Outlook Calendar Integration
Quick Start
Calendar syncing is currently "one way" from
A1-Law to Outlook. Initial Setup for the Calendar is as follows:
1. From the main menu, click Export to Outlook.
2. Click Preferences
3. Select Event,Name for the Subject Preference
4. Check the Remove Prior A1-Law Events in Outlook
5. Uncheck the Always use Events from the Custom Tab
6. Click IGNORE for the color.
7. Enter 0 for the start date (to always use today's date)
8. Enter 120 for the end date (to include 120 calendar days from today).
9. Enter your initials for the Attorney Assigned to export only your calendar to Outlook,
otherwise leave it blank for all or separate initials for several staff members with a
comma.
10. Click Save Preferences.
Syncing to Outlook
1. From the main menu, click Export to Outlook.
2. Click the Proceed button and an Outlook security dialog may be displayed and if so
click Allow Access for 10 minutes.
Microsoft Outlook Calendar Integration Details
There are two ways to export the A1-Law calendar to Microsoft Outlook. One way is via the appointments at the custom tab. The other is through custom defaults you set up for each sync. For example, you may want to always sync your appointments for the next 90 days from today and not have to always specify that at the custom tab. We will explore these defaults shortly. The fastest way to perform daily syncs is via the Export To Outlook feature from the A1-Law Main Menu (as per the Quick Start steps listed above).
Calendar - Export to Microsoft Outlook
This is the main window. To get to this window, in A1-Law click the "Export To Outlook" from the main menu or from the calendar icon on the toolbar click the Custom tab at the A1-Law calendar and then click the Other Features button (Alt-O) and click Export to Microsoft Outlook. You will see 4 options at this window.
Statistics: Start with the Statistics option. This counts all your appointments in the calendar in Outlook as well as just the A1-Law appointments in Outlook. If you have 10 personal appointments in Outlook that are not in the A1-Law calendar and 50 appointments in A1-Law that you exported to Outlook then you have 60 total appointments and 50 A1-Law appointments.
Export Outlook to Excel: This option creates an Excel file and a DBF file of all the appointments (A1-Law and Personal) in your Outlook calendar. It allows for a partial backup of the Outlook calendar in Excel format. This is not a full backup because the files do not contain certain information in the calendar such as colors, reoccurring appointments, etc. However, A1-Law will export the starting date, ending date, subject and body (notes) of the calendar appointments in Outlook.
Delete All A1-Law Events in Outlook: This option removes all the A1-Law events in Outlook and normally is probably not needed since you may configure A1-Law to remove all the prior A1-Law events in the Outlook calendar every time you do an export A1-Law events to Outlook. However, this option will not remove any personal appointments in your Outlook calendar. Therefore, any appointments that are deleted, may be added back again provided that they are still in the A1-Law calendar. You may use the Statistics option to see how many A1-Law events are currently in the Outlook calendar. A1-Law identifies an A1-Law event in Outlook because it will have the following in the body/notes section: (A1-Law #455) where 455 is the event number. As long as (A1-Law # is in the notes section, A1-Law sees it as an A1-Law event.
Export Events to Outlook: This option is the main one you will be using to export A1-Law events to Outlook and it tells you how many it will export. First, select the Preferences tab to set up your defaults before exporting events.
Preferences Tab: Select your preferences here. The Subject preference allows you to specify what you want to have displayed in the subject of each Outlook calendar event. All details will be displayed in the body/notes section.
Remove Prior A1-Law Events in Outlook: If today you export A1-Law events from say June 1 through Aug 1 and then tomorrow you do another export of events from say July 1 to Aug 15 then the question is whether you want the June appointments (from the prior export) to remain in the Outlook calendar. One could easily run the Delete All-A1Law Events in Outlook anytime to remove all those events but usually one may want to check this option so that it is done automatically.
Always Use Events From the Custom Tab: Checking this tells A1-Law to export the events at the custom tab. Before clicking the Other Features option at the calendar, go to the Custom Tab and click the 50 RECORDS FOUND (or 20 records, etc) to go to the Custom Calendar Settings to set the filters you want such as starting date, ending date, attorney handling, assigned, etc. These are the same filters you set before printing a calendar.
One may not want to always specify their export parameters at the Custom Tab. You still have to click the Custom Tab before clicking the Other Features, Export to Microsoft Outlook option unless you click Export To Outlook from the A1-Law Main Menu which is strongly recommended. However, if you UNCHECK the "Always Use Events From the Custom Tab" then you may specify other defaults such as always export 90 days. This is also recommended as it's best to uncheck this so as to not use events from the custom tab.
Uncheck the "Always Use Events From the Custom Tab" and the parameters are as follows:
Start Date: Enter 0 for today, -5 for 5 days before today, etc.
End Date: Enter 90 for 90 days from today, 360 for 360 days from today, etc.
Atty Hand: Enter the attorney handling, separate with a comma if more than one.
Atty Assigned: Same options as Atty Hand. Leave blank for all
Calendars: Leave blank for all. Enter 1 for the first calendar, Separate with a