We do still abstract "by hand."  We write everything out, but many of our clients still want copies.  With one of our searches, the only copy needed is the legal description (we don't take the time to write that out). 

There are some good reasons for clients to ask for copies; e.g. maybe they are needed to file in a court proceeding, or maybe CC&R's are needed to attach to a copy of an owner's policy.  But all too often, I think copies are requested just because the client doesn't really trust their examiner.  I have seen a lot of terrible searches where the examiners notes were pretty much worthless without copies of everything. Maybe clients just expect the worse these days and ask for copies as a matter of course.

Best,
Robert A. Franco
SOURCE OF TITLE