Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a document assembly and document management add-on for Microsoft Office (see article below), a wireless Bluetooth speaker, a screen capture utility for Macs, a mobile word processor, and a project and task management app for iPad and iPhone. Don't miss the next issue.
Document Management Inside Microsoft Office
Bill Gates was raised by a lawyer, but he clearly didn't have lawyers in mind when his company created Microsoft Office. Nonetheless, this iconic software suite has become a fixture in most law firms — especially Outlook and Word. As a result, an ecosystem of legal software products has arisen around Microsoft Office, including document assembly and document management systems. One company not too far from Microsoft's campus has built these features into Microsoft Office rather than go the integrated product route.
Snapdone Version 6 … in One Sentence
Snapdone Version 6 adds document assembly and document management capabilities to Microsoft Office.
The Killer Feature
Microsoft Office excels (no pun intended) at document creation. But document automation and management? Not so much. Snapdone essentially snaps a document assembly and document management system onto Microsoft Office. The company reports that even newbies can get up and running in minutes.
The new version offers significantly enhanced document management features. When you use the Snapsave button on Microsoft Office's Ribbon, you trigger Snapdone's document management system. You can then apply identifying information about the document such as client/matter and type. Snapdone automatically names documents with a ten-digit ID code and stamps the document with this number.
Snapdone creates a customizable folder structure to best suit your firm. In addition to finding documents by browsing, you can use Snapdone's Boolean search engine. You can narrow searches by author, client, matter, document type, and more.
"Snapdone Version 6 boosts the Microsoft Office comfort-zone into a true document management system that also integrates a time-tested document creation tool-kit for small and midsized law firms," Snapdone President Scott Campbell told us. "We transformed the wish lists of long-time users into an affordable reality."
Other Notable Features
Snapdone's new document management system functionality works with Outlook, enabling you to save client-related email messages alongside your documents.
Snapdone integrates Outlook contacts with Word for document assembly purposes, eliminating having to type or even copy and paste names and addresses into letters, fax cover sheets, memos, pleadings, envelopes, labels, etc. The Caption Bank enables everyone in your firm to use pre-formatted templates and boilerplate language for these documents. For example, with Snapdone everyone at your firm can have their own personalized letterhead.
Snapdone mirrors certain functions in Microsoft Word with an emphasis on making them simpler to use. For example, Snapnumbers and SnapTOC provide legal-friendly paragraph numbering and table of contents creation respectively. Snapdone also offers a streamlined mail merge function.
What Else Should You Know?
Snapdone includes centralized administrative tools for setting it up, managing users, and adding and updating templates. Snapdone works with Microsoft Office 97 and later, including Office 2010. Snapdone costs $800 for the first computer. Each additional computer license costs $200. The license fee includes installation, customization, basic forms, and one month of free telephone support. Learn more about Snapdone Version 6.
How to Receive TechnoLawyer NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
