Flag open questions in the chronology

You are working through the documents and the chronology has a hole in it: a letter the correspondence refers to that is not in the bundle, or a date that does not match the contract. Someone else has the answer, perhaps the partner, or the colleague who ran the matter's first phase. Raise the question in the chronology itself, where the fact is, so the person answering sees it in context and the answer stays with the timeline.

One question decides where it goes. Does a named person need to answer it, or does it belong next to a point in time? A question for a colleague goes in the comments. A gap in the story goes on the timeline as a note. A doubt about one event goes in that event's note.

Ask a colleague in the comments

1. Open the timeline and click the comments button (two speech bubbles) at the top right. The Comment Log opens beside the timeline.

   

2. Type your question. Type @ and the first letters of your colleague's name, then pick them from the list that appears. Only people on the matter can be mentioned.

3. Name the event you are asking about, with its date and title. The comments belong to the timeline as a whole, not to one event, so "the board minutes of 14 March 2024" saves your colleague a search.

4. Press Enter or click the send arrow. Your colleague is notified, and the comments button tells them You were mentioned until they open the comments.

Put a note on the timeline beside the gap

A note on the timeline marks a point in time: "Beta Holding A/S must have replied here; ask the client for the letter."

1. In the Relative view, click Add Note in the toolbar on the left. The note appears at the date in the middle of the screen.

   

2. Drag the note to the gap. It takes the date where you drop it.

3. Type the question in the note. Hover over the note to change its colour with the palette, or to Delete it.

In the Linear view, drag Add Note from the toolbar onto the timeline instead. The note is tied to the dated event nearest to where you drop it and takes that event's date.

If no event on the timeline has a date yet, a note dropped in the Linear view has no date either. The Relative view keeps such notes in Notes without a date at the bottom left. Click one to place it on the timeline at the date in the middle of the screen, then drag it where it belongs.

Keep working comments on one fact in the event's note

1. Open the event and write in its Note field. Use it for what you are checking about that one fact: "Date taken from the covering email; the letter itself is undated."

2. To go through every open point in one pass, switch to the Table view. The Note column shows each event's note next to its date and title.

What reaches the reader

Tips from practice

• Clear answered questions before the chronology goes out. Delete the note once the gap is filled, and clear the event's Note before a Word or Excel version leaves the team.
• Give each kind of question its own colour. One colour for questions to the client, another for internal points, and the timeline shows at a glance what is still waiting on whom.
• Use one word for open points. Start every open question in an event note with the same word, such as "Open:", and search the timeline for it to find them all. See find an event in a long chronology.

To take a question further than one comment, see discuss a draft with the team. To bring a colleague into the timeline in the first place, see share your work with a colleague.