Document Assembly Software Available

There are many products getting around in the document assembly industry. Nearly all of them have good points and bad points - much like any software type you may seek to purchase. Some of the major players are listed below.

HotDocs

HotDocs is probably the most popular document assembly platform used in the world. Its benefits over other products are its simplicity to start learning and some nice tools available to allow you to develop templates quickly. Its programming interface is very handy for the developer, as it supports colour coding and other such indicators of good-vs.-bad code. The downside to HotDocs is that it can allow you to produce bad templates quickly, as "planning" simply isn't part of the training or course materials on offer.

Links: HotDocs homepage

IdealDocs

Created by Trevor Henderson, IdealDocs is a fantastic and simple product that plugs directly into MS Word. It allows users to very quickly get templates up and running with a minimum of hassle or programming knowledge. Additionally, for anyone who knows VBA, it allows all functionality available with that language (as it plugs natively into Word). Also, the product is local - something rather rare for Australians, so the support of this product should be fantastic. The downside to IdealDocs is that if you are not a VBA programmer (a not-so-simple language to learn), it has limited abilities to calculate and produce complex legal systems.  You should note that the requirements of many firms will not be "complex".

It has been a long time since I looked at IdealDocs, so it may have added new features on the 'top end of town'.  For many law firms, IdealDocs is a perfect choice - a solid blend of "easy to learn" and features available.

Links: IdealDocs homepage

Informs

Much like IdealDocs, Informs has chosen to provide the "very quick and very easy" approach. It is fast, effective and easy to use, allowing almost anyone to get a template up and running quickly. The product is local - Sydney in fact, and has many template sets available for it, so that you can be off and running in under a day.

Links: Informs Homepage

GhostFill

GhostFill is only just starting to gain recognition in the USA for what it is - the most powerful document assembly engine on the planet. It does everything that nearly every other product does and has the best data connection capabilities bar none. There are two major downsides to GhostFill - it is not widely supported in Australia (although we do know of one company that offers GhostFill development and support) and it is so far reaching that the complexity of the program is huge.

Sadly, GhostFill has withdrawn from the "retail" market. It will no longer sell its product to end users, such as law firms or other companies. GhostFill may be an option if you are looking to build a system for resale, such as leasing a Wills & Estates package to other lawyers or some such.

Links: GhostFill homepage