Filevine’s Office Add-in allows users to save Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files directly to Filevine without leaving the Office program. Users can create projects and contacts, save the file to a project, and attach the file to the project’s Activity feed with additional comments, all from within the Microsoft Office program.
The Office Add-in shares many of the same features as Filevine’s existing Outlook Add-in. The Office Add-in is a Docs+ feature.
Setup
To use the Office Add-in, users must have Office 365. Users can use either Office Suite on the web or on desktop.
Add the Add-in
To install the add-in on desktop, click Insert and then click Add-ins and select Get Add-ins from the dropdown.
To install in the web version, click Insert along the top and then click on the ellipsis in the right top corner and select Add-ins from the dropdown. Click Store in the opened modal.
In the opened modal or webpage, click on the search box and search for “Filevine.” Once you find the Filervine add-in, click Add. When the add-in has been added, you will see it on the right hand side of your screen.
Sign In and Authorize
In the add-in, click Sign In.
You will be asked to choose your login or team domain. Most users will be either in the United States login or the Canada login, and can click on the matching button. If you have been instructed to use the “team domain” by Filevine, then you will need to enter the domain of your team in the textbox below.
Once your login or domain has been selected, sign in using your Filevine credentials.
Once you have signed in to Filevine, you then must authorize access from Microsoft. In the add-in, click Authorize Access and select and sign in to your Microsoft account.
Note: The Office Add-in can only be used with Filevine Orgs that have Docs+. If you sign in to a Filevine Org without Docs+, you will not be able to use the add-in.
Once the add-in has been fully installed, you will be able to save files directly to Filevine. Files with Read Only access, like the Office Add-in launch guide, cannot be saved.
To save a document, open a new file. Re-open the Filevine add-in in a new document by clicking Insert > Add-ins > My Add-ins > Filevine for Office.
Choose the Project
When the add-in is first opened, you will see a list of projects with a searchbar at the top. The list includes both active and archived projects. Enter the name of the desired project, and the list of projects will filter accordingly.
Click on the desired project to open it. To switch to another project, click on the magnifying glass icon to the right of the project name.
Create a Project
You can create a new project from the add-in. In the list of projects, under the search box, click + Create Project.
In the Create a Project page, fill out the fields just as you would when creating a new project in Filevine. The project’s Org will be pre-selected based on the Org that was selected when clicking + Create Project. If you would like to select a different Org for this project, navigate back to the first page to choose a different Org.
You can also create a new contact from the Create a Project page. Click on the new contact icon to navigate to the Create a Contact page. Contacts created from this page will be made the main project contact for the new project. (If the contact is created from this page, and then the new project is not created, the contact will exist in Filevine, but will not be added to any projects.)
Add-in Overview
Once you’ve selected your project, you will see:
- the project name along the top
- the main project contact
- an option for adding billing time entries
- a vitals dropdown menu
- four tabs for Save As Activity, Contacts, and Team
You can click the project name to be taken directly to the project in Filevine. Click the main project contact to view their contact card within the add-in. Click Vitals to open the dropdown and view all vitals for the project.
The tabs are as follows:
- The Save As tab allows you to save the file to a Filevine project as a new document.
- The Activity tab allows you to attach the file to an activity feed item.
- The Contacts and Team tabs display the contacts and team members for the project, respectively, allowing you to reference them in-app.
Read more about the tabs in the following sections.
Billing
Click on Billing below the project name to add a billing time entry through the add-in. The time entry will be associated with the chosen project.
In the billing screen, fill out the fields just as you would for a time entry in Filevine.
- enter a time in hours, out to two decimal places (for example, an entry of 0.1 would equal 6 minutes)
- choose LEDES codes from the dropdowns
- add a description of the time entry
- if desired, mark the entry with Draft status, which requires the item to be reviewed and saved before it is available for invoicing
When you have filled out the time entry fields to your satisfaction, click Save. The time entry is added to the project’s Billing section. If the project does not have a Billing section, and a Billing section is added, the timer entries will appear in the Billing section at that time. Once the time entry has been added to the project, it can be edited just as other time entries can.
Save As
In the Save As tab, you can save your Word, Excel, or Powerpoint as a new document in the chosen Filevine project.
The file name defaults to the name of the document, but you can edit as needed.
To save the file in a specific project folder, the arrow next to Project Folder and then click through the project’s folders and subfolders to find the desired folder location. When you reach the desired folder, click the back arrow. You will see breadcrumbs indicating the folder path.
Click Save To Project. When the document is saved, you will see a Document saved to Project message at the bottom of the add-in.
Note: 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.
Activity
In the activity tab, you can attach the file to an item in the activity feed of the chosen project. Before you attach the file to a project, you must save it in a selected project folder.
Once the document has been saved to the project, you can attach the item to a note by clicking Activity and then Attach To Note in the add-in. If desired, you can add text to the note, or add task shortcuts to make the note a task, and then click Attach With Comment.
In Filevine
In Filevine, the item will appear as either a note or a task (dependent on your added text) in the project’s Activity feed. The file will be attached to the item.
Comments
Comments can be added on these items in either the add-in or Filevine, and will appear in both. Tasks, mentions, and more can be added in comments the same way that they would normally be added in Filevine.
Click the refresh button at the bottom right of the Activity tab to refresh the add-in and see new comments.
Contacts and Team
The Contacts and Team tabs allow you to display the contacts and team members for the project, respectively. In the contacts tab, search for a contact by selecting either name or email from the dropdown next to the search bar, and then entering the search term.
You can also create a new Filevine contact in the Contacts tab by clicking the contact icon next to the contact search box.
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