Printing Multiple Mailing Labels in MerusCase

Need to mail documents to multiple people within a case? Well, MerusCase makes it so simple that you'll never dread this task again (or maybe you will, but for other reasons of course).

Step-by-step guide on how to print multiple mailing labels:

1. Open the case which involves the desired parties list that you would like to print mailing labels for.
2. Once you're in the Parties tab, click the printer icon in the upper right hand corner of your screen and from the drop down menu, select 'Create Mailing Labels'.
   Remember:only contact cards that have addresses listed will be added to the mailing labels list
   
   
3. After choosing "Create Mailing Labels', you will be prompted to choose the Avery Label Type that you are printing onto and select 'Prepare'.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Click the link when prompted to download a PDF document with all of the mailing labels for that particular case on one sheet. Below is an example of what your mailing labels should look like if you chose the Avery Label 5160 option.

And there you have it, multiple mailing labels for all of your printing needs at the click of a button! Was this tip helpful? Let us know if you knew about or use this feature in the comments below! 

On a related note: If you would like to print a single envelope, you can choose the print envelope option within the contact card by choosing "Print Envelope" under the address listed for that contact. Clicking this button will give you the option to include a return address by checking the box next to the text box. After you select Print, a print preview will open to show how your envelope will look. Again, keep in mind that the contact card must have an address listed in order to create a mailing label. 

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This post was written by Alisha Chakravarty, member of the MerusCase team. 

How to Set-up Macros For The QuickSave to MerusCase Feature

QuickSave is one of the many awesome features that MerusCase has to offer. Easily upload documents directly into a case, merge information from a case directly into a document, and quickly edit any information within the document with the literal click of a button. Learn more about how QuickSave works here!

To use this handy tool in MerusCase, you're going to need to set up Macros on Microsoft Word first. Here's how to get started:

Enabling Macros in Microsoft Word for Windows 

1. In Word click the Microsoft Button  or File
2. Choose Word Options. 
3. Click Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Macro Settings.
4. Click the radio button 'Enable All Macros'.
5. Click OK, twice to save.

After you've followed these steps, you will notice a new save icon in the top menu bar. Click on this to save your edited document back into the case it was originally opened from. 

If prompted to add an exception to your Windows Firewall, choose the option to allow access!

Enabling Macros in Microsoft Word for Mac 

1. Open the Microsoft Word application on your Apple computer.
2. Once in Word, click on "Word" in the tool bar in the upper-left-hand corner (next to the apple logo).
3. Select Preferences.
4. Click Security (under Personal Settings)
   
   
5. Under the Macro Security section, make sure the box is unchecked.
6. Click OK to save.
   
   
   

After you've merged and opened a document within MS Word for Mac, press the icon below in order to save the document back into MerusCase.

           
              

Please note: If you are using Microsoft Word for Mac 2016, macros has not been set up for third party use. Unfortunately since MerusCase is a third party, this feature will not be available until Microsoft Word for Mac 2016 allows it. In the meantime, you can save documents to your desktop and drag & drop them directly into a case. 

There you have it! Now you're ready to start uploading, merging, and editing all your documents at rapid speed! 

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This post was written by Alisha Chakravarty, member of the Merus team. 

Version 4.05 (Saturn) Release Notes

To view which version of MerusCase you are on, navigate to your Tools & Settings and choose "About MerusCase" from the bottom of the list. If you firm is on MerusCase version 4.05, expect to see the following updates throughout the week. We have a staggered roll out schedule towards MerusCase version 4.0 put in place to ensure a smooth transition for all firms, so if your firm is not on this version yet, expect to see these updates within the next coming weeks! 

If you're interested in reading about our full set of updates for version 4.05, feel free to read the release notes below:

Activities

• Linked activities that have been deleted or unlinked will no longer appear in related cases
• Improved behavior for creating and viewing activities that are linked to related cases

Billing Contacts

• Better control over which rates and settings get overwritten when changing a Billing Contact's rates and settings, or changing a case's assigned Billing Contact

 Calendar & Events

• Event view is properly updated when saving a recurring event
• Show Past Events and Show Future Events Only widgets are now shown even when there are no events to show

 Case Files 

• Generate Caption from Party List widget creates a proper caption
• Form Receipt # link in Immigration cases is now a link to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website
• Party ordering is fixed 
• Applicant people type can now be assigned to multiple parties on single case
• Secondary Applicant is no longer used as part of the case file's name
• If you want your Secondary Applicant parties to be used as part of the case file's name, change the people type to Applicant

 Case Ledgers

• Better handling of entries with fractional pennies
• Improved behavior when editing existing entries
• Ability to view a case ledger in Firefox

 Contacts

• Avatar controls have been turned back on

 Documents

• Default priority for notification message when linking documents to a case is now Normal instead of Low

 Forms

• Improved behavior when merging forms
• QME Replacement Reason is now a dropdown selector

 Injuries

• No Statute Set widget no longer shown after a statute has been set

 Messages

• Improved performance when composing a message with inline images or that is part of long conversation/thread
• Conversation contents are available through the ellipsis widget
• Do not send notifications preference now available
• Case name is no longer retained after removing the case association from a forwarded message

 Party Groups

• Better behavior when changing group names and colors

 Reports

• A/R: Payments Received now shows total, and honors firm preference for case file number to display

 Tasks

• Related tasks are no longer modified when the Change all Related Tasks checkbox is unchecked
• No longer showing warning about related tasks when marking a task complete

 Workflows

• Workflows now have a Description
• Workflows list can now be searched and sorted

 Miscellaneous

• General improvements to system performance
• Color pickers no longer display as a swatch of a single color
• Better behavior of the Sweet Caroline theme
• Improved display of date picker widgets

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Feature Focus: Damages

The Merus team is always looking for new ways to enhance, improve, and perfect MerusCase to be as awesome as possible. We recently released MerusCase version 4.0, but that doesn’t mean our engineering team has stopped working... We've actually just finished developing the new Damages feature, and we think you're going to love it!

The Damages feature in MerusCase can be used by all case types and allows attorney's to keep track of both costs and damages associated with a case, such as police reports, medical reports, mileage, emotional distress, lost wages, and so much more. This tool is great to use when drafting a final demand letter or for use in valuing the case and negotiating settlements.

To locate the Damages tab:

1. Open up any existing case,
2. Click on the the $ tab, and
3. Select Damages in the dropdown menu.

From here, you'll be able to view any line items already created and, if you wish to create a new one, you can easily add it from this screen.

Have you had a chance to use this feature yet? Let us know in the comments below!

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This post was written by Alisha Chakravarty, member of the Merus team.

MerusCase Training Academy [Video]

We're excited to introduce our brand new MerusCase Training Academy!

Along with our new and improved support center, we have created 8 new high-level overview videos of the major features in MerusCase including Cases, Contacts, Calendar, Documents, Tasks, Messages, and Books! These videos will help you navigate around each page with ease and give your team quick access to training at no extra cost. Find the videos at docs.meruscase.com, in the in-app help tool within MerusCase itself, and on our MerusCase YouTube Channel.

Within the next couple of months, we will be rolling out a series of in-depth how-to videos based on our most frequently asked support questions too. So, stay tuned for more! In the meantime take a look at the video below to get started!

Hope this makes your experience with MerusCase even better. Have any suggestions for how-to videos that you would like to see? Share them in the comments below!

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This post was written by Alisha Chakravarty, a member of the Merus team.

Top 10 MerusCase User Preferences

What's great legal software without a customize user experience, right? At MerusCase, we're all about offering users the tools and resources they need to make Merus as effective as possible, no matter what they're role is in the firm. Today, we're sharing our top 10 MerusCase user preferences (and a fun bonus!) that we think you'll find helpful, whether you're a longtime Merus user or are currently considering legal technology. Enjoy!

Psst -- To access all of the settings that we talk about in this post, all you have to do is click on Tools & Settings, then click on My Preferences, and view the User Preferences tab.

1. Case Activity Filter Shortcuts

Did you know that the Quick Filter for your Activities tab are totally customizable for up to 8 slots? Using this setting, you can completely customize the label, filter, and filter text for your quick filter.s The default settings include filter such as "Phone Calls," "Messages," "Notes," and "Court Forms," but you can easily change the settings to show shortcuts such as, activities created by a specific user, a custom tag, a specific description, and so much more.

2. Billing and Time Tracking Defaults

You know the automated time tracker that pops up when you do certain things in MerusCase, such as enter an activity or write an email? If you're not responsible for billing, you can actually turn this off in the Billing & Time Tracking section. Under the Time Tracking Options dropdown, just select your user preference from the available options: always show the time tracker, never show the time tracker, or follow the default firm-wide settings.

3. Customize Your Dashboard

If you'd like to customize your dashboard, you can do so in two ways: stale notifications and your agenda. If you'd prefer to change the Stale Cases notification interval (or turn them off altogether), you can do so in the Stale Cases Notification section. Additionally, if you'd like to show only your personal calendar events in the Dashboard Agenda, you can select the appropriate check box in the Agenda section.

4. Customize Your Signature

Want to add an email signature to all outgoing messages? MerusCase makes it simple! Just find the Signature section and enter your plain-text signature in the corresponding field. (If you'd like to use a rich-text signature, just follow these instructions.) You can also choose your email signature placement in this section!

5. New Message Notifications

If you'd like MerusCase to play a sound when you receive a new message, all you have to do is check the box in the New Message Notifications section!

6. Set Your Default Case Type

If you find yourself generally working with the same case type day in and day out, the default case type setting may be for you! In the Case Details section of User Preferences, you can quickly choose what your default case type will be, whether it's Personal Injury, Immigration, Workers' Compensation, or otherwise.

7. Delete Messages Once You've Linked Them to a Case

Want to clear and email out of your inbox once you've linked it it's corresponding case? Check the user preferences that will allow you to simultaneously delete a message when you link it to a case. This is great for clearing out your inbox as you respond to new messages!

8. Set Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

You can use this setting to customize the function of your F7, F8. and F9 keys in the Keyboard Shortcuts section! The way it works is that, while using MerusCase, you can press F7/F8/F9 while entering date into a text field application-wide, and Merus will auto-fill your pre-defined text. A popular way that Merus users utilize this setting is to enter the current date into a field (which is done by typing <<DATE>> into the customization field).

9. Setup Custom Pre-Loaded Filters

If you often find yourself filtering certain sections for the same information, it's a smart idea to setup your custom pre-loaded filters. By doing this, you can select the default filter column (i.e. what Merus is filtering by) for your Case Files, Books, Case Ledgers, and more. You can even enter the default filter text if you want to get extra fancy. For example, if you want to always filter by cases that are assigned to you, you can do that by setting the Case Files Default Filter Column to Staff Responsible and entering your initials in the Default Filter field.

10. Choose Your Default Case Tab

When you first dive into a case, you can actually specify whether you're taken to that case's Activities tab, Parties tab, or Case Details tab using this feature. All you have to do is select your desire default from the dropdown menu in the Case Details section!

***BONUS: Choose a Custom Theme***

Love the idea of totally customizing your MerusCase experience? Then check out all of our theme options! (My personal favorite is Barbie Girl, not gonna lie.)



Those are, by far, our top 10 user preferences, but did we miss any of your favorites? Share with us in the comments below or on Twitter at @meruscase!

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This post was written by Marissa Vessels, member of the Merus team.

How to Use MerusCase for Law Firm Marketing

There's no denying that MerusCase does a stellar job when it comes to matter management for attorneys and law firms, but what about marketing teams? For many law firms - both big and small - marketing is a critical part of maintaining a steady stream of clients and helping the firm to grow, so it just makes sense that MerusCase should be able to support those efforts.

At Merus HQ, our marketing team uses MerusCase to track our editorial calendar, keep on top of our projects, report on our inbound lead sources, and store all of our marketing collateral. Today, we're going to walk you through how our team uses MerusCase for marketing, so that you can apply the same techniques to your firm's in-house team!

1. Create a case called "Marketing" to track everything your team is doing.

Create a new case and name it "Marketing." Doing this will allow your marketing team to tag all marketing related emails, events, and tasks back to this case, making it easy to see what the team has been up to. Whether we're emailing with a potential sponsor or coming up with new blog post ideas, we'll track everything in this case.

(Though this tip may seem super obvious, it's a necessary step for utilizing steps #2 through #6 in this list!)

2. Use custom Activity Tags to make marketing collateral easily accessible.

Internally, our Sales and Support teams have a lot of trouble keeping up with all the content our marketing team creates each week... So, to make it simple to track new collateral, we added a custom Activity Tag that we've named "Marketing Collateral." Now, whenever we upload finished collateral to the Marketing case, we tag it with our custom Activity Tag, making it easy for anyone in the company to view and use our marketing team's work.

3. Create a Marketing-only editorial calendar to keep track of your campaigns.

Having a firm-wide calendar is great, but what if your marketing team wants to see only marketing-related events, organized in a monthly view? It's definitely important to be able to have a complete look at all current and upcoming campaigns, so here's how to create a marketing-only calendar within your firm's MerusCase account:

• Create a branch office and name it "Marketing Team."
• Assign your Marketing case to the "Marketing Team" branch office.

Now, next time you create an event, be sure to assign it to the Marketing case. When you do that, all Marketing case events will appear in the Marketing "branch office" calendar, making it easy to view all marketing events in a quick and simple way.

Not interested in creating a full marketing-only calendar? Just be sure to assign all marketing team members to any events that you create so that everyone can keep on top of the team's work.

4. Use custom Event Types to organize your editorial calendar.

A good marketing team will have tons of campaigns and content running at the same time, so how's a team to organize it all?! For the MerusCase marketing team, we've found that setting custom Event Types and colors are the perfect solution for organizing our editorial calendar. For example, some of the designated marketing events we've created include:

• Blog Post: Hopefully self-explanatory, but we use this whenever we add a new blog post to our calendar.
• Convention: We use this tag to denote that an event is a convention or tradeshow we're attending.
• Email Campaign: This tag is used to notify the team that there's an email campaign going out.
• Marketing Campaign: This one's used for launching large campaigns, such as our February Break Up campaign or Lawyer Appreciation Month in April.
• Marketing Event: This tag is used for general marketing events that don't fall under a specific category.
• Webinar: Another self-explanatory one, but we use this tag whenever we host a webinar.

You can really go as crazy as you want with coming up with custom event types, so don't be shy about getting creative when it comes to organizing your editorial calendar!

5. Use Party Types to track referral sources.

Whenever your firm opens a new case in Merus, be sure to add the referral source of the case to the Parties tab! To do so, all you have to do is a create a new contact for the referral source (either a company of an individual) and set the Party Type or Company Type as "Referral (Inbound)."

At Merus, we'll add everything from what webinar someone attended to which pieces of content they've downloaded and, in some case, which paid advertising source they responded to, all within Referral sources. This is super helpful, as it will allow you to run reports to figure out where your clients are coming from, which brings us to Tip #6...

6. Utilize Reports to analyze your incoming lead sources.

You know those Party Types that you set as Referral (Inbound) on all of your new cases? Well, you can actually run a report on them in order to see, at-a-glance, where your leads are coming from! To run the Referral report, just click on Tools & Settings, then click on Reports, and locate the Referrals report. Once you click on the report, you'll be able to specify the report criteria, such as which Case Type or Date Range you'd like to narrow the results by.

At Merus, we tend to review our referral sources at the end of the month as we prepare our monthly marketing report, which gives us a better idea of what is and isn't working when it comes to where we're choosing to invest our time and budget.

And there you have it! Those are our 6 biggest tips for law firm marketing teams, but we know there are so many other ways to use Merus to organize your firm's marketing efforts... Whether you're a firm of 1 or 100, if you have any tips or tricks of your own, be sure to let us know in the comments below!

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This post was written by Marissa Vessels, member of the Merus team.

Feature Focus: Order Subpoena Documents Tab

Calling all Workers Compensation Defense and Applicant firms! Are you frequently using subpoena documents? Did you know that we have a subpoena document feature in MerusCase? If you didn’t, read on, it will make your life a whole lot easier!

We are working with Gemini and Compex Legal Services, Inc. to provide a subpoena document service right within your MerusCase portal. Gemini is a leading provider of subpoena and copy services, online records management, and is a technology pioneer in the workers’ compensation industry. Similarly, Compex Legal Services, Inc. is one of the largest litigation and discovery support services in the nation. Together, MerusCase, Compex, and Gemini have partnered to simplify the subpeona documents process so that you can spend less time bogged down in administrative tasks and more time doing what you love: practicing law.

How it works:

1. To access the subpoena document feature, you will find an ‘Order’ tab in the top menu when you open up a case


2. Click on this tab and a form will pop up for you to complete


3. After the form is filled out, the order will be handled by Gemini, and they will upload the subpoena records directly back into your case file

To use Compex services:

1. Under the Forms & Templates section in the Left Panel menu, find the Compex form


2. Fill out this form, merge the file, and email it to merusorders@compexlegal.com


3. The order will then be handled by Compex and your subpoena records will be uploaded back into your case file

That’s it! It’s as easy as 1,2,3. Are you using any other supboena document services? If so, let us know in the comments below! We would love to expand our partnerships and provide more in-applicant services for your firm.

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This post was written by Alisha Chakravarty, member of the MerusCase team.

Big Screen, Little Screen, Orange Screen, Blue Screen: MerusCase is Now Fully Responsive

Here at Merus we love and accept screens of all shapes and sizes! Big, small, we love you all! Because of the wide variety of screens, we have made some exciting adjustments (otherwise known as responsive design) to version 4.0 of MerusCase in order to make sure all pages of the application are highly flexible and adaptable, no matter what kind of screen you’re viewing MerusCase on.

If you are a current user of 4.0, or have been keeping up with our sneak peeks and previews you may have noticed that there have been several navigation and display changes. Many of these were put into place to make this one-page-fits-all idea work as well as optimize MerusCase for mobile use. A few examples of these changes can be seen in the new drop-down menus, the billing entries screen, and the introduction of right panel view. Now, if you view a case on your mobile device, it will look the same as if it were opened on a desktop! The drop-down menu bars make navigation easier on mobile devices and billing entries have been simplified for mobile use as well. This means no more endless scrolling, zooming in, zooming out, or missing parts of your page. You will also notice that if you make the window on your desktop bigger or smaller, the page will simply adjust accordingly. Pretty cool, right?

Desktop computer, iPhone or Android, iPad, or notebook, try out MerusCase on any screen you have and let us know how it goes!

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Everything You Need to Know About "Right Panel"

With the Version 4.0 release officially underway for our existing clients, we want to take a moment to introduce you to one of our favorite features: the all-new right panel!

Merus now features a right panel view for wide-screen monitors, which activates any time you are viewing or editing a line item within a table, such as Activities or Messages. This new way of viewing data makes it easy for you to view, compare, or edit data without needing to click back and forth between different screens in Merus. (If you remember, right panel view has been activated within the Messages feature for the past few years, so it's a concept you're familiar with!)

The best part about the right panel? It helps with mobile responsiveness, so using MerusCase from your smart phone or tablet's browser feels identical to the experience that an app would give you—no unnecessary scrolling or pinching in order to see all the data on the screen.

Finally, once you're done with the information displayed in the right panel, all you have to do is click the X button in order to close it out!

P.S. Missed Tuesday's MerusCase 4.0 Sneak Peek? Click here to check out all of our brand new themes!

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MerusCase 4.0 Sneak Peek: Themes

We're so excited to show off the newest additions to the MerusCase family of themes, coming to your firm in Version 4.0! Though we're highlighting 10 of our favorites in the infographic below, we've designed a whopping twenty themes in total. Our new themes not only offer a change in color palette, but in font and overall look-and-feel as well. When you log in to 4.0 and take a look, you'll notice that we've even put together a few easy-to-read themes that are great for folks who enjoy larger fonts and a higher contrast.

Without further ado, we're stoked to introduce our 10 favorite themes available in Version 4.0:

In order to switch your personal theme in MerusCase 4.0, all you have to do is:

• Click on Tools and Settings in the upper-right-hand corner (it's the little icon that looks like a gear)
• From here, all of the theme options should pop up in the main panel of the screen
• All you have to do is click on a theme you like and it'll automatically apply the theme to your account!

So easy, well,  we're pretty sure the office pet could do it.

P.S. Anyone have a guess as to what these themes are named after? Leave your thoughts in the comments below! ;-)

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What's New in MerusCase 4.0?

As you may have heard, the MerusCase team is extremely excited to roll out our Version 4.0 release over the next few months!

We have an incredible amount of updates and improvements, some of which will be obvious to you in terms of the platform's look-and-feel, and some of which are under the hood and will be harder to notice right out of the box. Nonetheless, get excited! Here's what you can expect to see in MerusCase once you get your hands on our 4.0 update:

• A total overhaul of the user interface, making for a cleaner, more modern MerusCase experience
• Brand new custom themes, completely reimagined with new colors, fonts, and options
• Mobile enhancements, including simplified billing entry via mobile phone
• The ability to add multiple Activity Tags at the time of activity creation
• Drag and drop calendar appointments and repeating events
• Enhanced tasks, including a new completion summary once a task has been marked as complete
• The ability to set multiple statutes per case, incident, and injury, as well as the option to mark statues as "Satisfied"
• A powerful contact search engine, scalable to millions of contacts with no performance degradation
• Added search fields, such as Social Security Number
• The ability to filter for unattached documents and search by time frame, activity, or case
• Case-level improvements, including an a new Agenda in Case Details, allowing you to view upcoming tasks and events
• Custom billing cycles as well as billing rules by client and the ability to set rates at the client level
• API enhancements, such as the ability to import bulk costs to Merus (i.e. Equitrac imports)
• ...and so much more!

We'll be sure to publish a more exhaustive list of release notes once all of the improvements have been finalized. Questions? Please contact support@meruscase.com.

Tip Tuesday: Holiday Cards Made Easy with MerusCase

It's that time of year: card sending season!

Just kidding, but it is December, which likely means you're in the process of prepping your mailing list for your annual client holiday cards. If you have a handful of clients, you may not be too stressed about all of the cards and labels and stamps you'll need to manage, but what if you have 50? 100? 300? That's where the process can get a little... overwhelming, to say the least.

Today I'm going to walk you through how to export your client mailing addresses from your MerusCase account in order to make this December your most stress-free one yet! Check it out in the video below:

Looking for more Merus how-tos? Check out meruscase.com/support or email support@meruscase.com!

Note: This post features MerusCase Version 3.9 or earlier. As such, this post may no longer be accurate. For the most current and up-to-date information about the latest version of MerusCase, please visit our documentation at docs.meruscase.com.

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QuickSave: The Ultimate Time-Saving Document Management Solution

Today we're here to talk all about QuickSave, a MerusCase original feature that quickly and easily integrates your Microsoft Word files with our document management system. Never heard of QuickSave before? Here's everything you need to know:

1. QuickSave is a streamlined and simplified method of saving letters and documents to MerusCase. This method utilizes the macros in Microsoft Word to save the document back into your Case... without ever having to upload it whenever you make an edit. Anyone with a Word 2007 or later, both Mac and Windows, can enable the feature in under 30 seconds.

2. Using the QuickSave button is simple. After downloading and opening a letter (either by Merge in Templates, or by Download from the Activity section of a case), you can easily save the letter directly back into MerusCase by clicking the Save to Merus button in the upper-left-hand corner.

3. Whenever you view or download a document, the most recent version of that document will open automatically. Need to go back in time and check a previous draft? No problem! Click See Hidden for a comprehensive revision history, including the date and time of each revision for easy filtering.

4. Housing your documents in MerusCase allows everyone in your firm to use, download, and edit case-based documents, enabling any changes to be saved firm-wide in the blink of an eye. This means no more emailing documents back-and-forth, waiting for Dropbox to sync, or worrying about running out of space. Your files are always current, always available, and we'll never restrict your upload space.

To our knowledge, no other legal practice management system offers this level of simplicity when it comes to in-application document management. In fact, many systems rely on integration with products like Google Drive or Box to manage your documents. At Merus, we prefer to handle all document management in-house, thereby protecting your precious data and all PHI behind our bank-grade security features.

Interested in learning more about MerusCase and how our document management features might be a fit for your firm? Drop us a line at meruscase.com/sign-up!

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Note: This post features MerusCase Version 3.9 or earlier. As such, this post may no longer be accurate. For the most current and up-to-date information about the latest version of MerusCase, please visit our documentation at docs.meruscase.com.

5 Tips for a Faster Response from MerusCase Support

At MerusCase, we strive to bring you the best and quickest support possible, both through our customer success team and our handy knowledge base. Although we do our best to get back to you as soon as possible, here are a few things you can try to help us get an answer to your support request even quicker!

1. Choose Carefully: Telephone vs. Email

Some MerusCase support requests lend themselves well to telephone calls, while others are often better handled by email. Phone requests have the advantage of speaking with one of our Support staff members and, if you have a quick question or don't completely know how to explain the error you're encountering, this is great! On the other hand, if your problem is more detailed, complicated, or involves seeing the issue in order to understand what's going on, an email is your best bet.

Nevertheless, have no fear -- no matter how you choose to contact us, we're constantly ready for your incoming calls and emails!

2. Document, Document, Document

If you're unsure of exactly what's going on or feel that you may not be able to easily explain the issue, documenting your issue will assist our support team in having a clearer understanding of how we can best help you.

Great ways to document include:

• Taking photos, screencaptures, or screencasts when something goes wrong,
• explaining step-by-step how the issue occurred, and/or
• using clear language (avoid phrases such as "it" or "the thing").

(Pro Tip: At some point, our support team might ask you to hop on a Join.Me screensharing call, which is an online service that allows us to view your desktop as you duplicate the problem you're facing in MerusCase. If you've never heard of Join.Me before, you can read more here so that you're prepared next time you make a support inquiry!)

3. Provide Examples

While some requests are broad enough that examples may not be necessary, it's always helpful to provide as much information as possible. A great way to do this is to frame your support requests around "if-then" statements. For example, "If I try to upload a document to X case, then I am redirected to an error screen that says Y." As often as possible, be sure to include the name of a specific form, case number, contact name, or template in which you are encountering the issue.

4. Describe Expectations and Outline Goals

Although we'd like to be able to keep up with everything going on at your firm, it's hard for us to know when you have a busy day ahead of you or a big trial in the next few hours. If you find yourself needing support on a very tight deadline, be sure to communicate your time frame with us so that we can work with your deadlines.

Other situations in which describing your expectations is extremely important are: suggesting new features and encountering a command that doesn't behave the way you believe it should be. Again, using as much specific language as possible will help us to best understand how to help you!

5. Follow Up

Have you ever submitted a support request and then, a few minutes later, found out that you were just clicking the wrong button? No problem, we've all been there! Go ahead and shoot us a second email to let us know you figured it out. Additionally, be sure to follow up with us if you feel as if your issue wasn't completely solved.

And that's it - our top 5 tips for a faster answer from MerusCase support!

P.S. Although we talk solely about Merus in this post, these tips are wildly helpful when working with the support team of any company you might need to contact.

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Note: This post features MerusCase Version 3.9 or earlier. As such, this post may no longer be accurate. For the most current and up-to-date information about the latest version of MerusCase, please visit our documentation at docs.meruscase.com.

Introduction to MerusCase [Webinar]

Join us for our upcoming webinar, Introduction to MerusCase, where we'll walk you through everything you need to know about basic system functions, features, and navigation. Although this webinar doesn't serve as a replacement for our comprehensive training program, it does act as a jumping off point for firms considering MerusCase, recently-added firms, as well as new staff additions to existing firms.

In this webinar, you'll learn everything there is to know about:

• Basic Merus Navigation
• System Functions and Features
• Utilizing the Knowledge Base
• Understanding the MerusCase World Order
• BONUS: MerusCase 4.0 Sneak Peek

If you're ready to learn more about MerusCase, register for this 30-minute webinar, hosted by our Chief Operations Officer, Shane, on November 11th, 2015. Can't make it this time? Fill out the form below and we'll let you know when the recording becomes available.

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Note: This post features MerusCase Version 3.9 or earlier. As such, this post may no longer be accurate. For the most current and up-to-date information about the latest version of MerusCase, please visit our documentation at docs.meruscase.com.

17 Time-Saving Keyboard Shortcuts

Did you know that, in MerusCase, you can use many of the same keyboard shortcuts that work for your browser? Whether you want to open a new tab or bookmark a page, these keyboard shortcuts will save you endless time as you zip through MerusCase with lightning speed.

Click here to download this handy guide and don't forget to subscribe to our blog for more great updates!

P.S. Windows users will find that these shortcuts should work across every browser; however, Mac users should note that 'Control' will often be replaced with 'Command'.

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How to Search & Filter Like a Pro in MerusCase

Shane, our COO, gave a rockstar webinar last week, sharing tons of tricks that you can use to filter through your MerusCase data with ease!

If you want to learn the 7 key phrases and characters that will help you narrow down your overwhelming search results, you can download the recorded webinar or check out Shane's slides below:

Psst -- Don't forget to subscribe to our blog and be the first to know about exclusive content, webinars, and more!

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Note: This post features MerusCase Version 3.9 or earlier. As such, this post may no longer be accurate. For the most current and up-to-date information about the latest version of MerusCase, please visit our documentation at docs.meruscase.com.

How to Choose the Right Legal Practice Management System [Comparison Chart]

Have you ever wondered where to start when considering legal tech for your law firm?

Our handy Slideshare explores everything from, why your firm even needs a legal practice management system, to the details you should work through when actually making a decision.

via Slideshare

If you find this presentation helpful, you're going to love our cloud-based practice management system comparison chart! In our chart, we walk through the top 6 major systems (MerusCase, Clio, MyCase, Rocket Matter, Amicus Cloud, Houdini ESQ) and breakdown the features of each system across 5 important categories: accessibility, messaging and scheduling, billing and timekeeping, document management, as well as support and security.

Interested in more content like this? Be sure to subscribe to our blog and get our posts straight to your inbox!

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Scheduled Maintenance 6/4/2015 at 6:30PM PST

On Thursday, June 4, 2015, we'll be doing some scheduled maintenance on the MerusCase system from 6:30PM PST to 10:30PM PST.

The application will not be accessible during this time period so, in order to ensure that you do not lose any work, please be sure to save everything before 6:30PM PST. As always, our engineers have been hard at work improving the system and are excited to introduce MerusCase Version 3.94.

Questions? Email pr@meruscase.com

[Edit: Scheduled maintenance has been completed. MerusCase is back up and running. Enjoy!]

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