Where are my documents?
May 21, 2009
One of the questions we sometimes get asked in regards to TurboLaw Document Software is “where are my documents actually saved?”
The short answer to this question is “wherever you want them to be saved,” but that’s not necessarily helpful, especially if you’re not paying attention to where you save your documents and are just accepting the default save location. So we’ll go into it in a little bit more detail here.
First though, a little bit of terminology: It’s important to remember that TurboLaw is not really “document management” software – it doesn’t save your documents in some special “repository” that you can only access through TurboLaw itself. In fact, any documents you create with TurboLaw are just saved on your computer as normal Word or Excel files.
It’s a little bit inaccurate to speak of your documents being “in” TurboLaw – they aren’t really “in” TurboLaw, they’re “in” your computer, and you just happen to be looking at them “through” TurboLaw. You can also look at your documents “through” any other program you wish – such as Windows Explorer or Microsoft Word or Excel.
With that out of the way, we can talk about where your documents are actually saved when you create them with TurboLaw. There are 2 different scenarios to consider, depending on what you are doing.
Creating a Blank/Empty Document
Creating a blank/empty document is the simplest and fastest way to bring up a form in TurboLaw – although of course you pay for that speed with the time it takes you to fill out the rest of the form by hand, since a blank/empty form is, by definition, empty – that is, no case or client information is inserted for you automatically.
Whenever you create a blank/empty form, TurboLaw saves it into a “temporary” folder on your computer. (After all, since there’s no case involved here, TurboLaw has no idea where you might want to save the document, so a temporary folder is the best it can do.)
After you’ve created and opened a blank/empty form, you can choose the Save As menu in Word or Excel to save the file anywhere on your computer that you’d like. If you would like to just print the document and be done with it (and never use it again), you don’t need to save it at all – just fill it out, print it, and close it.
If you don’t save your blank/empty form somewhere else, then when you are done with it, TurboLaw will delete it from the temporary folder. After all, that’s why it’s called a “temporary” folder. But as long as you remember to save your files where you want, you don’t have to worry – just don’t save them in the temporary folder!
As a safety precaution, TurboLaw reminds you that your blank/empty document is saved initially in a temporary folder every time you open a blank/empty form (unless you have specifically checked the box to not be shown the reminders).
Creating a Document for a Case
When you create a document for a case, the documents you create are saved into the folder for that case.
If you don’t tell TurboLaw otherwise, it will automatically create a folder for your case and manage it for you. The folders that TurboLaw creates are still saved on your computer, but they are named with the internal “ID number” of the case, so that TurboLaw can find them quickly.
The default location where TurboLaw creates these automatic folders may vary depending on the version of Windows (or the version of TurboLaw) on your computer, but you can see what it will be by clicking the View menu in TurboLaw and choosing TurboLaw Status, then looking for the Cases Path. This is the “root” folder where TurboLaw will create additional folders for each case you create (unless you tell it otherwise). If you are using TurboLaw on a network, this folder will be on your network as well – otherwise, it will be on your computer’s local hard drive.
If you choose to use the Alternate Case Folder option when creating a case, you can tell TurboLaw to save the documents for that case in any folder you want. Once you have done this, TurboLaw will save any documents for that case in the folder you picked.
If you ever want to see where the documents for a particular case are saved, just click the Open this Folder button to see the folder for that case open up in Windows Explorer.
Once the folder is open in Windows Explorer, you can look at the Windows Explorer address bar to see the exact location of that folder.
In the picture above, you can see that this case is saved in one of TurboLaw’s managed folders – that’s the reason why it ends with that really long number. The files are still on your computer, even though TurboLaw is controlling where they are saved – and you can do anything with those files that you want. After all, it’s your computer, and they are your files!
TurboLaw always strives to keep things as simple as possible, letting you get down to the business of creating the documents you need. However, knowing a little bit about where TurboLaw saves your documents – and the power it gives you to control where those documents are saved – can help you be more “in control” of your document workflow, and help you stay on top of your work.
Transferring TurboLaw to a new computer
December 17, 2008
Note: This article refers to TurboLaw Document Software, not TurboLaw Time and Billing.
Lots of people get new computers around this time of year, and it’s an unfortunate fact of life that when you get a new computer, you have to re-install all of your programs on that new computer – and TurboLaw is no exception.
Of course, here at TurboLaw we try to make the process of moving to a new computer as easy as possible. So if you’ve got (or are going to get) a new computer (either as a gift or because an old computer died), here’s some tips and information to help make it a little bit easier to get your TurboLaw software up and running again.
Lost your TurboLaw CD? No problem!
Just give us a call at (800) 518-8726 and let us know. We’ll give you a special web link you can use to download the software on your new computer.
Using TurboLaw on a Network?
In most cases, if you have TurboLaw’s data saved on a network, you don’t need to “move” anything from your old computer – since all your data (cases, documents, files, etc.) is saved on your network, not on your computer. Just re-install TurboLaw on your new computer, use the Network Setup Assistant to point it to where your data is on the network, and you’re all set!
Need to transfer your cases and documents to a new computer?
Although copying your cases and documents to a new computer is fairly easy, we’ve gone and made it even easier by providing you with a utility to help “migrate” your TurboLaw cases and files to a new computer.
We call it the “Migration Wizard“.
The TurboLaw Migration Wizard
This handy little program will archive all of your TurboLaw cases, documents, and files into one handy little “migration file” which you can easily copy to your new computer using a disk, send via email, copy over your network, save to a USB memory stick, or any other method you want to use.
Once you’ve got the migration file on your new computer, this same little program will help you “un-pack” all of your TurboLaw cases and files into your new computer. Easy!
You can download the Migration Wizard here and read instructions on how to use it here.
Don’t forget to register!
When you install TurboLaw on a new computer, you will have to register it on that computer. TurboLaw will prompt you to do this the first time you open it, although you have up to 30 days before you must register. Once you’re satisfied that all your cases are moved to your new computer, you can un-install TurboLaw from your old computer (Start > All Programs > TurboLaw > Uninstall TurboLaw or use the Add/Remove Programs control panel applet) and register TurboLaw on your new computer. No “codes” or any other information is required to register on-line (just click the “Register Online” button when prompted). If you can’t register on-line for any reason, just give us a call.
Not sure what to do?
If you’re not sure what to do when it comes to transferring your TurboLaw data to a new computer (or if you even need to do this), just contact us – we’re here for you.
Ask The Geek: How do I type in documents where it doesn’t carry over to the next line?
April 3, 2008
Many thanks to longtime TurboLaw Document Software customer Candice McKenna-Imlach for today’s question.
In Microsoft Word, in order to keep “typing lines” under each line of text it is necessary to use Word Tables without text wrapping. This means that, when reaching the end of the table cell where text is typed, it is necessary to Tab (advance) to the next form field in order to continue typing text.
Microsoft has some very good (and very free) on-line training courses for learning how to deal with tables in Microsoft Word – here are some courses you can take to learn more about how to use Microsoft Word and tables to make complex page layouts:
More courses are available from Microsoft by clicking here.
Have a question for the geek? Send it to us at askthegeek@turbolaw.com!
Ask The Geek: How can I send documents in PDF format?
March 10, 2008
To send documents as PDFs (which stands for “portable document format“), you need a program to create PDF files – there are several available on the Internet for free, as well as some from commercial software vendors. The company which popularized the PDF format is called Adobe, and they sell a program called “Adobe Acrobat Professional” which allows you to create a PDF from just about anything. They also give away for free a program called “Adobe Acrobat Reader” which allows you to view a PDF and print it out (although not create a new one).
The best part of a PDF file is that just about anyone can view it – whether using a PC, a Mac, or some other type of device, chances are he or she can open a PDF file and view it. There are PDF viewer programs written for virtually every type of computer ever made, so when you send a PDF, you can generally be assured that the recipient can view it. Over the years, it has become the de facto standard for printable documents on the Internet.
Another great benefit of PDF files is that they strip out all the hidden “meta data” in your documents. You may have heard about “meta data” – this is the data inside your documents that you normally don’t see, but that may contain sensitive or personal information you don’t want disclosed. Creating a PDF naturally strips this information out – which makes PDFs a simple, easy solution to the problem of “meta data.”
Have a question for the geek? Send it to us at askthegeek@turbolaw.com!
Macros and Word 2007
February 7, 2008
If you have recently upgraded to Word 2007 (part of Microsoft Office 2007), you might have noticed that just about everything looks different – and the controls for macros are no exception.
The first time you open a TurboLaw document, you’ll see a “Security Warning” appear near the top of the screen, as shown below.
Because TurboLaw documents use macros, if you don’t enable the macros, the documents won’t work the way you expect.
If you click on the Options button, you’ll see a screen like the one shown below.
You’ll be able to see that the document has been signed by Promethean Software Corporation (the makers of TurboLaw), and some other details.
In order to enable the macros, you must select “Trust all documents from this publisher.”
Once this is done, click OK. The macros will now be enabled, and you can continue using TurboLaw. You won’t have to perform these steps again (unless you get a new computer).
If you’re using an earlier version of Word, the steps to enable macros haven’t changed – you can view the steps in our Help Center article on “How to Enable Macros.” If you can’t choose “Trust all documents from this publisher,” or if that option does not even appear, then you may not have the necessary certificates installed. This Help Center article describes how to install the needed certificates.
How To Add Footnotes/Explanatory Notes to Financial Forms
January 8, 2008
In our continuing effort to provide the absolute best customer service possible, we’ve just added a new video to our Self-Help Video collection called How to Add Footnotes/Explanatory Notes to TurboLaw Excel-Based Financial Forms.
The most common TurboLaw forms that are Excel-based are (for Massachusetts) the Rule 401 Long and Short form, as well as the Child Support Guidelines Worksheet.
We hope this video will help clear up any confusion on how to add footnotes to TurboLaw’s financial forms.
Don’t Let Word Get You Down, With “Error! Reference Source Not Found.”
October 5, 2007
It is the bane of everyone who uses Microsoft Word to fill out forms – the dreaded “Error! Reference Source Not Found.” Today we’re going to shed a little light on this annoyingly vague error message.
Why It Happens
This error occurs when you work with a form in Microsoft Word, and you delete one of the gray highlighted form fields that is “referenced” somewhere else in the document.
Sometimes this happens by accident, when you are editing a form. Sometimes there’s just no way around it – you have to delete something that doesn’t apply, for example. However, many times people encounter this error message frequently – and that can be very frustrating. If you encounter this message frequently, then chances are you might be editing your documents while “unlocked” when you don’t need to.
The whole concept of “referenced fields” and “unlocked documents” can be a bit confusing, so here’s some pictures to help clarify things.
This is a typical form field that might appear in a document. You can tell it is a form field because of the gray shading. TurboLaw documents are full of fields; and when the document is opened, you can only type in these fields, like so:
Anything that is not shaded in gray cannot be edited, because TurboLaw documents open in protected mode – what we sometimes call tab and type mode. You can type in the gray shaded areas, and press the TAB key on your keyboard to move to the next area. This is a simple and commonplace way to fill out on-line forms.
When Things Get Tricky
Things can get a little complicated once you unprotect, or unlock the document by clicking the Edit Document button. When you unprotect a document, it looks the same, but now you can edit the text that is not shaded in gray. In other words, it’s just like a normal Microsoft Word document – you can do literally anything you want to it.
Now, this is a necessary editing mode – often you need to change text that is not shaded in gray to complete a document. And that’s fine – as long as you don’t accidentally delete any of the gray shaded form fields. You see, when the document is unprotected, you are no longer in tab and type mode – if you try to type in one of the gray shaded areas, you will actually overwrite it – erasing it from the document, as shown below.
You can see that we clicked on the field to select it (as many people do), and then we typed “Person A.” However, notice that it is no longer shaded in gray – the form field has been deleted. This is because the document is unprotected.
The Consequences
When a field is deleted, the effects may not appear right away. Depending on what version of Microsoft Word you have, you might not see the error message until you try to print the document, or if you save it and re-open it. You might also see it once you click the Edit Document button again to protect the document and switch back to tab and type mode. In any case, the error message you will see might look like this:
You can see that the error appears under a signature line – which would normally have said “Person A” (if we hadn’t deleted the gray shaded form field). However, because the original gray shaded form field was deleted, this reference field has nothing to refer to – because the original field is gone! So Word just throws up its hands in defeat, and prints this message instead.
How To Avoid The Error
Fortunately, avoiding this error is pretty simple. Just watch what you’re typing, and if you ever type in a gray shaded area, and the gray shading goes away after you type, you have probably deleted the form field. Use the Undo function in Microsoft Word (CTRL-Z for those of you who like the keyboard) to bring it back, and then click the Edit Document button to protect the document and switch back to tab and type mode. Now you can type in the gray shaded form field without fear!
Now the reference field under the signature line correctly picks up the name “Person A” that we typed at the beginning of the document.
How To Fix The Error
If you’ve already erased a gray shaded form field, and can’t “undo” the change, here’s how to fix it. (These steps are also outlined in our Help Center article “Error! Reference source not found” appears in printed document.) Note that you need to have the document unprotected (unlocked) before you can remove the error message – use the Edit Document button to unprotect (unlock) the document before you begin.
First, you need to find the error message. If you can see it on your screen, just click after the error message and press the backspace key twice to erase it.
The first time you press the backspace key, the error message will be selected in gray, as shown above. The second type you press the backspace key, the error message will be deleted. Now you can type whatever is supposed to go there.
Note: if you just try to type over the error message, it may come back. This is because of the way Microsoft Word handles fields. To be on the safe side, always use the method described above to delete the error message.
If you can’t see the error message on the screen, you’ll have to do a little detective work to find the word or phrase that is being referenced. For example, if you still see “Person A” under the signature line, but when you print it out, all you see is the error message, then you know that “Person A” under the signature line is the problem field. Right-click on “Person A” and select “Update Field.” This will “refresh” the field, displaying the error message on your screen. Now you can use the steps described above to remove it.
If you have encountered this error message a lot in your use of TurboLaw’s documents, now you know how to avoid it, and you’ll be able to spend less time fighting with Microsoft Word, and more time doing other things – and that’s what TurboLaw is all about!
How to Tell if your TurboLaw is Up-To-Date
August 15, 2007
Not sure if your TurboLaw is up-to-date? Here’s how to tell whether you need to update or not.
Check the version number of your TurboLaw. In TurboLaw, click the “Help” menu and choose “About TurboLaw.”
The version of TurboLaw that you are using will be displayed.
(The current version of TurboLaw is 2.62, and you can always see what the latest version is by checking our Announcements.) If you have this version, then you are all set!
If you don’t have the latest version, you can easily check for updates right from TurboLaw. Just click on the “Updates” menu and choose “Check for Updates.”
This will open up the TurboLaw Update Utility – just click “Start” to begin! Once the update is done, you will be up-to-date with all the latest forms and program updates.
Having trouble with your updates? Here’s a few common problems and how to solve them:
Error: Connection to the server could not be established
Update Error &H80072EE7 (-2147012889) When Starting TurboLaw
Error Updating: Unable to register or renew
Of course you can always call us if you aren’t sure or if your problem isn’t listed here.
How To Tell if you can Run TurboLaw
July 25, 2007
Ever wondered if your computer has what it takes to run TurboLaw – or any other program, for that matter? Read on for quick and easy tips on how to determine some basic information about your computer and what’s inside it.
What Version of Windows Do I Have? (Also: How much memory [RAM] is in my computer?)
If there is a “My Computer” icon on your desktop:
- Right-click the “My Computer” icon
- Choose “Properties”
- The version of Windows will be displayed, along with how much memory (RAM) is in your computer.
If there is NOT a “My Computer” icon on your desktop:
- Click on the “Start” menu
- Look for the “My Computer” icon and right-click it
- Choose “Properties”
- The version of Windows will be displayed, along with how much memory (RAM) is in your computer.
If you don’t have an icon labeled “My Computer,” but instead have an icon labeled just “Computer,” you probably have Windows Vista.
- Click on your “Start” menu
- Right-click the “Computer” icon
- Choose “Properties”
- The Version of Windows will be displayed, along with how much memory (RAM) is in your computer.
(Click to see full-sized picture)
If you cannot find a “My Computer” or “Computer” icon anywhere:
- Click on the “Start” menu
- Click on “Run”
- Type “notepad” (but without the quotation marks)
- Click “OK” and Notepad will open on your screen
- Click the “Help” menu in Notepad
- Choose “About Notepad”
- The version of both Notepad and Windows will be displayed, along with how much memory (RAM) is in your computer.
What version of Microsoft Word/Excel/Office Do I Have?
- Open Microsoft Word (or Excel)
- Click on the “Help” menu
- Choose “About Microsoft Word” (or Excel) or “About Microsoft Office Word” (or Excel)
- The version will be displayed.
What if there is no “Help” menu?
- This is probably Microsoft Word or Excel 2007. It has no menus – just “tabs” (sometimes called “ribbons”).
How Much Disk Space is Available on My Computer?
- Double-click the “My Computer” or “Computer” icon on your desktop. (Or on your Start Menu – see above for how to find the “My Computer” or “Computer” icon.)
- Right-click the icon for your hard drive. The hard drive is usually labeled “Local Disk (C:)”
- Choose “Properties”
- The total amount of disk space, used disk space, and available disk space will be displayed.
If you would like a printable version of this guide, click here to download the PDF version of this article.
Where’s my “Edit Document” button?
June 18, 2007
One of the most common questions we hear from customers is “Where is the ‘Edit Document’ button?” This is because the Edit Document button (actually, the entire TurboLaw toolbar) is what is known as an “add-in” to Microsoft Word. Unfortunately, due to the “nature of the beast,” toolbars and add-ins can apparently “vanish” for a variety of reasons – and the way to get them back is not always the same.
Complicating the issue somewhat is the fact that the new version of Word, Microsoft Office Word 2007, does not use “toolbars” at all – at least, not in the same sense as all the previous versions of Word. Toolbars (and any other commands used by add-ins) have been moved to a tab in Word 2007 called (appropriately enough), “Add-ins.” However, even here the TurboLaw toolbar can “vanish” for various reasons. And because of the fact that Word 2007 doesn’t use toolbars anymore, it is not trivial to bring back the toolbar anymore, as it was in prior versions of Word.
(Above: The Add-Ins Tab in Word 2007 – click for full-sized picture)
(Above: The Add-Ins Tab and the TurboLaw Toolbar – click for full-sized picture)
Because of this, we have updated our series of articles describing how to restore the TurboLaw toolbar (and the “Edit Document” button) for Word 2007. The older articles on how to bring back the toolbar and the “Edit Document” button have been updated with a new video showing exactly how it is done, while the newer articles describe a quick and easy download to bring back the toolbar in Word 2007.
We hope that you find these new articles helpful!
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