With the introduction of the cheaper and more portable iPad Mini and a new version of the full-sized iPad, more lawyers will be investing in these handy devices. Paul Unger of Affinity Consulting shared these helpful tips at ICLE’s first “iPad for Lawyers” seminar earlier this month.
Document Access. Use a cloud storage service like Dropbox (www.dropbox.com) or SpiderOak (www.spideroak.com). Both services have iPad apps you download and install. Open the app to access your documents over your internet connection or you can even download those docs locally to your iPad so you can get to them when you are offline.
Section symbol. Tap and hold the ampersand key on the keyboard to insert the section symbol into your document.
Split keyboard. Drag two fingers across the onscreen keyboard to opposite sides of your iPad and you will get a split keyboard. Doing this lets you see a lot more of your document (this tip got oohs and aahs from the audience). Drag two fingers together from opposite sides of your iPad to bring the keyboard back together.
Capitalize. Press and hold the keyboard’s up arrow and then drag your finger to the key you want to capitalize. Then release your finger on the key you want to cap. (more oohs)
Undo. Gently shake your iPad to undo the last thing you typed.
Close apps. Double click your Home button to close apps running in the background.
Save battery life. 1) reduce the number of push notifications you receive, 2) choose WiFi over cellular data, 3) fetch email manually rather than having it pushed to you each time, and 4) routinely close running apps.
Paul also shared his favorite iPad apps that are perfect for attorneys – more on those in a future blog post. We’d love to hear your favorite iPad tips in the community. Plus, watch for more interactive iPad seminars from ICLE in the future.