Law Office Technology

How to get your Outlook Categories Back

I am a big user of Outlook’s Color Categories.  Every Contact and Calendar I create has at least one category assigned to them.  I find it much easier to work that way.  If you are moving computers or exchange accounts, you will find that your categories will not move with you.  However, there is a very easy to rebuild them.

Right click on the Inbox and go to Properties.  You will have the option to Upgrade to Color Categories.  If you click on this, Outlook will re add any category that has been used, rebuilding your master category list. 

DropBox’s Version’s Save the Day Again

 

Its nice to be able to pull up any version of a document. 

Never Install Office 64-bit

 

I was installing the NetDocs Word plugin for a client and kept getting error messages when attempting to use.  I went into Word –> Help  --> About and sure enough they were running the 64-bit of Word (and Office).

That means that the following wont work:

 

• NetDocs Integration
• Amicus Integration
• Worldox Integration
• PCLaw Integration
• Probably every other software you want to integrate

 

So unless you are working with file sizes over 2gb, never install 64-bit office.  It never plays nice.

Cheap way to get Windows 8

Windows 8 was released last week, but I  had a copy since last May.  Microsoft released a customer preview so users could test out the new operating system. 

I have an ASUS Tablet that I was using to test Windows 8 on.  I also have a MacBook Air running Parallels.  I used the release preview on Windows 8 as the operating system knowing that it would expire in January 2013, because it was free and a full version of Windows 7 cost over $300. 

I was able to put these on the full release of Windows 8 Pro for $39.99 each.  If i wanted to buy Windows 8 new,  it would cost $140, which is still pretty cheap. 

The ironic part of the new Microsoft pricing is that it is now much more reasonable for customers to go to a Mac and run Parallels.  That only cost an additional $200 now for Parallels and Windows 8.

LEGAL TECH SEMINAR: Basics and Then Some

I will be speaking at the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Legal Tech Seminar in Alexandria, LA tomorrow between 1:40 – 2:40 on How to make Effective Legal Technology Decisions to Manage your Practice. 

http://www.lsba.org/2007cle/SeminiarSchedule.asp?CLEID=392&SCD=10/26/2012

Beauregard Bench Bar Conference

I will be speaking at the Beauregard Bench Bar Conference, tomorrow at Beauregard District Court in DeRidder, Louisiana. 

I will be on from 10:45-11:45 and will be speaking about Law Firm Technology Budgets for firms of all sizes. 

For more information click here.

Where is the PCLaw Log in Amicus Attorney?

If you have a matter that will not exchange with PCLaw, Amicus will sometimes refer you to the PCLaw Link Log. However it does not tell you where to find that. It is located in the Temp Folder of Windows

Add the Address to my Ignore List not working in Worldox GX3

If you have Worldox GX3 installed and send an email to someone,  the following window appears. 

If this person is not work related (Wife, Husband, Bookie) you might want to add them to the ignore list so this prompt will not come up everytime. 

I have had a couple of instances where this has not worked.  Basically Worldox does not save new addressess to the ignore list.

To fix this go to:

Users--> User Name  --> AppData --> Local --> Worldox

 

If there is not a folder called BACKUPS,  create it.  This will fix the issue. 

 

Clio and DropBox

I knew that Clio released an integration with DropBox and that it worked pretty well.  I didn’t realize how powerful it was until I recently converted a 30 user firm to Clio.  Since most of the users at the firm already had DropBox,  they were extremely excited about how the integration worked. 

The best function of using DropBox to store your Clio documents is that they still reside on your server.  So if the internet goes out,  you still have access to all your documents.  If your server blows up,  you can log into Clio and get all your documents.  From a DR (Disaster Recovery) standpoint,  this is the best solution. 

Some Starter Tips

• The firm needs to purchase a “master” DropBox Account that the firm owns.  Don’t link to an individual user account.
• Purchase PackRat as well,  this will give you the ability to restore documents at any time.  So if 3 years from now, you realize someone deleted a document, you can find and restore it.  You can’t do that with traditional backups.  
• Only install the “master” DropBox Account on your document server(the computer where your documents reside).  You don’t need to put DropBox on every machine.
• Map a drive “Windows” or use an Alias “Mac” to share this folder to all your users.
• If attorneys have their own DropBox account,  just share their matters with them.
• Use Folders like correspondence, discovery, ect in the the DropBox Folders.  This will make them easier to see in Clio.  \
• Clio has a pretty good article about using this and setting it up. 

Part 1: Setting up Clio and DropBox

Go to the System Settings –> Dropbox.com Settings

Authorize DropBox

Login to your DropBox master account (Make sure this comes up.  If it does not you are probably logged into your own personal DropBox Account.)

Allow the connections between Clio and DropBox.

 

Go back into the settings and make sure DropBox is your default Document Source.

 

Part 2: DropBox and Your Documents

If we go to DropBox,  we see that Clio has created a folder called DropBox.

 

 

The folder is arranged by client name.

If we drill down to one of those folders, we can see that they are then arranged by Matter ID. 

Part 3: Moving Documents into DropBox

Once you have setup DropBox and Clio you need to copy documents from their old location into the Clio DropBox Folder.

In the example above,  I found the documents on my computer, and copied them into the correct DropBox Folder.  I then logged into the matter in Clio and all my documents appeared, as seen below. 

While this works flawlessly,  it would be much nicer if  I could create subfolders to see my Documents in Clio.  In my DropBox Folder,  I created the following Folders and dragged all my Documents into them. 

Now when I log into Clio, everything is more organized. 

Your Practice In the Cloud

Your Practice in the Cloud

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The Mississippi State Bar: Greenville CLE on the Road Program

04/20/2012

Tom O’Connor and Craig Bayer