Tech of Law

Allwaysync as a Backup Solution for the Small Law Office

noreply@blogger.com (Shube) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:31:00 +0000

As the techie in the office, I am responsible for the data backup strategy. To put it simply, think back to college when you were pulling that all nighter to finish the final paper and you got that blue screen of death and the smart ass passing by said "hope you saved." With the ever increasing move to digital file keeping in the legal world testing fate is no longer an option.

There are a number of strategies for protecting data. Vaulting, where data is kept backed up off-site, is one of the best. At the very minimum, some sort of redundancy is required.

I've been testing AllwaySync to keep a mobile laptop synchronized with the files I'm working with on the office network, to both keep files current and to protect the hard work I have put into creating them. The program works as advertised and it is fairly easy to set up. Just tell the program the folder on the local and remote computers to keep synchronized, analyze the folders, tell the program how to resolve conflicts, and sync. The program has an option to do a scheduled sync but I have yet to test it.

AllwaySync is free for personal use.

OfficeTab

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:16:00 +0000

The internets are abuzz this morning with posts about OfficeTab.

OfficeTab is an addon for Microsoft Word/Excel/Powerpoint that enables you to open multiple files within a single window using Firefox-like tabs. The initial reaction is that this is a great feature that should come standard with Word. One drawback that I've found in the short time I've been using it (the last 20 minutes) is that there is no obvious way to open two instances of Word for purposes of comparing two documents side by side. There is, of course, the "View Side by Side" option on the "View" tab. However, if you're like me and have dual monitors set up you would rather have two separate files open.

Additionally, there is some concern over the fact that this is a 5-day-old addon posted from an unknown chinese programmer with questionable Terms & Conditions language. See the links above.

Original Chinese Page | Translated Page | Direct Download

Word blockquote tip

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:11:00 +0000

When is a quote more than just a quote? When it's a blockquote. And when is a quote a blockquote? The Blue Book § 5.1 and ALWD § 47.5 agree the magic number is 50 words or more. ALWD and The Elements of Legal Style § 4.9 both also direct use of a blockquote if the quote is 4 lines or longer of typed text; but that rule appears to be less universally accepted -- and is irrelevant for my tip today, so I've chosen to ignore it.

in Word there is a dead-simple way to measure if you've come up upon the 50-word-threshold. Highlight your quote (without citation) and look in the bottom left corner of the window.

Bam, the length of the selection is displayed. My quote here is 80 words so I'm applying my blockquote autostyle to it.

Convert Legal description to Longitude & Latitude

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:24:00 +0000

earthpoint.us has a great tool that came in handy for me just last week. If you're looking for the physical location of a property you can enter the township, range and section and convert that information to longitude and latitude (or vice versa). Very helpful in rural condemnation cases.

edit: this tool from the University of Montana appears to do the same thing.

Show Links to Appendices on SDCL website with Greasemonkey Userscript

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:44:00 +0000

I came up with a quick and dirty method of linking to the appendices on the SDCL website. Previously the only way (that I'd found) to get to them online was via a text search. I've created a userscript that adds links to the appendices of SDCL 15-6.

You must be using Firefox and have Greasemonkey installed. See the homepage here or install the script here.

I'd be happy to make more for any other specific chapters anyone suggests. Drop us an email at techoflaw@gmail.com with your request.

Easy Outlook Date Calculations

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:06:00 +0000

No more counting! No more counting! No more counting!

If you happened to be walking by my office door a few minutes ago you may have heard this cheer, followed by my clumsily tripping over a bankers box full of papers. OK, I didn't actually do a cheer (I did trip over the box though), but I was excited enough that I felt like doing one.

I just discovered a drop-dead simple way of setting future reminders in Outlook (ex, 30 days 'discovery responses due').

Create a new appointment in your Outlook Calendar like you would anything else;
Give it a subject;
For the "Start Time" use a plain text description of what you want to do. It recognizes all sorts of text strings here's a few that I've tested and work for sure in Outlook 2003

"30 days after today"
"45 days after tomorrow"
"3 days before June 25th" (a/k/a The "if-you-haven't-bought-an-anniversary-present-yet-drive -immediately-to-a-jewelry-store-you-idiot" reminder)
"two weeks after today"
unfortunately it doesn't seem to recognize "weekdays" or "business days" for the sub-11 day time periods.

Hit "Tab" and then save the appointment.

This is going to be an extremely helpful little trick to help you stay on top of future due dates

Add Dynamic Exhibit Stamps in Acrobat using a free stamp set

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:12:00 +0000

Add Dynamic Exhibit Stamps in Acrobat using a free stamp set

Platypus for easier Statute Navigation

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:46:00 +0000

Mike and I have mentioned the power of Greasemonkey here before. It can really be an amazing tool in customizing your web browsing, but also making your life as a lawyer easier. Today I was browsing through the Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure chapter of the code (fun, right?) at around the Length of Briefs section (66) of the nearly 100 sections therein - and in light of the fact that I knew I'd find myself on this very page again several times over the next few months or so - I knew there had to be an easier way to find what I'm looking for.

Of course when you're dealing with a specific, commonly used webpage a bookmark is always an option. However Ctrl+D was not what I was after today. Enter Platypus. Frankly, I don't remember if I've mentioned Platypus before or not, but if I had I would have told you it is a robust add-on for firefox that creates on-the-fly greasemonkey extensions which customize the way any given page appears and tailors them to your specific needs.

I knew that for my issue I was going to be coming back to this page over and over again and that I would want to easily find specific sections for reference. Using Platypus I was able to highlight sections that I knew I would want to reference later as well as highlight and bold the really important ones. For example, References in Briefs to Parties, congratulations, you are important to me and you are hereby hilighted. However, Mr. Printing and Binding Specifications for Briefs, you are very important to me (owing to my experience in having a brief kicked back because one paragraph, one paragraph, was improperly aligned) and you are therefore now highlighted and bold.

Here's a side-by-side before and after of the page:

As you can see, the links on the left run together and unless you know the specific section number off the top of your head, you're going to be reading titles. On the right however, your eye quickly jumps to the sections that you have designated.

Platypus is simple to use. Once you've installed the extension you simply right click on any page that you want to customize and select Platypus! from the context menu.

You will initially notice that areas of the page are turned red when you run your mouse over them. These are areas that are editable on the page. If there is one weakness to Platypus it's that you are at the mercy of the code and layout used by the designer as far as areas that are editable. The SD Statute Chapters are a good example. It would be much more desireable to highlight the entire title of the individual section along with its link, but because of the way the HTML of the page is rendered that's not an easy option in this instance. To edit the style of an area mouse over an editable area and right click again. Now you're looking at the Platypus context menu.

There are several options and they can all be valuable depending on what you want to do on a page. In this instance we want to edit the style of the page so click Set Style. A new menu will pop up with several options. To highlight find the Background Color and select yellow (or your choice), if your done click Accept, to preview click Apply. If you want to make the text of an area bold that's under the Font Weight option.

Once you've made and accepted your changes it is very important that you Save your changes. Before navigating away from the page your editing click Save and Exit Platypus on the Platypus Context Menu. A greasemonkey script will (should) then install and your changes are saved.

MOTD: Auto-update the date

noreply@blogger.com (Shube) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 15:20:00 +0000

I've talked before about making Word templates out of commonly used documents. I've also talked about date fields and SaveDate fields. Some documents might use language like "Executed this 15th day of March, 2009." There isn't a good way to have the day read "2nd", "3rd", "4th" ect. Now most people might think this isn't a big deal, its easily changed manually. But the whole point of my template is to cut down on ugly typos when I forget to update something. So, I created a macro.

In my template, I inserted a date field by going to Word's Insert tab and clicking Quick Parts and then selecting Date from the Field names list (you can use SaveDate if you want - see this post for more about the SaveDate field). The Date field displays the current date. The Date formats box is used to control how the date is displayed. The box uses a code system; "d" stands for day, "M" stands for month, "y" stands for year, "h" stands for hour, "m" stands for minute, and "s" stands for second. Note that you capitalize M for month because lower case m stands for minute. The formating is a little difficult to explain so examples are the only way to go. If you want the date to be formatted like "3/15/09", type M/d/yy. For "3/15/2009," type M/d/yyyy. For "Sunday, March 15, 2009," type dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy. Most of the common formats are in the list so you don't generally need to figure the formatting out. However, I want to do something out of the ordinary. I want the document to read something like "Executed on the 1st," so clear out the Date formats box and just place a "d" there.

Right after the Date box we just inserted, insert a MacroField by selecting MacroField from the Field names list. In the Display text box put something like "st" (because this box will say "st", "nd", or "rd"). In the Macro name box just leave the default there (AcceptAllChangesInDoc) because we will add our own Macro next. Your document looks something like this:

Click on the "st" and type Shift + F9. This will expand the MacroField to display its code. Replace AcceptAllChangesInDoc with DateSuperScript - the name of the macro we will make next.

I want the month and the year at the end so I insert a second Date field using the code MMMM, yyyy.

The finished product looks like this:

Now type Alt + F11 to open up the Visual Basic editor. Then select the Project template for your document in the project window (it will have the name of your Word document). Expand the project. Expand the Microsoft Word Objects tab and select the ThisDocument icon and then paste this code in the document:

Sub AutoSuperScript()
Dim oStory As Range
Dim oField As Field
For Each oStory In ActiveDocument.StoryRanges
For Each oField In oStory.Fields

If InStr(1, oField.Code.Text, " MACROBUTTON DateSuperscript") Then
oField.Code.Text = " MACROBUTTON DateSuperscript " + GetDateSuperscript
End If
oField.Update
Next oField
Next oStory
End Sub

Private Sub Document_New()
AutoSuperScript
End Sub

Private Function GetDateSuperscript()
'1-> st
'2->nd
'3->rd
'0, >3 ->th
strDt = Str(Day(Now))
strEnd = Right(strDt, 1)
If strEnd = 1 Then
GetDateSuperscript = "st"
ElseIf strEnd = 2 Then
GetDateSuperscript = "nd"
ElseIf strEnd = 3 Then
GetDateSuperscript = "rd"
Else
GetDateSuperscript = "th"
End If
End Function

Now every time you create a new document from your template the date will be updated. If you really want to get wild, add the AutoSuperScript function to the UpdateAll function I talked about in this post. That way, the superscript will get updated every save.

MOTD: Print Current Page Shortcut

noreply@blogger.com (Shube) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:08:00 +0000

I use the print current page setting in the Print dialog of Word enough that I recorded a macro for it. I simply recorded a macro without editing any code so you can record it yourself using this post and this post, or you can put the following code in the Normal template and assign a shortcut to it (use this post):

Sub PrintCurrent()
'
' PrintCurrent Macro
' Macro recorded 3/9/2009 by Michael Shubeck
'
Application.PrintOut FileName:="", Range:=wdPrintCurrentPage, Item:= _
wdPrintDocumentContent, Copies:=1, Pages:="", PageType:=wdPrintAllPages, _
ManualDuplexPrint:=False, Collate:=True, Background:=True, PrintToFile:= _
False, PrintZoomColumn:=0, PrintZoomRow:=0, PrintZoomPaperWidth:=0, _
PrintZoomPaperHeight:=0
End Sub

MOTD: Insert Merge Field

noreply@blogger.com (Shube) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 20:56:00 +0000

I've posted before about the amazing potential of Word's Mail Merge feature, I use it so much that I've created a macro to insert MergeFields when I'm creating a merge document. I then assign the macro to a shortcut so I can quickly insert these fields in my documents. I simply recorded a macro without editing any code so you can record it yourself using this post and this post, or you can put the following code in the Normal template and assign a shortcut to it (use this post):

Sub InsertMergeField() 'ALT CTRL M
'
' InsertMergeField Macro
' Macro recorded 3/13/2009 by Michael Shubeck
'
Selection.Fields.Add Range:=Selection.Range, Type:=wdFieldEmpty, Text:= _
"MERGEFIELD INSERT ", PreserveFormatting:=True
Selection.MoveLeft Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=1
Selection.Fields.ToggleShowCodes
End Sub

Macro of the Day (MOTD): Keybord Shortcut For Envelope Printing

noreply@blogger.com (Shube) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 20:27:00 +0000

I do a lot of envelope printing in my job and I use Word's Envelope Wizard to do most of my envelope printing. I don't know why they have a whole wizard for this though. I would prefer if I could simply highlight the person's address in the letter I was drafting, type a shortcut, and have it print. So, I created a macro. Type Alt + F11 to open the Visual Basic editor. I would put this code in the Normal template. The Normal template is the basis for all Word documents. By putting code there, it will run in any document you are using.

In the Project window on the left side of the Visual Basic editor, open up the Normal tab and the Microsoft Word Objects tab under that. Double click on the ThisDocument icon. Paste the following code in.

Sub PrintEnvelope()
'
' PrintEnvelope Macro
' Macro recorded 3/10/2009 by Michael Shubeck
'
ActiveDocument.Envelope.PrintOut ExtractAddress:=False, OmitReturnAddress _
:=True, PrintBarCode:=False, PrintFIMA:=False, Height:=InchesToPoints( _
4.13), Width:=InchesToPoints(9.5), Address:=Selection.Text, AutoText _
:="ToolsCreateLabels3", ReturnAddress:= _
"The Law Offices of Gregory A. Yates", ReturnAutoText:= _
"ToolsCreateLabels2", AddressFromLeft:=wdAutoPosition, AddressFromTop:= _
wdAutoPosition, ReturnAddressFromLeft:=wdAutoPosition, _
ReturnAddressFromTop:=wdAutoPosition, DefaultOrientation:=wdLeftLandscape _
, DefaultFaceUp:=False, PrintEPostage:=False
End Sub

Now lets hook the macro up to a keyboard shortcut. In Word 2007, click on the Office Button Then click on Word Options at the bottom of the menu that pops out. Then hit the Customize tab. Finally, at the bottom of the Customize window, hit the customize keyboard shortcuts button. In the Categories box, scroll down to Macros. Then, in the Macros box, select our PrintEnvelope macro. Now, click in the Press New Shortcut Key box. Type the key combination that you want to assign to the macro. If the key combination is already used it, the window will show text that says "Currently assigned to." Usually I just replace what was assigned by the Microsoft people because they have shortcuts for features I will never use. Finally, hit the Assign button (don't forget this - I do all the time).

Now you can highlight a person's address in your document, use your shortcut, and the envelope will print.

As a final note, watch out where the envelpe prints if you have multiple printers installed. The envelope will print to the printer listed in the print menu.

MOTD: Autoupdate fields on save

noreply@blogger.com (Shube) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:23:00 +0000

This will be the first of a series of posts on cool Microsoft Word macros I have been using to make me more efficient at producing documents and cut down on embarrassing errors. Bill and I have been preaching the benefits of macros for a while on this blog. Check this post out for an introduction.

I use templates for all of my commonly used documents, from my basic letter or fax template to more complex pleading documents. I have discussed how to create templates before. Word allows you to insert blanks called fields in a document. These fields will automatically fill in information at certain times. In many of my templates I have fields that automatically fill in the date or generate tables of contents, among other things. These fields all need to be manually updated by right clicking on them and clicking update. Sometimes I forget to update the field before printing so I created a macro to automatically update the fields when I hit the save button. Credit goes to these blog posts: 1, 2.

For experimentation, create a template using the procedures from the creating templates tutorial. Then insert a save date field in that template. In Office 2007, you go to the Insert tab on the Ribbon bar . Next, go to the Quick Parts button . Then select the Field menu item.

In the Field dialog, select SaveDate. Select whatever date format you desire.

A SaveDate field displays the date the document was saved (after it is updated) and, thus, is handy for letters and other documents that are printed and sent on the date they are saved.

Now lets bring up the Visual Basic editor so we can start adding some code, type Alt + F11. In the Project window on the left, find the letter project and right click on it. Next click insert -> module.

A new item called a code module will be inserted under your project in a modules folder. It will be named Module1.

Now insert a new class module just like you inserted the code module. The class module will be named Class1.

Your Project window should look like this:

The specifics of what ThisDocument, Module1, and Class1 are not very important at this point so I wont go into detail. We will just paste code to make things work. If you have a desire to understand code, see here.

Double click on the ThisDocument icon in the Project window. Now paste the following code into the code window:

Private Sub Document_New() 'has to be Document_New not Document_Open for it to work in a template

    Call Register_Event_Handler

End Sub

Now double click on the Module1 icon and paste this code in:

Dim X As New Class1
Public Sub Register_Event_Handler()
    Set X.App = Word.Application
End Sub

Finally, paste this code into Class1:

Public WithEvents App As Word.Application

Private Sub App_DocumentBeforeSave(ByVal Doc As Document, SaveAsUI As Boolean, Cancel As Boolean)

UpdateAll

End Sub

Sub UpdateAll()
Dim oStory As Range
Dim oField As Field
Dim bSaveDate As Boolean
bSaveDate = False

On Error Resume Next
For Each oStory In ActiveDocument.StoryRanges
For Each oField In oStory.Fields
If oField.Type = wdFieldSaveDate Then
    bSaveDate = True
End If
oField.Update
Next oField
Next oStory
If bSaveDate = True Then
    MsgBox "Save a second time to update a save date field"
End If
On Error GoTo 0
End Sub

SaveDate fields present a special paradox. The document has to be saved before the field can be updated. I have the following code to remind me to press save twice to update the field:
If bSaveDate = True Then
    MsgBox "Save a second time to update a save date field"
End If

Now save the template and double click on the template file to create a new document using that template. When you hit save the message box will remind you to save a second time, and when you do, the date field will be updated automatically.

This same code will automatically update tables of contents, numbering and any other Word field that automatically generates information.

Word shortcut of the day: Ctrl+Shift+A

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:57:00 +0000

Hello there, it's been a while. Just wanted to stop by amid my dilligent work protecting the rights of innocent South Dakotan's to pollute and drop by a little tip I thought needed sharing.

When you're working in Word and you need a section in all capitals select it and press Ctrl+Shift+A. The same combination returns it to the normal case setting. I use this in my captions and for section headings in briefs quites a bit. Hope it helps.

See you in another 6 months! just kidding (hopefully)

Sync Mobile Contacts to Gmail

noreply@blogger.com (Shube) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:37:00 +0000

Google has finally implemented something that users have been requesting for years, synchronization of mobile phone contacts and calendar items with gmail. Google previously released Google Calendar Sync, which synchronizes between Outlook and Google calendar. This allowed you to bounce Google Calendar items off Outlook and onto a mobile phone. Now you can synchronize directly between your phone and Google, AND contacts will be synchronized.

Now our appointments and contacts can be backed up, readily accessible from anywhere, and easily edited from a PC.

You can find instructions here. I had trouble setting up my Windows Mobile phone the solution is here.

Autogenerate Table of Contents in Word

noreply@blogger.com (Shube) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:27:00 +0000

So its that time again and the poor first years are writing briefs in Appellate Advocacy. One of the most frustrating things was creating a table of contents and table of authorities and have all the pages right - especially forgetting to update after an edit.

Auto Generate Table of Authorities
West provides a utility called WestCiteLink that takes the pain out of the table of authorities. There is a Firefox plugin called CiteGenie that is supposed to take the pain out of citation. Bill recommended CiteGenie but I haven't had the time to test it.

Auto Generate Table of Contents
Word has a function that will generate your table of contents automatically. To use it we first have to become familiar with styles. In Word 07, you can find the styles buttons under the Home heading (because the first thing I think of when I think "Home" is styles and fonts etc. - good job M$). In earlier versions of Word, styles can be found under Format->Styles and Formatting (now that makes sense). We are going to be using the heading styles that look like this:

Type some text into a blank word document, highlight the text, and then click on the style you want to apply. As a result, your text looks like the style you selected:

I have created two headings, one with the Heading 1 style, and the other with the Heading 2 style. Word will put all my headings that have been set to a certain style into a table of contents, complete with page numbers.

First click at the place in the document where you want your table of contents. Go to the References tab in Word 07 (go to Insert->Reference->Index and Tables in earlier versions of Word). Then click on Table of Contents:

Then select one of the Automatic tables. Your table of contents is automatically generated.

Customizing Your Styles
Its probably not a good idea to have your brief headings the funky colors, sizes, and fonts that Word defaults to so we will want to customize the heading style.

In Word 07, highlight your heading, right click on it, and select Styles->Save Selection as New Quick Style (in earlier versions, right click in the styles menu and select modify):

Under name, type a name for your style. Then click Modify. The modify window will pop up and you can set the font, size, and color settings the way you want them.

For numbered headings, click the Format button and select Numbering. In the Numbering window, pick the numbering type you want.

When all is finished, you can simply add more headings and then right click on your table of contents and hit update table.

Then select Entire Table (don't just update page numbers). Your table will automatically add the new headings and the right page numbers.

Make XP remember your open folders from the previous session

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:24:00 +0000

If you're like me you virtually always have the same folders open. Previous versions of Windows would restore any folders you left open at the end of your previous session.... phew, that's a mouthful. In other words, If you keep the same folders open regularly, and you want them open when you restart, then follow these steps in any folder.

1. Click Tools
2. Click Folder Options
3. Click the View tab
4. Scroll down and check the checkbox beside "Restore previous folder windows at logon"
5. Click OK, and you're good.

Call for Contributors

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:31:00 +0000

Are you a tech savvy lawyer or law student? We at TOL are looking to add an additional contributor. If you're interested drop us a line at techoflaw@gmail.com.

Weekly Links

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:48:00 +0000

"Weekly Links" is a feature each Monday on Tech of Law reviewing several articles that may be of interest to Tech-aware attorneys. Most were not the subject of a post during the week so it's worth the time to visit each link.

Co-op Helps Small Groups Stay Updated on Projects
New webapp Co-op makes keeping track of who's working on what within a small, distributed group easy
GTD Free Puts Getting Things Done on the Desktop
"GTD Free, a Java-based desktop app, is one of the most straight-forward implementations of the Getting Things Done organizational system you'll see"
Growth Strategies for Success in Large Law Firms
Real Time notes from the ALM/Incisive Law Firm Leaders Conference
A little ole multi-million dollar Excel mistake
Your worst nightmare.
10 things your IT guy wants you to know
Get the (Instant) Message, Dude!
Your client may want you to embrace new communication methods.

Weekly Links

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:26:00 +0000

Attribute Changer
"a free right-click utility, gives you total control over everything reported by a file to your system. Right-click one or many files and choose "Change Attributes," and you can enable or disable read-only status, hiding, indexing, and even NTFS compression. You can change the file's date of creation, modification and last access, and tweak a photo's time of taking."
Brit Judges give up wigs
"judges across civil courts break with 300 years of tradition and ditch their horsehair wigs for modern gowns."
The Cost of Not Going Digital
If you have not yet made the move to keeping all of your documents digitally, I recommend that you check out this post.

Installing and Creating Open Search Plugins

noreply@blogger.com (Shube) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:41:00 +0000

Ever since Firefox added its search plug-in feature, I've been trying to get plug-ins for the search sites I use the most. Search plug-ins are one more way to make using a computer a little more efficient. The Search bar is usually in the upper right hand of your browser. To search a site you simply click on the Search bar and select the plug-in you want to use from your list.

I believe all the browsers out today have this feature. Further, these browsers can all share the same search plug-ins because they use a standard called OpenSearch. There are plug-ins for all the major sites. Even if your favorite site doesn't have a plug-in, you can make your own.
Finding and installing plugins

Lifehacker did an article about installing plug-ins so I wont go into specifics. Usually, once you find a plug-in you want to add, there is a link you click to add the plug-in. Also, some sites will "broadcast" that they have a plug-in to add. These sites will insert an "add" menu item at the bottom of the plug-in list.

Several websites allow you to search for plug-ins for your favorite search site. The ones I've used are Mycroft at Mozzila and SearchPlugins.net. Even these plug-in sites have search plug-ins.

The Lifehacker article listed a few plug-ins that I find invaluable. Searches for:

GCal (Firefox only)
I have been experimenting with using google calendar for my legal calendaring, this plug-in allows me to search by client name without having to the Google calendar page.

Gmail

Google Maps

Wikipedia

About wikipedia, have you ever noticed that their search engine is sub par? Google does a much better job of searching wiki than wiki. Here's a search plug-in that only searches Wikipedia pages using Google.

Wikipedia - Search With Google

Cornell provides plug-ins to search their site. Finally, I've been making my own search plug-ins for sites that don't provide one. So far, I've only done plug-ins for the South Dakota legislature site - most significantly, the codified laws. I use this plug-in every day and you find it here.

Making Search More Efficient
Firefox 3 has the ability to associate a keyword with a search plug-in. For example, I use "wiki" as the keyword for wikipedia. To use my keyword, I type "wiki" and the term I want to search for in the address bar.

To create a keyword, click on the search plug-in drop down. Then, select Manage Search Engines. In the Manage Search Engine List dialog, you can change the order that your engines are arranged in your list. More importantly, you can add a your keyword to a search plug-in by hitting the Edit Keyword button.

To make searching even more efficient, I use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+l to automatically put the cursor in the address bar.

Creating Your Own Search Plug-In

Before continuing with my tradition of giving too much information, I must give the disclaimer. If you don't want to know how to create your own plug-in, don't read this.

The Mozilla Mycroft project makes it easy to create your own plug-ins with an Open Search generation page.
The best way to explain this is by an example. Lets create a plug-in to search the South Dakota Constitution.

The first step is to get an icon for the plug-in. I want to use the page's icon. Most websites have their icon in a file called favicon.ico. I can get to this on legis.state.sd.us with the address http://legis.state.sd.us/favicon.ico. Then I can save the file to my hard drive. Next, on the Mycroft page, I can browse to the file on the Choose Icon box.

Next fill in something for the Reference. I'm using sd_const. Name, e-mail, plug-in name, Plug-in Description, category, country, language, and Comment are all up to you. I leave Input Encoding at UTF-8 and I'm not going to research it to give a good explanation.

Next, I'm going to fill in the Search URL. This is the hardest part. I can either look at the code of the page I want to make a plug-in for or, in the easiest case, look at the URL of the page doing a search. The South Dakota Constitution search is easy because it passes its search string in the URL. To get to § 6, the Bill of Rights, the page uses the URL http://legis.state.sd.us/statutes/DisplayStatute.aspx?Type=Statute&Statute=0N-6. The important part is seeing where the "6" is. Copy everything up to the "6" paste it into the Search URL text box and put "{searchTerms}" where the 6 was. Thats it. For searches that don't pass on the URL, I'll figure it out and fill you in later.

Now make sure the Get radio button is checked. For the other fields; suggestions URL is for sites that support this and those probably have made their own plug-in and I don't know what the Search Form URL is for yet but I had to fill it in. I used http://legis.state.sd.us/statutes/Constitution.aspx.

Finally, hit the Generate Plugin button and then Install Plugin button. Test the plug-in out and if it works, hit the Submit Plugin button. Thats it.

Blog Worth Reading: Windows Keyboard Shortcut of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:46:00 +0000

Windows Keyboard Shortcut of the Day (WKSotD) may not roll off the tongue very easily, but it will definitely make your life easier.

There is perhaps nothing simpler that you can do to increase your efficiency and productivity on the computer than to learn, use and, in some cases, customize the keyboard shortcuts of whatever particular piece of software you are using. WKSotD does exactly what it sounds like it should do. Every day (almost) a different keyboard shortcut is covered whether it be a universal one (Ctrl+S) or a software specific one (Firefox/Google Chrome).

Go to WKSotD and subscribe to his RSS feed.

Making GPS easier with Google

noreply@blogger.com (Shube) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:30:00 +0000

I have a Tom Tom GPS receiver and have found it to be very helpful in navigating in unfamiliar places. I haven't used it in a legal context as of yet, but I can guarantee there will be a time in the future. Specifically, I would like to add large numbers of addresses to my GPS as favorites. Tom Tom can store favorites but it is a hassle to enter them in. Google on the other hand provides two products that are very capable of compiling large lists of addresses, Google Maps and Google Earth. Google Maps is web based and available here (you will need a Google account to save lists of addresses). Google Earth gets installed on your computer and is available here. However, both of the products place their data in a format that my GPS device doesn't understand. Google uses a file called KML or KMZ, while Tom Tom has their own ov2 format. The solution is POIEdit which allows you to import and export Google, Tom Tom, and many other formats. The program also lets you edit the "Points Of Interest" in a tabular format.

Lets take the example of using Google Earth to look up a collection of addresses. First, create a folder for saving your addresses in by right clicking on the My Places root folder in the Places box and select Add->Folder.

Next, do a search in Google Earth's search box. Then, click & drag the address you want to save into your new folder.

Finally, right click on your folder and select Save Place As. Save the file as a KML file because POIEdit doesn't understand the KMZ variety. Now in POIEdit, go to File->Open and find the file you saved from Google Earth. Once the file is open, you can tweak the names of your points of interest.

Now we can save in a format our GPS device can use. Select File->Save as and select the format that your GPS device uses. Mine uses the Tom Tom ov2 format. Finally, save it on your device. My Tom Tom is treated as a memory card, so I just save the file directly to its memory.

POIEdit also has a batch convert tool in the tools menu. Use this tool to convert multiple files. My Tom Tom uses the name of the file as the category of the POIs, which can be handy. For example, I have a file of climbing spots. When I do a search on the Tom Tom, I can look for POIs in a certain area with the category of Climbing and select the spot from the list. One final idea, some services allow you to upload a excel file of addresses and then download a table of gps coordinates (for example, CommunityWalk). If you have a large number of addresses, these services can be handy for getting those into your GPS quickly.

Customize Ctrl+Shift+S

noreply@blogger.com (Bill) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:30:00 +0000

Many of you know that Ctrl+S is a near universal keyboard shortcut to save a document, regardless of what program you're using. Slightly less well known is that many programs use Ctrl+Shift+S as the keyboard shortcut for "Save As". If you're working with a template or new document for the first time, Ctrl+S will have the same effect as "Save As" because the document has yet to be saved. But if you're working off of an existing document that you want to keep as is "Save As" will allow you to keep both your original and your changes.

In Word 2007 the default keyboard shortcut for Save As is F12. It's easy enough, and if you are used to it, go for it. But for people like me who use several different software programs on a daily basis we'd prefer to have Ctrl+Shift+S activate the Save As dialog. Here's how to do it in Word 2007.

Click the Menu orb, then click Word Options
Click the "Customize" tab on the left hand side
Click "Keyboard Shortcuts: Customize" near the bottom of the options pane
For your Category select Office Menu. For the Command select FileSaveAs
In the "Press new shortcut key" textbox, simply press Ctrl+Shift+S (or anything else you'd want to use as the shortcut).
Press Assign.

Keep in mind that Ctrl+Shift+S is already the default keyboard shortcut to apply a style. So if you use styles often, simply be aware that you will lose this shortcut when you redefine it.

Law Office Automation - Mail Merge in Word

noreply@blogger.com (Shube) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 03:30:00 +0000

Bill and I have been preaching automation for a while now. I'm going to talk about one of the very most powerful technologies known to law office automation - Mail Merge. Mail Merge is a very unfortunate name and I'm not sure Microsoft really understands the power of what they have created. Think "fill in the blanks" instead. To use Mail Merge you first create a document with blanks in it. Then you set up a database with the information that you are going to use. Finally you use Mail Merge to suck that information in.

I'm going to use an example of a summons because that's the area of law I'm working in. I've experimented with a similar setup for corporate organization/offering documents at a previous employer. You are only limited by your imagination.

First, we need to set up our document. We can leave out our "blanks." Word gives us a special "blank" to use. Below is my caption.

In this caption I left out the things that change from case to case. Here, the county, circuit, plaintiff, and defendant. Next, we can create our "database." In Excel, add headings for those items that change (remember what these headings are for later). Under the headings, we can fill in the information that will be "sucked in." Now save the Excel table (remember where you did).

The next step is to add the "blanks." First, click where you want your "blank" to go. In Word 2007 (the worst version of Word EVER) the our "blanks" are cleverly hidden under a button under the Insert tab called Quick Parts. Under that button, select Field.

The Field dialog box will open. This is where we will find our "blank," aka field. Specifically, our field is called a MergeField. Select MergeField from the Field names list. Next, under the Field properties heading, add a Field name. The field name is what connects your Word document to your Excel table. YOUR FIELD NAME HAS TO MATCH A HEADING NAME IN THE EXCEL TABLE. For example, the first field I am inserting is the Plaintiff field. In my Excel table, I named this heading "Plaintiff" (obviously). So my Field name in Word should also be Plaintiff (its not that hard right?).

After you hit ok, your Field should appear in your document. Field names will be surrounded by greater-than, less-than characters to show that there is a field there. I.e. «Plaintiff» (my Windows charactermap tells me this symbol is really a "Double angle quotation mark"). Below you can see my finished product. Now to set up the Merge.

First we have to point Word at our data source, the Excel table we made earlier. This step is where we really see that Microsoft doesn't have a clue of what kind of technology they have created. All our Merge stuff is buried under the Mailings tab in Word 2007 (I guess you can mail a summons). To pick a data source, we have to go to the Select Recipients button (what???). Then pick Use Existing List.

First navigate to where you saved your Excel file (hope you remembered). Then we select which table in the Excel file we want to use (Excel can have multiple Worksheets in a file). Our table is Sheet1 (unless you named it something).

Now our Word Template should be talking to our Excel Data Source. We can test things out. Hit the Preview Results button.

Our first record is automagically filled in.

You can cycle through the records in your Excel table with the forward and back buttons.

Finally, we can have Word spit all the records into new documents. Hit the Finish & Merge button. Then click Edit Individual Documents.

The Merge dialog will let you pick which records to Merge.

The finished product:

Now imagine how efficient this can make litigation.

EDIT: I've had an issue in Word 2003 that I want to share. Save your merge template before you associate your Excel file and don't save you template after associating the file. It seems that Word will open the Excel file in memory and, if you save your template with the Excel file associated, Word takes a snapshot of the Excel file or simply keeps it open in memory. When you try to add information to the Excel file and then do a new merge in Word, the new information isn't included. Or, wose yet, when you try to open your template that has been saved with an Excel file associated, sometimes it gives you an error indicating that the Excel file is already open. Finally, if you save your template when you are in the "Preview" mode, your MergeField will be overwritten. The moral of the story is that you (1) should get your template built how you want it, (2) save, and (3) never save when an Excel file has been associated/opened in the Word template.