Copyright: Copyright 1997 Cosmi Corporation


Contents

System Requirements

Operating System

How to launch the document generator

Selecting a document

Document List

Filling in the document

Saving and naming a document

Customer service

A Cosmi Tradition of Service


Operating System

 Your computer must have Microsoft Windows 3.1, Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.11, Microsoft Windows 95, or Microsoft Windows NT 3.5, or higher versions of these operating systems.

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Disk Space

Hardware


Disk Space

 This program requires approximately 3 megabytes of space on your hard drive.


Hardware

 • A mouse or pointing device is required.

To print out any forms you create or save in this program you must have a printer. Although the program will operate with dot matrix printers we recommend ink jet or laser printers for the best results.


How to launch the document generator

 You must be running Windows to use the document generator. Locate and double-click on the Windows Attorney Group.  Double-click on the Windows Attorney icon. The Main Menu will appear.

Select "Create" from the Document Builder area.

 This will open the Document Category Selection menu.


Selecting a document

 Select the proper category. Please notice that the CATEGORIES are numbered, for example,

 1<- CORPORATION CATEGORY

The different CATEGORIES may have LEVEL 2 SUBCATEGORIES, or may lead directly to their document menus. CATEGORIES and SUBCATEGORIES are typed in UPPERCASE; Document Names which you may select are in Sentence case.

The Description box at the bottom of the Document Selection Menu describes the contents of the category or the purpose of the form which is currently highlighted.


Document List

A complete list of the documents which are available in the program is located in the "Examples help file." Choose this as follows:

Forms related to FILING CORPORATIONS are located in the Corporation Documents program. This program does contain corporate meeting minutes and all items required for most corporations EXCEPT for Articles of Incorporation and other filing forms.

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Navigating document categories


Navigating document categories

 To select a category, move your mouse to it.  Then double left click to reveal a list of subcategories.  Continue double clicking through the categories until you reach the document you want to create

To explore all the documents available in a category . . . after selecting a category 1, then select a category 2; and finally, if available, a category 3.

Double-clicking toggles the categories open and closed.  If you want to close an open category, double-click on it again. Double-clicking on a Category 1 item closes all its lower categories.

Clicking [CANCEL] resets your menu back to the Category 1 level and closes the document selection menu.


Filling in the document

 Answer the on screen prompts to customize your document.  Each question provides Help to assist you in phrasing your answer. Click on the [HELP] button if you need advice on answering a question.  Click on the [OK] box to resume customizing your Legal Document.

There are several different ways you can be asked to customize your document.

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True/False or Yes/No questions

Fill in the blank questions

Multiple choice (select one) questions

Multiple choice or fill in the blank questions

Dollar amount questions

Date questions

Special circumstances -- Drawings need to be attached

Special circumstances -- Making a blank form

Special circumstances -- Printing a document on letterhead


True/False or Yes/No questions

Read the given statement, and click on your response.  For example,


Fill in the blank questions

You may enter up to 60 keystrokes in response to the question.

 The buttons allow you to cancel the build, or call up a help screen for the given question. The help screens contain advice about how to enter information, and often contain example entries.

If your input is too long for the dialog box -

•	Enter "see attached exhibit 1" in the dialog box and prepare the information on a separate sheet.

or

•	Fill out the information as far as possible and when the form is completed and saved, use Windows Write (or Windows Wordpad in Windows 95) or your favorite word processor to fill in the remaining information.

or

•	Skip entering anything in the dialog box by tapping the enter key, or, move the cursor to the continue box and click on it. When the form is completed and saved, use Windows Write or your favorite word processor to fill in the remaining information

If you need any unusual symbols (British pound symbol, etc.), you may either

•	change the character set in Windows itself,

or

•	insert the needed character after the document is built, in either Windows Write or your selected word processor.


Multiple choice (select one) questions

 These dialog boxes require a single answer.  Use your mouse or the tab key to move the "bullet" to your choice. In the example below, the "bullet" is in the first choice.


Multiple choice or fill in the blank questions

 These resemble Multiple Choice (select one) dialogs; but if you select KEY IN VALUE a Fill in the blank dialog box appears.


Dollar amount questions

If requested to enter a dollar amount, DO NOT enter the "$" symbol or commas. For instance, correct entries are:

500.00

1.35

1000

Incorrect entries, such as the ones below, will not be accepted:

$500.00

$1.35

1,000

 The program will format your input as follows, automatically turning your dollar and cents figures into words:

$501.25 (five hundred one and 25/100 dollars)


Date questions

Dates may be entered in any desired format. For example:

Jan. 1 1996

January 1, 1996

1 January 1996

01/01/96

 They will be placed in the document exactly as you typed them. In some instances, dates may "default" to the system date.  Use the up and down arrows to scroll to a different month, day or year.


Special circumstances -- Drawings need to be attached

 In the event that drawings must be made part of a document, simply refer to them as an outside exhibit, e.g.,

See attached exhibit "A"

 or use your favorite word processor with graphics capability to insert the graphics into the completed, saved document.


Special circumstances -- Making a blank form

 If instead of creating a custom form, you want to make a blank, you may do so by typing spaces or underscores as responses to fill in the blank questions.  For other question formats, select an answer or enter a dollar amount, then change it to a blank in the saved document.


Special circumstances -- Printing a document on letterhead

 Some of the agreements contained in the Windows Attorney are in a "letter" form, or may be converted into a letter.

If you want to place the form on your pre-printed letterhead, there are two ways to do so.

•	Open the word processor that you usually use with your letterhead and load your letterhead template. Then insert or import the *.WRI file containing your saved document.

•	Measure the margins on your letterhead, and then use spaces and empty lines to adjust the completed and saved document. For example, if your letterhead requires a top margin of two inches you would simply add in 12 blank lines.

 Before trying this -- If you have never run your preprinted letterhead through your laser printer before, please check with the company that printed your letterhead.  Some printing processes use letterhead ink that will melt inside laser printers.


Saving and naming a document

 Once you have entered all the information needed to complete your document, you will be asked to enter a name to save the document under, as shown below:

This name can be up to 60 keystrokes long.  Choose a name that will help you identify that document precisely; for instance,

3/96 annual lease renewal for June Jones, unit #7

rather than

June 7

 Once the document is named and saved, it will be displayed on your screen in Windows Write.  The information in this copy of the document will not affect any future version you may create.

Upon opening, Windows Write will prompt you "Text document. Do you want to convert this file to Write format?" This is because your Legal Documents are output in TEXT ONLY.  This allows you to view them later in the word processing program of your choice.  Regardless of whether you select [CONVERT] or [NO CONVERSION], the Legal Document will be saved to your hard drive in plain text format -- unless you select File/Save As and save the file with the same filename and extension but in Windows Write format.

 The information in the saved document will not affect any future version you

may create.

Please note that although a completed document in your word processor is easy to revise, A COMPLETED LEGAL DOCUMENT IS NOT SOMETHING A LAYPERSON SHOULD REVISE.

We created these documents so our users can draft custom legal papers that are legal and binding in all 50 states; and these forms will accomplish their objectives.  If you change these forms, you'll have a legal and valid form that accomplishes something UNPREDICTABLE.

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Printing a document

Viewing/editing a document

Deleting (Removing) a document


Printing a document

Printing can be done immediately after you create your Legal Document.

 If you save your document, you may reopen and print it later, through the [View/Edit] button.

Your legal documents are printed via Windows Write's File/Print menu selection. You may set any options you prefer, then click the [OK] button.


Viewing/editing a document

 To view or edit a previously saved Legal Document, click the [View/Edit] button in the Document Builder Group. Click on this button to display your  previously saved customized Legal Documents via Windows Write. You may then print a new copy, enhance your formatting, or correct the spelling of any of your customized entries using Windows Write as your text editor.

PLEASE DO NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES TO THE LEGAL TEXT WE HAVE PROVIDED.  If you alter these forms, you'll have a legal and valid document that accomplishes something UNPREDICTABLE.


Deleting (Removing) a document

To delete a saved legal document, go to the main menu, select DELETE and then highlight the legal document's name.  Double click or press ENTER to delete it.

Although you may know how to delete a file using the Windows File Manager or through any other command from Windows (or even DOS), you should only delete your unwanted documents through our Delete menu. Documents are not removed from the review document menu unless removed from this menu.


A Cosmi Tradition of Service

We encourage all of our users to provide comments and suggestions about this program. This program is supported by voice, fax and Internet e-mail.

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Voice Support

E-mail

Fax

Web

ABA/Publishers Disclaimer

Team Cosmi


Voice Support

For telephone support, call Cosmi Customer Service at 1-310-886-3510:

Monday through Thursday, 8:30 am - 12:00 noon and 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm. Pacific time.

Friday, 8:30 am - 12:00 noon. Pacific time.


E-mail

Support questions may be addressed to cos550@aol.com


Fax

You may fax any customer support questions to: 310-886-3517.


Web

 Be sure to visit Cosmi's web site: www.cosmi.com.


ABA/Publishers Disclaimer

 This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.


Team Cosmi

 It takes many persons to produce a program, and we'd like to thank the team members on this project:

Technical Writing/Testing/Documents: Amy Seeberger, Herb Kraft

Testing: Dave McLaughlin, John Passo

Art: Susan Randle

In house programming: Bob Truxal

Legal advisor and executive producer: Herb Kraft