25 Technology Tips for Illinois Legal Aid Advocates

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25 Technology Tips for Illinois Legal Aid
Advocates

• Gwen Daniels
• gdaniels_at_illinoislegalaid.org
• Illinois Legal Aid Online

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Resources For Legal Information CLE
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1. Getting MCLE Credit for Free

• http//www.illinoislegaladvocate.org/mcle
• Free
• Archived webcasts with free MCLE credit
• Live webcasts with free MCLE credit
• PLI audio and webcasts with free MCLE credit
• CBF Legal Aid Academy in person trainings with
  free MCLE credit

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2. Communicate Through the Discussion Groups

• Sign up to Listservs through My Subscriptions
• Participate via email
• Participate via discussion group tab
• Archives posted to discussion groups

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3. Online Legal Resources

• Cornell Universitys Legal Information Institute
• ABAs LawLink
• ABA Law Blawgs Directory
• National Support Law News Feeds

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4. Work Faster With HotDocs

• HotDocs interviews ask questions to fill out
  forms
• Save client answer files to use again for future
  documents
• Attorney HotDocs produce text files that can be
  edited

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For Attorneys

• Advocate forms include
• Divorce
• Simple Will
• Civil Procedure Forms
• Powers of Attorney
• Advocate Library
• Pro Se Library

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For Clients

• Client forms include
• Divorce
• Orders of Protection
• Guardianship
• Fee Waiver
• Security Deposits

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Working with What You Have Tips for Getting
More out of Office Google
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5. Outlook Calculate Tickler Dates

• Use special instructions in Start Time to
  calculate important dates!

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Outlook Syntax for Calculating Tickler Dates

• Days
• 30 days before 3/23/2010
• 30 days after 3/23/2010
• Weeks
• 6 weeks before 3/23/2010 or 6 wk before
  3/23/2010
• 6 weeks after 3/23/2010 or 6 wk after 3/23/2010
• Months
• 5 months before 3/23/2010 or 5 mo before
  3/23/2010
• 5 months after 3/23/2010 or 5 mo after
  3/23/2010

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6. Four Ways To Better Manage Your Inbox

• Flag Email that Needs Follow-Up and A Task Will
  Automatically Be Created
• Use Categories to Group Emails with Visible
  Color-coding
• Use Folders to Organize Information
• Create filters to keep less important email out
  of your inbox
• More tips Managing Information Overload

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7. Keyboard Short-cuts The Standard Short-cuts
You should know by now
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Word Keyboard Shortcuts
Short-cuts
Open a new word doc Open a previously saved doc CtrlN CtrlO
Closes the active window, but does not Exit Word CtrlW
Closes Microsoft Word (or other open program) AltF4
Searches for specified text in the active document CtrlF
Selects all text and graphics in the active window CtrlA
Remove selection from active document (place on clipboard) CtrlX
Copies the selection to the clipboard CtrlC
Inserts the contents of the clipboard at the insertion point (cursor) or whatever is selected CtrlV
Saves active document with its current file name, location and format CtrlS
Prints the active file CtrlP
Undo the last action. Reinstate the last action. CtrlZ CtrlY
Format / Unformat text (Bold, Italic, Underline) CtrlB, CtrlI, CtrlU
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Keyboard Short-cuts Diacritic Marks
Diacritic Mark Keyboard Short-cut
The acute accent (café or fiancé) Ctrl ' (quote) before typing the vowel.
The grave accent - (là or où) Use Ctrl (tick) before typing the vowel.
The circumflex accent (côte, fête) Use CtrlShift before typing the vowel
The tilde - (piñata, jalapeño) Use CtrlShift before typing the letter.
The umlaut- (Chloë, naïve) Use CtrlShift (colon) before the vowel
The cedilla (façade, soupçon) Use Ctrl , (comma) before the letter
The ring (the Angstorm symbol - Å) Use CtrlShift_at_ before the letter
The compound AE - (hæmoglobin) Use Ctrl before a
The German S - (straße) Use Ctrl s
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8. Find Information Faster With Desktop Search
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9. Getting More out of Google

• Set your preferences http//www.google.com/prefe
  rences?hlen
• Use the Advanced Search http//www.google.com/adv
  anced_search?hlen

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10 Specialized Searches in Google

• US Government Search http//www.google.com/uncles
  am
• Blog Search http//blogsearch.google.com/
• Book search http//books.google.com/
• Product Search http//www.google.com/products

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Internet Tools To Make Work Easier
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11. Zamzar
http//www.zamzar.com/
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12. Google Mobile

• Send a text to Google (466453 ) for
• Flight status
• Restaurant locations
• Driving directions
• Sports scores
• Translations
• Weather
• Web snippets

http//www.google.com/intl/en_us/mobile/default/sm
s/index.html
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13. EverNote
http//www.evernote.com
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14. Free and Cheap Online File Storage

• http//www.box.net
• http//www.drop.io

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15. TaDa Lists

• http//www.Tadalist.com
• Quick and easy web-based to do list
• Free
• Can be private or shared with people you trust or
  publicly

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Chat, Conferencing, Meetings Webcasts
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16. Meeting Wizard
Send a meeting request to your colleagues.
http//www.meetingwizard.com
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and review the responses
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17. Campfire Free Chat Room
http//www.campfirenow.com/
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18. LegalMeetings
http//www.lsntap.org/aboutlegalmeetings
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19. Webcasting Through Illinois Legal Aid Online
Contact Susan Muirhead at smuirhead_at_illinoislegala
id.org
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Collaboration Project Management Solutions
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20. Central Desktop

• http//www.centraldesktop.com
• Free for small groups (up to 5 users)
• Nonprofit discount for larger use
• Supports
• Project Management (To Do Lists, Milestones,
  Collaborative Document Editing, Calendars)
• Wikis
• Help Desk/Trouble Tickets

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21. BaseCamp

• http//www.basecamphq.com
• Free version supports messages, to do lists,
  milestones, writeboards, and chat

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22. Zoho.Com

• http//www.zoho.com/
• Free versions of
• Wikis
• Project Management Tools
• Online Document Management

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23. Writeboard
Create
Invite
Track Edit
Versions
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24. Microsoft Office Live Workspaces

• http//workspace.officelive.com/
• Integrates with Microsoft Office
• Upload Office documents that can be shared

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25. Adobe Acrobat Share

• http//share.acrobat.com
• Share files
• Connect Online workspace for up to 3 people
• Create online documents using Buzzword

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More Tips Resources

• Visit http//www.lsntap.org for this years 50
  Tech Tips Powerpoint from the Equal Justice
  Conference
• Visit http//www.illinoislegaladvocate.org and go
  to the news section for monthly tech tips from
  ILAO, usually published the last day of each
  month