Let Claira pick the right content type per document automatically, or send the source file — image, audio, or video — when extracted text isn't enough.

Media scans

The Scan as dropdown next to every scan action lets you choose what Claira sends to the model:

Option	Source	Tokens / doc	Best for
Auto (default)	Picked per document at scan time	1–20	Mixed productions where each document needs a different mode
Text	Extracted text only	1	Native emails, Word docs, anywhere the extracted text is all you need
Image	The document's image / PDF file	5	Scanned PDFs, screenshots, photo-based records, low-quality OCR
Audio	The document's audio file	10	Voicemails, recorded calls, dictation, podcasts
Video	The document's video file	20	Surveillance clips, recorded depositions, video evidence

Auto is selected by default. For each document, Claira looks at the actual files attached in Nuix Discover. If any of them is a PDF, image, audio, or video file that the model can read directly, Claira sends that file. Only when no such file exists — common for Word documents, Excel sheets, emails, and HTML — does Claira fall back to the extracted text.

Switch to one of the explicit modes when you want Claira to use the same source across every document in a run, regardless of what's on each one.

How Auto picks per document

For each document, Auto applies one rule:

If the document has a PDF, image, audio, or video file attached, send that file. Claira walks the document's content files in priority order and sends the highest-priority one the model can read natively. PDFs always go to Image scan — the PDF itself is sent to the model, whether it was a digital-native export or a scanned image. Native images go to Image, audio files to Audio, video files to Video.
Otherwise, send the extracted text. Word documents, Excel sheets, emails, HTML pages, plain .txt files, and other formats the model can't ingest directly are reviewed against the text Nuix extracted from them.

That's it — there is no separate "scanned vs. native PDF" detection anymore. If a PDF exists on the document, Claira sends the PDF. This means the model sees layout, signatures, redactions, handwriting, and any other visual content the OCR layer might miss.

Oversize fallback. If the file Claira picked exceeds the 50 MB per-document size cap and the document also has extracted text available, Claira falls back to Text rather than skipping the document. If it has no readable content at all (no file that fits and no extracted text), Claira marks that document as skipped and continues with the rest of the run — you'll see the reason on the document in the task history.

Bulk task history shows the Auto badge on the run, and each document records the mode Auto actually picked so you can audit the mix after a run completes.

When to pick an explicit mode

Image scan

Scanned PDFs with little or no extracted text
Photo-based records or screenshots
Documents where layout and visual structure matter (forms, redactions, signatures)

Image scan accepts: PDF (.pdf), PNG (.png), JPEG (.jpeg / .jpg), WebP (.webp), GIF (.gif), BMP (.bmp), HEIC (.heic), HEIF (.heif).

Approximate max length per document: ~900 pages (for PDFs).

Audio scan

Voicemail and call recordings
Recorded interviews or dictation
Any document whose primary content is spoken audio

Audio scan accepts: MP3 (.mp3), WAV (.wav), AAC (.aac), OGG (.ogg), FLAC (.flac), M4A (.m4a), AIFF (.aiff).

Approximate max length per document: ~8 hours of audio.

Video scan

Surveillance clips, body-cam recordings
Recorded depositions or hearings
Video evidence with both visual and audio relevance

Video scan accepts: MP4 (.mp4), MOV (.mov), WebM (.webm), AVI (.avi), MKV (.mkv), MPEG (.mpeg), 3GP (.3gp), FLV (.flv), WMV (.wmv).

Approximate max length per document: ~40 minutes of video (with audio track).

How to run a media scan

Open Single Review, Bulk Scan, or Multi-Code.
Leave Scan as on Auto to let Claira pick per document, or switch to a specific mode for the whole run.
Run the scan.

Smart error suggestions

If a Text scan fails because the document has no extracted text — but Claira sees an image / audio / video file on the document — the error message in the field will say "this looks like audio content — try Audio scan" (and similarly for image/video). Switch the dropdown and re-run. When you're on Auto, Claira makes this switch for you on the fly — the error suggestion only appears when you've pinned the dropdown to Text explicitly.

Plan availability

Every scan mode is available on every plan, including Starter — single document and bulk. Auto, Text, Image, Audio, and Video can all be used by every customer without an upgrade prompt. The per-document token cost (1, 5, 10, or 20 tokens) still applies and is deducted from your case reservoir as scans run; the reservoir cap on your plan is what limits volume, not the mode.

When you pick Auto for a bulk run, Claira reserves the worst-case rate (20 tokens / doc) up front and refunds the difference as each document resolves to a cheaper mode. You only ever pay for what each document actually used.

Need help? Contact us at support@claira.to.

Media scans

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