imDocShare is an integration that allows you to access and alter the content you stored on iManage directly from Teams.
A little bit about iManage: it is a cloud-based knowledge platform that helps in file sharing, collaboration, and document-based work. The company was founded in 1995 and went on to merge with another company in 2003, before being acquired by Autonomy, which was eventually purchased by HP. Importantly, bolstered by the success of iManage’s products, the company initiated a buy-out in 2015. The company now operates as an independent cloud knowledge base provider headquartered in Chicago.
Using the imDocShare integration, you can connect iManage with Microsoft Teams. imDocShare is built by 2003-founded KL Software, which works out of India, Australia, and the US. It specialises in the legal & professional services sector and launched imDocShare in July of 2021 to simplify how legal documents are managed within Teams.
Let us now review the key capabilities and highlights of imDocShare.
Inside imDocShare for Microsoft Teams
There are a few prerequisites for using the integration. You need to have an iManage Cloud or iManage Work Server 10.2+ (on-premise) account. You may also require a paid iManage license to be able to access the Teams integration. It is also advisable to install the imDocShare SharePoint add-in to be able to access iManage content across Microsoft platforms.
You can install imDocShare from Microsoft AppSource or the application store on Teams. This enables the following key features:
- KLoBot-powered conversational AI integration – KLoBot is an AI-powered chatbot builder for law firms. imDocShare uses KLoBot to help users save conversation threads to iManage and fetch documents from iManage into Teams more easily without having to browse through the entire content library.
- Content co-authoring on Teams – when you share a document via imDocShare on teams, it becomes available for co-authoring. You can start co-authoring Word or Excel files without leaving the Teams app.
- iManage document previews – You can use the integration to offer live previews of any document in Teams. Whenever an iManage document is shared via imDocShare, it will allow Teams users to preview the file without having to open the primary iManage platform.
- Saving conversation threads to iManage – The imDocShare app enables bi-directional data flow between iManage and Teams. This means that you can save content from Teams to iManage, in addition to fetching content from iManage to Teams. Hover over a conversation thread, click on More Options, and choose Save to iManage to use this feature.
- imDocShare messaging extension – imDocShare is also available as a messaging extension, right below the message compose area in Teams chat. When you click on the imDocShare icon, a popup window appears where you can search for and retrieve your iManage files and share the relevant file with Teams users.
- Documents management capabilities in Teams – When you open the imDocShare Teams app, you will be able to see a list of your recently accessed documents. Here, you can shuffle around your favourites, rename files, download and delete.
- Check-in and check-out for documents – This unique feature is extremely relevant for compliance and legal use cases. When you check out an iManage document from Teams, it is downloaded to your local device and is locked on the iManage portal. This means that no one else can access or download the file while you are working on it locally. Once you have finalised the document, you check in, which uploads the new version on iManage, available for access.
- Folder views – Like files, you can look up entire folders of documents from iManage on Teams. You can finetune the search using a version number and ID.
- Contextual search – Contextual search allows you to look up documents in an iManage workspace or folder without using specific title keywords. As a result, you can find documents that exactly meet your requirements from across the organisation.
Why the imDocShare App Makes a Difference
iManage is used by 3500+ organisations in 65 territories. This includes nearly 2500 law firms and 1200 corporate law departments, all of which involve documents-heavy processes. It can prove extremely helpful to integrate document management with collaboration – which is exactly what’s enabled by the imDocShare app. You can co-author documents, lock access while you edit, and even manage content from iManage on-premise installations.
What We Think
Current and future iManage customers should definitely consider imDocShare as a must-have tool for collaboration and productivity. You can download it here.
