Futurelawyer

Kofax Power PDF Advanced - Make Sure You Buy The Correct Version.

Comparison Version 4 Power PDF Advanced Versus Version 5. If you decide to take my advice and purchase Kofax Power PDF Advanced, make sure you buy the new version, Version 5. It contains features useful and essential to lawyers too many to list. This page makes all the comparisons. Suffice it to say, it is worth paying full price of $179 to buy it from Kofax directly. I have been able to get along with Version 4 for several years; but, I am upgrading to Version 5. It has PDF/A compliance checking, which is essential of online filing of pleadings, the ability to do complex text and graphics redaction, and much more. I have only recently discovered some helpful features, such as scanning directly to Kofax PDF. This is the best $179 a practicing lawyer can spend, and they don't pay me to say that. Of course, I won't send back any checks, if they come my way. If you are a Microsoft Word user, or any of Microsoft's products which use the ribbon interface, you will be immediately at home. 

Kofax Power PDF Advanced - Full Featured For Less Money.

Kofax Power PDF Advanced. Lawyers these days spend much of their time with documents created in Word or WordPerfect. However, modern efiling systems require PDFs for filing purposes, and an adequate PDF software application is essential to modern lawyering. For a long time, the best was Adobe; but, it is really expensive. Some of us looked around for a cheaper alternative that was easy to use and had all of the features. We found it in the original Nuance PDF software. Now named Kofax, I use the Power PDF Advanced version every single day, multiple times. All of Florida's pleadings, in all 67 counties, must be efiled, and PDF/A format is required. So, every Wordperfect document I create, I immediately make a PDF version, which I use for sending to clients and colleagues, and for efiling. A 3 year subscription to Adobe costs $540, while Kofax Power PDF Advanced costs $179, and you only pay once. Sometimes, it can be found on sale for as low as $110. Sounds like a no brainer to me.

 

Christmas Week - What Will You Do With The Time Off?

I love Christmas. I love having a long holiday to spend with my hobbies and interests. One of my favorite things is to delve into the many aspects of my technology that I don't have the time to deal with normally. Today, I updated all of my Virtual Reality apps, and played a game of chess with the computer. It is very cool to be transported into a virtual world in which you move pieces around the board with virtual hands. Once you suspend your disbelief, you can actually feel a part of the environment. I tend to set the computer on "dumber than dumb", so that I can pretend I am the best chess player in the world. Hey, I am in a pretend environment. Why not? But, another favorite thing is to try out all of the complications that modern smartwatches provide. You won't believe some of the things these marvelous wrist computers can do. I love that I can set a chime for every hour on the hour, and flip the screen so that the watch controls are on the left. Since I am left handed, I wear my watch on my right wrist, and I can use the functions on the left side of the screen. Check out this great video that highlights some of the magic.

 

Saturday Fun - Attach A Gaming Controller To Your Spare SmartPhone.

Razer Kishi Android Gaming Controller. Ok, this is officially the most fun you can have for $43. I love Razer keyboards and mice. While designed for gamers, they are great for touch typists like the FutureLawyer. I can speed along at the speed of my thought processes. But, when I saw this little expandable controller that connects to a Smartphone, I decided to try it. I am not a gamer; but, I enjoyed the early versions of Doom, a first person shooter in which you get to run around a dark tunneled underground and zap monsters, and I enjoy the great graphics of modern car racing games. So, I bought it, and I now have a dedicated portable system, using my backup Samsung Galaxy 10+ phone. Also, with XBox Ultimate, I can play any XBox game in the cloud on my Android phone. I may become a gamer after all. Life is short. Play games.

#WhyWordPerfectIsPerfect - WordPerfect Reveals Its Codes.

I have been a passionate user of WordPerfect for document production for decades. It was my first, and will be my last, word processor; and, as a lawyer, words are my business. I know that Microsoft Word owns the universe, and I have a copy to use when I need to deal with the documents of others. But, WordPerfect does a great job of converting Word into WordPerfect and vice versa. Why are we WordPerfect users so passionate about our choice? It's simple. Reveal Codes. Word documents are a nightmare to format and alter. WordPerfect documents can be tweaked and altered easily. Just press the Alt key and F3 key. The document magically reveals its inner formatting, fonts, and every other little thing. Now that Corel has changed its name to Alludo ( I don't care if they call it Yabba Dabba Do), it is nice to see that the WordPerfect brand is still around, and will be until after the FutureLawyer has departed this mortal coil. This little three minute video describes the Reveal Codes function, in case you are interested.

 

TasksBoard - Project Management For Google Calendar.

TasksBoard When I was doing a lot of litigation, and more of everything else, I was an early adopter of case management systems. The best, in the beginning, was Amicus Attorney. Now, everything is in the cloud, and there are a lot of case management systems that can get the job done. One of my favorite Amicus functions was the ability to create a template for different kinds of matters that integrated with the calendar, and allowed the automatic reminder of the status of a case, and what needed to be done. It was project management for law. For instance, probate administration requires a set list of date requirements, such as 90 days for creditor's claims, 30 days for the filing of the Inventory after the issuance of Letters of Administration, and so on. In Amicus, a lawyer could create a template with tasks linked to dates that could be loaded at inception. Then, the required tasks would pop up when required on the calendar. Tasksboard allows the creation of lists for different sets of tasks that is connected to Google Calendar, and syncs with it. I haven't played with it yet; but, you can try a free version that allows 5 lists of tasks, and I might just see how well it works in a law environment. It doesn't look like tasks can be linked; but being able to have several different lists to categorize differences might be useful. 

It's Free. It's Easy. It Gets The Job Done. Google Tasks.

There are all kinds of To Do list and task list apps out there, all designed to keep your day organized. If you use Google Calendar, or any other Google apps, however, you really need to play with Google Tasks. It sits at the right of my calendar every minute of every day, and I add an item to my list whenever it comes up. Since I am no longer doing complex litigation, I don't really need a full function case management system, so, if you are still in an active practice, Tasks may not be for you. However, it is free, and gets the job done, and I use it all the time. I live in my browser, and Google Calendar, Email, Task Management, and various other Google functions are at my fingertips all the time. It really doesn't matter how you get organized. You will be more productive if you do.

 

Be A Windows God With One Click Of Your Mouse.

How to Enable God Mode In Windows. Windows is a complicated operating system, and there are literally hundreds of options that can be optimized or tweaked to suit your personal preferences. But, what a pain it is to find one when you need it. What if you want to auto-hide the taskbar? It will get you some more screen real estate, for sure. Of course, some of us like having all our program options visible at all times. In any event, good luck remembering how to get to the taskbar settings, along with dozens of other tasks. The good news is that the Vista inspired God mode, which puts just about every Windows command in one place, has survived all the way to the current Windows 11, and you can install it free and easily. Tom's Guide is a great site, and the instructions are online. Be a computer god. You know you want to.

FutureLawyer Has A Home Office In The Metaverse.

Spatial One of the leading platforms in the Metaverse is Spatial; and, after the presentation today by Mitch Jackson, I decided to check out the site. I had forgotten that I had set up an account years ago, and it was still active. The tech has improved tremendously, and this is a photo of my Avatar and home office. I am going to play with it, and any of you who want to try out a conference with me, about any topic, let me know, and when it is ready, I will send an invite. Cool stuff.

#WhyIAmASolo - I Don't Need An App To Manage Employees.

In fact, since I have no employees, I don't need to manage them at all.