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Certum Draft

Finding Matters

Certum Draft keeps four ways to get back to a matter: the search on the dashboard, the Matters table, the ⌘K command palette, and — for work that hasn’t become a matter yet — the Leads list. This page covers all four, plus the setting that keeps your finalised matters findable after you’ve moved them out of the active folder.

Searching from the dashboard

Section titled “Searching from the dashboard”

The dashboard toolbar opens with a search field. Type any of:

  • Matter number — “000123” or just “123”
  • Client name — any part of it
  • Matter type — “probate”, “purchase”
  • Property address — the street address on the matter

Matching ignores accents and capitalisation: “renee” finds “Renée”, “muller” finds “Müller”. Results drop down as you type; use the arrow keys to move through them and Return to open one.

The Matters table

Section titled “The Matters table”

Choose Matters in the sidebar (or press ⌘ + 2) for the full table of every matter in your matters folder — browsable, sortable, and complete, not just the recent handful.

The columns:

  • Number — the matter number
  • Client — the client’s name (or the matter title when no client name is set)
  • Type — the matter type
  • Created — when the matter was created
  • Next date — the soonest upcoming date in the matter’s critical dates, so you can see what needs attention without opening the matter
  • Last activity — when anything in the matter’s folder last changed

Click a column header to sort by it. Double-click a row (or select it and press Return) to open the matter; right-click for a menu with Open Matter, Open in New Window and Show in Finder. The filter field at the top right narrows the table as you type.

The command palette

Section titled “The command palette”

Press ⌘ + K anywhere in the app to open a Spotlight-style palette. It searches four kinds of thing at once, with scope chips under the field to narrow to one — All / Matters / Contacts / Documents / Actions (Tab and ⇧Tab cycle them):

  • Matters — by number, client, type, and property address, with your recent matters ranked higher.
  • Contacts — client names across every matter, active and finalised. Each result lists all the matters that name appears on, so a name search doubles as a lightweight conflict check: Return on a one-matter contact opens the matter; on a multi-matter contact it drills down to their matters in place.
  • Documents — the open matter’s rendered Working Documents, by filename and subfolder. Return opens the document; ⌘Return reveals it in Finder.
  • Actions — New Matter, New Document, New Task, New Lead, jumping to any sidebar destination, Check for Updates… and Settings….

The command palette open in its idle state — recent matters ranked at the top, app actions with their keyboard shortcuts below

  • Return opens the selected result.
  • ⌘ + Return opens a matter in a new window — handy when you want two matters side by side.
  • Esc (or clicking away) closes the palette.

With nothing typed, the palette shows labelled Recent Matters and Recent Contacts before the actions.

The Leads list

Section titled “The Leads list”

For enquiries that aren’t matters yet, choose Leads in the sidebar (or press ⌘ + 3). Two tabs — Open and Closed — list your leads with columns for name, stage, practitioner, next action date and last edited. The search field covers the caller’s name, phone, email and likely matter type. Double-click a row (or press Return) to open the Lead Inspector; the full lead workflow is on the Potential New Matters page.

Finding finalised matters

Section titled “Finding finalised matters”

When a matter finishes, most firms move the folder out of the active matters folder into an archive. Certum Draft can keep looking there:

  1. Open Settings → Paths.
  2. Under Finalised Matters, choose the folder you move completed matters into.
  3. Save. Nothing is moved or changed on disk — Certum simply also looks in that folder.

From then on, finalised matters stay searchable and openable, and they can still generate documents. They’re marked with a Finalised badge in search results and in the Matters table, and the table hides them by default — tick the Show finalised checkbox at the top of the table to include them. The header tells you the split at a glance (“120 active · 45 finalised”), and the active list and firm statistics stay focused on the live caseload.

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