Scan

Pathagoras can quickly scan a document for words that exist between brackets or any other ‘enclosing’ characters. To Scan a document:

1.	Press the <Alt-D> key combination to display the Instant Database screen. The screen will probably be blank. See Figure 1, below.

•	If the AutoScan feature has been selected, the screen will be populated with terms located in the AutoScan in the left column. (In other words, the next step was automatically performed.)

2.	If AutoScan did not populate the screen, click the green Scan button in the lower right portion of the IDB screen.

3.	Pathagoras will display the results of the scan onto the IDB screen. Figure 2.

Notes:

•	All bracketed words are presumed to be the document’s variables. Occasionally, Pathagoras will identify a bracketed term that is not in fact a variable.

Example: Author and secretary initials are frequently presented at the foot of a letter in brackets. they will be picked up on the scan. When that happens, you can simply ignore it. It will remain in your document perfectly intact.

•	Pathagoras’ default 'enclosing' characters for Scanning are ‘[’ and ‘]’. However, you can change the default characters to any character or character sets of your liking. They can be a single character (more traditional) or up to 3 characters (e.g., “[&” and “&]”)

Exception to the above 'anything goes' rule: The enclosing characters “<<” and “>>” are reserved by Pathagoras for other purposes. They cannot be successfully used as enclosing characters for the Instant Database system.

4.	Once the scan is done, your job is to pair the variables with replacement data. Hand-type the personal data to replace the variables. Figure 3.

If a Matter record was previously saved for a specific client or customer, you can simply recall the record. It will appear under the Personal Data list in the upper right section of the screen. No retyping required (unless of course, you need to change a specific value from the saved record).

idb1

Figure 1. A 'blank' Instant Database screen. The ‘search for’ text (typically a Document Variable)
appears in the left column. You would provide the ‘Replace With’ text in the right column.

idbbasics2

Figure 2 Document scanned. Bracketed variables placed in left column.

idbbasics3

Figure 3. A 'completed' Instant Database form.

5. When you finish providing personal data, press the Next>> button. This is where the "database" part of "Instant Database" comes in:

•	Pathagoras will ask if you want to save the personal data as a new ‘Matter Data' record.

datarecord1

•

If you plan to compose more documents for this customer or client (e.g., future letters, forms, contracts, pleadings, addendums etc.), you should say ‘Yes.’ When prompted, provide a meaningful and unique name for the record. (Typically, the client or customer’s name, e.g., “Lastname, Firstname” meets this criteria.)

If you do click ‘Yes,’ then when you create another document for the customer or client containing some or all or the same variables, you need only drop down the Matter Data list (upper right side of screen) and locate the record. That is why we call it ‘Instant Database.'

•	Of course, you can also say ‘No.’ If you believe that the data is not necessary to keep, that should be your answer.

6. After your 'Yes' or 'No' response, Pathagoras will make the replacements. It should take only a couple of seconds.