Tip #42 - How to Use 'Attach' 'Attach and Close' 'Generate' 'Generate and Close'

There are a number of instances where you are presented with a dialog box which gives you the choices of selecting “Attach And Close,” “Attach,” “Generate And Close” or “Generate” while performing certain operations in SmartAdvocate. What are these options and how should they be used?

When attaching an email and/or email attachments from Outlook, for example, you have the options of choosing “Attach And Close” or “Attach”.

Similarly, when generating a document using a Document Template, you have the options of choosing “Generate” or “Generate And Close”.

The “Attach And Close” option (in the case of attaching an email and/or its attachments) will perform the function and close the dialog box, while the “Attach” option will perform the designated function but keep the dialog box open so that you can perform another attachment (for another item) without having to restart the function from the very beginning. The latter operation (“Attach”) is especially useful where you may want to give each attachment a unique description, and a different category and sub-category. (Selecting multiple attachments and choosing “Attach And Close” will result in all attachments having the same description, category, sub-category, From, To, etc.)

When generating documents from Templates you are also presented with similar choices – “Generate” or “Generate And Close”. These operations work similarly to the attach function in that “Generate” will keep the dialog box open, thereby allowing you to generate another document (e.g., addressed to different party) without having to choose the template again, while “Generate And Close” will only allow you to generate one document as this option closes the dialog box.

In the foregoing screen shot, the “Generate” option will generate a welcome letter to the first plaintiff and keep the dialog box open. A second letter can then be generated by selecting the second plaintiff without having to re-select the template.