Jul 20 2010
I recently noted that I had co-authored an article on metadata. The second part of that article has now been published by the State Bar of Wisconsin. This portion focuses on redaction. You can find links to both parts of the article here. I wantto give a big thanks to my co-author Nerino Petro for making sure that this article got published.
Jun 14 2010
Last week Technolawyer published my review of Chrometa. You can download a copy of my review from my Files page or download it directly here.
If you are not familiar with Chrometa, it is a utility that keeps track of active windows that you are working in and how much time you spend in each window. This is a great resource for those of us who bill by the hour. I loved this program and recommend it to anyone who has to keep track of their time. The conclusion of my article says:
If your practice involves hourly billing at all, you will benefit from Chrometa. In short, Chrometa works well, increases your revenue, and includes helpful and friendly support from its creators. I have no doubt that Chrometa will pay for itself in the first week that you own it, if not the first day.
Disclaimer
Please note that I received a free copy of the program.
Feb 17 2010
I have written before about Nitro PDF Professional. It is a full-featured PDF program that is a less expensive option to Adobe Acrobat. The once drawback that has always concerned me about Nitro PDF Professional is that it does not include OCR capabilities. I saw on The PDF Blog, that Nitro has released Nitro PDF Professional OCR. From what I can tell, this appears to be the Professional version with OCR technology included.
Apparently, I was not the only person who was looking for this functionality. In the blog post, Nitro admitted that this was a highly requested feature:
OCR has long been the single most requested feature in our Customer Connect forum, where our users can suggest, request, and vote for the inclusion of features in Nitro products. As Gina O’Reilly, our SVP of Sales & Marketing said – “it was never a question of whether or not we add OCR to our feature set – simply, how quickly can we build it?”
I have not yet tried the OCR function. However, I am thrilled to see that this feature has finally made it to their product.
I am an unapologetic fan of Adobe Acrobat. However, I have also used Nitro PDF and find that it incorporates many features that I use when working with PDFs. In fact, there are some things that I prefer about Nitro. These include the menu (they us a ribbon with a fully customizable toolbar). I find this much nicer than the largely inflexible toolbars found in Acrobat. I also like ease with which you can comment and markup your documents. If you are looking for a program to allow you to work with PDFs, I suggest you check out both Adobe Acrobat and Nitro PDF, then get the one that works best for you.
Note that I have not yet tried the new OCR feature in Nitro. However, in the past I have received review copies of the software to evaluate.
Dec 04 2009
One of the problems that most people run into is that they have never been properly trained on the software that they use. Proper training is typically expensive in terms of both time and costs. Based on a comment in a Technolawyer newsletter, I learned of the HP Learning Center. The center includes training videos on a variety of software programs as well as other skills (such as photography and marketing). Best of all, most o the videos are short (5 minutes or less) and they are free.
Now, you won’t be able to solve all of your software training issues with this site. However, you will likely learn a few things if you watch the videos on the programs that you use. For example, I watched the video on the special features in Word 2007 and learned of some changes that I did not know had been made.
Anyway, check out the site for more info.
Sep 17 2009
On Tuesday, I attended the Acrobat demonstration that I recently posted about. As usual Rick Borstein and Mark Middleton did a great job. Despite the fact that I had already seen each portion of the presentation as part of a webcast, there were still things that I learned that I would never had known had I not gone.
There is still time for you to sign up for the presentations in Seattle or San Francisco. I cannot urge your strongly enough to learn how to leverage the power of Acrobat.
Aug 26 2009
Rick Borstein just announced that he is presenting 3-hour Acrobat demonstrations in Chicago, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Seattle. If you work in or near one of these cities and want to improve your Acrobat skills, you should take advantage of this opportunity. I have seen Rick present several times, and he always does a great job.
I believe that Acrobat is one of the most underused programs available. Use this opportunity to change that fact in your office.
Aug 24 2009
One of my favorite features in Adobe Acrobat is its ability to add Bates numbers to hundreds of pages in less than a minute. Another great feature built into the Bates numbering feature is that, because Acrobat stores the Bates numbering information as metadata, it allows you to remove the Bates number from the documents. This is particularly convenient if you find that you want to reorder your documents before you produce your documents to the other side.
The downside of this flexibility, of course, is the fact that if you send these documents to someone else, then they can also modify your Bates numbers. Fortunately, this issue is one that is easy to solve and Rick Borstein explains how in a post on his Acrobat for Legal Professionals Blog. As Rick explains:
The ability to remove Bates Numbers is valuable in case you make a mistake during the numbering process. However, due to the adversarial nature of the legal business, attorneys may desire to limit what the other side can do with documents.
* * *
In this article, I’ll discuss how to “lock down” Bates Numbers so that they cannot be removed by Acrobat’s “Remove Bates” option.
In his post, Rick explains to how protect your Bates numbers in both a single documents and in multiple documents. Check out the entire post for his easy to follow instructions.
Aug 20 2009
John Heckman has recently gathered together some links to site with tips on how to use Microsoft Word more effectively. These include a link to 221 MS Word Keyboard Shortcuts. I cannot stress how advantageous using keyboard shortcuts can be for you. Not only does it allow you to increase your typing speed (because your fingers do not leave the keyboard), but it also keeps you from using the mouse (most people do not have an ergonomically friendly mouse).
The comments also contain a link to CompuSavvy’s Word & WordPerfect Tips, which contains a variety of tips to help with problems in both Word and WordPerfect.
The important thing to remember is that if you are having problems with Word, don’t bash your head against the desk. Chances are that there is someone who has encountered the same problem that you have and has posted a solution to that problem. Checking sites such as these as well as doing a little google research will often allow your to ferret out the answer to your problem.
Aug 17 2009
Nerino Petro points us toward a new Firefox extension that is designed to help make public records freely accessible. The extension works by saving a copy of each document you download from PACER into a free database. This is an interesting concept and I am wondering how well it will succeed.
You can find out more information about the extension (called Recap) here.
Also, if you have not been to Nerino’s website recently, you should stop by. He recently updated the site with a new theme that looks absolutely great. I find it much easier to read than the old design.
Aug 13 2009
Often people do not use Word correctly because they do not understand how the program works. If people knew how the program worked, I believe that more people would use the myriad of features found in Word.
For those who are interested in learning some of those tricks, I have found a great resource posted by Charles Kenyon. The page includes a tutorial, downloads, helpful links, and a host of other aids.
The resources on this page are invaluable and I urge you to check them out.
