Review: How We Use Multiple Monitors and FileCenter for Our Paperless Office

My office has been using multiple monitors for several years and we would never go back to a single monitor, especially since we started using FileCenter last year to make our office paperless. You may have noticed in your practice that most communication now is via e-mail. The initial problem we found with e-mail was how to save e-mail in files the same way we did with a paper based files. With multiple monitors, you can just drag the e-mail into an appropriate folder. The subject line of the e-mail automatically becomes the file name. That is why, with either e-mails received or sent, we always put the date, to or from, the person's name it is being received from or sent to, a description of what the e-mail is about, and the file number. That way, when we drag the e-mail into a folder, everything is done. Now we never have to look beyond a single file to find anything that was either created or received in conjunction with it. Using GoToMyPC, you can access your entire office from anywhere. You can even view both of your office monitors remotely as well. It will change the way you currently practice law.

The thing that makes FileCenter such a key piece to the puzzle is its "Favorites" function. Most of us normally concentrate on 20-30 files at any given time. Using FileCenter's Favorites function, you can move around your file system in the blink of an eye. In my case, my on-line folder system matches what used to be stored in a paper file -- Client/Matter/ (correspondence, pleadings, notes, etc.). So getting around quickly is a huge time saver. You will be amazed at how efficient your whole office gets when you never have to get out of your seat to look for a file. In addition, if you use FileCenter's on-line backup feature, all of your files are automatically saved to a secure off-site location. Even if the next hurricane wipes out your office, your file system will be intact and you can get up and running from a remote location in minutes.

Multiple monitors and FileCenter give anyone the ability to make the dream of a paperless office a reality at a very modest cost.