 |
Computer Corner: Using a Folder Tree to
Organize Your Cases
With downloadable folder trees for research and
client
folders
By Marjory Harris, Esq.
In this series, we explore organizational techniques,
software and hardware that will help you clear the mess from your desk, be more
productive, and cut office overhead.
In an early issue in How
to Store It, How to Find It,
we presented a downloadable folder tree to help you store and easily find your
legal research, briefs, deposition questionnaires, etc. Five years later we expand
on and update the folder tree concept and show how to use it for case files in
your paper-free office.
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
Folders and Trees
In the dark old
days of DOS, we spoke of directories, which were places on the hard
drive where files were kept. We now talk of “folders,” which
are containers of documents. Without getting mired in technicalities
and computer-speak, the folder tree is a collection of files or folders
within another folder or the root directory.
If you organize information
in a systematic process within your workers’ compensation practice,
you will be able to store and find things much faster than the old-fashioned
way, which was to use paper files, organized or disorganized, or
the “My Documents” wastebasket on your C drive.
|
|
|
| The folder tree is a collection
of files or folders within another folder or the root directory.
See “Folder
(computing)” |
|
|
If you are still storing your files on C drive, please read my
article “Saving
Graces”.
That article contained a folder
tree for storing your legal research.
Now we focus on a folder tree for individual
cases.
The client
folder tree allows you to organize the files for easy access. You
can drag and drop or copy-cut-paste or just copy and paste, if
you want the files in different subfolders. Drives are now huge,
the files are small, so running out of storage space is no longer
a concern.
If you need different subfolders than the ones I currently use, just
create them in the clean Tree folder by right clicking, selecting “New” then “Folder.” If
I am drafting a penalty or sanctions petition or a brief, I create
a folder with the appropriate label and start adding exhibits to
it, notes, my pleading caption template, and the like. In more complex
cases, you may want an “MSC” folder or “Trial” folder.
The “Trial” folder could then have subfolders for “Exhibits” if
there are many.
In sum, the use of the tree is what you make of it.
The possibilities are many, but this system only works if you systematically
store things where they belong.
Some of the folders in the screen shot above bear some explanation. “Client
Copies” are copies of documents I upload to my HIPAA-compliant
drop box so that the client can download and review the documents.
At the end of the case, one can put all documents there and upload
the folder to the drop box, or burn them to a CD and mail that to the
client. It saves a lot of clerical work and expense, since all that
is required is a few seconds spent copying and pasting, rather than
photocopying, preparing a label, and mailing.
The “EAMS” subfolder
comes in handy when collecting the multitude of documents required
for e-filers or (even more) for OCR filers. I store in the same folder
the submit data messages EAMS emits, and a screen shot of the attachments
I uploaded. In complex cases where there are additional submissions
to the WCAB, I have subfolders with the date so that I can keep the
submissions organized.
I keep all data files on “D” drive for ease of backup.
I keep the client folder tree pictured above in the “WC” folder,
where each client has a subfolder. When I open a new case, I just copy
the empty folders to the new folder. To copy all at once, open the
tree folder, then use Ctrl+A to highlight the folders, Ctrl+C to copy
them, then insert the cursor into the client’s folder and use
Ctrl+V.
Alternatively, you can open the folder where the tree is stored, right
click on “Tree,” then select “Copy” from the
dropdown menu, then place cursor on white space in folder, right click
and select “Paste.” The result will be a folder named “copy
of tree,” which you can then rename by right clicking on the
folder and selecting “Rename.” Then put in the client’s
name. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Labeling Files
Now that you have your
folder tree set up, it is time to decide on a labeling scheme that
makes sense for your practice. When you scan a document, decide where
to store it and what to label it. It is also a good time to record
that in some record-keeping system, such as your case management
program or a note system like File Notes Organizer (see below), especially
if the document contains important information you will need to look
up later. The worst approach is to end up with a bunch of files labeled “scan” followed
by numbers, in a folder your scanning program uses as a general dumping
ground.
Here are some examples of an approach I have found useful
in my practice:
1. The label reveals the type of document and its
date. Some examples are: “PTP Cutter 9-1-10,” “PenPet
re PDAs 3-4-09,” “Schmoo AME supp 7-6-11.,” “DA
Ltr to AME Schmoo 5-3-11,” “Ltr to AME Schmoo re RTW
7-20-11,” “Schmoo AME Supp re RTW 9-2-11.”
2. If
you have someone else doing your scanning, you can change the label
when reviewing the document.
3. If you do not want to spend any time labeling things, you can
use a search engine to find what you need, although this approach
will take longer than the few seconds required to label the document
at the time of creation. You could, for example, search through the
client’s folder to find every time that “Schmoo” is
mentioned. This will require that you OCR documents as you scan them,
or that you use a program that will search text even if you do not
originally OCR documents. Again, having used various programs for
many years, I find it is easier to label and install correctly during
the scanning process. I use Lucion’s
FileCenter when I scan
and view files. Examine this list
of features, then do the free trial.
Besides advanced scanning, including to Word, and accurate OCR, it
has many pdf features that rival Acrobat and other programs. It is
a file viewer as well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Viewing and
Annotating Your Files
While I rely heavily on FileCenter to scan and view documents, I
have recently added another program that, like FileCenter, is an
alternative to Windows Explorer and combines file viewer and search
utilities: File
Notes Organizer Pro.
This program does a few things that FileCenter does not and to my
mind is worth the $49 many times over. It allows me to enter notes
about the contents of the files and to create virtual folders and
collections of documents that I might be working on at present. Have
you ever wished you could add comments without opening a folder in
Windows Explorer, right clicking on the file, clicking on Properties,
then entering your comment in the appropriate field, then having
to search for it later by looking through all the files in a folder?
With File Notes Organizer, this is far faster and easier to do.
This
screen shot shows this issue of getMedLegal Magazine, where I created
a notes catalog:
Besides writing notes to illuminate the file’s content, you
can bookmark within the file. Suggested uses are comments on doctor
letters, reports and depos, petitions, and briefs. There are almost
endless adaptations you can easily make to organize your files, folders
and notes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
