Copy Letter List & Wish List

[Heather]

I am referring to the very first entry in this thread on the wish list in which I mentioned the ladies REALLY want an open dialogue box to allow them to access the documents without having to search and open a file first, from which they could open any document, regardless of case.

[Michael Appell]

Okay, I understand now what you mean by the form letter open dialog box. Two questions:

First, is this something to allow them to ONLY view/edit letters rather than process a new letter? Also, how would they be searching (ie: by name, by case number, etc). Is the idea to allow them to quickly view all titles/letters/documents for various cases?

Second question is whether this is something to allow them to quickly crank out form letters for many cases without having to pull the client card. The concept would be like this:

I would ask them for the following:

Form Number to Print (perhaps an optional dropdown):
Case Number or name:

In other words - If I can ask them for the case number or name, then I can attach the form letter to the case (and they won't have to open a client card). Otherwise, there is no way to automatically merge information. I suppose, the concept would be similar to what I have already invoked for the "Mail Tracker" and "File Tracker" where you don't have to through the steps of opening and closing a client card. It allows you to process many cases really quick.

Let me know (by the way, these are great ideas they are presenting),
Thanks,
Mike

[Heather]

Yes, the open document dialog box would be only for accessing already saved letters. The idea is to allow them to quickly view and access all documents created with sort options of user, case, title, and date. This is the order most have expressed a desire to be able to view their documents, but they would like the option you have in the custom calendar view to click on a column to sort by that field instead.

Your second question brings up another idea they would love - a way to quickly access the forms without accessing the case first. However, that is secondary to and separate from having an open dialog box. Your suggestion sounds perfect.

[Heather]

Except that we would definitely want your second suggestion to be by name or "your file no" as the case number assigned by the program is not associated elsewise with the case and therefore not known to the staff.

[Michael Appell]

Hello Heather,

I know this thread is getting long but I just want to be sure I completed understand a few final details. You wrote.......

1. allow them to quickly view and access all documents created with sort options of user, case, title, and date.

Wouldn't applicant name be another very important way to view them? Just curious - they did not have this capability before they had the program did they? I think a lot of offices would just group all documents in separate folders with their word processors so there was really no way to sort.

You have give me a really good idea where we could actually take their concept further and allow them to run the query off of SEVERAL of the options - for example, a specific user or users within a specific time frame for only open cases and only for a Demand Letter. What do you think of that? This may take a few weeks to implement - it's not a "quick change." But I think it is a great feature to implement.

2. but they would like the option you have in the custom calendar view to click on a column to sort by that field instead.

I wanted to verify this because as in a previous post I had indicated to you that they may already do this. They double click on a column to sort the calendar by that field. Then when they print, they select Default for the sort.

Mike

[Heather]

Well, the way the secretaries save documents in Word/WordPerfect now is by creating directories named by the file name or by the applicant name. Within these they save the letters. So applicant name or your file number would both work to sort by. I'm trying to picture what you are visualizing, and it sounds like you are seeing a query box with filter criteria similar to in your calendar report. This sounds pretty simple and easy, but still one step more than what they are asking for, which would be to display all documents with columns for document name, fileno/case name, user, & date. This is what I was referring to where you note #2 in your last response: I was likening what they want to the custom calendar tab you have. This time I was not asking for something in calendar, but saying the open dialog box would be ideal with the same type of interface as the custom calendar. Then they could double click on the desired column header to sort the documents.