I’m really more of a Word-wizard than a WordPerfect-ionist.  However, I know some of you out there use WP, and I want to help you create fine looking documents whatever wordprocessor you use.  Besides back in the day, I too was a WordPerfect fan.  In fact, I  learned wordprocessing from WordPerfect 5.1 sans a mouse!.

So in my ode to the “good old days” here is how to create a secondary header or footer in a WordPerfect document. I’ll be using WordPerfect 12 for my scenario.

Adding headers and footers to your documents

Headers and footers display repeated information at the top and bottom of every page.  The nice thing is that you can have different information on different pages.  For example, briefs with a table of contents may use a Roman numeral for page numbering and Arabic on the main pages.  Another example is electronic letterhead where a firm’s logo or name displays on the first page and page numbers and date display on the subsequent pages.

Creating a Header

In my example scenario, I want to display my contact information only on page one, and a page number on all subsequent pages.

• Position the cursor on the page where you want the header to appear.
• Choose View | Header/Footer.  This opens the Headers/Footers dialog box. 
   

(Note:  if you are using another version, the command is under Insert| Header/Footers.)

• Header A is selected by default. Click Create to input the header’s text.

Below, I’ve added a header to my letter.

• To align with your document margins, select the checkbox at the bottom highlighted in pink.
• If corrections need to be made, click Edit.

Disconnecting Header A:

• Go to the top of  the page two.
• Click View| Headers/Footers.  Notice Header A is selected.
• Click Discontinue.

Create a Header on page two:

• Position your cursor on the second page.
• Choose View | Header/Footer.
• Select Header B.
• Click Create.

I’ve added the text “Page.“ The arrow points to the toolbar button for inserting a page number.

Now my document has two different headers, with the second one starting on page 2.

Creating different footers works the same way as creating different headers.

Changing the page numbering format

If you need to  change the type of format for the numbering (need a word or different number type), follow these instructions:

• Click Insert.
• Choose Page Numbering.
• Scroll through the list and select the numbering format to display.

You can even add a word like “Section” before your page number, using the Custom Format button.

There you have it!  What do you think?  Did that help?  What other types of things would you like to learn?

Let me know…. Your Legal Tech Trainer

Seems every time Adobe creates a new version of Acrobat, it gets even better about handling law office files that are being reviewed, edited or submitted. 

One of the coolest features is it’s ability to merge many files into one, and what makes this feature even cooler is that they don’t all have to be PDFs or even the same format.  You can combine Word, Excel, and even .tif images into one PDF.  In this demo, I’m using  Adobe Acrobat Professional 9.  However, this feature is also available in the Adobe Acrobat Standard and Extended Pro versions.

In this scenario, I have been asked to provide outside counsel with copies of certain files in a case.  The files are presently stored as .tif images in my Summation database.  Using Adobe’s ‘Merge Files’  feature, I will create one PDF file containing all the files for the outside counsel to review.

Okay, let’s get started!

• Open Adobe Acrobat and from the toolbar, click the Create button.
• From the drop-down menu, select Merge Files into a Single PDF…  

•  There are four choices for adding your files.  In our scenario, I copied the files into a separate folder, so I’ll select Add Folders…

•  The Browse for Folder dialog box appears.   In this scenario,  my files are in a subfolder called “Outside” under the My Documents folder.
• I’ll highlight the folder and click OK.

• Use the Move Up ↑ and Move Down ↓ buttons to reorder the files, if necessary. 

• The Remove button allows you to delete some of the files before you combine. 

•  If you have a multi-page document, the Choose Pages button allows you to remove certain pages from a single document before combining the files. 

• Options are available to change the way the conversion works.  We will leave them at their default for our example scenario.

• Click the Combine Files button. 

• As each file is converted, a green check mark displays to the right to show the conversion was “Successful.”

• When the process of conversion and combining  is complete, you are prompted to name your combined file and click Save.

• With your PDF open, you can add other features like  comments, page numbering, and more.

In  future posts, I’ll share some other great features I L-O-V-E about Adobe Acrobat 9!

Understanding .tif files

I frequently get calls from attorneys who cannot open  files with a “.tif” or “.tiff” extension.  Generally, they receive the file(s) from an expert, co-counsel or client.  Of course, not wanting to look technically inept, they call me to help. 

So for all those that have always wondered how to approach this techno-detour, I’ve created this post about how to open .tif files.  

The “.tif” (Tagged Image File) file format (aka .tiff) is a format primarily used for creating huge image or line art files.  Even some scanning devices and software applications save in a  .tif format.  The problem for some is when you try to open the .tif file, it won’t; or asks you which program to open it in.  It’s simply that the .tif extension is not registered as a file extension, or not associated to open with a program on your computer.

You can check this on your own computer following these steps:

• Double-click the My Computer icon,  or right-click on the Windows® Start button and choose Explore.
• Click Tools, Folder Options...

• Click the File Types tab and scroll through the list and see if .tif or .tiff is listed.

• If you don’t see either listed, click the  New button 
• Type TIF in the File Extension field and click OK.

 Once you have the extension listed, you can choose which program to use to open and edit the files.  The computer will supply a recommended list of programs in alphabetical order to choose from, as shown in the example below.  I would pick one you feel most comfortable working in.

Additionally, by checking the box “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file,“  you can request that .tif files open ONLY using the selected program.  You will save a lot of billable minutes by not having to decide each time you receive this type of file on how to open them.

In my next post, I’ll talk about converting all those .tif images into one PDF.

Creating a Zip File to send

Have your files saved somewhere in the same location

1. Click to select your files (hold the Ctrl key down to select multiple files)
2. Right-mouse click one of the selected files
3. Click Send-To > Compressed Zip folder
4. It will create a zipped file with a default name from one of the files. To change the name, right-mouse click, choose Rename and type a new name (Note: be sure to keep the .zip extension at the end of the filename)

If you want to email your zip file, you will need to password-protect it in order to get through our spam blocker.

Password protecting a Zip File

Right-mouse click the zipped file
Click Explore
Click File > Add a Password
Type the password in both boxes

To remove a password

Repeat the same steps as above but choose Remove Password