A photocopy is a paper copy of a document or other visual image. Increasingly, photocopies are retained as “original” records of documents (particularly in outgoing correspondence files), and photocopies might be the only evidence of a document if the original cannot be located or, in some cases, cannot be released. Fraud examiners and other investigators sometimes submit a copy of a document to a document examiner for examination because they do not wish to part with the original. Document examiners, however, cannot uncover certain types of clues, such as indentations and erasures, from photocopies. As a result, document examiners might not be able to determine features and reach conclusions that could have been made from the original documents. Therefore, when possible, the fraud examiner should submit the original document to the document examiner. Original documents should be handled according to their importance, and transferring them will often require the observance of chain of custody procedures.