Share a case with Advanced Sharing

Advanced sharing lets you share a case so partner organizations can work with the same case and evidence in your Axon Evidence system.

Evidence sharing with prosecution and justice partners is a constant part of your work, and the current manual model creates real risk. Every share requires someone to decide what to include, choose a method, and then remember to update it when new evidence comes in. Advanced Sharing replaces those per-share decisions with organization-level policies and automated workflows, so your partners always have the right evidence, without the need to follow up.

Watch this video to learn more about Advanced Sharing in Axon Evidence.

Before you start

Advanced Sharing must be set up by an administrator before you can share cases.

An administrator configures Advanced Sharing in Case settings, creates sharing policies, and assigns those policies to partner organizations. These policies control what case and evidence data can be shared and what actions partner organizations can take.

If Advanced Sharing options are not available when you try to share a case, contact your organization administrator.

Advanced Sharing currently applies to partner-agency reference sharing workflows. Link sharing and downloadable package sharing continue to use the existing sharing model.

How partners access the shared case

When you share a case with Advanced Sharing, the receiving organization can access it in two ways depending on their settings:

  • As a reference view: A read-only window into your case as you have shared it. They can see current evidence without importing.
  • As an imported working copy: If the sharing policy allows it, they can import the case into their own system and work with it independently. Their edits do not affect your case.

You retain full ownership and control of the source case throughout. What the partner can do with the shared case is determined entirely by the sharing policy your administrator has configured.

Share case access with a partner organization

  1. Select Cases.
  2. Find and select the case you want to share.
  3. Decide how much of the case you want to share:
    1. The entire case
    2. Selected folders in the case: Select the folders you want to share
    3. A subset of evidence in the case: Select the evidence you want to share
  4. Select Share.
  5. Choose how you want to share the case, and then complete the steps in the corresponding section below.

Choosing the right scope

For an active prosecution where you expect to add new evidence (body cam footage, supplemental reports, lab results), share the entire case or a folder. This ensures your partner automatically receives everything as it comes in.

For a one-time evidence handoff with no expected updates, sharing a subset of specific evidence items is appropriate.

Give access to a case in Axon Evidence

  1. Select the People tab.
  2. Choose one of the following options:
    1. Share internally with users in your organization: Select Inside my agency.
    2. Share externally with a partner organization: Select a Partner agency. When you select a partner, select View next to their name to review their sharing policy.
  3. Enter a user or group name, email address, or badge ID.
  4. Enter an optional message.
  5. Select Share.

Use this option to share a downloadable package of the case. For example, when the recipient does not have an Axon account or uses a different system. Note: link shares are not controlled by Advanced Sharing policy and do not include automatic evidence updates.

  1. Select Cases.
  2. Find and select the case you want to share.
  3. Select Share.
  4. Select the Link tab.
  5. Under Recipient, choose one of the following options:
    1. Email address: Enter the recipient's Email address. If the email is not already in the system, you can create it.
    2. User: Select a Partner agency, then enter a user or group. Or, select Inside my agency, then enter a user or group.
  6. Select the attachments to include:
    • Audit trails
    • Transcripts
    • Table of contents
  7. Select Retain folder structure to include the folder and subfolder hierarchy in the share.
  8. Select a package type. Choose ZIP or ISO.
  9. Enter a Duration.
  10. Enter an optional Message.
  11. Select Share.

After you share a case

When you share a case, it will take some time to process.

  • While the case is processing, the status shows as Processing in the Share case dialog.
  • When sharing is complete, profile icons appear on the case details page to indicate who has access.
    • Hover over a profile icon to view the person's full name.
    • The case owner is shown in green and identified as the owner when you hover on their profile icon.
    • Select any icon to open the Share case dialog, which lists full details of who has access to the case.

How the receiving organization gets updates

When a case is shared with a partner organization using Advanced Sharing, the receiving organization is notified by email. What the recipient can do depends on how the case was shared and the sharing policy applied

  • The case appears in their system marked as an External case with your organization's name.
  • If the policy allows it, they can import the case into their own system and work with it as an editable copy.

Import behavior depends on the receiving organization's settings.

  • Axon Justice organizations auto-import cases by default, and the case appears in their system automatically.
  • Axon Evidence organizations may need to manually import received cases, depending on their administrator's configuration.

The following metadata fields sync from your case to the receiving organization's imported copy:

  • Case-level: Title, Case ID, and Description.
  • Evidence-level: Evidence name, Evidence ID, and Evidence description.

All other metadata fields are not automatically synchronized. If additional fields need to match, the receiving organization would need to update them manually in their copy.

Receive and access a shared case

When you update case or evidence information, the receiving organization can review and apply those updates from their side. No action is required from you, updates become available to them automatically when you make changes.

  1. The receiving organization receives an email notification that a case has been shared.
  2. From the email, do one of the following:
    1. If access was shared, select View to open the shared case in Axon Evidence.
    2. If a link was shared, select Download to download the case files.
  3. To work with the case in Axon Evidence, open the shared case from your case list.

How folders are handled

Your folder structure is copied to the receiving organization once — at the time of the initial share. After that, folder structure is not synchronized. This protects any organization the receiving agency creates in their copy.

Scenario What the receiving organization sees
New evidence added to a folder that existed at the initial share Appears in the matching folder in their copy.
New evidence added to a new folder you created after the initial share Appears at the root level of their case, not in a subfolder.
You rename or reorganize folders after the initial share No change to their folder structure.

Organize folders before the initial share

Since folder structure syncs once, setting up your folders before sharing gives your partner the clearest view from the start. You can still add evidence to new folders after sharing, it will land at root level on their end.

Stop sharing a case

  1. Open the case.
  2. Select Share.
  3. Under Who has access, select the person or organization.
  4. Select Stop sharing.
  5. In the Revoke case access window, select Revoke to confirm.

FAQs

Is classic sharing still available?

The current sharing model will remain available under the Classic sharing tab on the case details page. You can use both models at the same time — Advanced Sharing with partners who are set up for it, and classic sharing for agencies that are not. Existing classic shares are not automatically converted to Advanced Sharing and continue to be managed under classic sharing.

Does Advanced Sharing affect internal shares or link sharing?

Sharing cases within your own agency and generating downloadable links continue to work the same as today. Advanced Sharing currently applies to partner-agency reference sharing workflows only.

Does Advanced Sharing support sharing with FPP agencies?

Advanced Sharing is not supported for Free Prosecutor Program (FPP) agencies. When you attempt to share with an FPP agency, you will be directed to classic sharing for that partner.

Can Advanced Sharing be turned off?

Once your organization enables Advanced Sharing and begins creating shares under the new model, it cannot be disabled. Classic sharing remains available alongside it — you will manage both during any transition period.

How does onward sharing by partners work?

If the sharing policy allows it, the receiving organization may share your case with additional parties. Whether this is permitted is defined by the policy your administrator has configured. Review your policy settings with your administrator if you want to restrict or control onward sharing.