TechnoLawyer: Document Management

Coming April 28, 2005 to Answers to Questions: Ron Fox reviews the Xerox WorkCentre M35 (which scans/prints/copies at 35 pages per minute), Jim Garrison reviews FileCenter (a document management solution), Britt Knuttgen reviews Canon's ImageRUNNER and discusses its integration with Worldox (another document management solution), Pamela Coleman reviews Microsoft Word's Reveal Formatting feature, and Claude Morgan discusses a common Internet Explorer annoyance. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Mondays and Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a twice weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming April 22, 2005 to Fat Friday: Rory Sanchez explores whether cheap PCs make sense for law firms, explains "TOC" in plain English, and recommends the ultimate monitor setup for lawyers. Additionally, Nathaniel Barber reviews the Hummingbird DM document management system in a public law office setting, while Steven Schwaber and Gil Aguiles weigh in with their respective advice on low-end PCs and monitors. If you're in the market for a PC, monitor, or document management system, don't miss this edition. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming April 18, 2005 to Answers to Questions: Paul Waldron reviews a new product that eliminates the need to "babysit" your scanner, Roger Boyell explains what to look for in the new crop of digital audio recorders (for dictation), Howard Raab discusses why he disagrees with my recent advice about Dell, Hugh Tedder reviews a useful accessory that raises your laptop to an ergonomically appropriate height, and Jeanetta Stewart compares Word's "Reveal Formatting" to WordPerfect's "Reveal Codes." Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Mondays and Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a twice weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming April 14, 2005 to Answers to Questions: Sean Tierney reviews an alternative to extranets for collaborating with clients, John Heckman discusses the pros and cons of using CompuLaw, David Silverman explains how to get more out of your digital copier with software add-ons, Susan Rosenberg provides an easy way to track trust accounts with QuickBooks, and Nick Kaczun discusses products that can automatically route your scanned documents to your document management system and to clients, colleagues, and others. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published Mondays and Thursdays, Answers to Questions is a twice weekly newsletter in which TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers (including you if you join TechnoLawyer). Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Below you'll find one of the five articles from today's edition of TechnoLawyer NewsWire:

Pathbreaking Document Assembly Tool Turns 10
By Brett Burney
If people reach their peak physical condition at age 21, what about software? If you ask the folks at Innovative Software Products of Virginia, they would probably tell you that it takes 10 versions. Why? Because the company's flagship product, Pathagoras, has just turned 10. Pathagoras continues to offer two tools in one — a document management utility that facilitates filing and retrieving documents, and a document assembly utility that works within Microsoft Word. Version 10 contains two major new features — Instant Glossaries and DropDown Lists. Instant Glossaries enable you to quickly disassemble a complete document into its component clauses so that you can easily recreate similar documents in the future. This feature dramatically reduces the time and complexity involved in setting up document templates. To use Instant Glossaries, you simply mark where each clause begins and ends. Pathagoras does the rest. DropDown Lists facilitate moving lists of your frequently used documents and library terms into always-on dropdown lists, enabling you to easily create new documents or insert terms. These lists reside on screen just like Word's font list and style list. Click on any name in the dropdown list, and Pathagoras instantly places the corresponding term into your document. Other new features in Pathagoras 10 include "Beginner's Green Buttons" that guide you step-by-step through Pathagoras' features, a contextual help system called "How Do I? ..." that provides a menu of choices if you get stuck, more powerful variables for conditional text, improved error reporting (the company has a reputation for fixing bugs at light speed), and the ability to open WordPerfect documents into Word for assembly and then convert them back to WordPerfect format. Pathagoras works with Microsoft Word 97/2000/2002/2003. Prices start at $349; a 90-day free trial is available. Learn more about Pathagoras.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

TechnoLawyer member Virginia Burrows writes in with the following tip: "We use Adobe Acrobat and Worldox 2002. If the PDF files are saved in a folder which Worldox indexes, the PDF documents are text searchable as soon as indexed."

About Quips
A Quip is a brief member contribution for which we don't have room in our Answers to Questions or Fat Friday newsletters. Instead, Quips appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Below you'll find one of the five articles from today's edition of TechnoLawyer NewsWire:

Small Firms Get Their Wish
By Neil Squillante
The lost city of Atlantis. King Arthur and the knights of the round table. The paperless office. Affordable document management for small firms. Until recently, the stuff of legend. But thanks to Authoritative.net's FileCenter 1.5, firms with 1-20 lawyers can now employ a "simple yet powerful" document management system with paperless office capabilities. With FileCenter, you can store, find, and route via e-mail or fax both electronic and paper documents. Regarding the former, FileCenter's integration with Microsoft Office and other popular applications makes it easy to store electronic documents in their native file format. Regarding the latter, FileCenter features "integrated scanning software" with OCR capabilities that works with most popular scanners and digital copiers. FileCenter's "FileFind" full-text search technology makes it easy to retrieve all the documents you've stored. When it comes time to work outside of the office, you can use FileCenter's "FolderShare" on-the-fly VPN technology to synchronize your files across any number of computers, including your laptop. When you plug your laptop back into your network, FileCenter seamlessly synchronizes all the files that have changed. No longer will you need to use kludges like e-mailing files to yourself, copying files to a flash drive, or using remote control software. FileCenter also eliminates the need for separate backup software thanks to its built-in "FileBackup" technology, which can backup your files to a secure off-site data center. Locally, FileBackup keeps the last ten versions of every document. FileCenter requires Windows 2000/XP. Pricing starts at $299 for a single user. Learn more about FileCenter.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Regarding Jeffrey Lisson's TechnoFeature article, "Where Are My Files?," Jay Willingham writes: "Excellent presentation. I have long used this way of organizing files, discovery materials and research. The long file names innovation was extremely helpful. On the subject of not reinventing the wheel, when looking for a form I also use the Find function in Windows to locate all the documents similar to what I am doing, such as "summary judgment" or "foreclosure" or "recording contract." What comes up often finds me using parts of several old documents (be they WP data or image file) to make the new one or reminds me of research on the subject already on hand."

About Quips
A Quip is a brief member contribution for which we don't have room in our Answers to Questions or Fat Friday newsletters. Instead, Quips appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

TechnoLawyer member Brad Jensen reminds us that technology trends are usually more complex than they may appear. Take document imaging, for example. Brad writes: "The reason people use document imaging is not only cost, although the cost, over time, is far less than shuffling paper around. It's also a matter of access. It is not only that you can instantly access documents through a Web interface, it's also that you can index and find them again. How much time do you spend looking for lost items? Things you meant to save, things you didn't realize the importance of until later, things someone else asks you for that seemed unimportant when you knew where they were? Knowledge is power. Digitally accessible knowledge is hyperpower."

About Quips
A Quip is a brief member contribution for which we don't have room in our Answers to Questions or Fat Friday newsletters. Instead, Quips appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.