Nope, Odyssey Is Not Being Shut Down.

 A couple of Doxpop customers contacted us today because one of the other E-Filing Service Providers sent them a solicitation asserting that Odyssey (the Case Management System used by Indiana Courts) is going to be shut down.

That is not correct. (Also, in case you were worried, the sky is not falling either. 😉)

What *is* happening is that in the first week of December, the State Court is going to be replacing the EFM (E-Filing Manager) that Doxpop and other E-Filing Service Providers use to submit your envelopes to the Courts.

When this happens, Nothing about Odyssey will change, and there will be no significant changes to Doxpop. Our goal is to make sure the transition to the new EFM is a boring event for all of our customers.

We will be working with all of you to make sure your filing history is preserved as the Courts move to the new EFM, so watch this blog for details of that process as we get closer to December.

In the meantime, relax, and don't believe anyone who tells you Odyssey is going away.

"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

-Mark Twain

Frustrated by the Service contact #|CODE|# message? Help is on the horizon!

In last week's blog post, we told you that the Indiana Courts are making some major changes to the system we submit your envelopes to when you E-File. Big changes are scary, but are also opportunities for improvement, so in the next few posts, we'll share some of the ways this change will make your work easier.

Currently, filers occasionally get a frustrating error message that prevents filing. If you've ever seen this message, you know the pain:

Service contact #|CODE|# is not eligible for electronic service.

The good news is that in December, this problem will go away! ...The bad news, of course, is that it won't happen until December.

Fortunately, we've got a workaround to deal with this problem until December. First, we'll explain the workaround so you know how to deal with it. Second, we'll explain why it's likely to be with us until December, and why we think the future is brighter.

The Workaround:

This problem is caused because one of the e-service contacts attached to the case you are filing on has a flag set that makes the EFM think it can only be used for postal service, not e-service. Here is the workaround:

1. Determine which Service Contact is the issue. You can do that by deleting the current draft that shows the error. You'll find the [Delete this Draft] button in the green "E-File & Serve on this Case" field.
2. Go back to the case e-filing screen, and prior to uploading any documents, scroll down to the "Contacts to E-Serve" section and click the green slider button to unselect all.
3. Select one contact and upload a document to see if the error appears. If not, add each Service Contact, oneat a time, until you see the error. Then you'll be able to delete that draft again to clear the error. 
4. Go back to the initial filing screen, and start by clicking the green slider button next to the contact that caused the error in the "Contacts to E-Serve". This will "turn off" that contact. 
5. Now, proceed with the filing normally.

Using this workaround, you'll be able to do everything except serve the errored contact, so you'll want to note the email address for them and send them service directly. It's a painfully long workaround, but for the moment, it's the best option.

Why This Error Won't Go Away Until December:

This error currently exists due to Indiana Courts using the “ECF4” system, while the vendor they are working with focuses on their “ECF5” system. Due to this focus, the error was fixed on ECF5, but we believe it is unlikely we'll see the same fix for the ECF4 system. But there is good news! Since the Indiana Courts are rolling out their own in-house E-Filing Manager in December, we know this problem will be resolved then. We also believe that in the future, the folks in Indianapolis will be more responsive to problems like this than their current vendor has been in the past.

Thank you for choosing us as your E-Filing Service Provider. We plan to continue providing a positive experience to everyone using our site. If you ever need support or have questions, please don't hesitate to contact us! Our great support team can be reached via any of the options listed on this page: https://www.doxpop.com/prod/in/help/HelpTopic

Major changes behind-the-scenes in E-Filing.

In late November or early December, The Indiana Office of Court Technology (IOCT) will be releasing a new version of the E-Filing Manager (EFM) used by E-Filing Service Providers (EFSPs). 

That's way too many acronyms packed into one sentence! However, this is important for you, so let's take a moment to unpack them:

An EFSP is the part of the E-Filing system that filers use to submit pleadings to the court. Doxpop is one example of an EFSP, and others can be found on this page: https://www.in.gov/courts/efiling/providers/. 

In brief, the role of an EFSP is to guide you through the process of assembling the documents you want to file with a court into an Envelope for submission. In addition to uploading documents, the EFSP also gathers the necessary information to create a case for an initial filing, or add attorneys and provide e-service in subsequent filings. 

In our opinion, the technology is important, but the key part of that acronym is "Service Provider".  A good EFSP provides services to support your work.

The EFM is the system that the EFSP hands your Envelope off to after we've made sure it meets all of the requirements for filing. The EFM is the part of the E-Filing system that routes your envelope to the correct court office and then allows the clerk or court staff to review and accept the envelope as a filing. This is the step where a file stamp is applied to the documents and they become available to the court. On the Court side, that means they are now in the Court's Case Management System (CMS), which you may also know as "Odyssey", or in some situations, Quest. Think of the EFM as the central hub and routing agent of the E-Filing system. Every filing goes through this hub.

For about ten years, the Indiana Courts have used an EFM supplied by Tyler Technologies, the same company that provides the Odyssey CMS. As time went on, the IOCT saw opportunities for improvements that better fit the business processes in Indiana Courts. Due to this, the IOCT has been writing their own EFM, and is planning on releasing it in late November or early December.

This is a really big deal for Doxpop, because it means we are having to re-write all of the code that connects our system to the State. We fully intend to do such a great job of that re-write that you don't even notice the switchover. However, because the EFM is so central to everything we do, we're giving you the heads-up about the change well ahead of time. This coding will require time on our end, but there is no reason to expect any interruption in services for our users. Our team is actively working on ongoing issues in addition to this project. Information regarding these issues will be addressed in a blog post in the near future.

We're not perfect, and the IOCT is not perfect, so there may be a few bumps in the road as we make this transition in late November or early December.

We'll follow this post up with a few status reports between now and then, and as the cutover date nears, we'll let you know exactly what to expect.

 

Need to find a deed from 1822? Rush County's historical deed indexes are now online!

This week, we are pleased to announce that images of the Historical Indexes in Rush County are available via Doxpop.

This is important for researchers because although many older documents have been scanned, until they are also indexed on the computer, the only way to locate them is by looking in the index books and then using the Book & Page to find the image.

Although many Recorders are working to "back-index" all of those old images, it will take some time to accomplish that. In the meantime, you can use the online version of the book index to locate the older document images. You can browse the books just as you would in the office, and when you locate the document you need, enter the Book & Page in the search area in the top right corner, and go straight to that image (if it exists.) 

You can access the historical book indexes from Doxpop's advanced Recorded Document search page or from the Recorded Documents tab. Here's a direct link if you want to give it a try right away: https://www.doxpop.com/prod/in/recorder/ManualIndex/18188

Congratulations to Debbie Richardson and her staff for making this new feature available for Rush County!

Hamilton County's documents will remain available on Doxpop for another 2 weeks. (Until 7/1)

Hamilton County is working out a few lingering details with their conversion, and have asked that we keep their documents online through Doxpop for two more weeks (Until 7/1/2025.)

We're happy to do that, of course. When you are using Doxpop to look up Hamilton County's documents, it is important to remember that any documents filed on or after 5/1/2025 will not be found on Doxpop. 

To access newer documents, you can use https://tapestry.fidlar.com/Tapestry2/ for low-volume searching. To set up access for higher volume searching, contact the Hamilton County Recorder's office at (317) 776-9717 during their normal operating hours of 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday.

Dearborn Historical Indexes- Now you can browse the index for deeds from 1903 online!

The Dearborn County Recorder is doing some great work to preserve records and provide greater online access by back-indexing deeds on their computer system and adding access to scanned images of the historical paper indexes.

On the computer indexing side, they have been adding scanned images of older deeds, and indexing them. The most recent batch released covers 1988, so Dearborn now has 37 years of deed history fully indexed and available online. The index for all document types begins in July of 2000, providing nearly 25 years of full document history.

This back-indexing work is an important part of record preservation and access because it is much easier to archive multiple copies of images and index information when it is in electronic form. 

Those familiar with local history will know that in 1826, the Dearborn County Courthouse burned, destroying all records stored there. If a similar disaster were to occur today, the County's Recorded Documents would continue to be available without interruption online while rebuilding or office relocation occurred. In addition, full recovery of the electronic records could be done in about one day, so "restarting" the office would be a relatively easy task.

In a related preservation project, the Recorder has scanned the paper index that covers deeds from the year 1903 forward. Now that these records are in electronic form, they are similarly preserved in case of disaster, and as an added benefit, they are now available online through Doxpop's advanced search page. 

When you use the images of the paper index, you should be aware that this is a snapshot of the paper index, and any manual corrections or notes made after that snapshot won't appear. Fortunately, these corrections are rare, given the historical nature of the information.

Please join us in congratulating Joyce Oles and her excellent staff for all of the work they have put into both preserving documents and making them more readily available online!

Clark County Recorded Documents Leaving Doxpop

The Clark County Recorder's Office is changing their document management and indexing system on June 1st 2025. This new system is not part of the Doxpop network, and so Clark County's documents and property watch services will no longer be available via Doxpop after this transition is completed. 

When the transition is complete, Clark County recorded documents will be available online for low volume users through the Tapestry system at https://www.landrecords.com. High volume users can inquire about additional services designed to serve professional researchers by calling the Recorder's Office at (812) 285-6235 during their normal operating hours of 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM EDT, Monday through Friday.

Doxpop Property Watch alerts will also halt when Doxpop stops receiving updates from Clark County on June 1st. We will email all current users with instructions for setting up new alerts at that time.

Note: We will keep Clark County on our system until July 15th to insure that the new system is working well and the transition is complete before we shut down access through Doxpop. However, it is important to remember that any documents filed on or after 6/1/2025 will not be found on Doxpop.

Please join us in thanking Clark County and their staff for many years of partnership and public service!

Subscription Price Increase

On July 1st, 2025, Doxpop will increase our subscription prices by 25%.

Our last price increase was in August of 2006, so after more than 18 years with no increases, it's time.

The exact amounts for each level will vary slightly, because we are rounding the numbers. However, for budgeting impact purposes, 25% is essentially accurate. Here are the actual amounts:

What won't change on July 1:

• Copy fees for Recorded Document images.
• The low-volume free searching accounts designed for use by non-professionals. (Still free!)
• Bulk E-Filing fees.

The way we'll roll this out is that on your first renewal following July 1st, we'll apply the new rate. That means most of you will see the increase during the month of July. Anyone who signed up for a year in advance won't see the increase until their next annual renewal. There are also a few government accounts that will remain locked in through the end of their current fiscal year.

We will increase the Court Record API fee at the same time. This won't affect people with a basic subscription to the web site, and we will be contacting all of the API users during the next month to notify them individually.

We hope you'll agree that after holding steady for 18+ years, during which the US cumulative inflation rate has been 49%, this increase is reasonable. As always, feel free to get in touch to let us know if you have any concerns. You can reach us via support@doxpop.com or by calling 866-269-7671

Changes to the Recorded Document preview system.

Today we are releasing a change to the recorded document preview system.

We have found that the free search accounts that we supply for the use of non-professional users are often abused by people who copy the pieces of a document from the "slot" viewing system and then paste them together to avoid paying the document copy fee. To prevent this, the free accounts will no longer be able to see the entire document in the previewer, and will be limited to half of each page.

In order to see the entire page in preview, you'll have to upgrade to one of the paid searching levels. At those levels, we've now made the viewing pane a little larger to make it easier for professional users to ensure that they have found the correct document before purchasing it. This also makes it easier for people who only need to view information without purchasing a copy.

In both cases, the preview image retains a watermark, but a properly purchased copy will not be watermarked.

The free searching accounts have always been intended primarily to serve non-professional users such as a land owner who just needs to look up a few documents related to their own property. We remain committed to providing the searching service at no cost for these users as a community service. However, we are required to charge the copy fee for all documents on behalf of the Recorder(Indiana) or Register of Deeds (Michigan), and must cover credit card fees, so the copy fee at that level is $2/page.

If you are having trouble deciding whether you have located the correct document before purchasing, please just give us a call, and we'll help. We have been forced by bad actors to obscure half of every page, but that doesn't mean we are any less committed to helping the people who are following the rules. 

You can reach our support staff from 8 AM - 6 PM Eastern time at 866-369-7671, or email us any time at support@doxpop.com. After-hours emails will get a response as quickly as we can manage on the morning of the following workday.

Beware of malicious emails masquerading as messages from the Indiana Courts via GovDelivery.

We received the following notice from the Indiana Supreme Court today, and are reposting it here to make sure all of our customers see it:

We are aware of a malicious email and/or text message being circulated from Indiana state agency GovDelivery accounts, including the Indiana Courts account. We no longer use GovDelivery to send email and texts. The message contains a hyperlink that is malicious in nature; do not click it.

The Indiana Office of Technology is also aware of the issue. Phishing, spoofing, and other forms of electronic crime are common and require us to remain vigilant. Get more information from FBI.gov.

To reiterate the most important part of the message above, if you receive any messages from "GovDelivery" purporting to be from the Indiana Courts or any other Indiana State office, Do not click on any links in those messages or open any attachments.