The traditional approach to computer files essentially recreates the physical structure of our files. While digital documents, in any structure, have a number of advantages over their tangible counterparts, maintaining traditional computer file structures of nested folders requires care.

Finding Files is Always the Problem

We have to create folders, arrange all documents within, and be certain that each document in the proper folder to avoid document loss. Locating a misplaced document on a computer is perhaps more troublesome than searching through tangible papers. Without some computer expertise we are powerless to recover the document without excessive frustration or the intervention of some expert third party. As computer files increase, it seems inevitable that we will encounter the misplaced document problem. Under those conditions, it seems reasonable to avoid converting paper to digital as a matter of course.

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Google and search have changed the way we find information. Rarely do we look for something by clicking through a series of increasingly specific categories, we just search for it. With Vista and the upcoming Windows 7, a PC can be searched in the same way.

The search feature also finds:

• Folders
• Files
• Programs
• Communications, e.g. Email
• Contacts
• Control Panel items

Basically, anything you want it to find.

Windows does all this automatically and the feature is available with a click or keystroke. Just click on the “Window” button –formerly the “Start” button- or press the Window key on the keyboard, and start typing. Windows will deliver results instantly in response to each new keystroke.

Windows search, like Google search, works by creating an index of the computer’s contents. You can change what Windows indexes in “Indexing Options” –just start typing index and you’ll see that option come up.

By using this search feature you can dramatically decrease the amount of time and effort spent finding things. It is also a powerful tool to manage the increasing numbers of files we have on our computers.

Just like Google and the search engines transformed the way we use the Internet, local index search can transform the way we can use our computers and that is good news for us.

Macs also have an indexed search feature; it’s called Spotlight. Mac had it first and like most things, I think it is better than the Windows version.

See what it looks like in the Screen Shot Gallery.

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I am a proponent of integration for ease and fluidity; it is at the core of my approach to computers. However, a problem often arises when I try to explain it with a list of benefits or features, because no list can do it justice.  It is the way one thing reinforces the other and then aggregates to whole far greater than the sum of its parts.   Today a series of events occurred that captures what I mean; it involves Document Styles, Twitter, Scouts, and Landscape Architecture. 

Tweet and the Scouts

While having a drink with a lawyer friend, I mentioned my current Twitter kick. He said he saw little value in Tweeting and even having an account brought ridicule at the firm.  I told him that following the right people on Twitter is like having scouts on the Internet reporting back good stuff to check out.  To illustrate my point, I showed him some Tweets on the iPhone and touched one from someone I had just started to follow, @expertparalegal, who Tweeted a link to an article discussing points from the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals guide to lawyers for formatting documents for submission.  As a legal writer, and just at the right time, I had a concrete example of one way Twitter can be useful.  My friend retreated, just a hair, from his position. 

The Persuasive Papers

As I scrolled down the article right then, perhaps rudely. I discovered the Court published a  guide to give “suggestions to help you make your submissions more legible—and thus more likely to be grasped and retained.” Some of the points were:

-Times New Roman and Arial are not good fonts, Georgia and Constantia are better.

-While I knew serif fonts are easier to read because the serifs move the eye along, I did not know that the relationship between serif and sans serif fonts might be reversed on a computer screens.  (Looks like I have to change one of my sites)

-One space after a period, not two. Two is an archaic holdover from typewriters and unnecessary with modern proportional fonts. I didn’t know that.  

-Use all capitals if you want to be ignored. I knew that one.

-Don’t underline and avoid boldface.  I knew that and cringe at underlines.

-Indent .25 or less. I typically use .5 so that was helpful.

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Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to collect information by emailing or embedding a form in your web site? And have the result automatically entered into a spreadsheet and receive an email notification upon each entry?That is exactly what anyone can do with Google Docs.

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I have never been one for dragging around books and when, in the history of the planet, could I have all these volumes in my pocket:

• Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure ($2.99)
• Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ($2.99)
• Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ($2.99)
• New York Domestic Relations Law NY-DRL ($5.99)
• New York Estates Powers and Trusts Law – NY EPTL ($5.99)
• New York Civil Practice Laws and Rules – NY CPLR ($5.99)
• Florida Motor Vehicles Code – FL Laws Title XXIII ($5.99)
• California Family Code ($4.99)
• California Probate Code ($3.99)
• California Evidence Code ($2.99)
• California Penal Code ($4.99)
• Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure ($2.99)
• Arizona Courts and Civil Proceedings Code – ARS Title 12 (5.99)
• Texas Family Code ($5.99)
• Texas Penal Code ($4.99)

And on…. (I only got through about the first 10 pages of 111 in the Apps store.)

My personal favorite:

• Black’s Law Dictionary 8th Edition ($49.99)

How do they work? Look? I took a series of screen shots of the FRAP to show you. While I haven’t used all these volumes the one I featured here is good looking and feature rich.

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At first glance, blogging and social media seem to impose an onerous burden. We have to network, hand out business cards, press the flesh and now feed the hungry Internet community all manners of useful content in varying forms?

Yes, that seems to be the case. But it does not have to be a drag.

I’m sure any authority on blogging will tell you that person should only write on subjects of keen interest. I enjoy writing about the things I like which makes blogging fun; and it helps me ponder and learn more about what I do.

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I sometimes talk about computers as if they have been here forever, but I’ve only owned a computer since 1996.   And many people have worked for decades without them; using them is not second nature.

I saw a friend’s desktop filled with files and difficult to navigate, so I did a few things to clean it up.  I was in a rush that day and she had things to do, so I told her I would make a video demonstrating what I had done.  

This video goes through a few features of the Windows Desktop, including; auto arrange, show/hide desktop icons, marquee select, making a new folder, moving folders around, and the taskbar “Desktop” quick menu. 

I hope it helps Carol, and don’t hesitate to call if you have a question. 

Go to: Video Gallery | Ask a Question

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No matter how much we hate it, the billable hour prevails.  For me keeping time has always been a hassle.  I have used post it notes, the jackets of a file, a dedicated notebook and then once a week entered the time into the firm’s billing software.

The Time Sheet below is my answer to that.  It is a PDF that works in Reader and supports the full range of commenting tools, including the typewriter, stamps, and even file attachments. 

I also made a Time Portfolio that includes a number of time Sheets in a PDF Portfolio. Commentators rarely talk about Portfolios in Acrobat 9 its predecessor the “Package” in Acrobat 8.  As a hybrid of document and file, they have numerous uses. 

I like them for law libraries and some companies, Abode included, are promoting them as the perfect way to organize real estate closing documents; and they are.  In Step three of the Paperless Express, I’ll go into Acrobat, Commenting, Security, and Packages. Learning about them is certainly worth the time. 

Of course, if you have Acrobat, you can use the same approach to track time directly on any PDF you are using.  Download Time Sheet

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Web Browsers are Not Created Equal

Web browsers work by reading a set of instructions to reassemble the text, images, other content that make up a web page. There has been significant convergence in the languages, rules, standards, and conventions used to give and read those instructions, but each browser's rendering engine handles it differently.  That together with the features, user interfaces,  and appearance software makers attach to their particular browser gives rise to a surprising degree of variability in user experience.

This variance can translate to a pleasurable and productive web surfing experience or not; the degree of variability increases with age of the browser. 

Fortunately, there is no cause for concern and no reason to suffer under less than ideal conditions. It is fast, easy, and free to get the best there is. 

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 How many lawyers actually use iWeb, Garage Band, and iDVD? I’d say not many, but most people get a Mac and leave the Dock as is. Customizing the Dock and other parts of the Desktop speed things up and makes work easier.   You move things around on your desk, don’t you?

The video below is the fourth in a series that starts with “Mac Out of the Box” then “System Preferences Overview”, then “Backing Up your Mac and Making Your Files Available Everywhere.”

Watch the Series. 

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