MS Office Tips for Law Offices

Windows Update KB973904 causes errors when opening documents

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:19:00 +0000

A recently released Windows Update (KB973904) causes the following error when opening certain documents:

Word cannot start the converter mswrd632.wpc.

This happens particularly for InForm users running Word 2007, when working with case profiles.

The workaround is to add a registry key, as they describe at the bottom of the KB article:

Click Start > Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

For 32-bit versions of Windows
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Applets\WordPad

For Microsoft Windows on Windows 64 (WOW) mode
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\WordPad

If the key does not exist, right-click Applets, select New > Key and name it WordPad.
On the Edit menu, point to New > DWORD Value.
Type AllowConversion for the name of the DWORD, and then press Enter.
Right-click AllowConversion, and then click Modify.
In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
Exit Registry Editor.

Troubleshooting: How to Resolve "ChangeWordActivePrinter" MultiPrint Error

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:50:00 +0000

If you are receiving MultiPrint error 5216 "ChangeWordActivePrinter" (see image above) and have tested printing from Word's File Print command to this printer and everything works correctly, check the following:

Has this printer been setup in the Infoware Set Paper Bins Printer Setup dialog? Go to this dialogue and ensure that the printer is listed at the top then set the appropriate settings for the paper types listed.

Does the Infoware Set Paper Bins, Printer Setup dialog, Special Printers Tab have the correct information? This tab is usually blank unless you have dedicated printers for specific paper choices.

Try removing and re-adding the printer in Windows.

If none of the options listed above resolve the problem, you may follow the steps below to remove some registry keys. Note that this step will result in you having to re-setup the bin settings in the Infoware Set Paper Bins, Printer Setup dialog for each of the printers this user prints to:

Log into the user's machine as the user:

Close Word and Outlook.

Delete the following registry keys under HKey_Current_User:

Software\Infoware\Word\Printers (deleting this key will delete all the sub keys as well, that's OK)

Software\Infoware\Word\Extensions\MultiPrintInterface

Start Word and setup the printer in the Special, Set Printer Bins menu.

Troubleshooting - How To Solve Most Find Contacts Errors

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 19:51:00 +0000

If the error is user-specific (other accounts on the same computer do not produce the same error), make sure to check for the following:

Ensure that the user has at least one contact in their personal contact folder.
If a public folder or an author's folder is being searched make sure the user has permission to the folder being searched.
Check if the machine is running in cached mode in Outlook 2003.
All sync errors involving the offline address book must be resolved.
See knowledge base article 831124.

If all users on the machine are getting the same error, try the following:

Re-register the InfoOutRed.dll.
Check if the machine is running in cached mode in Outlook 2003
Ensure that they have SP2 installed on the machine.
All sync errors involving the offline address book must be resolved.
Do a repair on MS Office.

Find Contact Troubleshooting

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 14:51:00 +0000

Issue:
Clicking the "Find Contacts" toolbar button in Word produces the following error: "Routine: FindContactx-Class_Initialize - Array index out of bounds"

This error message may be followed by a second error: "Routine: DoFind - IMAPITable::SetColumns..."

Resolution(s):
If this is a user-specific problem (another User Account on the same PC is OK)

If the user has no contacts in their personal Contacts folder add at least one.
If they have an Exchange Public Folder selected as a folder to search make sure they have permissions to the folder.
If they have an Author folder selected make sure they have permissions to that user's folders.
If they are running Outlook2003 in Cached Mode:
- If they have sync errors (see Sync Issues folder) and it involves the Offline Address Book resolve the sync issue.
- See Microsoft KB Article 831124 - if this resolves the issue then you have a name resolution issue with this user.

If it is a problem with the machine (more than one User Account on the same PC has the problem)

Re-register the file "InfoOutRed.dll" - it should be located in the Program Files\Infoware\Common directory.
If they are running Outlook2003 in Cached Mode make sure they have Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Office installed on the machine.
If they have sync errors and it involves the Offline Address Book resolve the sync issue
Do a repair on Office.

Re-Map Path ToolProtected Templates and Documents

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 19:33:00 +0000

Issue

The Re-Map Path tool is unable to attach “protected” templates to a document.

Description

This is an issue with MS Word and there is no workaround that we are aware of. You will receive an error in the log file for this condition.

Resolution(s)

1. If you would like to use the “protected” template that a document was based on, the attached template will need to be un-protected before running the Re-Map Path tool. To do this in MS Word, expand the "Tools" menu, and then select the "Unprotect Document..." option. If there is a password associated with the protected template, you will require that information as well.

2. If you do not mind the document(s) being based on the "Normal" template, select the “Use Normal if match not found” option in the main user interface. The “Normal.dot” template will be attached to the document(s) in question.

Note: The Re-Map tool can handle protected documents during processing; it is the templates that cannot be protected.

Hint: Modifying Important Dates+ Reminders

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 16:25:00 +0000

Infoware's Important Dates+ Outlook add-in allows organizations to set followup reminders on any Outlook item including Public Folders.

Important Dates uses an external database to store the saved Reminders set by the users. By using a database that exists outside of Outlook, it is easier for Administrators and Users to manage Reminders over time.

Q.How do you modify or delete the scheduled reminder? If a task is entered and a reminder set in Important Dates, how can I modify the reminder information?

A.There are three different ways to modify an existing reminders:

Modify reminders on a user-by-user basis:

In Outlook, click on the Tools menu
Select the "List Important Date Reminders" menu option
Select the "All Folders" Look In option
Click on the "Search" button.

Modify the Database Tables

Use the Supervisor Tool

For additional information about how Important Dates works, please refer to our Important Dates FAQ page.

MasterCal Troubleshooting:Configuring the Messenger

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 21:02:00 +0000

Q.My company is looking at this software to add events/appointments to a group of users calendars without the users receiving any notification or having to accept that the event has been added to their calendar.

We have installed the software but it still seems to send the notification that prompts the users to accept the event. What permissions does the calendar organizer need to each individuals mail box?

A.Scheduling with MasterCal is unlike scheduling with ordinary Outlook.

When you create a MasterCal Appointment in a Public Calendar Folder, you DO NOT invite people by switching to the "Scheduling" tab of the Appointment form and adding them to the Attendees list as you would on a normal Outlook Appointment.

Instead the list of Attendees is added to the Description field of the Folder itself by selecting File > Folder > Properties for "folder name". (Refer to Page 1 of the MasterCal Manual - "Here's how it works").

There are a couple important things to note with the MasterCal Setup

The persons listed in the Description field will be Attendees for EVERY appointment created in this folder.
You can have multiple Public Calendar folders at the same level in the Public Folde hierarchy, each with its own unique list of Attendees.

When creating an appointment in the public calendar all that is required is a Subject and Date/Time (Location and Notes are optional). At this point you can simply Save and Close the MasterCal Appointment - again, it is not necessary to add Attendees to the Scheduling tab of Outlook.

Regarding the Permissions needed to setup the MasterCal messenger, there are some specific requirements to meet:

The option labelled 'Run As' Account in the Messenger interface should be a full SMTP address (ex. MCServer@your_org.com)
If you plan to run the Messenger from a Scheduled Task, the Task "Owner", or the "Run As" account specified when configuring the Scheduled Task in Control Panel must have:
a) a mailbox
b) Local Administrator rights on the PC running the Task
c) Read/Write/Delete access to EVERY Attendees mailbox
d) You must log onto the PC running the Task as this account and set the Messenger's options while logged on as this account.

Access to every mailbox can be accomplished 2 ways

Using the Exchange System Manager and assigning permissions for the Account on the Private Mailbox Store
Have each Attendee give these permissions to their mailboxes through Outlook.

For more Information, please refer to "Installing the MasterCal Server" on Page 7 and "Configuring the MasterCal Server" on Page 8 of the manual.

Bug Fix:Adobe locks Word Autotext Functions

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 21:28:00 +0000

Issue:
Many of our clients have reported an issue where Autotext entries will not be remembered between Microsoft Word sessions.

Specifically for Infoware Word Extensions clients, this issue results in the behaviour that the Set Document Author function will allow users to switch between Author entries in the Glossary but this change will not be retained between Word sessions.

Description
The basic problem is an issue with the Adobe 7 COM add-in. This add-in (which enables the Adobe toolbars in Word) marks the file Normal.dot as "clean" and will not save the file irregardless of changes made.

For those unfamiliar with Word, the normal.dot file is opened whenever Word is launched and among other things is the store for Autotext entries.

By in effect locking the normal.dot template, the Adobe add-in causes a number of the problems. This includes not saving new or edited autotext entries as well as default font and paragraph settings.

Resolution
Microsoft has a support article Q906899 that describes the issue and some workarounds.

Infoware recommends the following:

To prevent the add-in from loading, edit the Windows registry.

Locate the key[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Office\Word\Addins\PDFMaker.OfficeAddin]

Change the subkey called "LoadBehavior" from a value of 3 to 0

Note: you must be a local administrator to write to the Local_Machine registry key. Your application push tool may be able to set this key remotely!

Additional Note:There are a number of posted articles on the web but we have not found information on Adobe's site re the specific problem or a fix.

Document AssemblyWorking with Multiple Clause Collections

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 15:39:00 +0000

Infoware's Document Assembly Clause tool gives legal professionals great flexibility in the creation of complex documents.

A common question from potential clients is whether they can have more than one Master Clause Document - the collection of the firm's clauses - for use in the firm.

Q. My firm wants to install the Document Assembly Clause Tool on the computers of lawyers in the Estates group and on the computers of lawyers in the Corporate group. Do they have to share the same group of clauses?

A. A common implementation of the tool at a firm is to have multiple Master Clause Documents. Typically, clause collections are divided by practice area - when running the Clause Tool, the Corporate group defaults to use the Corporate Master Clause Document, and the Estates group defaults to use their Estates Clause collection. The Document Assembly Clause Tool can support up to 16,000 clauses in each Master Clause Document.

It is also very easy for users to move between Master Clause Documents. To switch the Clause Source from within a document, the user simply needs to click on the "File" menu of Clause Tool dialog box and then select the "Clause Source" option. Provided the user has network access to the Clause Documents, they can switch between available clauses.

In this manner, a lawyer drafting an agreement and who by default is using the Corporate Master Clause Document can switch into specialized language in an Intellectual Property collection that he might otherwise not frequently use

Important Dates+Licensing Public Folder Reminders...you need at least two licenses

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 22:00:00 +0000

Infoware's Important Dates+ Outlook add-in allows organizations to set followup reminders on any Outlook item including Public Folders.

However for organizations that are looking to send reminders from a public folder, it should be noted that the organization will need to order a minimum of two mailbox licenses - one for the Exchange Server Public Folder tree and one for each unique reminder creator and unique mailbox containing reminder items.

An evaluation version of Important Dates+ is available for download. For organizations reviewing this product, it is recommended that you review our suggested implementation diagram.

Windows XP Home Support Extended

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 20:42:00 +0000

Microsoft has quietly extended the support lifespan of Windows XP Home, which as recently as last week was scheduled to be put out to pasture at the end of this year.

Analysts had pointed out that XP Home, and most other XP operating systems, would be cut off from technical support on Dec. 31, 2006, a potential problem since XP's successor, Windows Vista, isn't to release until shortly before that date.

In a blog written last Wednesday, JupiterResearch analyst Joe Wilcox put the blame at Windows Vista's door. "It's more a problem of product delays, that Microsoft repeatedly delayed release of Windows Vista," he wrote.

In an updated support lifecycle listing, Microsoft said that all Windows XP products--which include Home, Pro, Embedded, Media Center, and Tablet PC--will enjoy mainstream support for "two years after the next version of this product is released."

Assuming Vista releases in November of this year, XP's mainstream support will end November, 2008.

Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP:Public Terminal Lockdown

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 15:01:00 +0000

Microsoft has released a toolkit that provides administrators with the ability to lockdown PCs that are accessible to the public or untrusted users. The Toolkit can be used in an Active Directory environment.

Click for more Information.

Two MS Security Bulletins released today

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 20:49:00 +0000

Microsoft has released two Security Bulletins today:

Vulnerability in Embedded Web Fonts Could Allow Remote Code Execution (908519)[bulletin]

Vulnerability in TNEF Decoding in Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange Could Allow Remote Code Execution (902412) [bulletin]

Legal Extensions Feature: Recheck Spelling

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 20:40:00 +0000

Q. When would I use the recheck spelling button?

A. When you spell check a document and use the "ignore" option it marks the word as valid for that document forever. If you have someone else created a document for you and you are not sure if they may have ignored a word that should have been fixed you can use the Legal Extensions recheck spelling feature to force Word to revaluate all spelling in the document including any words that are marked "ignore".

In other words the recheck spelling button throws away all ignore spelling items for the document and lets you start fresh. Some of our clients use this as the standard spell check for all documents they do not have complete control over.

Remember to review your Backup Processes!

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 17:33:00 +0000

Have you reviewed your backup procedures and hardware lately?

Today's enterprises have increasingly complex data storage and retrieval requirements. And as these storage requirements have changed, the hardware that is employed by the firm has the tendency to traverse several different lifecycles.

Although most firms will agree that their data storage system is business-critical, few spend the time to regularly review their existing storage hardware. Remember that all hardware data storage resources are in a state of constant decay! And particular attention should be paid to the lifecycle of your hard disks. Not only do the spindle bearings naturally wear with each rotation, but the strength of all storage platter magnetic data encoding patterns is also naturally evaporating. Magnetic field sublimation applies to tape data as well.

As a new year starts, you should revisit your data’s safety and adopt strong measures to secure your data. How old are the firm's drives and tapes? Do you have data and systems redundancy?

Outlook Hints:Block Email from a Specific Sender

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 17:12:00 +0000

Want to stop receiving the email from a specific address using Microsoft Outlook? Here's the easiest way:

Turn on Junk Mail. To set this option, click on the "Organize" option in the Tools menu and press the "Turn On" button beside Junk Email.

Block the Sender. Highlight the message of the person you want to block and right click. In the menu, click on the "Junk Email" option and select the choice to add the email address to the Junk Email sender list.

Subsequent emails from this user will be automatically routed to the "Junk Email" folder in your Outlook mailbox.

MasterCal Troubleshooting

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 14:52:00 +0000

If your new install of Infoware's Calendar Synchronization solution MasterCal isn't creating a mastercal.log file, here are some recommendations for troubleshooting:

1. Confirm that the Com Add-in has been installed correctly on the client PC - does the entry use the MasterCal form? If no, the workstation software should be reinstalled.

2. On creation of a new appoinment in a MasterCal public calendar, are you presented with a question about sending an immediate notice when they made the appointment? If no, the workstation software should be reinstalled.

3. Confirm that the path to the MasterCal.log is set correctly. To do so, please check the registry setting on the add-in and on the backend and make sure they point to the same file. The names of the settings are in the product manual.

For additional troubleshooting hints, please refer to the MasterCal FAQ page.

Setting Reminders for Multiple People

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 19:40:00 +0000

A common issue encountered by Outlook users and managers is how to manage Outlook items - like Tasks - that are delegated to more than one staff or team member.

Infoware's Important Dates+ program offers an alternative for managers by allowing Outlook users to set and assign reminders to an unlimited number of recipients. For more a demonstration, refer to the online Outlook Reminder Demo.

Admin Tool Product Feature:MasterCal Scrubber

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 14:44:00 +0000

Infoware's MasterCal software is an Exchange-based solution that allows firms to synchronize calendar appointments for a group of Outlook users.

Using the solution, users can easily manage and publish firm-wide events such as holidays and meetings by creating entries in a public folder. The application allows changes to be pushed out to a list of subscribed Outlook users and calendar administrators can easily make global changes to private calendar items.

For large firms, the administration of group and personal calendars can be a very complex task. To simplify this process, the MasterCal Scrubber tool was designed as a maintenance program to perform bulk changes to the Calendars of the ‘Attendees’ of all MasterCal Calendar folders.

The MasterCal server administrator can force all appointments to be removed and recreated in the Attendees Calendars. The server administrator can also force the push of all current entries in the published calendars to a new attendee that has been added to the calendar. This tool is particularly useful for firms that encounter frequent staffing or team membership changes.

The MasterCal Scrubber tool is available as an additional cost item to MasterCal licensees. Click here to request more information about this product.

Word Slow to Open?

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 15:27:00 +0000

Your organization may have encountered an issue with Word hanging or being slow to open if one or several of the following statements are true:

The folder containing Workgroup Templates has been moved to another location

Word crashes when opening existing documents following server upgrade

Word documents from a particular external user cannot be opened

Explanation of Workgroup Path Error

When a Microsoft Word document is created using a document template (as set by the Workgroup Templates Path setting in the Tools, Options dialog box), the path to this template is saved as a property within the document. Consequently any document that is created in Word has a “memory” of the template that was used in its composition and the path to that template. When in the future that document is opened, Word will try to open the corresponding template to enable the features of the template.

This behaviour can be problematic for firms that have used a network template path. When a document is composed using a local template, Word will look locally for the template (even if is another computer or network) and when not finding it, Word will “give up” and open the document within a few seconds. But when a document is created using a template stored on the server, Word will continue to search for the template on the server for a much longer time interval. Word assumes that the server where the template is stored is busy and will continue to search for the template – often for several minutes. Typically end-users will report that Word has hung.

The existence of this issue is not usually immediately evident. Typically this behaviour will be evident to Word users internally only when a File Server name is changed (the Server referenced in the Workgroup Path) or the Server is retired. External Word users will typically report that the emailed documents from a specific user (or firm) are corrupt as it will seem that Word hangs anytime that that user’s documents are opened.

Follow this link for more details about this issue and information about a fix for the Workgroup Template Path Error.

Troubleshooting the Printing of Labels

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Tue, 21 Jun 2005 16:23:00 +0000

When attempting to print a label, if you are receiving an error saying that the page size of the document does not match what you are trying to print, or you receive an error that says that one or more margins are set outside the printable area of the page, we have a few items you can immediately test.

1. Check the Device Settings to make sure that the correct label has been selected.

2. For Zebra and Dymo label printers. The labels appear to print landscape due to the short side being the height and the long side being the width, but this is not the case. The device settings should be set to Portrait.

This tip applies to both jobs sent using the default Print Option and users of Infoware's MultiPrint print solution.

Understanding how Important Dates Works

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 13:07:00 +0000

Question
Can your Important Dates+ solution send reminder emails even if the workstation on which it was installed is switched-off? In other words, are the reminder emails sent by the MS-Exchange server software running on the always-on company server, or are the reminder emails sent by the workstation on which Important Dates+ is installed?

Response
The workstation on which an Important Dates reminder was composed can be shut off, but the back-end messenger must be turned on. For an overview of the installation and solution architecture, please refer to this link.

Skipping Blank Lines in Mail Merge

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Fri, 22 Apr 2005 20:22:00 +0000

Issue:
For users of trailing paragraph spacing (12pt) in Word documents, pressing the key will automatically add space in between paragraphs. Inserting a new line will not add the trailing space and is the recommended practice for creating new lines within a paragraph.

However, there is a known issue using the New Line keystoke when running a Mail Merge.

If the intended format is:
«FullName»
«BusinessAdrLine1»
«BusinessAdrLine2»
«BusinessAdrLine3»
«BusinessAdrCity», «BusinessAdrState» «BusinessAdrPostalCode»

After inserting fields (as above) and having inserted a new line, Mail Merge will leave a blank line in the address.

Resolution
As Word does not recognize the new line command (shift+enter) as something that should be suppressed when the line is empty, it is necessary to break the rule of using the new line key combination in an address and use hard returns. Legal Extensions users can use the "plain single" style for addresses in this type of merge document. This style is defined to be left aligned with no space after.

Infoware starts online Law Office Software Tips Resource

noreply@blogger.com (The Infoware Team) — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 20:58:00 +0000

Infoware Canada Inc. is pleased to announce the launch of a new resource for Microsoft Office users working in Legal Practice. Infoware, a leader in the development of Office-based legal productivity solutions, will now be publishing useful application and document production tips on its website www.infoware.ca