Workbench
Connect your accounts in Irys Workbench
Connect the systems you already use so Workbench can work across them from inside a matter.
Available connections
Eleven connections are available today. On the Integrations page each one sits under Connected, Available or Coming soon, so you can see at a glance what is already on.
| Connection | What Workbench can do with it |
|---|---|
| Gmail | Search and read mail, draft replies, pull emails and attachments into a matter. Drafts stay in drafts. |
| Google Drive | Search, read, and bring files into a matter; create documents |
| Google Docs | Create and update documents. Tables come through as plain text, so use a Sheet or a Word file for tables. |
| Google Sheets | Read and create spreadsheets |
| Google Calendar | Read your calendar, and create and update events. Named attendees are invited immediately. |
| Outlook | Search and read mail, draft replies, pull emails and attachments into a matter. Drafts stay in drafts. |
| OneDrive | Search, read, bring files into a matter, and upload. Uploads arrive as plain text. |
| Dropbox | Search, read, bring files into a matter, and upload |
| Slack | Read channels, and post. A post goes out immediately, as you. |
| Clio | Browse your Clio matters, bring documents into Irys, ask about matter details, and write work back. See Clio below |
| Word Add-in | Use Irys inside Microsoft Word. See Word Add-in |
Box is listed under Coming soon. Legal case-law research is available alongside these connections and does not need connecting.
Not every action waits for you. A Slack post, a calendar invitation and a Clio record all go out the moment you ask for them. Email is the exception: drafts stay in your drafts until you send them. See Trust & permissions.
A Slack post has no draft step and no confirmation. Name the channel in your message, or Irys asks which one, and then the message is posted, in your name, to people who will read it. The message you see in the chat afterwards is Irys reporting what it sent, not asking whether to send it.
To see the wording before anyone else does, ask Workbench to write the message in the chat without posting it. Read it, then ask it to post.
Connect an account
Open Settings, then Integrations
Click the gear at the bottom of the left rail, then Integrations.
Choose a service and authorize it
Select the service you want to connect and complete its sign-in. Each person connects their own account.
Choose what each chat can reach
In a chat, click the plug icon under the message box. The number beside it is how many accounts are on for this chat. The menu is headed Active for this chat, and Manage all integrations at the bottom takes you back to the Integrations page.
If a connected account stops returning results, reconnect it from Settings → Integrations. An expired authorization is the most common cause.
Bring the real record into a matter
Once an account is connected, you can browse it and route what you need straight into a matter.
Browse a connected account
Click the paperclip under the message box, then More integrations, and pick the account. Find the emails, attachments, or files you need.
Select and import
Bring them in as first-class matter documents. They are then organized alongside everything else in the matter.
Ingestion handles the formats you actually have: Word, PDF, Excel, CSV, PowerPoint, text, and markdown.
Clio
Clio has its own section because it carries a whole practice. Your matters, contacts, calendar, tasks and time entries are there to ask about, documents come across into a matter, and finished work goes back onto the matter.
Connect it
Open Settings (the gear at the bottom of the left rail), then Integrations, choose Clio, and sign in with your own Clio account. Each person connects their own Clio, the same way Gmail or Drive works. You can disconnect at any time.
Clio access is granted once. The Allow Access screen covers Activities, Calendars, Contacts, Documents, Matters, Tasks and Users, for both reading and writing. After you approve it, Workbench writes to Clio whenever you ask it to, without a separate approval screen for each write. If your firm needs approval on every write, do not connect Clio.
Bring in your work from Clio
Once connected, your Clio matters show up in the account browser as a matter tree rather than a raw folder list, so you find things the way you already think about them.
Open the Clio browser
Click the paperclip, then More integrations, then the Clio tab.
Find the documents
Browse Clio Documents → Matters to the matter you are working on, and tick the documents you want.
Choose a destination and ingest
Pick a Destination, the Library or a matter in Irys, then click Ingest. They arrive as first-class matter documents.
You can also do this in a sentence. Ask Workbench to find the matching Clio matter and bring its documents across, and it will do the matching for you without duplicating files you already have.
You choose what comes across. Bring over the files for the matter you are working on now, and come back for more whenever you need them.
Ask about a matter
With Clio connected, you can ask about the record instead of looking it up: which matters are open and who the clients are, the status and responsible attorney on a matter, what is on your calendar, the tasks outstanding, or recent time entries.
Send work back to Clio
When a piece of work is finished, it goes back onto the right matter in Clio, where the rest of your firm will look for it:
| You ask for | What lands in Clio |
|---|---|
| Save this draft to the matter | The document, filed on that matter |
| Add a note to the matter | A note on the matter |
| Create a task, due in two weeks | A task with a due date |
| Log half an hour for drafting | A time entry |
| Put the hearing in the calendar | A calendar event on the matter |
These are written as soon as you ask. Clio stays the system of record, and Irys never exceeds the permissions of the connection.
Rates come from Clio. If no default hourly rate is set for the timekeeper in Clio, the time entry is saved at $0.00, and Irys tells you so when it happens.
Good to know
- Documents are read as text. Word, PDF, DOC, and plain text work well.
- A scanned or photographed document with no text layer will not summarize yet.
- Clio account availability can vary by region. If your account does not connect, get in touch and we will confirm where things stand.