After completing last month’s column of tips for the New Year, I realized how many other tips I share with clients.

So here are some of my favorites.

Tip 1: Document your procedures and settings. Most of us store much valuable information mentally and share it with colleagues only when asked. When I was an associate in a small law firm, I struggled trying to figure out which client file had the best example of a sprinkling trust provision. The firm had no system to capture or catalog its best phrases, paragraphs or boilerplate language. I had to constantly ask the partners which files were most likely to have an example of the type of document I was asked to draft.

Even today, more than 20 years later, many firms lack the ability to easily access their best work product. I often see a similar situation when a long-time employee leaves a firm and no one else knows the steps he took to perform his work. While it takes a commitment and investment of time, there’s an easy solution: Document your systems.

Some clients have compiled a firm manual — a document or series of documents stored in a network folder. The more that’s documented, the easier it is for everyone, especially new employees, to get up to speed and do things correctly. My own manual runs the gamut from how I want telephones answered and the steps to enter phone messages in my practice management system, to how to prepare client proposals and bills and how to enter payments and process credit cards. It is an evolving manual, in that as we rethink procedures, we change the written instructions. The biggest problem is making the time to update and maintain the manual, but the benefits are well worth the investment.

The hiring of new employees is a golden opportunity to either begin or update an office procedures manual. Newcomers should document each task they’re shown. An easy way to document technical steps in software is to include screen shots. You can do this through the Windows clipboard by pressing the Print Screen (sometimes labeled PrtSc), then pasting the graphic into the word processor. If you only want the active window on the screen, hold down the ALT key, then press the Print Screen key and paste the result into the word processor.

If you’re serious about developing documentation for the firm’s software, you could invest in screen capturing software such as Snag-It (www.snagit.com from Techsmith), PaintShopPro (www.corel.com) or even a shareware product like QuickScreenshotMaker (www.etrusoft.com). These programs go further than Windows since you can crop part of a screen such as an icon to paste into a document and save the images in a variety of file formats.

Tip 2: Use passwords and keep them confidential. It’s also helpful to keep a list of each computer by name along with the user’s log-in information and specifications. I often spend time at clients’ offices collecting this information to determine which computer has left a specific application open if the software, as many major applications do, identifies licenses by machine name instead of user log-in.

Keep a document of passwords stored safely rather than posted near the server for all to see. Microsoft is moving toward stronger passwords (requiring a combination of upper- and lower-case characters, numbers and symbols), yet many law firms either don’t have passwords or use generic ones like “password.” While it’s more work to administer, it’s important to protect your firm’s work product and systems. It’s easy to come up with passwords unique for each user. I’ve written previously about different ideas for passwords.

Tip 3: Invest in a scanner. While we may never reach the goal of a truly paperless office, we can make a dent. Many offices replace older photocopiers and printers with digital copiers that serve as centrally accessed printers, copiers, fax machines and scanners. Storing scanned documents in the practice management system makes them readily accessible to everyone in the office while eliminating the need to locate the paper document or file.

Adobe Acrobat has become the standard to save images of documents and also can convert images into text, although it still can be cumbersome to edit converted text. While many programs now include the ability to create a PDF format without owning a full Adobe Acrobat license, I strongly recommend owning at least one copy of Adobe Acrobat to handle tasks like redacting text, adding comments and setting security options such as preventing printing when needed.

Tip 4: Get a smartphone. I’m on the third generation of Palm Treo, Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices. These phones allow you to take your work with you (a mixed blessing), along with your contact list and access to e-mail messages that may require immediate action. I’ve found that for the price, Palm has the best quality telephone and best storage capacity along with Palm software for managing contacts and calendars.

Tip 5: Keep your PC clean and mean. There are times I feel like a glorified janitor paid by my clients to clean their computers. For technical reasons that I probably will never completely understand, Windows applications have a nasty tendency to use files temporarily and leave them on your system instead of deleting them when your work with them is finished.

Whenever clients complain their computer is much slower than it used to be, the most likely culprit is too many temp files. There are two main folders where they accumulate: in c:\windows\temp and in the temp folder under local settings of Documents and Settings. The easy way to get to these is from Start, choose Run, then type %temp% to access that folder. When no programs are running, select all the visible files (the fastest way is CTRL+A to highlight all), then delete away. If you find some files still in use, unselect them and continue deleting the rest. Once you’ve cleaned both folders, empty your recycle bin. I usually clean my temp files at least once a week.

It’s also wise to have firmwide anti-virus software that regularly pushes new definitions to all the workstations. This eliminates the need for each person to monitor anti-virus settings and keep current. All you need is one outlier to infect the system. Along the same lines, Microsoft regularly issues patches and security improvements for both servers and workstations. Work closely with your network support to ensure the right patches are installed. While it’s tempting to set up automatic installation of patches, make sure new editions work with your software, especially if you’re running older versions.

Tip 6: Protect yourself from distributing metadata. While there still are some law firms loyal to WordPerfect, the majority use Microsoft Word. What you may not realize when sharing documents with clients and adversaries is that you’re sharing more than you think.

All Windows files include information about the author, date created and last date modified. Metadata is hidden information contained in each Word, Excel and Powerpoint document. It also includes the amount of time spent editing the file, inserted text, deleted comments and hidden text. While the average person may not have the tools to view metadata, it can be considered an embarrassment or worse, a violation of client confidentiality to expose this information. Converting files to PDF strips most of the metadata. When sending the original format, consider tools like Payne Consulting’s Metadata Assistant (www.payneconsulting.com).

Tip 7: Do regular backups! There’s nothing worse than a failed hard drive or mistake to realize your backup systems are inadequate. Take the time to develop a plan to regularly back up data and store it offsite. The bottom line is you can’t have too many backups in a variety of formats and locations.

Carol L. Schlein is president of Law Office Systems in Montclair, a training and consulting firm specializing in law firm automation. Copies of her previous columns are on losinc.com, which also lists upcoming meetings and training classes. For information, e-mail info@losinc.com or check the website. Schlein formerly chaired the Computer and Technology Division of the ABA Law Practice Management Section and can be reached at carol@losinc.com.

Questions for Carol L. Schlein on law office technology may be e-mailed to New Jersey Lawyer at news@njlnews.com or faxed to (908) 226-0165.