OneDriveForBusiness

With OneDrive integration enabled, users can now open documents directly in Office web apps.

CosmoLex, the cloud practice management platform, is rolling out new features today that include two-way synchronization with Office 365 calendars, integration with OneDrive, document search, document version control, and new notifications through the client portal.

Although CosmoLex already integrates with Box and Dropbox and has its own native document storage, the OneDrive integration adds greater functionality through the ability to open and edit documents in Office 365 web apps.

A slider button activates the OneDrive integration.

A slider button activates the OneDrive integration.

When users enable the OneDrive integration, an icon appears next to documents stored in CosmoLex that says “Open in OneDrive.” Click it to open the document in Word Online or Excel Online. When you are done editing, the document is saved back into CosmoLex.

The integration works with both OneDrive personal and OneDrive for Business. You will need your own Office 365 subscription.

Today’s roll-out also adds integration with Office 365 calendars. The synchronization is two way. Add an appointment in your CosmoLex calendar and it will appear in all your Outlook apps (web, desktop and mobile). Or add an appointment in Outlook and it will appear in your CosmoLex calendar.

CosmoLex already integrated with Outlook email.

The document properties box lets you add labels and other information to a document.

The document properties box lets you add labels and other information to a document.

With regard to its native document storage, CosmoLex is adding three new features today.

  • Document search. You can now search across all the metadata for your documents. You can add metadata by opening the document properties dialog box for a document, where you can add details and notes. Search does not extend to full body text.
  • Document categorization. You can now add custom tags to documents to categorize them, such as “research.”
  • Document versioning. CosmoLex now captures and saves all versions of a document. When you select a document, you can click on the Versions tab to see a full history of all previous versions. You can download a previous version to view it or you can choose to restore a previous version. You cannot view the version changes from within Cosmolex.
VersionHistory

You can now view a document’s version history.

The versioning feature works with documents in Cosmolex’s native storage as well as with documents in Box and Dropbox. It does not work with OneDrive documents because the OneDrive API does not support this capability.

The final set of changes today relate to the client portal. Now, attorneys can opt to send their clients a daily email digest of any new activities on their matters. The digest shows each day’s new documents, invoices, events and tasks for each of the client’s matters. Only items that the lawyer has chosen to share with the client are shown in the digest.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.