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Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

Maybe you’ve heard about a thing called “metadata.” Say what? Usually, dropping buzzwords and using plain English is helpful, but not here – since metadata means “data about data” or “information about information.” Gee, thanks.

Metadata is actually the code or words contained in electronic documents that help the document function better somehow; for example, making it easier to search for the document on the computer. According to Catherine Sanders Reach, Director of the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center, “Metadata helps users save and retrieve documents more readily, by capturing information such as author, editor, “date created” and “date revised” in the hidden part of the document.

“However, other information about the document is also captured, such as additions, deletions, revisions, versions, comments, and other information about the document that an attorney may not want to share with others”

So, while metadata is useful, it can also be dangerous. Anyone with the inclination and a little know-how can look at metadata. Unfortunately, well-publicized stories of metadata embarrassments abound. Usually, they involve an electronic copy of Microsoft Word emailed or otherwise transmitted (intentionally or otherwise) to another person who exploits the information contained in the metadata to suit his or her own ends.

It’s not difficult to see that this could be particularly dangerous for lawyers, whose ethical duties to clients could be breached as well. Although South Carolina has not weighed in with an ethics opinion, the majority of states with opinions held that lawyers have a duty to exercise reasonable care to avoid disclosing confidential information via metadata when transmitting electronic files. To see all existing opinions, visit the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center’s metadata ethics opinion comparison chart.

The question then is “how do I get rid of metadata?” (I wish to clarify that we are discussing the metadata in documents the attorney creates, not metadata which may be present in electronic evidence in a lawsuit, which may be subject to the federal and state rules or laws.)

Many “solutions” to the metadata problem aren’t practical – such as not transferring electronic files; scanning documents and saving in a new format; or copying and pasting into a plain text editor. A more realistic solution is to clean the documents before you share them. Microsoft attempted to address the issue with Office 2003 by releasing an add-in removal patch for Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. In the year since it was released, there have been many reports of it failing to do a complete job of metadata removal, so I do not recommend relying on it.

Office 2007 comes with more built-in metadata removal tools, including Document Inspector. For a more in-depth discussion and instructions on metadata removal in Office 2007, see http://bit.ly/1pS6OM.

For most lawyers, third party software remains the best means of removing or minimizing metadata. Two products to consider are Metadata Assistant by Payne Consulting  (priced from $80.00 for single workstation and more for enterprise-wide versions) and Workshare Protect (starting at $29.95).

While most of the problems with metadata arise from Microsoft software, to a lesser degree metadata is in other products as well, such as WordPerfect and PDF files. For pointers on dealing with WordPerfect, see www.corel.com and search for metadata in the knowledgebase.

Adobe Acrobat (PDF) is usually a secure format for transferring documents electronically if the document is secured or restricted. For more on securing Acrobat PDF files, see http://www.adobe.com/support/security/.

The most important thing to know about metadata is that it exists and to exercise caution when transferring electronic files, utilizing removal tools when necessary.

What if you need to arrange a conference call among a group of lawyers – but don’t have a fancy phone system or service? One solution is to use one of a number of services on the Internet that offer “free” conference calls. These services either provide free conference calling by using a toll number (i.e. not an 800) number that the attendees dial or you can get toll free number for a reasonable price.  Some to try: FreeConferenceCall.com®, Free Conference.com®, or Totally Free Conference Calls. You could also try Skype. For web conferencing with up to 20 people, take a look at DimDim.

If you’re like me, you have created multiple folders under your main address book in Outlook. I store my personal contacts in the default Contacts address book, which I can access from my Windows Mobile device. However, I created additional folders for groups of other contacts by going to Contacts and choosing File – New folder (you can also click the “New” button on the Standard tool bar and choose new folder from the drop-down list).

You may have noticed that when you open a new mail message, and click on “To” for names, you don’t see all the new folders you created in the Address List. This tip shows you how easy it is to add more folders to the Address List. Once you do this, you can click on the pull down list under Address Book and find addresses in other folders. This works in both Outlook 2003 and 2007.

In Outlook, click on the Contacts. Right-click the folder you want to save to the address list. Choose “properties” and the tab “Outlook Address Book.” Check the box next to “Show this folder as an email address book,” click “OK” to save.  Open a new email message and click the “To.” Look in the pull-down list for the new address book.

Adobe Acrobat Standard and Professional versions will read PDF files to you!   This feature is called Read Out Loud and it is easy to use.  Using the feature is a two-step process.  First the feature is activated; next you command it to read.

To use the feature open a PDF:
1.  Click on View>Activate Read Out Loud.
2.  Click on View>Read Out Loud>Read This Page Only or Read to End of Document.

The Read feature will remain activated until you close Acrobat.  There a number of  keystroke combinations which will also control the Read Out Loud feature. Adobe provides additional information and instructions to change the default settings for Read Out Loud.

The voice is not stimulating, and the listening comprehension process requires some extra level of concentration.  Even so, listening to a PDF document while driving is far superior to trying to read one!

Don’t forget: Windows also has a “narrator” function that will read out loud to you. For information on turning it on and using it in Windows XP, go here and for Vista go here.

If, like me, you are tearing your hair out because Word 2007 keeps adding an extra line after every paragraph (or hard return) when you just want a single line, there’s a permanent fix.  It’s not hard to see that you can click on the “line spacing” button on the Ribbon to change the “Remove space before paragraph” option. This will stop Word from adding the extra line for that document only, though.

There are a couple of ways to turn off the extra space permanently. One is to edit the Normal.dot template. About.com has easy step-by-step instructions to do this. I’ve tried it and it works.

Or, you can go to the “source” – Microsoft – which has a different solution. Roll back your Word version to 2003.  Yes, to fix the line spacing and paragraph spacing in Word 2007 so that it is the same as in earlier versions of Word, you have to change the Style Set option. Here’s how:

1. Click the Home tab.
2. Click Change Styles in the Styles group, point to Style Set, and then click the style set that you want to use.To change the default formatting of your document, such as the line spacing and paragraph spacing, to the default formatting that is used in earlier versions of Word, click Word 2003.
3. To set the style set as the default style set in Word 2007, click Change Styles in the Styles group, and then click Set as Default.
4. Sigh with relief.