Voice Command — Say It, Bill It

TimeNet Law's voice command system lets you create time entries by simply describing what you did. It parses your words, finds the right matter, fills in the details, and saves — often in a single sentence. No forms. No tapping through fields. Just talk.

How It Works

The voice entry flow is simple. Five steps, and only two of them require you to touch the screen.

What You Can Say

The parser understands natural language. You don't need to memorize commands or follow a rigid format. Just describe the work like you'd tell a colleague.

Duration Formats

Say time however feels natural. The parser handles all of these:

Matter References

Reference clients and matters however you think of them. The parser matches intelligently:

• Client name: "meeting with Anderson" — finds the Anderson matter
• Matter name: "work on the Robinson trust" — finds the Robinson Family Trust
• Partial matches: "the Smith case" finds "Smith v. Jones"

Complete Examples

Here's what full voice entries look like in practice:

Smart Disambiguation

Sometimes your words match more than one matter. Say "Smith" and you might have "Smith v. Jones", "Smith Family Trust", and "Smith Corp" in your system. TimeNet Law handles this gracefully.

When there's ambiguity, voice entry shows a disambiguation picker. Your most recent and most frequently billed matters appear first — so the right one is usually at the top. Tap it, and you're done.

The system learns from your usage patterns. After a few weeks, it gets very good at guessing which "Smith" you mean based on context and your billing history.

Direct Add — Zero Taps

When there's no ambiguity — only one "Anderson" matter, clear time and description — the system can create the entry directly. No review screen. No extra taps. You speak, it saves.

For this to kick in, the system needs:

• A single, unambiguous matter match
• A clear time duration parsed from your words
• A description that makes sense

When all three are present, the entry goes straight to confirmation. You'll see a quick notification confirming what was saved.

Edit Before Saving

Not quite right? No problem. Voice entry is forgiving by design.

• Editable transcript — tap to change any word in your original dictation
• Editable fields — time, matter, and description are all individually editable
• Full form fallback — tap "Edit & Save" to open the complete entry form, pre-filled with your voice data
• Nothing saves until you confirm — you're always in control

The "Edit & Save" option is especially useful when you want to add expense entries or other details that voice can't capture — the form opens with everything already filled in from your dictation.

Siri Integration — Truly Hands-Free

Go beyond the app. Use Siri to start voice entry from anywhere on your iPhone — without even opening TimeNet Law first.

Working Siri Phrases

Any of these will launch the voice entry screen:

Works From Everywhere

Siri integration means you can start billing from places you'd never think to open an app:

Siri opens the TimeNet Law voice entry screen — then you dictate naturally, just like inside the app. Perfect for logging time while driving to or from court.

Landscape Mode

Voice entry works great in landscape orientation on iPhone. Rotate your phone and the interface adapts:

• Horizontal layout — mic button on the left, transcript on the right
• More compact interface — optimized for the wider, shorter screen
• Perfect for docks and mounts — especially useful when your phone is in a landscape dock on your desk or a car mount

Tips for Best Results

Voice entry works well out of the box, but these habits will make it even better:

• Speak naturally — you don't need special commands or rigid syntax. Talk like a human.
• Say the client/matter name clearly — it's the primary matching key. Enunciate proper nouns.
• Include time duration — say the hours or minutes somewhere in your sentence for automatic parsing.
• Get close to the mic in noisy environments — a few inches can make a big difference in accuracy.
• Glance at the parsed result — a 1-second sanity check saves corrections later. It's usually right, but always worth a look.
• Use "Edit & Save" for complex entries — when you need to add expense entries or other details that voice can't capture, let voice fill what it can and finish in the form.

Start Talking

Voice entry isn't a gimmick — it's the fastest way to capture time when you're between meetings, walking to your car, or wrapping up at the end of the day. Try it for a week. You won't go back to typing.

Ready to go deeper? These tutorials pair well with voice entry:

• ★ Launchbar — use Launchbar with 17 natural language commands!
• iOS Companion App — get set up on your iPhone first
• Cloud Sync — make sure your voice entries sync back to your Mac instantly