery process. A recorded name is not a verified signature. Shared access and verified approvals need a tailored installation.

Can we import our Exterro history in a day? expand_more

The import accepts a mapped hold register from a report your administrator can supply. Native Exterro export headings were not publicly verifiable, so we check the available report and map its headings first. Notice history, responses and frozen content require separate migration work. Keep preservation operating until counsel and IT approve the reconciliation.

Does a clear review mean we comply with the law? expand_more

It means the configured record checks found no gaps. Counsel decides the legal scope and deadlines, and IT verifies preservation. The included New Zealand preservation reference supports the review process. Australian matters require counsel’s applicable court rules to be added before operational reliance.

What happens when a person has several holds? expand_more

The release review lists their other unreleased holds. Recording a release requires counsel’s authority and an evidence reference. It changes only that entry in the register. It never deletes content or removes a source-system hold. Bring your Exterro quote and required integrations to Sam’s review so the ongoing service is scoped around your actual process.

Bring your Exterro quote and one hold process

Spend 30 minutes with Sam. Show what you pay for, how counsel reviews a hold and how IT proves preservation. We will work out which records you can own and which connected services your version needs.

Book 30 minutes with Sam Get the free version

Legal Holds for Claude Code is free and open source, published by Enterprise DNA.

Done paying for Exterro Legal Hold?

Get your version built