Customizing Settings for User Preferences/Formats

Overview

The Settings feature in Benchly allows users to customize how their documents are processed and how the Table of Authorities (TOA) is formatted. The Settings panel provides options for document processing, TOA appearance, and formatting preferences, ensuring that users can tailor the add-in to their specific needs.

Accessing the Settings Panel

1. Locate the Settings icon on the Benchly ribbon.
2. Click the icon to open the Settings panel on the left-hand side of your screen.
3. The panel includes two main tabs:
• Table of Authorities Settings
• Document Options

Table of Authorities Settings

Overview

The Table of Authorities Settings tab allows users to format the TOA’s appearance and control placement, font, justification, and other layout details. Users can also create and manage Format Profiles for consistent formatting across multiple documents.

Positioning

• Users can choose where the TOA will appear:
• At the Beginning of the Document
• At the Cursor’s Current Position
• Best Practice: Ensure the cursor is positioned at the desired starting point if the "cursor position" option is selected before clicking Build Table.

Title, Section Format, and Table Entries Format

• Customize the following options:
• Font and Text Size: Dropdown menus display fonts available on the user’s local machine.
• Justification and Indents: Adjust these for the title, sections, and individual entries.
• Use of Passim: Automatically replaces repeated citations with "Passim" after five or more occurrences (this threshold cannot be modified).
• Subgrouping Statutes and Rules by Name: Toggle this option for better organization.

Line Breaks

• Add or remove line breaks in the TOA for improved readability. Options include:
• After the title
• Before petition history
• Before each case in petition history
• After citation identifiers
  

Pin Cites

• Control whether pin cites are included in the TOA:
• Default: Pin cites are omitted for streamlined readability.
• Option: Toggle this setting to include page-specific references.
  

Entry Sort Order

• Choose the order of authorities in the TOA:
• Alphabetical
• Order as Found in Document

• Best Practice: New users should select their preferred sort order before building the TOA.
  

Format Profiles

• Save, edit, and reuse formatting settings with Format Profiles:
1. Select your preferred settings in the Table of Authorities tab.
2. Navigate to the Format Profile dropdown and choose Create New Format Profile.
   

3. Enter a name for the profile and save it.
   
   
   
4. To update a profile, make changes to settings, select the profile, and click Apply Changes.
   
   

Format Profile Notes:
o   Format Profiles can be deleted by resetting to default on the user’s Account page.
o   Format Profiles are stored in the user’s local AppData folder under “Benchly Settings”   
o   Format Profiles will not populate for users that operate on other devices in roaming or traveling environments.
      o   They will, however, populate for users on up to two devices.

Document Options

Overview

The Document Options tab allows users to control how Benchly processes citations during the Find operation and adjust visual preferences for highlighted and hyperlinked authorities.

Id Processing

• Toggle whether Benchly will capture and link "Id." references to their associated primary authorities.
• Adjust the Scan Range to define the number of paragraphs Benchly will search for an "Id." after identifying the primary authority.
  
  

Scan Range

• Exclude specific pages from citation scanning:
• Enter the number of pages to skip at the beginning or end of the document.
  
  

Highlighting

• Customize the color of highlighted citations.
• Note: To toggle highlighting on or off, use the Highlight button on the Benchly ribbon.
  
  

Best Practices

1. Create Format Profiles:
• Save your settings to streamline future TOA formatting.
2. Preview Before Finalizing:
• Build the TOA as a placeholder, review the appearance, and make adjustments in the Settings panel if needed.
3. Optimize Id Processing:
• Set an appropriate scan range for "Id." references to improve accuracy.