25 Technology Tips for Illinois
Legal Aid Advocates
Gwen Daniels
gdaniels@illinoislegalaid.org
Illinois Legal Aid Online
Resources For Legal Information
& CLE
1. Getting MCLE Credit for Free
• http://www.illinoislegaladvocate.org/mcle
• Free:
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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
2. Communicate Through the
Discussion Groups
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Sign up to Listservs through “My Subscriptions”
Participate via email
Participate via discussion group tab
Archives posted to discussion groups
3. Online Legal Resources
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Cornell University’s Legal Information Institute
ABA’s LawLink
ABA Law Blawgs Directory
National Support & Law News Feeds
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
For Attorneys
Advocate forms
include:
•Divorce
•Simple Will
•Civil Procedure Forms
•Powers of Attorney
Advocate Library
Pro Se Library
For Clients
Client forms
include:
•Divorce
•Orders of Protection
•Guardianship
•Fee Waiver
•Security Deposits
Working with What You Have: Tips
for Getting More out of Office &
Google
5. Outlook – Calculate “Tickler” Dates
• Use special instructions in “Start Time” to
calculate important dates!
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]
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
7. Keyboard Short-cuts: The Standard
Short-cuts “You should know by now”
Word Keyboard Shortcuts
Short-cuts
Open a new word doc; Open a previously saved doc
Ctrl+N; Ctrl+O
Closes the active window, but does not Exit Word
Ctrl+W
Closes Microsoft Word (or other open program)
Alt+F4
Searches for specified text in the active document
Ctrl+F
Selects all text and graphics in the active window
Ctrl+A
Remove selection from active document (place on
clipboard)
Ctrl+X
Copies the selection to the clipboard
Ctrl+C
Inserts the contents of the clipboard at the insertion point Ctrl+V
(cursor) or whatever is selected
Saves active document with its current file name, location Ctrl+S
and format
Prints the active file
Ctrl+P
Undo the last action. Reinstate the last action.
Ctrl+Z; Ctrl+Y
Format / Unformat text (Bold, Italic, Underline)
Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I, Ctrl+U
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 Ctrl+Shift+ ^ before typing the vowel
The tilde - (piñata, jalapeño)
Use Ctrl+Shift+ ~ before typing the letter.
The umlaut- (Chloë, naïve)
Use Ctrl+Shift+ : (colon) before the vowel
The cedilla – (façade, soupçon)
Use Ctrl+ , (comma) before the letter
The ring –
(the Angstorm symbol - Å)
Use Ctrl+Shift+@ before the letter
The compound AE (hæmoglobin)
Use Ctrl+ & before a
The German S - (straße)
Use Ctrl + & + s
8. Find Information Faster With
Desktop Search
9. Getting More out of Google
• Set your preferences:
http://www.google.com/preferences?hl=en
• Use the Advanced Search:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=e
n
10: Specialized Searches in Google
• US Government Search:
http://www.google.com/unclesam
• Blog Search: http://blogsearch.google.com/
• Book search: http://books.google.com/
• Product Search:
http://www.google.com/products
Internet Tools To Make Work
Easier
11. Zamzar
http://www.zamzar.com/
12. Google Mobile
• Send a text to “Google” (466453 ) for:
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Flight status
Restaurant locations
Driving directions
Sports scores
Translations
Weather
Web snippets
http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/mobile/default/sms/index.html
13. EverNote
http://www.evernote.com
14. Free and Cheap Online File Storage
• http://www.box.net
• http://www.drop.io
15. TaDa Lists
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http://www.Tadalist.com
Quick and easy web-based to do list
Free
Can be private or shared with people you trust or
publicly
Chat, Conferencing, Meetings &
Webcasts
16. Meeting Wizard
Send a meeting request to your colleagues….
http://www.meetingwizard.com
…and review the responses
17. Campfire: Free Chat Room
http://www.campfirenow.com/
18. LegalMeetings
http://www.lsntap.org/aboutlegalmeetings
19. Webcasting Through Illinois Legal
Aid Online
Contact Susan Muirhead at smuirhead@illinoislegalaid.org
Collaboration & Project
Management Solutions
20. Central Desktop
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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
21. BaseCamp
• http://www.basecamphq.com
• Free version supports: messages, to do lists,
milestones, writeboards, and chat
22. Zoho.Com
• http://www.zoho.com/
• Free versions of:
▫ Wikis
▫ Project Management Tools
▫ Online Document Management
23.Create
Writeboard
Versions
Invite
Track & Edit
24. Microsoft Office Live Workspaces
• http://workspace.officelive.com/
• Integrates with Microsoft Office
• Upload Office documents that can be shared
25. Adobe Acrobat Share
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http://share.acrobat.com
Share files
Connect: Online workspace for up to 3 people
Create online documents using Buzzword
More Tips & Resources
• Visit http://www.lsntap.org for this year’s 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