SharePoint Integration

Purpose: Display a list of files, stored in Microsoft SharePoint, that are related to a specific case in LegalServer. A folder is created in SharePoint for each case and those files are availble in LegalServer. LegalServer will also save files to that folder instead of LegalServer document storage. 

Cost: $4500 one-time setup fee and $100 per month. Additional support hours are available for setup beyond the included details. Non-standard configurations as described below may require additional costs. Migrating documents to Sharepoint from your existing setup is an additional hourly cost.

Video: Working with SharePoint

Requirements:  Microsoft Azure, Microsoft SharePoint (cloud version only)

The name will be viewed in the actual lookup field on your site, so make sure it is descriptive. Both Site Path and Library path should start with a forward slash ("/"). All SharePoint Libraries should be within the same Microsoft Domain/Tenant (i.e. all the URLs start with https://legalserver.sharepoint.com). To figure out what part of the URL goes into the Site Path versus the Library Path, consider the following example - https://legalserver.sharepoint.com/sites/ms-demo/test%20library%202/Forms/AllItems.aspx. The green part is the Microsoft Tenant and not used in the lookup. The teal part is the Site Path and the red part is the Library Path. Finally, the orange part is also not used. Note that spaces need to be replaced with %20. If they are not replaced with that, then the folder will show but none of the documents in the folder will display. 

Note that adding libraries and sites to this lookup is validated. If the site or library do not exist, you will get an error. You will also get an error if you are using the limited access configuration for the Active Directory authentication apps and the app does not have access to the site. 

Organizations need not share anything beyond the default SharePoint Site and Library with LegalServer to activate the integration. If you only wish to have one library, the default is enabled by the LegalServer Developer without needing to modify this lookup. If you want the ability to use multiple libraries/sites, you'll need to also add your default library to this list to be able to save there in addition to other places. 

This lookup is then used by the SharePoint - Create Folder block to identify where the case folder should be created. The Create Folder block will store the location in the system field of "SharePoint Folder Site and Library" on the specific case file. The block will set that value only if that value is not already set.  

Recommended configurations include setting a record for the default library in this lookup.

SharePoint Authentication

See the section on SharePoint Permissions below for further details on how these are used.

App-Only Authentication

SharePoint authenticates with sites in two ways. The first is App-Only Authentication. This is a global set of credentials that allows LegalServer to display a list of files for the case without the end user logging in. This is used to create case folders, the Drag and Drop features on to the SharePoint Documents block to upload files, and the store emails in SharePoint feature if that is enabled. When this is used, the individual user's data is not included as the file creator. 

User Authentication

Individual user authentication is used for other methods of uploading documents to SharePoint. This includes Document Templates, Adding a Document with Case Notes, the Static Add Document form, or the Search for Documents feature. In any of these instances, you will see a "Login to SharePoint" link first. Once you click that and then sign in if necessary, the end user will have a User Authentication token to use any of these features. Documents uploaded via these methods will show as though uploaded by the specific user. User authentication depends on that user's access to the relevant SharePoint Site and Library. If they don't have permissions to create a file in that library, it will generate an error. 

SharePoint Features

SharePoint Documents Block

An administrator will need to add the SharePoint Documents block to a case profile once the SharePoint add-on has been activated:

The SharePoint Documents block has a few configuration features to identify. 

1. The first is that it contains a dropdown named "SharePoint Create Case Folder Process". Link here to the Auxiliary process that will create a SharePoint folder. If no SharePoint folder is found, then a link to this process will be offered from the block instead of just a message that there is no SharePoint folder. 

2. SharePoint Query Timeout is another dropdown that identifies how long to wait for the query to fully load. If there are a lot of document and especially a lot of subfolders, then it can take a long time to load the documents. You can choose between short (10 seconds), medium (20 seconds), and long (30 seconds) timeouts. If the query to review the full set of documents in SharePoint takes a long time, the page will finish loading and display an instruction informing you of the long load time. You'll be given a link to the related Sharepoint folder to open it directly in SharePoint instead of displaying in LegalServer. 

The configuration options for the site/library location can be safely ignored. 

With the SharePoint Document block, you are able to also drag and drop files directly into SharePoint from your desktop. Dragging files into subfolders highlights the subfolder's row and not the whole set of documents, LegalServer will automatically rename the file to remove any special characters. If a file is uploaded via drag and drop and one with the same name already exists, you will be prompted before it is overwritten. File uploads are currently limited to 50mb through LegalServer. Larger files may be uploaded through SharePoint directly. 

In the SharePoint Document block, clicking on any of these links will take the user to the web version of Microsoft Office, depending on the user's own settings and which Microsoft products you have made available to users.  It is not controlled by LegalServer but by the user's browser and device settings. The documents displayed are now sortable by name or modification date -- Ascending/Descending and Within Folders/Altogether. Sorting by Modification Date is purely looking at all files and then sorting regardless of folder. To reset the list to the default sort, click the reset filter button in the top right, reload the page, or click the Sort by Filename option four times. 

SharePoint - Create Case Folder Block

The create SharePoint folder block will need to be on both the Intake Process (for new cases) and an Aux Process (for existing cases). Case folders will be created with the case number of the case as the folder name. Currently, changing the name of that folder will break the relationship. 

If you are using Multiple Library/Sites, the SharePoint - Create Case Folder block will now have the ability to "Set SharePoint Site and Library". If left as "No", the lookup is not shown and the folder will be created on the default SharePoint Site and Library (the block will show the library and site paths as read-only text for reference). If you say "Yes", you'll have a lookup to select which location should the library create the folder in. 

This lookup is setting the system field of "SharePoint Folder Site and Library" that saves the location of the SharePoint Folder on the specific case file. The block will only set this new system field the first time it is run. If the system field is already filled out, you will need to change the field outside of the SharePoint - Create Case Folder block. This field can be set before the SharePoint - Create Case Folder block is run the first time. This field controls where the SharePoint Documents block looks for the folder. If it is blank, then it will look in the default location. If it is filled out, then that is location the listview will look. Regardless of what is configured on the SharePoint Documents block, it will look at the library set by this field if it is set.

Note it is recommended to always set a SharePoint Site and Library value, even if it is just to the default lookup value.

The SharePoint - Create Case Folder block must be configured to select the same library as the system field or no new folder will be created in the intended Library. Submitting a version that does not have it set will create a folder in the other location instead (or in addition). 

Uploading Files 

When creating a file using a New Style Document Template within LegalServer, it will automatically save to SharePoint. You will have to be logged into SharePoint for this to work. If you are not logged in, you will be prompted to log in to do so. Currently, all Document Templates will save as RTF files, although there is a flag when editing the document that allows you to have LegalServer convert the file from RTF to DOCX. There are no guarantees about the formatting after the conversion, so test in advance. Alternatively, you can create a Power Automate function that will convert all of the RTF files to DOCX files if you want to extend the functionality and make the generated documents editable in Word Online. Old Style Document Templates will not save to SharePoint. 

Uploading a file via adding a Case Note will add that file to SharePoint. Using the Static Add Document form will also save it in SharePoint. 

Uploading a file via the Attestation on File, Retainer on File, and Affirmative Litigation blocks (all that collect documentation for LSC compliance purposes) will save the document to both LegalServer and to a Compliance subfolder of the case in SharePoint.

Emails to a case require LegalServer Developers adding a configuration flag to your site. Email Support or open a ticket to enable that feature. This would add automatically save the email and any attachments to SharePoint but the attachments will not appear in Case Notes. The text of the email is still parsed for the Case Notes. If a SharePoint folder does not exist for the case, one will not be created. Then the email will be handled as though SharePoint is not configured. 

Immigration forms will automatically save the generated forms to SharePoint. 

Other blocks (Add Document, Add Document with Title, Discovery, Activities, etc.) will not upload to SharePoint. As other blocks begin saving to SharePoint they will be identified. 

The Guided Navigation Action: Generate a Document will save to SharePoint if the SharePoint folder already exists. This element cannot be combined with an element that changes the SharePoint Site and Library value because the value will change first and then LegalServer will not find a SharePoint folder in the new library, causing the document to save to LegalServer instead of SharePoint. You may need to check the box to show the document link. Even so, if you don't want the link to display, set the document to generate when the segment is saved instead of when it is displayed. This will always use the App Authentication.

Once you are logged in as a user to SharePoint (having clicked the "Login to SharePoint" link in LegalServer), the Document List block will offer a SharePoint icon to move a file from LegalServer to SharePoint. Clicking this link will upload the file and refresh the SharePoint Documents block. 

Beta Features

There are two features regarding the SharePoint Documents list that are currently in Beta. These features can be enabled upon request. They are not in active development, so discovered bugs are not likely to be addressed immediately.

• Collapsible folders in the listview. 

• Moving files within the existing folders. Note that you cannot drag and drop an existing folder, just files.

SharePoint Permissions 

Permissions within SharePoint are managed within SharePoint.  Access to opening files from SharePoint will depend on SharePoint permissions. LegalServer does not set any special permissions or access beyond what is inherited by the case folder. LegalServer does not administer anyone's SharePoint sites and libraries. 

If you want to enforce any custom access rules in SharePoint, you will need to consult with a SharePoint expert if you want to leverage information from LegalServer APIs into any business processes or rules. The other option is to set different rules based on the Library and create folders in different libraries. 

SharePoint Configuration Options

LegalServer Config Flags

There are multiple config flags that are typically enabled in a new setup of this integration. These can be turned on or off individually by LegalServer Support. 

• Store in SharePoint - This turns on the save documents to SharePoint feature. Without this flag you can still see documents, create case folders, and drag and drop, but LegalServer doesn't automatically save generated documents or replace internal storage destinations with SharePoint. 

• Store Emails in SharePoint - This will automatically save emails sent to the case to SharePoint only if there is an existing SharePoint case folder. The email and the attachments will all save to a subfolder in SharePoint. 

• Search in SharePoint - This enables the Documents Search feature to also check in SharePoint for any relevant documents. Only 10 documents are shown. The search requires the User Authentication and the results will be limited to documents that you have access to already. 

The Beta Features mentioned above are also configuration flags that can be set. 

There is an additional config flag that can be enabled if needed:

• SharePoint Permissions - This gives the site admin a configuration option under Document Settings to pick either User Authentication or App Authentication. 

Switching/Moving the SharePoint Folder

Top level case folders can be moved from one connected library to another connected library. They cannot be moved into subfolders or non-connected libraries. This requires two steps.

• 1. Move the folder from within SharePoint. Do not rename the folder itself. At this point, the SharePoint Documents block will show that the Case Folder no longer exists. 

  2. Change the value for "SharePoint Folder Site and Library" field from the old location to the new location. This can happen via Branch Logic, Defaults, or manually. There is no need to re-run the SharePoint - Create Case Folder block. Now the SharePoint Documents block will show the folder again and any files that were in it.  

Note that there is a way to combine these steps using Power Automate as discussed below. 

Multiple Library Configuration Suggestions

One option is to have a process with the new SharePoint Folder Site and Library field as the toggle field for branch logic. On each branch logic form you have the SharePoint - Create Case Folder block set with the destination library. 

The block is also available in Guided Navigation. You can use the logic evaluator in Guided Navigation to determine when you are creating a SharePoint folder in a given library. If you are using the SharePoint Site and Library field's value as your filter in the logic evaluator, that field's values need to be set before the dialogue offers the Create SharePoint Folder block. It can either be on the first segment with the Create SharePoint Folder block being on a second segment, or it needs to be set on a form before the form that holds the Guided Navigation dialogue. If you use a different field for the logic evaluator, you do not need a second segment in the Guided Navigation. 

Another option is to have separate Auxiliary Forms and Processes for each destination location. 

Integration and Report Details

Reports

The only field in LegalServer reports that may indicate whether a case has a SharePoint folder or not is the SharePoint Site and Library lookup available on the Case Data table. If that field is left to the default and not set, there is no way to indicate if a SharePoint folder exists on the matter record. Alternatively, if you have the Create Case Folder results stored to case notes, you can filter for that case note. 

APIs

LegalServer has a free API that allows you to interact with the SharePoint Site and Library Lookup. You can look at a full list of the values, add a new value (with the same validation as in the UI), and modify existing values. 

On a site that has SharePoint enabled, the SharePoint Site and Library value on a case will be returned in the Search Matter API and the Get Matter Details API. If you have Premium APIs, you can also set this value when you either create a case or update the case. Setting the value will not trigger the SharePoint Create Folder feature, there's a separate API endpoint that will do that. The endpoint to create the SharePoint folder is also a Premium API.  

PowerAutomate and LegalServer's SharePoint Integration

One benefit of SharePoint is the ability to add in other aspects of the Microsoft suite of tools. PowerAutomate is utilized in the examples below as tested in December 2022. LegalServer is not a Microsoft partner nor a consultant in how to use Microsoft tools. Microsoft's products change over time so these examples may not be a perfect match to Power Automate if you go to set them up. LegalServer strongly recommends testing these on your Demo Site and Library first before enabling on your Live site and SharePoint Library. 

Please realize that creating Flows in Power Automate is done on a site/library basis, so you may need to have multiple copies for multiple libraries. There may also be rate limits and activation caps to consider given larger volumes. PowerAutomate does not scan for updates immediately, so there may be a few minute delay between the trigger from LegalServer and the action from PowerAutomate. 

Creating Subfolders via Power Automate

For example, a Power Automate Flow could be set up to automatically create subfolders for a case once the initial case folder has been created by LegalServer.

The above example creates a subfolder named "documents" in any folder created at the root level of the SharePoint Library named "RTFtoDOC". It only happens at that level and not to subfolders. The Create new folder action could be repeated for additional folders as well.

Converting to DOCX via Power Automate

Another (and unfortunately more complex) option is converting a file to Docx via Power Automate. Due to the nature of the files, you cannot automatically go from RTF to DOCX directly, even with Microsoft's tools. Microsoft does allow you to convert from RTF to DOC. Once in a DOC file, there is an option to convert to DOCX from within Word Online. The following Flow would convert the file to the same name, save it in the same directory, and then delete the RTF file. That last step may be useful if you are only getting RTF files from LegalServer Templates. If you are getting RTF files elsewhere, you may want to add additional Condition steps or remove it completely. DO NOT IMPLEMENT THIS LAST STEP IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO DELETE FILES.

On the first step, you can narrow the Flow's focus to just RTF files by using the menu to open the settings for the step. Then under Trigger Conditions add: 

@endsWith(triggerOutputs()?['body/{FilenameWithExtension}'],'rtf')

Once you have the new DOC file, opening it will give you the option to convert to DOCX in Word Online. Converting to DOCX will then leave you with two copies of the file. If you don't want to have that interim DOC file (and are not concerned about other DOC files being converted to DOCX that did not start as LegalServer Templates), you can add a second flow to remove the interim DOC file.

Note that the first step would have a Trigger Condition like above but specifying "docx" instead of "rtf". Then the second step uses dynamic content from the first step, while the third step uses dynamic content from the second (and not from the first).

Again, these Flows may delete the original versions of your documents. If that is a concern, DO NOT IMPLEMENT THEM. Consider additional Conditions or limits on them. Perhaps they only run in certain subfolders or there is a way to mark a file to prevent removal. 

Automating Folder Movement to a Different Library

Many organizations have asked about automatically moving a folder from one library to another when a case is closed or a case is transferred to a different office or program. This is possible with a combination of Guided Navigation, Document Templates, and PowerAutomate. 

Step 1: The Document Template

Create a Document Template on your named something like "Move SharePoint Folder to Library A.rtf". The actually text of this document template can be as sparse as the word "Placeholder" with no actually fields to map. In LegalServer, make sure it is marked as a New Style Template but don't bother editing the fields since there are none. It should be set to automatically download (not Begin Process), and it should not be saved as a MS-Docx file. 

Step 2: Guided Navigation

Create a Guided Navigation Interactive Dialogue. This is going to have two segments. The first segment will use the Action: Generate a document to generate the template that was just created. The option to "Show link to document after it is generated" seems to be required in this instance, however if you say to run "When segment is submitted", the link won't actually show. The example below also includes a note for the end user explaining what is going on. 

The second segment switches the SharePoint Site and Library lookup from the current location to the destination library. This cannot be on the same segment, otherwise the library gets switched before the file is created and then the document template doesn't find the SharePoint folder so it is created in LegalServer instead.

Obviously, this Guided Navigation could be enhanced with logic expressions to determine which are the potential destination options. This then has to be added to an Aux Form on a matter to be activated and run. It could be a standalone Aux process or it could be included as part of your closing process. 

Step 3: PowerAutomate

In PowerAutomate, you'll need to create a new Flow. A different flow needs to be created in each Library for each potential transfer destination. 

This condition is testing for the "Name" to contain the name of the Document template. It cannot be set to equal that Document Template name since generating the document will typically include pre-appending the date as well. The second condition is to have the "File name with extension" end with "RTF". 

Then when the Condition is True, you can put the steps to move the folder and delete the Document Template.

The three steps above are to use the "Folder Path" from the "When an Item is Created" step to "Get Folder Metadata using the Path". Once you've gotten the metadata, the Document Template can be deleted to keep things clean. When setting that step, you want to use the Identifier dynamic expression from the "When an Item is Created". Deleting the document template is totally optional. The last step is to "Move Folder". Here you'll use the "ID" dynamic expression from the "Get Folder Metadata using the Path" step to identify the Folder to Move. The Destination Site Address is a dynamic dropdown and you can select the subsite needed. For the Destination Folder, use a slash followed by the name of the destination library. You may be able to browse for the library using the folder icon.

Note that this will only work if the columns in the two libraries match. If one library has additional metadata columns, the move will not work. 

Now that everything is set up, once you run through the Guided Navigation dialogue the folder move will happen. This setup will need to happen for each source/desination library.

Other Integrations

Lastly, some LegalServer consultants have tied in the use of LegalServer APIs to pull additional case related metadata into SharePoint. 

Frequently Asked Questions

• Can we prevent staff from uploading files to the LegalServer document store and force everything to SharePoint? The short answer is: No. There are still several places within LegalServer that don't yet support uploading directly to SharePoint (Activities, Discovery, Services, Time, the Add Document block, or the Add Document with Title block).

• Can attachments to emails sent to a case be uploaded to SharePoint instead of the LegalServer document storage? Yes. File a support request (Help menu > Support Request) from your site asking to have that feature enabled. There is no additional cost.

• We don’t want to give Legal Server Global Admin for the configuration; we’ll want to have them walk us through the configuration. We can give you a Powershell script and directions that will create the apps necessary. If you want someone to do it through the UI, we have longer directions we can supply. We've also worked with groups who will give us Global Admin settings for a few hours to create the apps and then reduce the permissions down to a standard user once the back end settings are configured. The SharePoint Sites and Libraries can be created after the authentication apps are created.

• What kind of on-going access will LegalServer need to our Microsoft 365 environment to support the solution and what level of access is required for them to do their jobs. We request that you supply us with a user account that has read/write permissions to the sites/libraries that are storing LegalServer data. This will let us know if the integration is working and allows us to troubleshoot if there is a problem. The user account does not need an O365 license or access to anything beyond the LegalServer sites/libraries.

• Will the SharePoint site be accessible to anything/anyone other than the Legal Server application? If users can / should be able to directly access the site, what kind of permissions need to be setup on it? Users should have access to the SharePoint site. They need read/write permissions on the library to be able to add documents or modify them. You can restrict users to only certain libraries. You can also establish user permissions or tie ins to specific folders. Please consult an SharePoint expert for additional planning. 

• Are there requirements for how the SharePoint sites are provisioned? Any SharePoint site will work. The one requirement is that the document check-in feature be disabled. That is enabled by default only on the Document Repository site type.

• Do we need to create any lists or other items in the SharePoint sites or will the Legal Server product take care of creating any required libraries or objects in SharePoint? We request that you create the sites and libraries that you intend to use. You can have any number of subsites and libraries connected to LegalServer, but we need to know one specific default site and library that we will hard code. Other sites and libraries can be added in the User Interface by a site administrator in the future. We recommend two separate sites - one for Demo, one for Live - at a minimum. The standard "Shared Documents" library in those sites is often sufficient for Demo, but many groups want more granularity on Live.  For the case folders within the library, LegalServer will automatically create the case folders via the integration.

• Are there any retention policies that need to be configured or any other policies needed for the SharePoint sites? Not by LegalServer.

• Are there naming standards for the SharePoint site that LegalServer can provide? No standards are established. Many groups will use "LegalServer Demo" for their demo site and then "LegalServer" for their live site. Other groups divide their Live work between practice Areas - "Consumer", "Healthcare", etc. Case folders are stored in the root folder of the Library. Case folders are named for the case matter number in LegalServer. That folder name is the link between LegalServer and SharePoint and should not be modified unless you intend to break the relationship between LegalServer and the SharePoint case folder.

• Can we migrate our LegalServer documents to SharePoint? At a cost, yes. Exporting the documents as a whole from LegalServer in a format that can be imported into SharePoint and easily connect with LegalServer is not a simple task. Document storage in LegalServer operates differently than it does in SharePoint, so the folder structure needs to be revised in the export. 

• If we move the SharePoint folder, will LegalServer still know where the case files are? No. SharePoint folders do not have unique IDs. Moving the folder to a different directory, Library, or Site will break any connection to the folder. 

• How can I tell if a case has a SharePoint Folder? Using reports there are two options, although neither is foolproof. You can search for the SharePoint case folder creation note (which only works if the folder was created by LegalServer and not as a result of a document import). Or you can search for the SharePoint Site and Library lookup being populated in LegalServer (which only works if you are setting that to some value and not leaving it blank when saving to the original default library). 

• How many SharePoint Sites/Libraries should we plan for? Plan for future expansion. Otherwise, one is sufficient to start with. When you start reaching SharePoint limits, it can be a real headache, so don't wait until it is too late to enable a second library or start sharing the file load. 

• How are the SharePoint folders named? The SharePoint folder related to the LegalServer case is named after the case number, like 14-0000123 and 23-0001234.

• Can the case folders in SharePoint have the client name? Unfortunately not. SharePoint does not create unique IDs for folders, only for files. As a result, we search for a folder with the client case number since that will be unique in LegalServer. 

Non-Standard Configurations

EPONA 1 Library per Case Setup

Working with EPONA as outside consultants, we are able to configure separate libraries for each case. LegalServer does not create the libraries in this instance, that is all done externally. This configuration is not standard, so if you are interested in this, please contact Sales for pricing. 

EPONA 1 Library per Outreach Setup

In addition to having 1 Library per case, with EPONA, we are also able to setup 1 Library per Outreach. LegalServer does not create the libraries in this instance, that is all done externally. Again, this is a non-standard setup, and contact Sales if you are interested. Creating folders in a given Library for Outreaches is on our roadmap but is not yet available.