Post your favorite little tips/timesavers here.

[Deborah M.]

I thought we could all post our favorite little things that make our job easier.  I love finding out about new stuff -- like the Brother printer for the exhibit stickers.  That one has really made my life easier.

I got a little thing that seems so simple but I love it.  I got this glue tape roller, like for scrapbooking, and I use it to glue the business cards onto my worksheet at the job so I don't lose them.  Quick and easy.  Here's a link:

http://www.staples.com/Staples-Roll-On-Permanent-Glue-Tape/product_...

What's your tip?

[Christy A. Cannariato]

I have found a scanner application on my smartphone really comes in handy.  I have an iPhone and use Scanner Pro, but there are tons out there for other smartphones, too.   My app turns the scan into pdf, and you can email the pdf right from the app.  I send in my job sheets right from the job site now. 

If nobody has a caption to give me, and it's one of those super convoluted ones, I just scan the caption page rather than write it down longhand. 

If a page of an exhibit has spellings I need -- especially if it's a page or object they are not marking and I'm not getting to take it home with me, I just scan the page(s) -- and voila!  One caveat.  This maneuver may come across as suspicious if you're doing it on a break when everyone has left the room, and somebody walks in while you're taking photos with your phone, especially on highly confidential cases, lol.

Also comes in handy to scan business cards because you can enlarge that teeny tiny print.

 Thanks to the person who suggested the glue roller thingy. I didn't know those existed. Have used glue sticks in the past, but they're messy.   I've been using the DepoBook notebooks that have wonderful peel off adhesives for gluing down business cards.  But I don't really like their format and wanted to design my own but didn't want to give up the stick-on business card feature.  This gizmo may be a good compromise.

[Dean Morris]

Scanner Pro, great idea.

 

But I'm surprised at the number of reporters who seem to "write down" the caption of the case.  There's generally an office copier machine for that purpose, and, many times, the atty will have an extra copy of the caption for reporter, if you ask.

[Martha R]

I don't physically write down the caption but I type it into my computer on a cover page.   I don't want to bother the attorney to get up and make a photocopy for me.   But lots of times on bigger cases, they will make photocopy for me without asking.    

The scanner sounds like a nice idea to have.   I have one but it didn't work that great, but I'm sure they are coming out with new and better apps all the time.    As a last resort, you can always take a picture of the document, too, if you don't have a scanner app. 

[Deborah M.]

Christy, which app are you using?  I got the Jotnot one, and it's actually sending a JPEG, not a PDF.  Does the Jotnot Scanner Pro send a PDF?  Or is it something else you have?