Perfect Practice Case Management has the capability to interface and store images with case files. It can be helpful to scan in important documents or photographs that could possibly get abused or misplaced in a paper file directly into Perfect Practice. After an image has been scanned and linked to Perfect Practice, the document or photograph can be accessed very easily from a case or party for viewing and printing.
The Images Tab is located on the Entities screen. Prior to linking images in Perfect Practice they must be saved as JPG or TIF formatted files. The least efficient way to store an image is as a BMP format because it requires more space than the recommended file formats. Once the image has been scanned and saved, the connection can be made between the image and Perfect Practice. To access the Images Tab from the Perfect Practice Main Menu, select Open Cases/Parties or Closed Cases/Parties and select a specific case or party. Single click on the Images Tab to view or store images on a particular file.
ADDING AN IMAGE
To add an image to a file, click the plus button on the Images Tab.
After the Open Dialog displays, navigate to the directory where the image is located. Find the image to be saved and double click on it or click once and then click the Open button.
Note: Clicking on the image causes it to open and display in the thumbnail display in the right hand side of the Open Dialog.
Fill in the desired fields on the left-hand side: Image Category, Image Title and Description. Clicking on the save checkmark will save the image.
Below is a brief explanation of the fields to be filled out on the Images Tab.
The image that was selected will now appear in the images box on the right hand side of the screen.
Image Category allows you to categorize your images, for example: photographs, pleadings, traffic reports, etc.…
Image Role is used to categorize images.
Sequence number is the ordered number that the system assigns to the images when saved. The user should not change sequence numbers manually.
Image Title should be what the image is named ex: Scene of accident.
Description field is available for the user to full in further detail about the document or photograph
To add another image to this case, click on the plus button again and repeat the steps above. To delete an image, click the minus key. To edit an image, click on the triangle. After editing an image or making any changes, make sure to save with the checkmark.
SEARCHING FOR IMAGES
To search for an Image that has been saved to a case use the forward and backward arrow buttons. The inner arrows will allow scrolling through the images one by one. The outer arrows will allow the user to go to the first and last image saved on this case.
THUMBNAIL VIEW
This view is designed to quickly scan the images in a directory, such as a client directory or images sub directory. It will show a “mini” picture of all the images in the selected directory. To see the Thumbnail views, access the Thumbnail button.
LOCATING THE IMAGES FOLDER FOR THIS CASE
If accessing the Thumbnail views for the first time, make sure the Thumbnail directory is pointing to the directory where the images for this case are stored. In some scenarios, images might reside directly in the client’s file folder or a sub-directory within the file folder (as shown at right). Navigate the folders as you would with Explore or MSWord to access the correct folder.
Once you are in a directory with that matter’s images, the image file names will be listed in the top left hand box. If no names appear, there are no images that can be loaded into the Thumbnail view display in the selected directory.
To create the Thumbnail views (mini pictures) click the “Create new previews keep old ones”, or
“Create new previews delete old ones” buttons. The images will display in the small panes, with the file name underneath.
If the Thumbnail view has been previously loaded, the images should display the next time the Thumbnail button is pressed. If not, press the “Load all existing thumbs” button in the top left corner of the Thumbnail dialog.
Delete all Thumbnail views with the cancel or delete button. Note: this will only delete the “mini-picture” display, which can be recreated again at any time.