Notes

Notes are short, dated write-ups you keep alongside your work: a call summary, a thought about strategy, a reminder of what a client said. You can keep a note on its own or attach it to a matter, save it as a quick draft or a finished record, and even run a billing timer straight from the note so the time you spend writing it lands on the matter.

Before you begin

• Where notes live. There are two places to work with notes: the standalone Notes page in the sidebar, and the Notes tab on any individual matter. They show the same notes; the matter tab is just pre-filtered to that matter.
• Permissions. What you can do with notes depends on your role:
  • View lets you open the Notes page and read notes. Without it you will see a message that you do not have permission to view notes.
  • Create shows the New note button.
  • Update lets you edit, archive, and restore notes.
  • Delete lets you permanently remove archived notes.
  • By default, firm owners, administrators, and attorneys have full access, and staff can view, create, and edit but not delete. See Roles and permissions to confirm your access.
• Recording time is a separate permission. To start a timer on a note you need permission to create activities (time entries). If you do not, the record-time controls are hidden or show a dash.

View the Notes list

The standalone Notes page lists every active note across your firm in a sortable, searchable table.

1. In the sidebar, click Notes.
2. The page opens with the Notes heading and a table of your firm's notes. By default it shows Active notes, newest Date first.
3. Each row shows these columns:
   • Date -- the date you put on the note (not necessarily the day you wrote it).
   • Subject -- the note's title.
   • Note -- a one-line preview of the body text.
   • Record time -- a timer control for billing the time spent on this note (covered below).
   • Status -- Draft, Active, or Archived.
   • Matter -- the linked matter, if any. Click it to open that matter. A dash means the note is not linked to a matter.
   • Updated by and Last updated -- who last changed the note and when.
4. Click any column header to sort by Date, Subject, Note, Status, or Last updated.
5. Use the page-size and page controls at the bottom of the table to move through long lists.

Create a note

You can create a note from the Notes page, from a matter's Notes tab, or from the + on the Notes sidebar row. The form is the same everywhere.

1. On the Notes page, click New note in the top right. (On a matter, open the Notes tab and click New note there.)
2. The New note dialog opens with the description "Capture a quick note. Linking a matter is optional."
3. Fill in the fields:
   • Subject (required) -- a short title for the note, up to 255 characters. This is what shows in the list and in search.
   • Note -- the body. This is a rich-text editor, so you can add bold, italics, lists, and other formatting. It is optional but is the main content of the note.
   • Date (required) -- the date the note applies to. It defaults to today in your firm's time zone. Change it if the note is about something that happened on another day.
   • Record time -- a timer control (see Record time on a note). Leave it alone if you are not billing time.
   • Matter -- an optional searchable picker. Start typing to find a matter by name and select it to link the note to that matter. Leave it blank to keep the note unattached.
4. Choose how to save:
   • Save changes saves the note as Active (a finished, visible record).
   • Save draft saves the note as a Draft. Drafts are work in progress: they appear under the Draft status, and you can come back and finish them later.
   • Cancel closes the dialog without saving.
5. On save, you will see a "Note created" confirmation and the note appears in the list.

Set a note aside while you write (minimize)

The note dialog has a minimize button (the - icon) beside the close (x) button in the top-right corner. Click it to collapse the dialog into a small bar in the bottom-right corner of the screen. You can keep working anywhere else and click the bar to bring the note back with everything you typed still there. You cannot minimize or close the note while it is saving. See Navigating the dashboard for how the minimized-dialog bar works.

What "Draft" vs "Active" means

• Active notes are finished records. They are what you normally see on the Notes page (the default tab) and in matter summaries.
• Draft notes are unfinished. They are filtered into their own Draft tab so they do not clutter your active list. Drafts are most useful with the timer: you can start a draft, run the clock while you work, and finish writing later.

Edit a note

You can change a note's subject, body, date, and matter at any time.

1. Find the note in the table.
2. Click Edit on its row (the pencil button). You can also open a note from a deep link or from the Notes tab on its matter.
3. The Edit note dialog opens with the description "Update the date, subject, and details for this note." Change any of the fields.
4. Click Save changes to keep it. You will see a "Note updated" confirmation.

Attach a note to a matter and filter by status

Every matter has its own Notes tab so you can keep a case's notes together.

1. Open a matter from Browsing matters, then click the Notes tab.
2. The tab shows only notes attached to that matter, with status tabs across the top: All, Draft, Active, and Archived. Click a tab to filter:
   • All shows every note on the matter, in every status.
   • Draft shows only unfinished drafts.
   • Active shows finished, visible notes (the default).
   • Archived shows notes you have set aside.
3. To add a note that is already linked to this matter, click New note on the tab. The Matter field is pre-filled and locked to the current matter, so you only need a Subject and Date.

To attach an existing standalone note to a matter, open it with Edit, choose the matter in the Matter picker, and click Save changes.

On the standalone Notes page you have the same status tabs (All, Draft, Active, Archived) above the table, so you can switch between drafts, active notes, and archived notes across your whole firm.

Search notes

The notes table includes a Search notes box and a date filter so you can narrow a long list.

1. In the table toolbar, click in the Search notes box and type what you are looking for.
2. As soon as you type, the list switches to similarity search. Instead of matching only exact words, it ranks notes by how closely they relate to your query across the subject, body, linked matter, and contact. This is typo-tolerant and finds related wording, so you do not need the exact phrase.
3. To narrow by date, click the date filter next to the search box and pick a range. Notes are filtered to that date window.
4. Click Clear filters to remove the search text and date range and return to the full list.

Archive, restore, and delete a note

Archiving sets a note aside without losing it. Deleting removes it for good, and is only available once a note has been archived.

Archive a note

1. On a note's row, click the More note actions button (the three-dots menu next to Edit).
2. Click Archive. The note moves to the Archived tab and disappears from your active list.
3. You will see an "archived" confirmation.

To archive several notes at once, select their checkboxes, then use the batch Archive action that appears in the toolbar and confirm in the Archive selected notes? dialog.

Restore a note

1. Open the Archived tab.
2. On the note's row, click the More note actions menu and click Restore. The note returns to its previous active state.

You can also select multiple archived notes and use the batch Restore action.

Delete a note

Deleting is permanent and only available for archived notes.

1. Open the Archived tab and find the note.
2. Click the More note actions menu and click Delete.
3. In the Delete note? confirmation, the message warns that the note "will be permanently removed. This can't be undone." Click Delete note to confirm.

To delete several archived notes at once, select them and use the batch Delete action, then confirm in the Delete selected notes? dialog.

Record time on a note

If you bill for the time you spend writing or reviewing a note, Esqase can run a timer right on the note and turn it into a time entry on the matter. This is handy for things like drafting a memo or summarizing a long call.

Save as a draft and start the timer (on create)

When you are creating a brand-new note, you can start the clock before you have finished writing. Esqase saves the note as a Draft so the running timer always has something to attach to.

1. Open the New note dialog and enter at least a Subject and Date (and link a Matter if the time should bill to a case).
2. Next to the Date field, under Record time, click the play button (shown as 00:00:00). Its purpose is "Save as draft and start timer."
3. Esqase saves the note as a draft and starts the timer. You will see "Draft saved and timer started," and the dialog switches into edit mode with a live, ticking timer.
4. Keep writing the note while the timer runs. When you are done, you can pause the timer and save your changes.

Use the inline record-time control (on edit)

Once a note exists, the Record time control becomes a full timer you can start, pause, edit, and remove. It appears both inside the Edit note dialog (next to the Date field) and in the Record time column of the notes table.

1. Open the note for editing, or find its row in the table.
2. In the Record time control:
   • If no time entry exists yet, click Record time to start a fresh timer.
   • While a timer is running, the button shows the elapsed time and a pause icon. Click it to pause. Pausing opens the time-entry window so you can review and adjust the recorded time.
   • When a timer is paused, the button shows a play icon. Click it to resume.
3. Use the options menu (the three-dots button next to the timer) for:
   • Edit manually -- open the time entry to set the duration, rate, or notes by hand.
   • Remove -- detach and discard the timer from this note.
4. The recorded time becomes a billable time entry on the note's matter. To manage it further, see Time and expense tracking.

Resume your latest draft from the sidebar

The sidebar gives you a one-click way to jump back into your most recent unfinished note. This pairs perfectly with the timer: if you started a draft and a timer earlier, the + button picks it back up instead of leaving the timer orphaned on a note you never finished.

1. In the sidebar, find the Notes row.
2. Click the + (New note) button at the end of that row.
3. Esqase looks for your most recent Draft note:
   • If you have one, it opens that draft in the Edit note dialog so you can finish it (and its timer keeps running).
   • If you have no draft, it opens a fresh New note dialog.

Open a note via a deep link

Other parts of Esqase (and links you share or save) can point straight at a specific note. Opening such a link takes you to the Notes page and pops the note open for you.

1. Follow a link that targets a note (for example from search results or a shortcut).
2. The Notes page loads, fetches that note, and opens it in the Edit note dialog automatically.
3. The link details are cleared from the address bar so you can keep working without re-triggering the dialog if you refresh.

Troubleshooting

• I do not see the New note button. Your role does not include create access for notes. Ask a firm owner or administrator to adjust your role under Roles and permissions.
• The Record time control shows a dash and I cannot start a timer. You need permission to create time entries (activities). Recording time is separate from note permissions.
• I cannot delete a note. Delete is only available after a note is archived, and only for roles with delete access. Archive the note first, then delete it from the Archived tab.
• My draft did not show up in the list. Drafts live under the Draft status tab, not the default Active tab. Switch tabs to find it, or use the sidebar + to resume your latest draft.
• Search is not finding an exact word. The notes search ranks by similarity rather than exact matches, so try a couple of distinctive words from the note. For broader navigation, use global search (Cmd/Ctrl + K).

Related

• Time and expense tracking
• The matter workspace
• Logging communications
• Roles and permissions
• Activity timelines and audit logs