Every once in awhile we have gotten reports of people experiencing strange behavior with TimeNet Law in networked mode. Sometimes it's new users who've just started using TimeNet Law, while others have been using it for years and are just now experiencing problems.
The SymptomsThis fix will apply to you if you experience any of the following:
- In Networked mode creating new clients, new matters and/or making changes is not reflected across the network
- In Local mode creating new clients, new matters and/or making changes does not seem to "stick" Locally or to other networked users
- When changing Preferences (in either mode), quitting and reopening TimeNet Law loses the changes
These issues have kept us scratching our heads for awhile now, but I'm happy to announce that this weekend, with the help of several sharp legal minds (yes, lawyers work on weekends too!), I think we've found a fix.
The CauseIt turns out that
corrupted user accounts on Mac OS X are the culprit. Don't worry, this sounds a lot scarier than it actually is. We're not sure what or where the exact issue lies, or what causes it. We have several confirmations that using Apple's Data Migration Assistant can cause the problem. We don't know what else does it, but surely there are other possibilities for corruption out there.
The good news is the solution is fairly straightforward. It will take some time, but all in all, it will be worth it. The reliability of your computer will be much better.
(TimeNet Law is not the only software afflicted by this issue, many syncing functions break when this corruption occurs. iPhone contact and calendar syncing goes wonky, MobileMe, Back to My Mac, and other syncing software such as Daylite are also afflicted.)
Fortunately, this is relatively easy to test for. In a nutshell: create a new Mac OS X user with admin privileges and test TimeNet Law on that new user.
The Solution (In Detail)Start with the computer that HOSTS your TimeNet Law Data:
Step 1. Create a new Mac OS X user account.Go to your System Preferences and click the Accounts icon. Create a new Mac OS X user and be sure it has Administrative privileges.
Step 2. Login to the new user and open TimeNet Law.Open TimeNet Law under the new user. You will need to have copied your TimeNet Law Data folder from your old user to your new one. Place it in ~/Library/Preferences (in the new user account).
Step 3. Open TimeNet Law on another networked machine and see if the problem is fixed.Connect up and give it a test drive. If things are now working correctly, skip to step 5.
Step 4. Repeat for all other machines in the office.If the problem isn't fixed, that user account wasn't corrupt. Go ahead and log back into your original account (and you can delete the new test account you created). Now repeat steps 1-4 on all other office machines. Once you find the machine with the corrupt user account, go to step 5.
Step 5. Migrating to the new account.This step can be a bit of a pain, it's true. You'll have to manually migrate your files over from the old user to the new user. Pay special attention to your Desktop, Music, Pictures, Documents and Downloads folders. Your email is also stored under ~/Library/Mail if you use Apple's Mail.app.
Be careful not to move entire Preferences or Application Support folders, as that may very well be where the corruption lies. Only grab preference files and Application Support folders for the applications you currently use.
Keep your old user account on your machine for a week or two (or as long as it takes to make you feel safe) so you don't miss anything critical in the migration. Once you're certain you've copied everything important, you can remove it.
