When Worldox is first implemented at a firm, many users treat it as a sort of Windows Explorer on steroids. They want to “work the way they’re used to” and scroll up and down a directory structure even from within Worldox. Sure, you can do this, but why? If you think of your document store as a huge book, and you want to find something, you can scroll through the table of contents (the directory structure) or you can use the index at the back of the book (a Worldox search). Obviously the latter is faster and more reliable in terms of not missing anything. If you scroll through the directory structure you are making the assumption that no documents have ever been misfiled, dragged to the wrong directory etc. Yeah, right. Innovation, after all, means changing the way you work.
The following is a “top ten” list of ways to enhance your productivity in Worldox.
Bookmarks. Any well-designed Worldox implementation should have a number of basic bookmarks (like the bookmarks you probably have in your internet browser). These will save you 1-3 clicks every time you start any kind of search. In addition, you can easily create additional bookmarks while you are working on a specific matter, and then delete them when the matter closes.
Client name lookups. In previous versions of Worldox, you had to click on the “client” button or the down-arrow lookup at the right of the client field to get a list of clients, and then search among them. Now, in GX4, you can simply type in any part of a client description into the client field and it will bring up a list of client descriptions that match. You can then select the appropriate one. This is high on the “wow” factor during upgrade training.
Favorite Matters. At the left of the main Worldox screen there are a number of tabs, including “Favorite Matters.” In a standard Worldox installation, this lists all the matters you have worked on in the last 30 day. Simply clicking on one provides an instant search for all documents in that matter.
My Favs. Analogous to “Favorite Matters” is “Favorite Files.” This is a rotating list of everything you personally have worked on in the last 30 days. If you don't work on a file during that period, it is no longer shown. A “Favorite File” has a pink heart to the left of the file listing in Worldox. If you click on the heart it turns red, which means it is permanently a “Favorite.” You can make an instant search for all the files you use every day - forms, letterhead, boilerplate, time sheets, etc. by creating a bookmark called, say, “My Favs” based on the “added” category under Favorite Files.
Worldox Ribbon in Word. The Worldox ribbon in Word has been considerably enhanced to include several very useful functions: The white (or yellow) square on the QuickAccess Toolbar brings up the Worldox save screen. Within the ribbon, you can search for a DocID or Name/Content; search for all the Word documents you have used recently; create a PDF or PDF/A (required by some courts), and control your file stamping options. Take a minute to review what is available.
Combined search. At the top right of the Worldox display, there is a search field. This is normally configured to search for a doc id or any text in the Name or Text of a document. These results are now displayed as “snippets” underneath the file name. If there are multiple “hits” you can scroll through them without opening or even viewing the documents (they are listed as e.g., 1 of 4).
Filters. If a search turns up a very large number of documents, you can filter the results by clicking on the “Filters” tab at the bottom of the screen. This lets you select just specific document types, authors, matters, or any other criteria on the profile screen.
Viewer. The Viewer is your friend. If you select the magnifying glass at the top left of the button bar or the “View” button at the right side of the screen you can view a document without opening it. From the main viewer you can size the screen the way you want and save it so it always appears that way (for example full size on a second monitor). You can scroll through your documents and view each one without opening the program. You can also copy and paste from the viewer into the document you are working to if you want to re-use existing language, boilerplate, etc.
Copy instead of open/save as. Many times you want to reuse an old document as the basis for a new one. The traditional way of doing this is to open the document and do a “save as” to make the new one. But everyone has at one time or another forgotten to do the “save as” and wiped out the original. Worldox has a better way. If you right click on the document you want to use and select “copy” you can copy it to a new document BEFORE you open it. You then open it and start work. This process is not only easier and quicker, but drastically reduces errors.
Boolean Searches. Worldox has a full complement of Boolean search capabilities. One that I use all the time is the “NOT” operator. For any given client, the number of emails may overwhelm all the other documents for that matter. But if you do a search for the matter and include “NOT email” as the doc type, you will find only the documents and exclude the emails. This can yield much more efficient search results.
These are all things that individual users can do. Implementing the Categories feature can also increase productivity, but this takes some work on a firm-wide basis. To see a more detailed recent blog concerning Categories, Click Here.