Introducing the new TimeNet Law 4.2 update — with Document Templates, support for Smart Fields in Microsoft Word, and more new features, fixes and improvements.
Document Templates
Now with TimeNet Law 4.2 you can create a list of Document Templates and organize them with folders and tags. Document Templates can be easily added to any matter.
Document Templates also support Smart Fields for Microsoft Word documents. When adding a Document Template to a matter, any Smart Fields in the template will be automatically filled in with the data from that client and matter.
We’ve updated our Document Management Guide to include information about the new Document Templates system.
We’ve also added the ability to email or text a client directly from anywhere in the program that lists their contact information, made some UI improvements, and fixed some other issues. Be sure to check out the full release notes.
We’re excited to announce that TimeNet Law 4.1 is here! This is a big one! We’re introducing:
Full document management with search, tagging, file reminders and so much more
A totally redesigned reminder system, with powerful system-wide notification support
Zero-configuration invoice emailing — now you can email invoices to your clients without configuring and managing a mail server
But we didn’t stop there. TimeNet Law 4.1 adds a bunch of other new features, improvements and fixes too — over 40 in all! Let’s take a look at what’s new.
Document Management
First up: Document Management! For a long time, TimeNet Law has allowed you to link a file to a task, but that’s about it. TimeNet Law 4.1 now brings you complete document management! What does that mean? Let’s check it out.
Documents Folder for Every Matter
TimeNet Law will automatically create a Documents folder for every matter you create. You can access your matter documents right from the matter window. The new View Toggle button lets you switch between List View, Calendar View, or Files View.
Documents are stored in your TimeNet Law database and are automatically synced along with your other TimeNet Law data.
Files View in a Matter
Powerful Search and File Tagging
TimeNet Law uses your Mac’s powerful built-in Spotlight indexing to search for files. Find files by type, content, context, and more. Even find text in images using macOS Monterey’s new Live Text feature! All from right inside TimeNet Law. Search is lightning fast, even with thousands of files.
Instantly search documents by name, content, date, tag, and reminder status
You can also tag files with custom tags and assign them colors. Then filter your search even further by tag.
Tagging documents
All of this can be done from inside each matter, but you can also search your entire document library. The new QuickSearch Documents window lets you search all of your documents. Further refine your search by client or tag, date range, and more to find exactly what you’re looking for fast.
Easily search all of your client documents
Assign Deadlines and Reminders to Documents
You can assign a reminder to a document to track due dates and follow-up actions. Assign the reminder to a specific timekeeper, or mark it to be completed by any timekeeper.
Documents flagged with reminders will show a reminder badge in the file list, and they will also appear on your calendar, task manager list, and Launchpad!
All the Features You Expect
Drag and drop, duplication, moving, sorting, searching, Quick Look previewing — you can do it all right from inside TimeNet Law! Even drag files from one matter to another, or out of TimeNet Law to your Finder and vice versa. It’s incredibly powerful.
The new document management system will help you keep all of your client files organized and within reach. Instantly access a matter’s files with one click. Tag them, assign reminders, save notes, and see file deadlines on your calendar. Managing client files just got so much easier!
To help you get the most out of the new Document Management system, we’ve created a complete guide.
Next, we’ve got a brand new notification system! With TimeNet Law 4, we added task management and calendaring. Reminders were added as an option, but they weren’t working well for some users. We’ve totally redesigned the notification system, so now they should be working for everyone.
You’ll get macOS-style system notifications. These notifications can be assigned to only appear for specific users of TimeNet Law (which requires Control Center and user login), or they can appear for everyone who runs TimeNet Law.
Notifications will even fire if TimeNet Law isn’t open! Once you get a notification, you can dismiss it, snooze it for 10 minutes, or jump right to the associated task in TimeNet Law — all from the notification.
Zero-Config Invoice Emailing
TimeNet Law could always email invoices to your clients automatically as you created them, but it required you to configure your own mail server settings. Users with iCloud or gmail accounts could have issues, and even when it worked, having to manually manage those settings was not ideal.
We’ve solved this problem with TimeNet Law 4.1 by spinning up our own mail server. Now TimeNet Law uses this automatically-configured mail server to email your invoices to your clients.
Invoices will be delivered with a customizable “from address”, so your clients can reply directly to you. And your invoices are never saved on our mail servers.
There’s a Lot More!
In addition to the new notification system and full document management, TimeNet Law 4.1 includes a lot of other new features, improvements and fixes. You can view the full release notes and download the new version below.
When using TimeNet Law, you may be presented with various system permissions prompts. Here is a list of permissions TimeNet Law might ask for, and why.
Calendar, Reminders, Contacts
TimeNet Law may ask for permission to access your calendar, reminders, or contacts. Calendar and reminder access is for importing time entries from your calendar and reminders list. Contacts permission is for importing clients from your Contacts app, and for auto-filling certain name and email fields with your personal contact information (for example when sending us feedback using the in-app Feedback window).
We never share this data with anyone, and we do not ever even see it.
Notifications
TimeNet Law may ask for permission to show notifications on your Mac. This is to allow notifications to appear to remind you of tasks and events that you’ve tagged with a reminder.
File Access
TimeNet Law handles document management for your law firm. By default, all client documents are stored inside the TimeNet Law database. If you opt to use a custom location for a client’s files (such as a folder on your desktop, etc.), TimeNet Law may ask for permission to access files on your hard drive.
We can never see these files. Only the TimeNet Law application itself, installed on your computer, has access to them.
TimeNet Law Privacy Policy
TimeNet Law stores your data locally on your computer, and optionally on any cloud service you choose to sync with (Dropbox, iCloud, etc). Your data is encrypted, so even once stored on a cloud service, only the TimeNet Law application itself can read your data, with your optional password.
If you ever send your database to us for technical support reasons, your data is never looked at, and is only used for as long as needed to identify and resolve your issue. Once completed, your data is immediately and securely erased from our office and our email servers.
We will never share your contact information or email address with anyone. If you sign up for our newsletter, you can immediately unsubscribe yourself at any time.
We cannot — nor would we want to — ever lock you out of your software. You can always open the application and access your data. Even on the newest version with an expired license, you can still access all of your data.
We process payments using Stripe — an industry-standard, extremely secure credit card processing service.
If you ever have any questions about your privacy with TimeNet Law, please let us know. We’ll be happy to assist.
TimeNet Law Tips and Tricks: TimeNet Law Cloud Mode
Whether you want to use TimeNet Law with a team, or simply access it remotely from your laptop when not in the office, TimeNet Law offers a very simple and powerful cloud syncing mode that leverages the advantages of cloud software:
Work in the office, from home, or while traveling
Use multiple computers seamlessly
Work with multiple people at the same time
Keep data in sync and see changes as they happen
Cloud software also has some significant disadvantages. TimeNet Law eliminates all of them:
You can only work when online
If the server/company holding your data has issues, you can’t access your data
Working in non-native (web, Electron, etc.) environments is slow and clunky
As soon as you stop paying your “rent” for the software, your data becomes locked away from you
The TimeNet Law Solution
By providing you with a native application that lives on your Mac, your data is stored on your device and always accessible to you. Whether online or not, you can always access your data, and we can never lock you out of it — nor would we want to.
Using Dropbox or iCloud to sync your data, you have offsite cloud backup of your entire database, and all of your data is seamlessly synced across all devices in your firm and fully encrypted.
Once you’ve chosen a syncing provider and set it up on your computer, you just need to tell TimeNet Law where to store your data.
Open TimeNet Law on your first computer (the one that shows all of your TimeNet Law data)
Select File > Configure Network from the menubar
Choose the Dropbox/iCloud option and click Next
By default, TimeNet Law offers to store your data in the root of your Dropbox folder. If using Dropbox, click Finish
If using iCloud Drive, or you want to store TimeNet Law’s data in a separate folder inside of the Dropbox folder, click Choose Another Location, select your iCloud Drive folder or any other folder in Dropbox or iCloud Drive, and click Finish
Configuring TimeNet Law to Use Dropbox or iCloud Drive
You’re All Set!
It’s as simple as that. Now, TimeNet Law will store your data in Dropbox or iCloud Drive. To access that data from other computers, simply open TimeNet Law and repeat the steps above to select the same “TimeNet Law Data” in Dropbox or iCloud Drive.
If the other computers aren’t signed into the same Dropbox or iCloud account, then you just need to share the “TimeNet Law Data” folder inside your Dropbox or iCloud Drive folder before they complete the steps above. Right-click the folder and select Share (use the second Share option with the Dropbox icon if using Dropbox) and enter the other user’s email address(es).
Now you can work from anywhere, with anyone, and rest easy knowing your data is securely stored with encryption on your computer, and backed up offsite.
TimeNet Law Tips and Tricks: Making Things Inactive
Over time, your law practice may change. Clients and timekeepers come and go, and matters eventually get finished and (hopefully) paid. TimeNet Law makes it simple to keep things tidy, while still retaining all of your historical data.
Making Clients Inactive
If you’ve completed all work for a client, and they’ve settled their accounts with you, it’s no longer necessary to see their name in your system all the time. By making a client Inactive, they will be hidden from windows and reports, but you can still easily look at their data, or make them active again later.
Edit a client by right-clicking their name in the main window and selecting Edit Client, or hold Option on your keyboard and double-click the client.
Select Inactive from the Status popup under the Name field.
Making a Client Inactive
Once a client is inactive, it will be hidden from the main window and excluded from reports. You can include inactive clients in reports by checking the Include Inactive Clients checkbox.
Viewing and Re-Activating Inactive Clients
Once you’ve made clients Inactive, they no longer appear in the main window. To view them, select View > Show Inactive Clients from the menubar, or click the gearwheel button at the top of the client list and select Inactive Clients under the Show section of the popup menu.
When inactive clients are visible, you can repeat the steps above to edit the inactive client and change their Status to Active.
Making Matters Inactive
Once you’ve completed a matter, you can make it inactive so it no longer appears in the matter list under that client. It will also be excluded from reports unless you check the Include Inactive Matters checkbox.
Open the matter you wish to make inactive.
Select Matter > Make Matter Inactive from the menubar.
Making a Matter Inactive
Viewing and Re-Activating Inactive Matters
Once you’ve made matters Inactive, they no longer appear in the main window. To view them, select View > Show Inactive Matters from the menubar, or click the gearwheel button at the top of the client list and select Inactive Matters under the Show section of the popup menu.
When inactive natters are visible, you can open the inactive matter and select Matter > Make Matter Active to re-activate it.
Making Timekeepers Inactive
If a timekeeper leaves your law firm, do not delete them from the Timekeepers list. You’ll want to keep them in the system for historical purposes. Instead, make them inactive.
Open the main Preferences and click the Timekeepers pane in the toolbar.
Double-click the timekeeper you wish to make inactive.
Select Inactive from the Status popup under the Position field.
Making a Timekeeper Inactive
Re-Activating Inactive Timekeepers
Inactive timekeepers will always appear in the Timekeeper list in the Preferences window. Double-click them and change their Status back to Active.
By making clients, matters and timekeepers inactive in TimeNet Law, your software will remain uncluttered and be much easier to navigate. Hidden away but easy to access, your historical data will remain intact and your software will be more focused.
Happy Apple Update Season! We’re gearing up for new Macs and macOS Monterey with TimeNet Law 4.0.4. This update brings important fixes and improvements, UI refinements, and new features. It is recommended for all TimeNet Law users. Happy upgrading!
TimeNet Law has a lot of options and settings. You can learn about them using QuickHelp. It is available anywhere in the program, and can easily be turned on or off by clicking the blue circular ? icon in any window, or by selecting Help > Show/Hide QuickHelp Guide from the menubar.
When QuickHelp is on, a small floating window will appear and give you details about whatever button, text field, or control your mouse cursor is hovering over. It’s a great way to learn about new options quickly.
We recommend leaving QuickHelp on for awhile when you’re getting started with TimeNet Law. It will give you a big jumpstart as you learn how to use the software.
TimeNet Law Tips and Tricks: Migrating to a New Computer
So, you just got yourself a fancy new computer and you want to move TimeNet Law from your previous workhorse to the new one. Good news! It’s very simple. Just follow the steps outlined below.
Open TimeNet Law on the old computer and select File > Backup Data from the menubar. When prompted, save it to a new folder on your desktop. Quit TimeNet Law on the old computer.
Copy this folder from your desktop onto the new computer using file sharing or AirDrop.
Move TimeNet Law from the Downloads folder into your Applications folder on the new computer and open it.
Exit out of the Setup Assistant and select File > Restore Data from the menubar. When prompted, select the TimeNet Law Data folder you copied over in step 2.
That’s it! Now you should see all of your data in TimeNet Law on your new computer. Be sure to enter your license information into TimeNet Law on the new computer by selecting TimeNet Law > License from the menubar.
TimeNet Law 4 has been a huge success, and we can’t thank you all enough. But we’ll try — here’s another hot update! Get some new keyboard shortcuts for filtering clients and entries, UI improvements for the new Task Manager, and a number of bug fixes. Enjoy!
Keep that feedback coming. We’re listening! TimeNet Law 4.0.2 is here to make the main window client view a little more compact, refine some additional rough UI edges, add some new view options, and fix some bugs. Get it while it’s hot!
