Does It Compute?

Worldox and Windows Explorer

Some attorneys (especially older attorneys) want to make Worldox look and act like Windows Explorer. That’s what they are “used to.” This ignores the fact that Worldox’s index-based search is always going to be more efficient (in many cases much more efficient) than anything resembling windows explorer’s manual scrolling back and forth in a poorly organized directory structure. Worldox’s “Google for your documents” approach is simply better.

So in the past, my efforts as a consultant have been to try to demonstrate this fact and convince users of it. But what can Worldox do for hard core windows explorer afficionados?

Favorite Matters. The closest thing to Windows Explorer that Worldox offers is Favorite Matters. This displays all the matters you have worked on in the last 30 days in a tree-type display. There is a limitation/tradeoff involved here. Favorite Matters (like Direct Access) bypasses the Worldox index and only displays actual directories. So if the firm has a Client/Matter directory structure you cannot see Doc Types in this display. If the firm has a Client/Matter/DocType directory structure you can ONLY see one doc type at a time, you cannot see all the files in a matter. This is part of the reason that the official Worldox “best practice” is to NOT make doctypes a directory.

Filters. Say you have all the files in a matter displayed, but there are too many to deal with efficiently. Click on the “Filter” option at the bottom of the screen and you can select one or more doc types (the larger the type the more files there are). You can also use this to select categories, actual document types (World, Excel, PDF, etc.), Author or other fields in your Cabinet configuration. If you click on the green icon at the left you can change it to “NOT” (a red icon) to eliminate certain document types such as emails (which can overwhelm other files in the list).

Column Display. Most firms configure Worldox to sort documents in descending order by date modified. However, you can sort any column (matter or doc type for example) by clicking on the column header. This would allow you to group, say, all the pleadings or all contracts together.

Tile Display. The tile display is not used very often, but can be useful in certain circumstances. For example, if you want to group all the documents of a given document type together, you could sort the list by doc type (by clicking on the doc type header). Then click on the “Tile View” icon (little box of squares). Each doc type will appear separately in its own “box.”

Once you have the display that you prefer, you can set it as your default view by clicking on the Gear Wheel and selecting “Make this my favorite view.”

Worldox in One Hour for Lawyers - Third Edition

The third edition of my book, Worldox in One Hour for Lawyers, published by the ABA’s Law Practice Division, will be available within the next couple of weeks. It is available for pre-order on ABA bookstore. Click here to order.

The book covers the numerous changes to Worldox GX4 since the program was first released in 2015. These include notably:

• The new Outlook integration which allows users to drag and drop emails to Outlook folders and have them filed directly to Worldox with no further user intervention. Note that while this and other changes do not involve any additional cost, there is significant setup and configuration time involved. This will be particularly attractive to high volume smartphone users, since they can now file emails to Worldox from their phone without needing to have Outlook open on their office computer.

• The new Web 3.0 internet access module replaces the old version (which had involved significant additional cost) and is significantly more robust. It is now actually feasible to “work from home” and to access Worldox with a Mac over the internet. In addition, an add-in provides internet access directly from Word or other programs. When you open or save a file in Word, the Web 3.0 module opens and takes you directly to your document store.

• Worldox Connect (based on Workshare) provides a full-featured Portal for file sharing and access that is fully integrated with Worldox. Worldox can also track any chat room functionality and provide a full audit trail of any comments or edits made to a document.

• New Indexer as a Service. Although this is not immediately relevant to end users, it does provide more reliable indexing as well as better reporting.

• Various other improvements, such as the ability to drag files directly from inside a zip file to Worldox without un-zipping the file first.

Worldox - Two Factor Authentication

Worldox now supports two-factor authentication (2FA). There has been a lot of talk about this. 2FA can play a critical role in preventing your data from being hacked. Is it for you? The basic “cost” of 2FA is about 20-30 extra seconds every time you want to open Worldox. This is the time it takes to enter a password, wait for you phone to get the code, then type the code into the authentication box. Most attorneys “can’t be bothered” to do this.

But when it is really worth it? Virtually every IT professional out there strongly recommends it for everything. But if you only work in the office, it probably is overkill. However, who does that anymore? If you travel a lot with a laptop or have a hosted/cloud setup, then the likelihood that someone could hack your general login is considerably greater. And once they have your general login they have access to all the firm’s documents. This is where 2FA is highly recommended if not critical.

You have options to receive your authentication code by text message or email. However, if the login running your Worldox has been compromised, then the likelihood is that your email has been compromised as well. Go with the cell phone authentication.

To set up two-factor authentication, from the main Worldox screen, select Edit | Password. Select "Add Password." Enter and confirm your password. Then repeat the process to select your authentication methods. Important: there is no administrative "back door" around this if you forget the password. Only Worldox Tech Support can bypass a missing or forgotten password.

Worldox and SEC Filings

A couple of clients have told me that the SEC has recently changed its filing requirements for the format of PDF documents, apparently requiring that they be stripped of metadata. Since Worldox inserts metadata into documents when it saves them, this means that you can no longer upload documents directly from Worldox to the SEC site.

In this case, firms will have to use one of two approaches. First, re-save the PDF using the “Save Outside Worldox” function to copy a document outside Worldox, then optimize it for filing to the SEC, then upload it. Many firms block the “Save Outside Worldox” function for most users. For those firms, the function will have to be enabled for those users in charge of filing to the SEC. If extra security is wished, the “Save Outside Worldox” function can be passworded, so that users will have to enter a password in order to use it.

Alternatively, use the “Send To” command to copy the PDF to the local drive. Then open it, optimize it and resave it prior to uploading to the SEC.

Worldox: Felt Needs and Real Needs

I was correcting the page proofs of the third edition of my “Worldox in One Hour for Lawyers” book (out approx. Sept. 1!) and saw that the proofreader had questioned the word “felt” in the phrase “depends on the firm’s culture and felt needs.”

Yes, there is a difference between felt needs and actual needs. As it happened, somebody presented me with a classic case of the difference the same day.

Some lawyers at a firm that has been running Worldox for a couple of years have expressed a “felt need” for a directory structure and complain that Worldox doesn’t work like this.

As I’ve said many times, if you consider your document store as a gigantic book and you want to located something, there are three ways too do it:

1. Read the book. Obviously very slow.
2. Look through the table of contents (like scrolling up and down a folder tree). Better but still slow.
3. Use a hyperlinked index. Fast and efficient.

So if working with the Worldox index is faster and more productive that scrolling up and down a directory structure (an equivalent of which is provided by Document Types in any event), why is there a “felt need” for a directory structure?

There would seem to be two answers to this. The first is simply “it’s what I’m used to.” But, as one of my clients once said, lawyers have to make changes to their practice all the time to adapt to new laws and standards, why shouldn’t they be willing to make changes based on new or better software and practices? The second answer is more interesting. If you have a manual directory structure you are not tied to firm standards, you can make up any sub-folders you want to meet your momentary needs. This seems reasonable until there are more than one or two people who are using your files. The firm doesn’t have to be very large before “do your own thing” conflicts with the needs of the firm to enable all users to access documents efficiently. So the individual’s “felt need” conflicts very quickly with the needs of the firm. There are, of course, dysfunctional firms that are really just a collection of disparate attorneys where “felt needs” rule, but most successful firms try to adapt some sort of centralized standards of practice.

“Felt needs” certain exit, but they very often conflict with the objective needs of the firm to be as efficient and productive as possible in dealing with their documents (which are, after all, the main “product” of a law firm).

Viewing MRIs from Worldox

Clients occasionally ask me if there is a way to use Worldox to manage information from MRI scans or similar that they receive on a CD/DVD with self-contained viewers/programs to access the information.

Because the disc contains multiple subdirectories and all the files needed to run the built-in program, it cannot just be copied into Worldox. Worldox deals directly with files, not with programs.

It turns out there is a simple, albeit retro lo-tech, way to do this. Copy the entire DVD including the program/viewers and all the files to a separate location on the server. I copied the entire DVD to W:\MRI\jhmri. The viewing program was called efilmlt.exe (a very common MRI viewer program) and was located in the efilmlite subdirectory on the DVD.

Then I created a batch file called “jhmri.bat” using notepad. The file contained a single line needed to run the viewer program: W:\mri\jhmri\efilmlite\efilmlt.exe

Then copy the batch file (in my case “jhmri.bat”) to Worldox and label it appropriately. A good practice would be the name of the MRI center and the date of the MRI. Double clicking on that document will run the program.

You may need to get help creating a batch file, as it is somewhat old school (did you ever wonder why there are so many management tasks that you can easily still do in dos but not in windows?). Also, depending on your settings, the file may just open in Notepad. In that case you may need to get someone to edit the registry to fix a setting (you need to delete the
Hkey_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\File
Exts\.bat). Do not try to do this if you are not sure how to do it.

Worldox Categories - Document Status

Many users find it difficult to get a handle on Worldox categories. What exactly are they good for and how are they different from doctypes?

After struggling myself to explain this adequately to clients, I finally had a Eureka! moment a while ago.

DocTypes describe what kind of document it is: Letter, Pleading, Contract, etc.

Categories describe the status of a given document: Needs Review, Executed Copy, “Finished Treating” for PI/Workers Comp firms, Partially Discoverable, etc. That is also why multiple Categories can be assigned to a given document.

So a document with a DocType of “Contract” could have Category (status) of Needs Review, Executed Copy, etc.

The beauty of Categories is that you can assign more than one to a given document. For example, a paperless firm might assign incoming mail, in addition to a doctype, to a category (status) such as JH_incoming. The attorney (JH) can then search for all their incoming document, process them, and remove the category.

Zip files and Worldox

As of about two years ago, Worldox GX users can drag and drop individual files from within a zip file directly to Worldox.

When you double-click on the zip file to open it, simply drag the desired file to the Worldox WorkZone icon.

This works with Pkzip, Winzip, Rar, but unfortunately it does not work with 7-zip, which has become very popular.

Users of 7-zip can right-click on a zip file, select “open with” and then open with Winzip to drag and drop files to Worldox.

Archiving from Hosted Worldox Systems

Prices for local hard drives have dropped through the floor – a 1 TB drive for under $100! So why is storage so expensive on hosted systems? Mainly because the drives are faster, more robust and come with a lot more management capabilities (such as the ability to change drive size on the fly). In addition, hosting companies frequently include other functions - Office, anti-virus, security, backup, maintaining various security standards (HIPPA, etc.). So clients are paying for more than just disk space on a server. Since firms are paying for storage by the Gigabyte, most hosting companies keep disk sizes close to the minimum to save expense.

This is an issue when it comes to archiving data off a document management system such as Worldox. Where do you archive the data to? This is complicated by the way the Worldox system is structured.

In an on premises network system data is archived to a different location, but it is still within the Worldox structure and can easily be searched. The archived files have a separate index, thus reducing the size of the main index and increasing response time for standard searches. However, in a hosted system, the data still resides somewhere on the hosting system and the firm is still billed for storage. You cannot have the archive “off site” on a separate hard drive. So you are still paying for storage for the archived data.

If you simply moved archived files to a local hard drive, you would still need a Worldox structure to access them. One option would be to buy a single-user Worldox license and configure the local system to match your hosted system exactly. Since Worldox is based on concurrent users, you could have 50 users on the local system and since only one person at a time would access it, you would be fine. Documents would be available locally using the Worldox search engine as before.

Another option would be to export closed matters to a client\matter\doctype\description structure and then move them to a local drive. This would give you a pure windows system with no indexing. You would have to scroll through the directory structure to find a document.

Either of these solutions are somewhat cumbersome and may involve added expense (the one-user license). Whether the potential savings on storage space would be worth it is something the firm will have to look at closely.

Worldox - Canary in the Coal Mine

In the early days of coal mining, miners frequently brought canaries down into the mine, because they were affected and died from the otherwise undetectable release of methane gas well before it affected humans. So when the canary keeled over, miners knew to get out in a hurry. Hence the expression “Canary in the coal mine” for early detection systems.

In some respects, Worldox is the canary in the coal mine for network problems. Worldox is built on top of the Windows operating systems, so in many cases windows/networking issues are first reflected in what appear to be Worldox problems. Here are some of the most common.

Timeout - document failed to save (a “1460” error). Worldox specifies an amount of time to wait until a document is saved. If the document fails to save in that time, Worldox errors out. This most commonly affects PDF documents for some reason. It can generally be fixed by adjusting the timeout period in Worldox. Not infrequently, however, it is indicative of a network issue somewhere in the connection between the PC and the server where Worldox files are stored. If your network is generally very slow, this is likely the source of the problem.

“The network is not available.” This means exactly what it says: your PC is not connected to the network (or at least Worldox doesn’t think it is). Open Windows Explorer and see whether you have your usual network drive letters available (frequently F: or W:). In some cases, when you turn on your PC, Worldox loads before the network drives finish mapping. If you see your usual drive letters when you open Windows Explorer, click on them to see the contents. If you get some sort of Windows or permissions error, then the network is not available. If you can see the contents of your drive letters, try re-opening Worldox.

“Database is not available.” This may be linked to a network issue as described above, but it is commonly indicative of some sort of issue with the Worldox indexer. You will need to contact your Worldox consultant or IT person.

Worldox integration suddenly stops working in Word or Outlook. Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom, occasionally decides that Worldox is opening too slowly and disables it. You can easily determine whether this is the case by checking to see whether the “Worldox” item on the main menu bar (above the icons) is still there or is missing. If it is missing, Worldox integration has been disabled. In either Word or Outlook, if you go to File | Options | AddIns and check for disabled or inoperative Worldox add-ins. Reenable the Worldox add-in and if applicable check the box for “always open.”

Most recently (early June) Microsoft released a build of Outlook (build 1905) that broke the integration with Worldox. When attaching a file, instead of Worldox popping up, users got the address book. Worldox was able to release a fix with in a few days.