Everlaw for Word

Everlaw for Word is a Microsoft Word add-in (plugin) that brings your Story's evidence into the Word document you are drafting. Type or paste a Bates number and the add-in links it to the underlying evidence in Everlaw. An evidence panel alongside your draft lists everything you have cited, shows evidence details, and opens any cited document in Quick Review.

The add-in allows you to cite evidence in Word without switching back and forth between Everlaw and your document to find cited evidence. With the add-in, you can open any Word document that contains Bates citations in the add-in, and those citations link back to the right version of each document, stored securely in Everlaw with all your team's work product for that evidence.

Requirements

User requirements

• You must have Receive, Create, or Admin permission for Storybuilder in the project you want to work in.
• An Organization Admin must enable OAuth access for your organization before anyone can sign in to the add-in.

System requirements

• The add-in runs in Word on Windows, Word on Mac, and Word on the web.
• You need Word Online, a Microsoft 365 account, or perpetual Office 2024 or later.
• You need an internet connection. Evidence details are served from Everlaw and are not stored in the Word document.

Install the add-in and sign in

Everlaw for Word is published as Everlaw for Word in the Microsoft Add-ins menu. Install it the same way you install any other Office add-in.

To install the add-in and connect it to a Story:

1. In Word, open the Microsoft Add-ins menu, search for Everlaw for Word, and add it.
2. On the Home tab of the ribbon, select Everlaw for Word to open the evidence panel.
   
3. On the start page, select your Everlaw region, then select Get started.
   
4. Sign in to Everlaw in the dialog that opens, then select Allow to grant Everlaw for Word access to your Everlaw data.
   
5. Select a project, then select a Story. If the project has only one Story, it is selected for you.
   
6. Select Confirm.

The add-in opens to the Home view. 

The Everlaw for Word evidence panel

The evidence panel sits alongside your Word document. The footer shows the project you are working in. The vertical toolbar on the right side of the panel holds the Home, Evidence, and Settings views, along with Contact support and Log out. If the panel opens too narrow to read comfortably, drag its edge to widen it.

Link the Bates numbers in an existing draft

You do not need to start a new document to use Everlaw for Word, and you do not need to re-enter any citations you have already written. If your draft already contains Bates numbers, the add-in links all of them at once the moment you connect the document to a project and Story.

To link the citations in a draft you have already written:

1. Open the document in Word.
2. On the Home tab, select Everlaw for Word to open the evidence panel.
3. Select the project and Story the document relates to, then select Confirm.

Every Bates number in the document that matches a document on that project becomes a link, and the Evidence view fills with what you have cited. Any cited document that is not yet in the Story is added to it.

Cite evidence as you write

There are two ways to cite a document: type a Bates number you already know, or search your Story for the document first. You can add evidence whether or not it is already in your Story.

Cite a Bates number directly

Type or paste the Bates number into your document. The add-in links it once you type a space or punctuation, or move to another paragraph.

• Page-level Bates numbers such as ACME00001234.3 cites to the Begin Bates
• You can type a shortened form such as ENRON3 in place of ENRON000003
• Any Bates or control number on the project is available to cite to
• If the document is not yet in your Story, citing it adds it.

Add evidence with search

To find a document and cite it from the evidence panel:

1. From the Home or Evidence view, select Add evidence.
   
2. Enter a Bates number, or the name the document has in your Story. Searching by name matches as you type, so entering smok finds a document named smoking gun. Matching results appear with the matched text highlighted.
   
3. Select a result to add it to the panel. It appears under UNCITED.
   
4. In the UNCITED section, select + on the row to insert the citation at your cursor. The row moves to CITED.

Cited text carries a green annotation in the document.

Review evidence

The Evidence panel lists the evidence in your document, grouped into CITED and UNCITED. CITED holds everything the add-in found in your draft. UNCITED holds evidence you have pulled in with Add evidence but have not placed yet.

From an evidence row you can:

• See the details: Select the evidence pill to open the detail view.
  
• Open the document: Double-click the evidence pill, or select the Open in Quick Review button in the detail view, to open the cited document in Quick Review.
  
  The quick review opens in a new browser tab.
  
• Open Storybuilder: Select View all details in Storybuilder to open the Story's evidence page filtered to that Bates number.
  
• Remove an uncited item: Select the three-dot menu on the row, then select Remove uncited evidence.
  

Share a document with your team

Everlaw does not keep a record of the Word document itself. The add-in works out what is cited by reading the Bates numbers in the file each time you open it, which means a Word document can be copied, edited, and saved anywhere without Everlaw losing track of its citations.

This has a few consequences worth knowing before you send a draft to a colleague:

• Uncited evidence travels with the file: Evidence you added but have not cited yet is stored in the .docx, so a colleague who opens it sees your uncited list.
• Their edits stay in their copy: A colleague can change and save the document without affecting anything in Everlaw. If several people work from copies of the same draft, each copy stands on its own.
• You cannot find Word documents from Storybuilder: There is no object in Everlaw representing the Word document, so you cannot start in a Story and see which drafts cite a given piece of evidence.
• They need their own access: A colleague needs the add-in installed, an Everlaw account, and permission for the project to see any evidence details.

Switch projects or log out

Select the Settings button from the evidence panel and use the Settings view to change the project and Story the document is bound to. The binding is stored in the .docx file, so reopening the document in the same Everlaw environment restores your project and Story.
 

To log out of Everlaw all together, select the Log out button.

Troubleshoot

A Bates number did not link

If a Bates number stays plain text with no green underline, no document with that Bates or control number exists on the project the document is bound to. The add-in does not show an error in this case, so an unlinked citation is the only signal.

Check that:

• The document is bound to the right project. The footer of the evidence panel shows which project you are in.
• The number is correct and belongs to this project rather than another matter.
• You are signed in. Citations do not link while you are logged out.

Limitations

Everlaw for Word is a quickly developing tool. At the moment, the following limitations apply:

• Where citations are detected: The add-in detects Bates numbers in the document body, in tables, and in headers and footers. It does not detect citations in footnotes, endnotes, or text boxes.
• Documents only: Only Story document evidence is citable. Testimony, highlights, binders, and labels do not appear in the add evidence search and cannot be cited from Word.
• Read-only evidence: Evidence details cannot be edited from the evidence panel. Open the item in Storybuilder to change it.