WordRake - Technology Training Video Library

Optimize Firm Workflow and Collaboration - How to use Track Changes, Comments, and Compare.
Use Automated Numbering Systems and Linking - How to control paragraph numbering and cross-reference documents.
Control Appearance and Printing - Stop hitting the spacebar; keep paragraphs on the right page and avoid awkward line breaks.
Send Compliant, Correct Emails - Send better, more accurate, compliant, and professional emails in Outlook.
Create Your Firm's Brand and Style - Use Word styles to fit court and jurisdiction styles and create your firm's own style for branding and client communications.
Organize Workflow and Maximize Time Spent - Use the Navigation Pane to focus on key tasks and move within documents and use rules and alerts to move efficiently through email.
Avoid Repetitive Work with Find and Replace - Learn all the techniques for Find and Replace to save hours of work.
Avoid Errors and Save Time - Learn how to use repeatable text and correct errors with AutoCorrect, AutoText, and macros.

WordRake was designed for legal professionals, so we create free educational content to help in all aspects of legal practice. We want legal professionals to get the most from the software they already own, such as Microsoft Word and Outlook. We believe that when professionals use the tools of their trade well, they will upgrade their work overall.

As leaders in the legal writing and legal technology fields, we at WordRake feel compelled to help legal professionals become the best workers and writers they can be.

From legal writing to legal technology, let WordRake be your professional development advisor. When you’ve completed all 21 videos in this series, you’ll have a strong foundation to build on and thrive. We believe that excellence starts with competence. So build now, then take your writing to the next level.

If you’re a business or a government writer who works with long, complex documents, these video tutorials will help you, too.

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1

Tweak Your Default Settings for Legal Work

Don’t waste writing time undoing what Word does—show Word what you want. Improve your productivity with customized Microsoft Word settings. In this tutorial, you’ll learn to adjust default settings like spellcheck, dictionaries, and formatting.

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2

Recognizing, Altering, and Avoiding Default Settings

Don’t layer on formatting in Microsoft Word—shifts in formatting will haunt your documents! Get to the root of the problem by customizing the default font and paragraph settings. In this tutorial, Barron and Ivy will demystify rogue formatting and show you how to build your document on the right foundation.

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3

How to Get Easy Access to High-Value Features

Give your most-used Microsoft Word features the visibility they deserve! Add, remove, and rearrange buttons on the Quick Access Toolbar or Ribbon. You can even transfer your customizations to other computers. Now you can have easy access to high-value features anywhere you work.

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4

Changing Your Outlook Default Settings

Emails can take over your day—don’t let them! Customize your Microsoft Outlook email alerts and other features to cultivate uninterrupted focus and maximize productivity. In this tutorial, you’ll learn to change default settings like spellcheck before sending, email signatures, and calendar time zones. You’ll also learn to use features like AutoArchive to avoiding bogging down your server.

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1

Track Changes, Comments, Compare

Make document collaboration a breeze with professional control of Review features in Microsoft Word. In this video, you’ll learn how to track changes, leave comments, compare documents, unlock customizations to get the most out of your review process. Read this article from our Microsoft Word Features series for an in-depth look at collaborative editing using Track Changes and Comments.

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2

The Power of Styles

Elevate and expedite your formatting process by adjusting Styles to fit your work! Styles are part of the “DNA” of your Word document’s formatting, so stop fighting the function and start leveraging it. Using Styles will fix your formatting faster and more consistently than manual formatting and you can format dozens of footnotes in a single click and set up your Table of Contents in seconds. Read this article from our Microsoft Word Features series for more about the connection between Styles and the Navigation Pane.

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3

Adding Visual Structure to Your Writing

Keep your writing focused with the Navigation Pane in Microsoft Word. With this feature, you can rearrange or remove entire sections and make macro-level adjustments to your writing without risking copy-and-paste errors. The Navigation Pane helps you enforce information hierarchy, add visual structure, and manage cohesion, even in long, disorienting documents. Read this article from our Microsoft Word Features series for more about the connection between Styles and the Navigation Pane.

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4

Preview Your Document with a Table of Contents

Never worry again if your Table of Contents reflects recent document edits and has accurate number references—let Microsoft Word generate and update your Table of Contents for you. When you apply the Microsoft Word Styles feature correctly to document headings, then creating and updating your Table of Contents will be a breeze instead of a confounding mess! Read this article from our Microsoft Word Features series to learn how the Table of Contents feature is a powerful tool for both writers and readers.

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5

Show Your Citations in a Table of Authority

Learn how to efficiently mark citations and generate a Table of Authority in Microsoft Word. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to find, categorize, and tag citations, which will make creating and updating your Table of Authority a breeze. We’ll also teach power user tips to customize, update, and troubleshoot citation marking and TOAs. Read this article from our Microsoft Word Features series to learn how the Table of Authority feature helps writers check the strength of their argument.

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1

Understanding & Managing Paragraph Spacing

When is a space not a space? Uncover the mysteries of line and paragraph spacing and learn to successfully manage them. In this tutorial, you’ll learn to create vertical spacing and quickly fix documents to apply automatic spacing. When you’re done, you’ll have right-sized paragraph spaces throughout your Microsoft Word document.

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2

Word, Paragraph, and Page Glue

Writing is an art—so is formatting. Barron and Ivy share Microsoft Word features that will help legal professionals make documents flow by keeping ideas together. Learn to use paragraph “glue” to Keep with Next, Keep Lines Together, and Page Break Before in this video tutorial.

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3

Linked and Automated Numbering Systems

Do business better with clear Microsoft Word documents—master automated numbering, cross-references, and bookmarks. Watch this video to learn to tame Word’s numbering and reference systems, so you can skip the drudgery and aggravation of fiddling with numbering and references in your documents.

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4

Ordering Legal Documents

Correct formatting is essential before filing or submitting Microsoft Word documents. Learn how to easily add and control page numbers, headers, and footers with this tutorial. And if unwanted section breaks are wreaking havoc, then here’s your chance to learn how to find (and fix!) invisible formatting that can interfere with your Microsoft Word document. Watch the video to learn how to control page numbers, title pages, and section breaks.

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1

Speedy Delivery with Special Features

Learn tips and tricks to become a super-speedy power user of Microsoft Word. In this tutorial, you’ll learn skills that will improve your pace, increase your precision, and reduce your frustration when creating legal documents. We’ll also show you how to insert your commonly used symbols and apply formatting with just a few custom keystrokes.

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2

Updating or Replacing Words & Phrases

Did you know Find & Replace can correct more than just words? Use it to ensure consistent spelling of words and phrases in your documents, and fix special characters, section breaks, spacing, and fonts. You can also use Find & Replace and Wildcards to ensure consistency in formatting for specific words, phrases, or headings across an entire Microsoft Word document.

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3

Repeatable Text, Tasks, and Corrections

Reuse text to retype less. Improve the ease and efficiency of document creation by customizing Autocorrect and using Autotext and macros for Microsoft Word. Teach Microsoft Word to fit your quirks and fix your most common spelling mistakes; and create a custom button to quickly reproduce commonly used sentences or paragraphs. Learn how in this tutorial.

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4

Creating and Sharing Custom Automation Tools

Get the most out of your custom automation tools for Microsoft Word. Help your team improve their Writing efficiency by sharing Microsoft Word custom tools like Autocorrect, AutoText, and Macros. Watch this video tutorial to learn how to create custom automation tools and share them with your coworkers.

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1

Tips and Tricks to Manage Your Inbox

Take control of your inbox. Learn quick tips and tricks to improve communication, streamline email management, and reduce frustration. In this tutorial you’ll learn to use features like Ignore/Clean Up/Show As Conversation, Quick Steps, and Contact Groups so you can weed out unneeded emails that are cluttering your Microsoft Outlook inbox and grasping for your attention.

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2

Organizing Emails and Managing Attachments

How good is your email inbox organization? Watch this tutorial to learn why and how to step up your Microsoft Outlook filing system with folders and rules that automatically sort incoming emails. You’ll also learn store and organize email (and attachments) so it can be accessed years later. With these tips, you can successfully handle high email volume.

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3

Don’t Let Emails Slip Out of Sight & Out of Mind

Have you ever lost track of an important email because it “fell off your screen”? Avoid this problem by reconfiguring the Microsoft Outlook interface to display the maximum number of emails and reduce the number of forgotten emails hidden off screen. With this tutorial, you can stay on top of emails by keeping them in sight. Learn to customize Microsoft Outlook inbox settings now.

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4

Use Rules and Alerts to Focus on Emails that Matter

Overwhelmed by Emails? Bring order to the chaos. Learn how to customize inbox colors and email alerts, deprioritize unimportant emails with conditional formatting, and use automatic filing to improve efficiency in Microsoft Outlook. You’ll also learn to avoid email accident panic by setting up your Microsoft Outlook emails for delayed sending.

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Now that you know how to navigate the document creation process, let WordRake help you improve your content. It’s the ideal writing improvement tool and it will help anyone who works under tight deadlines, with word or page limits, with complex or confidential information, or with government organizations.

WordRake offers over 35,000 edits to improve clarity and brevity. In one click, WordRake detects jargon and legalese, unnecessary modifiers, pointless introductions, nominalizations, redundancies, cliches, usage errors, and more. WordRake will help improve the quality of work product, increase the pace of production, and improve client satisfaction.

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About Barron K. Henley

Barron K. Henley, Esq. is one of the founding partners of Affinity Consulting Group, a legal technology consulting firm focused on automating and streamlining law firms and legal departments. He earned his B.S./B.A. (marketing and economics) and J.D. from The Ohio State University and is a member of the American, Ohio, and Columbus Bar Associations and the Worthington Estate Planning Council. He is a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, a member of Ohio Supreme Court Commission on Technology and the Courts, and a member of both the ABA Law Practice Management and the Real Property Trust and Estate Law (“RPTE”) Sections. Barron heads Affinity’s document assembly/automation and software training departments. Finally, Barron teaches continuing legal education (CLE) classes throughout the U.S. and Canada covering a wide variety of topics related to law practice management, technology, and ethics.

About Ivy B. Grey

Ivy B. Grey is the Chief Strategy & Growth Officer for WordRake. Prior to joining the WordRake team, she practiced bankruptcy law for ten years. During her decade of legal practice, Ivy was named a Rising Star in the New York Metro Area for five consecutive years, and her significant representations included American Airlines, Columbia House, Kodak, and Dewey & LeBoeuf.

Since joining the legal tech world, Ivy has become known for her work on technology competence, ethics, and innovation. She has a unique blend of skills and an outstanding ability to synthesize technical, business, and legal information into practical advice and actionable plans. In 2020, Ivy was recognized as an Influential Woman in Legal Tech by ILTA. She has also been recognized as a Fastcase 50 Honoree and included in the Women of Legal Tech list by the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center.

Nearly 100% of law firms use Microsoft Word, and two-thirds of smaller and mid-sized firms use Microsoft 365 products, according to ABA's latest Legal Tech Report.

But are you and your staff just opening Word or email and starting to type? You can learn how to save time, increase efficiency, and improve your writing and document appearance through WordRake's Tech Training Video Library. The at-your-own-pace expert program is easy to use and will give you an excellent return on investment when applied to the word processing and email programs you use, on average, 3.5 hours every day (according to the ABA Legal Tech Report).

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