37Signals Products on the iPad for Lawyers

28. Jul, 2010 Categories: Apps, Interview, Tips by Josh Barrett 1 Comment

Some words by yours truly about how I use the iPad in my law practice over at the 37Signals product blog. From the 37Signals inventory, I use Backpack and Highrise – both of which are quite serviceable through Safari on the iPad. Certain apps enhance the interface a bit, especially on the iPhone.

Be sure also to check out the post on the following day with links to reviews about Satchel (iTunes link), the iPad/iPhone app I use in connection with 37Signals’ Backpack.

Word Processors on iPad for Lawyers: Word Compatibility Shootout (Part II – Pleadings)

27. Jul, 2010 Categories: Apps, Reviews by Josh Barrett 3 Comments

This is a follow up to the post I did a couple weeks ago about the Microsoft Word compatible word processing apps for the iPad. In that post, we compared how the different iPad apps handled some basic Word formatting that a lawyer would use in notes, correspondence, memoranda and the like. In this post, we’ll see how the different iPad apps handle pleading specific formatting.

Once again, our four major contenders are:

My methodology for this test was the same as the first test. First, I created a basic pleading on my desktop using Microsoft Word 2003. I made sure to include the major types of formatting one might find in a pleading: line numbering, caption, case citations, a text box, a footer and footnotes.

Click on the image for a larger view of the original file.

Once I had an original, I imported it into four iPad word processing programs. Within each app, I made a change to the document to ensure that the file was being saved anew by the app. I then exported the file from the iPad back to Word on my desktop. I created a pdf of the resulting output for use in this post.

A quick note about WYSIWYG performance. The iPad version of the file and the ultimate output often bore no resemblance to one another. While the ultimate output from a couple of the iPad apps was very good, you wouldn’t know it from looking at the iPad screen. In other words, the iPad, while having Word compatibility, does not provide a WYSIWYG experience. To highlight this, I captured a screen shot of the iPad screen of each app as I was editing the. Those images are also pasted below.

QuickOffice Connect Mobile Suite (iTunes link). QuickOffice did a great job. All formatting elements in the final product appear to be intact. Footnote preserved (even though not visible while editing on iPad). No WYSIWYG on the iPad. No line numbering, no text box, lost the footnote.

QuickOffice final output

QuickOffice on iPad

Pages (iTunes Link). Far from great. Caption has been moved around a bit and a bunch of extra space has crept in beneath the caption. The pleading now takes up a page and a half rather than one page like the original (only first page below). Footnote was also lost. Pages is closest to WYSIWYG on the iPad. Line numbers and text box made are showing up, but some formatting and spacing problems have already crept in distorting it from the original.

Pages final output

Pages on iPad

Documents to Go Premium (iTunes Link). About tied with QuickOffice. Caption, line numbering, case formatting, footnote, text box all appear intact in the final product. Terrible WYSIWYG performance (no line numbering, butchered caption, no text box), but gets top marks for final output.

DTG final output

DTG on iPad

Office2 HD (iTunes link). Sadly, Office 2 HD turned in dead last. Lots of formatting changes, caption is a wreck, line numbering lost, line formatting lost, pleading pushed onto a second page. Oy. Far from WYSIWYG performance on the iPad.

Office 2 HD final output

Office 2 HD on iPad

Verdict. As before, the ultimate output from Documents to Go Premium and QuickOffice Connect Mobile Suite are best. Both of these apps preserved line numbering, the caption box, case citation form and the footnote. Sadly, the output from Office 2 HD and Pages isn’t even a close second. Interestingly, the app that provided the best WYSIWYG experience on the iPad was Pages by handling the line numbering successfully.

I have all of these apps on my iPad for testing purposes, but QuickOffice Connect Mobile Suite (iTunes link) is the one that I use when I need Word compatible functionality. Even though the final output is on par with Documents to Go Premium (iTunes Link), I find the file management capabilities of QuickOffice to be superior (or at least easier for my brain to understand). That said, I am still muddling around in these apps a bit. I do most of my iPad writing in SimpleNote, so I haven’t had the experience with the full  featured word processing apps on the iPad to learn all their respective quirks yet.

Next in this series I think we are going to tackle contract drafting. I think the most notable formatting element there is use of outline numbering of various styles (each with differing indentation) and automatic cross references. Let me know in the comments if there is something you’d like to make sure I address.

Getting Files into the Cloud from your iPad

18. Jul, 2010 Categories: Apps, Tips by Josh Barrett 3 Comments

I’ve written a lot about the different apps you can use to create and view files on the iPad. I’ve also mentioned Dropbox a ton as a key element in my document storage and retrieval workflow on the iPad, though there are lots of good cloud storage solutions. Unfortunately, some of the file creation apps don’t easily allow you to save a new file to these cloud based tools or they are inconsistent in how to do it. As a result, new files often live in the app in which they were created, sending your file management tactics back to the floppy disk days. So, for files I plan to use elsewhere (back at the office, home, with my assistant), I use Dropbox to ease these file management troubles (though this tip works with many cloud storage solutions). One required app to use this tip is GoodReader. Here’s how you do it.

In my example, I’m using a file created in Pages. In some of the more fully featured apps you can shortcut certain of these steps, but if you understand this general workflow, you will be able to navigate any app’s idiosyncrasies.

  • Step 1. Any file creation app worth it’s salt will allow you to email a newly created file out of the app. So, once your file is ready, start by emailing it to yourself.

  • Step 2. Go to Mail and open the file you just sent yourself in Mail’s viewer. In the upper right hand corner you will see the Open In…” button. Tap that button and you will see a list apps on the iPad that can open the file. Tap “GoodReader.” this copies the file into GoodReader.


  • Step 3. Switch to GoodReader. Tap “Manage Files” and then tap the file you want to move into the cloud.

  • Step 4. From the list of choices on the right hand side of the screen, select copy (or cut). Then tap “Connect to Servers.” Select your cloud storage solution of choice and then tap paste.



    • Done!

    Personally, I like to then remove the file from the creating app and GoodReader to avoid file multiplication and versioning woes. Note: confirm the file is safely in the cloud and readable before deleting versions on the iPad.

    Some apps make this process simpler. For example, in Documents To Go Premium, you can move the file to GoodReader from within the app or use the “Save As…” feature or simply name your cloud storage target as the destination. Quick Office Connect Mobile Suite shortcuts the whole process by allowing you to simply drag and drop a file from the app’s file manager into your cloud drive. Apple’s apps do no such favors. Nor do many of the special purpose note taking apps.

    Word Processors on iPad for Lawyers: MS Word Compatibility Shootout

    09. Jul, 2010 Categories: Apps, Reviews by Josh Barrett 2 Comments

    Reports in June put the number of iPad specific applications in the App Store north of 10,000. No small number of them feature ways of capturing and manipulating text. But for many lawyers, Microsoft Word compatibility is the gold standard, as it is nearly ubiquitous in law firms. While my personal iPad workflow relies primarily on plain text, the numerous comments on this blog and e-mails to me suggest that most attorneys want Word compatible files from start to finish. So, this post sets out to determine which of the Microsoft Word compatible word processors for the iPad handles the import and export process the best. I’m not tackling other features here – just basic Word compatibility.

    The criterion for inclusion in my test is the ability of an app to (i) import Microsoft Word files, (ii) edit those files and (iii) export Microsoft Word compatible files. By my tally, there are currently four major word processing applications for the iPad that feature this level of Microsoft Word compatibility. Those apps (and their developers) are:

    - Pages – $9.99 (Apple)
    - Office 2 HD – $7.99 (Byte 2) (Tablet Legal review)
    - Documents to Go Premium – $14.99 (DataViz)
    - QuickOffice Connect Mobile Suite for iPad – $9.99 (QuickOffice, Inc.)

    All of these apps are iPad native versions, though they have been on the iPhone for some time.

    My test was pretty simple. I started with a blank document in Microsoft Word. I added some lorum ipsum and applied simple text formatting. Clicking the thumbnail on the right will take you to an image of the original word file. As you can see, it contains the following basic text formatting:

    - normal text, ragged right justification
    - normal text, full justification
    - bullet list
    - numbered list
    - bold, underline and italics
    - tracked changes (deleted text, added text, comment balloon)
    - table (with left, right and center justified text)

    A few comments about how I came up with this list. First, while this is but a small sampling of the formatting available in Microsoft Word, I think it is reasonable to conclude that these are the most frequently used formats. Second, I wanted to focus on formatting that I thought a lawyer would use most commonly. For this reason, features like image inserts were not tested. While other formatting is used in pleadings and business agreements, the above formatting is probably all that is necessary for typical legal correspondence and basic drafting. I plan to do a similar post in the future focused specifically on pleading formatting (line numbering, line spacing, footnotes, captions) and business agreement formatting (automatic section numbering, numbering formats, section cross references, page breaks).

    To test the apps, I imported my original Microsoft Word 2003 file into each iPad application. Once in the application, I added some text to the document in various locations. I then exported the document from the iPad application in Microsoft Word format. These exports were then opened in Microsoft Word 2003 on my desktop from where I created a PDF. Each of the resulting PDF files is attached at the bottom of this post.

    In my test, Documents to Go Premium and QuickOffice Connect Mobile Suite for iPad finished in a dead heat. Both preserved the formatting of the original Word document the best. Most notably, while both DTG and QuickOffice do not display tracked changes on the iPad (the document is displayed as though the changes are “accepted”), the tracked changes formatting was preserved when the file was exported out of these iPad apps and viewed again in a desktop version of Word. This is both important and promising. It is important in that it is good to know that tracked changes formatting is not lost while using these apps (even though it can’t be viewed). It is promising in that it suggests that perhaps this is something that can be addressed in an update of the app since the track change data appears to be preserved in the file on the iPad.

    Office 2 finished next. The main failing here was with the tracked changes. In the final export from Office 2, the text marked as deleted was reinstated, the added text was inserted and the comment bubble was deleted (though the text from the comment bubble was oddly preserved in the last line of the document)..

    Pages finished last. It failed in the same manner as Office 2 with respect to tracked changes except the deleted text was in fact deleted rather than preserved. It went on to muck with the formatting of the table and the formatting of the text I added to the table was inconsistent with the rest of the document.

    For straight Word compatibility, Documents to Go and QuickOffice are equals as far as this test goes. Realize that if you have no need for tracked changes, then any of these applications will do a fine job of allowing you to view, edit and send along Microsoft Word compatible documents. Note that these applications all have extensive feature sets, different price points and other strengths and weaknesses that may make a different application better for your situation.

    What does your word processing workflow entail? Which of these apps are you using as part of your workflow? Others I haven’t mentioned?

    PDF Files

    Original Doc
    DTG Export
    QuickOffice Export
    Office 2 Export
    Pages Export

    Tablet Legal on GAL Radio

    06. Jul, 2010 Categories: Interview by Josh Barrett 0 Comments

    A week or two ago I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Damien Allen of Greatest American Lawyer Radio. We talked about some different apps and uses for the iPad by lawyers. Check out GAL or the widget below for a replay or the full transcript.

    EDIT: GAL widget deleted because was causing some formatting weirdness on the site. Follow the link above for interview.

    Upcoming at Tablet Legal

    03. Jul, 2010 Categories: Admin by Josh Barrett 1 Comment

    Hello all. I’m back in business after a bit of hiatus. What started as just an overdose of soccer for the group stage of the World Cup (adding 4-6 hours of soccer to your schedule cuts into blogging time) transformed into a problem with my web host. Got the technical side pretty much cleaned up and the site moved over to a new host, ICDSoft which I’m loving so far. Only downside is that a few comments were lost in the transition – if yours was one of them, apologies. Big thanks to my friends at DBD+A for handling the pesky details and making some improvements around the site.

    We’ve got some good stuff coming in the next few weeks. Thanks for sticking around.

    What the iPhone 4 Announcement May Mean for the iPad

    08. Jun, 2010 Categories: Opinion by Josh Barrett 1 Comment

    Lots of great stuff about the iPhone out of Steve Jobs’ keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference this morning. Almost all of the keynote was dedicated to the new iPhone, though a few data points were shared about the iPad:

    • over two million sold in the first 59 days (that is one every 3 seconds since launch day)
    • 8,500 native iPad apps currently in the App Store (unfortunately, 8,400 of them kinda suck, IMO)
    • Those native iPad apps have been downloaded 35 million times (17 apps per iPad)
    • 5 million iBooks downloaded in first 65 days (22% share of total eBook sales)

    So, a successful product by pretty much anyone’s measure. I was hoping to see some data about use in the enterprise – but I think it is still a bit early.

    The balance of the keynote was mostly about the new iPhone 4 and its operating system, iOS 4. I thought I’d buzz through the key announced features and consider whether and to what extent we will see these things on the iPad.

    • FaceTime (Hardware/OS). This was Steve’s “one more thing,” and it is an new open standard protocol for video chat/phone calls. While we don’t have a front facing camera in the iPad yet, I wouldn’t be surprised to see one in the next version of the iPad (indeed, the frame seems ready for one). I think video conferencing would be a natural use for the iPad.
    • Cameras (hardware). This is subsumed into the prior point somewhat, but I think a front facing camera on the iPad makes sense. Note that the cameras going into iPhone 4 have a backside illuminated sensor. Without getting into a bunch of camera geekiness, suffice to say that this is more important than megapixels. I would happily take a sensor with greater light sensitivity over more megapixels anyday (you should too). Also, they didn’t shrink the size of the megapixels – which is a good thing. A bigger pixel can absorb more light. So, your 5 MP picture of your friend at the dimly lit bar will look way better than the 8 or 10 MP picture taken with a camera without these features. Yeah, the camera companies really focus on megapixels because they are easy to advertise…but just trust me on this one. I’ve never thought a rear facing camera makes sense for the iPad, but it seems easy enough to include (EDIT: after thinking about iMovie for iPad, this makes more sense now). I’ll go out on a limb and say we’ll see better versions of both cameras in the next version of the iPad. LED flash too.
    • Thinner (hardware). iPhone 4 is 24% thinner than iPhone 3. While impressive, I don’t think the iPad will get much thinner. I think the iPad’s thickness is important for its structural integrity. A thinner device might be less rigid which could lead to a somewhat flimsy feeling device. If the iPad gets thinner, it won’t be materially so.
    • iMovie (app). So, they are cramming a version of iMovie onto the iPhone. I’ve shot and edited a couple movies with my iPhone using ReelDirector. While fun, I wouldn’t make a habit of it. Just too small of an interface to work with video. By contrast, the iPad would be an ideal tableau for compiling a quick movie. Enough space to manage clips, build transitions, manage projects, etc. I think iMovie for iPad is an almost certainty. In fact, it might even arrive in advance of the next version of the iPad.
    • Retina Display (hardware). They’ve crammed a ton of pixels into the screen of the new iPhone: 326 per inch (the human eye can detect 300 ppi from 10-12 inches away). That is four times the number of pixels on the same size screen. The iPhone 4 will have 78% of the pixels as the iPad. By way of comparison, the current iPad has 132 pixels per inch. I fully expect this new display technology in the next version of the iPad. Note that a better screen means apps can display more intricate images. Those pdf files with even the smallest text will look great on screen. May also mean more precise input.
    • Better Glass (hardware). This is related to Retina Display. Lots of adjectives for this new aluminosilicate glass: 20 times stiffer than plastic, 30 times harder than plastic, more scratch resistant, more oil resistant…John Gruber says the new manufacturing process effectively fuses the screen and the glass making the display look like it is painted on the glass rather than resting under it. You’ll see this in the next iPad I suspect.
    • Gyroscope (hardware). Will make games cooler. Yeah, they’ll stick this in the iPad as well.
    • Ambient Light Sensor (hardware). I don’t think this got much mention at the keynote, but I saw it mentioned on one of Steve’s slides. An ambient light sensor would automatically scale down brightness when you are in a dark room, scale up when outside, etc. Good for power management and matching what the user expects. No reason this won’t make it to the next version of the iPad as well.

    Many of the new iOS features will work just fine on the iPad. The iPhone 4 gets them this month while the iPad has to wait until this fall. Nothing lawyer specific here, but at least the first 3 promise to be key improvements that all users will enjoy. The features getting most the ink include:

    Two features will be hitting the iPad later this month in the form of improvements to the iBooks app. While small, these are actually very usable improvements for lawyers who use pdf files a lot. Those are:

    • pdf support
    • highlighting, notes and better bookmark support

    While this won’t replace GoodReader for me, I may move some of my “permanent collection” (e.g., key statute chapters) into the shelves of iBooks and use GoodReader and the like for the files moving in-and-out.

    Looks like a great revision of the product. Sadly, I’m not eligible for a regular price upgrade until May of 2011. For full consideration of the iPhone announcement from the iPhone perspective, be sure to check out Jeff’s post over at iPhone J.D. For those with two hours to kill, enjoy the full keynote below.

    Upcoming App: Paddock by ManyTricks

    03. Jun, 2010 Categories: Apps by Josh Barrett 0 Comments

    Take a look at this video demo of an upcoming app by ManyTricks called Paddock.

    Though the speed of the iPad minimizes lost efficiency in switching between apps,  (say from Safari to Mail), a windowed work environment could prove to be very useful in certain circumstances. I often draft a document or compose an email while referring to a pdf. The ability to have both on one screen would be more like how I work at my desktop. It would seem that use of an external keyboard would be ideal in these situations to avoid chunks of the screen being taken up by the virtual keyboard.

    Looking forward to this in the App Store!

    Word Alternatives on iPad: Documents To Go Premium (with a caution)

    02. Jun, 2010 Categories: Apps by Josh Barrett 1 Comment

    Documents To Go for iPad

    Just a quick note to point out that DataViz has updated its popular Documents To Go app (and its Premium counterpart) to be universal apps now formatted for the iPhone and the iPad. Documents To Go allows users to create, edit and view Microsoft Word and Excel compatible documents right on the iPad. The Premium version of the app adds PowerPoint functionality as well.

    I’ll give the app some time for a full review and post my experiences later. I see from the App Store comments that some users are experiencing problems accessing some of the remote disk options. In the few minutes I have used the app, I’ve not experienced this problem. I am experiencing a problem viewing files in other apps that were created or modified in Documents To Go. While I was able to open a basic MS Word document easily in Documents To Go, once I saved it back to my Dropbox, I was unable to view that file in Dropbox or any other iPad apps (trying GoodReader, Office 2, Pages) getting an error about an unrecognized file format. I was able to open the file on my desktop just fine.

    For now, I would recommend not using Documents To Go with any critical or time sensitive files. I’ll test the app more fully and report as well as continue to monitor the comments of other users.

    Some users are reporting being charged for this app even though they are already owners of Documents To Go for the iPad. This is an upgrade of an existing app and should not result in a charge. To avoid a charge, I’d recommend the following: If you have the iPhone version of the app installed on your iPad, an update over the air through the App Store on your iPad should get you the new version without additional charges. If your copy of Documents To Go  is not currently installed on your iPad, I’d recommend updating the app through iTunes on your desktop, connecting your iPad to your computer, add the app back to your iPad using iTunes and then syncing (this is what I did). Do not click on “Buy App” in the App Store to upgrade. This may be the reason some people are reporting being charged again (typically when you try to buy an app you already own, you are not charged twice – the app simply downloads again – perhaps something in the upgrade to a universal app is preventing existing owners from being recognized when tapping Buy App in the App Store).

    Let me know in the comments any early experiences you are having with Documents to Go.

    Documents To Go is available in the App Store for $7.99 for the regular version (Word and Excel) and $11.99 for the Premium version (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and some other features). These prices are 20% off the regular price until June 4, 2010.

    iPad Use Case for Lawyers: Lunch Meeting

    01. Jun, 2010 Categories: Tips by Josh Barrett 2 Comments

    The other day I had a lunch meeting scheduled with a potential client. Part of the meeting was going to involve my take on a number of documents provided by the client. In preparing for the lunch, I knew that I wanted to be able to refer to a number of provisions throughout the documents as well as my notes. While flagging the relevant provisions and bringing the stack to lunch would have been doable, I decided to use the iPad.

    To do this, I scanned the relevant documents and saved them into my Dropbox from my desktop computer. While I walked from my office to the elevator, I used GoodReader to pull the documents onto my iPad (no wifi at this restaurant). As we began our discussion, I opened my notes in GoodReader in portrait mode and locked the iPad’s screen orientation. The iPad sat on my right, no bigger than a pad of paper. I folded the Apple case back on itself and locked it in the angled position which put the screen at a perfect viewing angle.

    As the client and I discussed the issues, I was able to quickly pull up the relevant documents. With the screen rotation locked, we were able to pass the iPad back and forth like a pad of paper without the iPad trying to reorient itself every second. I was able to jot a few notes by quickly flipping to Penultimate. Using my finger to scratch a quick note worked as well as a notepad in this case.

    All in all, it worked well. I hadn’t marked my PDFs with bookmarks so it was a little cumbersome to refer to particular provisions in longer documents. I will do that next time. The presentation was well received by the client and the iPad kept things clean and organized. Next time I try this I may use iAnnotate to organize and present the documents. With the ability to open multiple files at once, view highlighting, create new notes on the fly and bookmark support, iAnnotate could be an excellent tool for the job.

    Older Entries »