,
10 tweets,
4 min read
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1/ A few people have asked about this tweet so here is a quick thread on the geeky joy of paperless working.
Comments and suggestions most welcome
Comments and suggestions most welcome
2/ About a year ago I decided to ‘go paperless’. It has been a revelation.
I have a civil practice. Many of my cases have 1,000+ pages of docs
I always wanted to do it as I work a lot on computer anyway but one programme has made all the difference: Adobe Acrobat DC Pro.
I have a civil practice. Many of my cases have 1,000+ pages of docs
I always wanted to do it as I work a lot on computer anyway but one programme has made all the difference: Adobe Acrobat DC Pro.
3/ It costs £15 pcm. It’s very stable (crashes far less than Office 365) and surprisingly snappy. And great for the environment.
I run a mid-2012 model MacBookAir with 4gb ram and it still runs quickly. Thanks to @paulebowen who introduced me to it
I run a mid-2012 model MacBookAir with 4gb ram and it still runs quickly. Thanks to @paulebowen who introduced me to it
4/ I can have 5 1,000-page PDFs open across tabs and it doesn’t miss a beat.
It has a few features which I think are essential to be properly paperless:
- Decent text recognition. It takes a while (maybe an hour for 1,000 pages) but it works a treat
It has a few features which I think are essential to be properly paperless:
- Decent text recognition. It takes a while (maybe an hour for 1,000 pages) but it works a treat
5/ - Ability to put together PDFs from multiple files including Word docs (though on my computer the Word conversation is a bit dicey)
- Good nested bookmark system which can be colour-coded. eg I code according to type of doc - pleadings, statements etc - and importance
- Good nested bookmark system which can be colour-coded. eg I code according to type of doc - pleadings, statements etc - and importance
6/ How does it work in court? I know some people work with more than one screen but at the moment I just use my laptop (13 inch MacBook Air) which isn't perfect but it works fine.
So when cross examining, I have my notes open on one side of the screen and PDF on the other
So when cross examining, I have my notes open on one side of the screen and PDF on the other
7/ When it works well it's amazing
- you can search across thousands of pages in seconds
- you can create sets of bookmark just for specific issues
- you can get to a page you need almost instantly rather than having to search through boxes etc
- you can search across thousands of pages in seconds
- you can create sets of bookmark just for specific issues
- you can get to a page you need almost instantly rather than having to search through boxes etc
8/ I think the ideal is to have two laptops or a laptop and a large tablet, but due to cost I'm not there yet - it's on the cards.
The absolute joy, though, is being able to walk and cycle around with my entire practice on my back in a light backpack with a small laptop.
The absolute joy, though, is being able to walk and cycle around with my entire practice on my back in a light backpack with a small laptop.
9/ I should also say that my laptop is encrypted to the top level using Filevault, which is included with all Macs. I have had this checked out and it complies with the levels of encryption you need to work with restricted/secret govt files
10/ I'm sure lots of people have their own methods and would love to hear them. /end
