Currently Browsing: Switching

Convert WordPerfect Docs to Word Docs in Bulk

Posted by EsquireMac in Apple Applications, Switching on Nov 23rd, 2009 | 2 comments
A couple of months ago, I shared an AppleScript/Folder Action that enables you to convert Pages documents to Word documents, whether one at a time or in bulk. I now present you with a script I put together that will convert those pesky Word Perfect documents to Word documents. As you know, I have joined a firm that runs primarily on Windows. I’m the only Mac in the place, and pretty much everyone there uses WordPerfect. Of course, simply opening and/or editing WordPerfect docs on a Mac is no problem, since there are a number of applications that can handle them (AbiWord, OpenOffice.org,...
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Convert Pages Docs to Word Docs En Masse

Posted by EsquireMac in Apple Applications, Switching on Sep 28th, 2009 | 6 comments
After I started at my new firm last month, I decided to rethink my workflow. I began working with Pages (the ‘08 version), and have found it to be much faster than Word for Mac: 2008. The main problem for me is that I need to save everything as a .doc file so that the others in my office can use them. As I noted earlier, I am the only Mac in this firm, and there is no way for a PC to use the .pages file format (except for doing something crazy like getting iWork ‘09 and sending everything to iWork.com – like I said: crazy). The next great hurdle is the fact that Pages will not simply...
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New Job: Only Mac In The Shop

Posted by EsquireMac in Law Practice Management, Switching, iPhone/iPod Touch on Sep 26th, 2009 | 0 comments
Last month, I started a new job at a new firm. I spent nearly three years at my old firm, and most of what I have written on this blog to date has been related to my experiences there. If you read my Personal Update last fall, you know that last year I moved back to the town where I grew up – Hagerstown, Maryland. Long story short: The 3.5 hours of driving every day got old and a position at a well respected Hagerstown firm opened up due to one of its (now former) partners being appointed judge. The new firm runs on a Windows 2003 Exchange Server, and my early-2008 MacBook Pro is the only Mac...
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A Small Firm’s Transition, Part II: Calendaring

Posted by EsquireMac in Switching, Syncing on Jul 20th, 2008 | 4 comments
This is the second post in a short series of indeterminate number about our small firm’s transition to a Mac-centric law office. Being a good 20 years younger than the next youngest person in our firm, I am, by default, the IT guy, or, “guy who does the computer thingies.” As I stated in Part I: Sharing Files, when I started my job at my present small firm, the technology in place was decidedly low, substantially old and disturbingly Windows. In Part I, I chronicled our transition from all PC’s to mostly Macs in light of the particular problem of sharing files between multiple...
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A Small Firm’s Transition, Part I: Sharing Files

Posted by EsquireMac in Switching on Jul 12th, 2008 | 4 comments
This is the first post in a short series of indeterminate number about our small firm’s transition to a Mac-centric law office. Being a good 20 years younger than the next youngest person in our firm, I am, by default, the IT guy, or, “guy who does the computer thingies.” When I joined my present firm about 1.5 years ago, I came packing my 15 inch Powerbook G4. The law firm had two dinosaur Windows machines – one for our receptionist, and one for our paralegal. My boss himself didn’t (and still doesn’t) use a computer at all for his law practice, even though his...
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