Filevine’s Office Add-in allows users to save Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files directly to Filevine without leaving the Office program. Users can also attach the file to the project’s Activity Feed with additional comments from within the Microsoft Office program.
The Office Add-in shares many of the same features as Filevine’s existing Outlook Add-in.
Setup
To use the Office Add-in, users must have Office 365. Users can use either the desktop or web version of the Office Suite.
To install the add-in, click the Add-ins button in the ribbon along the top. Select either Find more add-ins at Microsoft AppSource (for desktop) or More Add-ins (for web).
In the window that appears, use the search bar to search for “Filevine.” Find the Filevine for Office add-in. Click Get it now (for desktop) or Add (for web).
Tip
For the most up-to-date steps to install an add-in, read Microsoft’s article: View, manage, and install add-ins for Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
When the add-in has been added, open it, and you will see it on the righthand side of the Office program. Click Sign In.
You will be asked to choose your location upon your first sign in. You will not need to select your location when signing in going forward.
If you have been instructed to, select FilevineGov. Otherwise, select either the United States login or the Canada login, based on your location.
Sign in using your Filevine email and password.
Once you have signed in to Filevine, you must then authorize access from Microsoft. In the add-in, click Authorize Access and select and sign in to your Microsoft account.
Navigation
Once you’ve installed and signed in to the Office add-in, you can open it by clicking the Add-ins button in the ribbon along the top, and then selecting Filevine under “My Add-ins.”
The add-in will open on the right-hand side of your screen. You’ll see a list of recently-viewed projects, along with a project search bar. To include archived projects in the project list and search results, select Include Archived.
If you have multiple Orgs, use the dropdown at the top to select the desired Org. Click the star icon next to the Org dropdown to set the currently-selected Org as the default.
To sign out of either Filevine or Microsoft within the add-in, click the vertical ellipsis ⋮ along the top and select either Sign Out (Filevine) or Sign Out (Microsoft).
Create a Project
To create a new Filevine project in the Office add-in, click + New Project under the search bar.
Heads Up!
If you currently use Lead Docket as your intake system, you should continue using your current intake methods to ensure that your leads are routed correctly.
Fill out the fields as described in the Create a New Project article. The Org will be auto-populated based on the Org currently selected in the project list. When finished, click Create Project.
When selecting the main project contact, you have the option to create a new contact in the add-in if desired. If you create a contact, but do not proceed to create the project, the contact will still exist in Filevine without a project.
Project Snapshot
Search for and select the desired project to see a snapshot of that project’s details, including:
- the project name along the top
- the main project contact
- an option to add time entries
- an option to view project vitals
- tabs for Documents, Activity, and Contacts
At the top, click the project name to open the project in Filevine, or click Projects to switch to a different project. Click Vitals to view all vitals for the project.
You can create new time entries and add contacts within the project snapshot, if desired.
Add Time
Click Add Time to add a time entry to the project through the add-in.
Fill out the fields just as described in the Time Entries section of the Billing Items article. When finished, click Save.
The time entry is added to the project’s Billing section and can be edited and invoiced alongside other time entries.
Create New Contact
Select the Contacts tab to see a list of all contacts associated with the project. Next to the “Search contacts” field, click the add person icon to add a new contact to the project.
Fill out the fields as desired. The First Name field is required, but the other fields are optional. When finished, click Save.
The contact will be created in the project’s Filevine Org and will be added to the Contacts section of that project. Once the contact is created, you will be able to edit and add to the contact information in Filevine as usual.
Save Files
The Office add-in allows you to upload project-related files to the respective project’s Docs section, without having to save a local copy and upload separately. Use the add-in for the following scenarios:
- Newly-created files: when creating new Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files on your device, use the add-in to save those files directly to Filevine instead of your local device.
- Existing files not yet in Filevine: when editing existing Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files that have not yet been uploaded to Filevine, use the add-in to seamlessly save those files to the relevant project.
Heads Up!
You must have permission to edit a file in order to save it to Filevine. Attempting to save a Read Only document will result in an error.
Follow these steps to upload a file to Filevine using the add-in:
- Navigate to the desired project. While creating or editing an Office file, search for and select the desired project in the add-in.
- Enter the desired file name. In the Documents tab, you can alter the file’s name. The file will be saved to Filevine with the name entered here.
- Choose the folder destination. In the Destination box, choose the desired folder destination for the file by clicking through the project’s folder structure.
- Save to Filevine.
Once you see the green Document saved to Filevine confirmation in the add-in, your document has been saved to Filevine.
After saving to Filevine, there is no need to use “Save As” to save the document locally. Saving a local copy may create redundant, un-synced versions that can lead to version control confusion later. If prompted by Microsoft, click Don’t Save or Delete.
Going forward, use edit-in-place or Doc Utility to edit the file stored in Filevine.
Create Activity
After saving a file to the project’s Docs section, the Office add-in allows you to create a new activity item with the document attached. This option is similar to the Note This option in Filevine.
To create an activity item with the file attached, select the Activity tab in the add-in. In the “Add a comment or task” field at the bottom, add an internal note about the document. You can also use the @ sign to assign a task to yourself or another team member.
When finished, click Create Activity. In the project’s Activity Feed, the comment above will display as the “Message” text for the item:
Add Comments
After creating the item, you can view and add comments to the item as desired. Tasks, mentions, and more can be added in comments the same way that they would normally be added in Filevine. Comments in the add-in will display as replies to the item in Filevine.
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.