This post is taken from the eBook: Discover how to produce high-quality work at every stage of the document journey. Download your copy to learn more about streamlining the editing and review of shared documents.
Changes to contracts and other legal documents can seem minor but have a significant impact on the meaning. For example, there is a big difference between "I will take responsibility" vs. "I will not take responsibility," but that one small additional word is very easy to miss. So, it's important that, no matter how small, legal professionals can see every change between document versions.
Document comparison software can show you every insertion, deletion, and move in long, complicated legal documents. Compare up to five versions of the document, whether a Word, PDF, Excel, PowerPoint, or scanned file.
Work faster with Track Changes
Traditionally, document comparison software marked up changes with redline. However, to move forward with the changes shown, the user needed to go back to the original document and apply them manually.
Today, support for Track Changes means users can quickly accept or reject the changes in a Word document as they go. It's also easier to collaborate with clients when using Word rather than proprietary comparison software.
The biggest threat to secure collaboration
After comparing two versions of a contract for differences, you want to ensure the final version is cleaned of metadata like Comments and Track Changes before it gets emailed to clients or external parties.
Since legal documents are often full of sensitive information not for public consumption, they need to be shared securely. You don't want opposing counsel to see what your client is prepared to settle for in a case, for example.
One of the easiest ways to unintentionally leak sensitive information is by emailing the wrong person. Whether it's choosing the wrong recipient from Outlook's Autofill or accidentally Replying All on an email thread, you can leak personal information in the body of the email itself or the documents attached.
Once these emails have left your Outbox, they can't reliably be stopped from reaching the recipient.
And data protection laws, including the GDPR, can enforce fines even though the breach was not malicious. So, preventing them in the first place is vital.
Right Inbox every time
Email security software can help prevent unintentional breaches by prompting the user to confirm what they are sending and who they are sending it to.
It flags external or public domains as potentially risky and asks for confirmation on Reply All and BCC actions.
Senders can also sanitize attachments of sensitive metadata, like author tracking data, embedded objects, Track Changes, or improperly redacted text. Metadata management is another layer of defense to ensure personal or confidential information isn't disclosed unknowingly.
Email security software powered by AI can deliver email recipient checking with an even lighter touch. It only alerts the user when it detects an abnormality that could potentially lead to a data breach - like the email's contents don't fit with what you've sent this person previously.
Delphi uses cleanDocs and compareDocs for smarter working
Delphi, one of Sweden's leading commercial law firms, realized the importance of working securely and accurately in a time of strict data regulations and increasing client expectations around data protection.
It worked closely with DocsCorp to roll out a comprehensive email security strategy centered on metadata cleaning and email recipient checking. At the same time, it made finding changes between documents more accurate by using compareDocs to automate the process.
"We save a lot of time thanks to cleanDocs and compareDocs. The quality of our work was good before, but now it's more accurate, and we are reducing human error.
Collaboration is just one part of the document journey. Download the eBook to discover solutions that transform every stage of the journey – including intelligent document formatting, PDF bundling, and much more.