This file contains information about It's Legal 4.0 that may not
be included in your User's Guide.  We suggest that you read
through this file now.  You also can press the [P] key to print
the file for future reference.

This file contains information on how It's Legal stores your
documents in DOS data files, recovering damaged It's Legal
data files, command line options for running It's Legal and
information about converting data files from It's Legal 3.0.


IT'S LEGAL 4.0 DATA FILES

There are important differences in how It's Legal 4.0 uses files,
compared to earlier versions.


OPENING FILES

It's Legal 4.0 will allow you to try to open any file on any online
disk drive. Although the suggested file extension is ".LGL", you can
choose any extension that's permitted by DOS. Before being loaded
into a document window, the selected file is scanned to see if it is
an It's Legal 4.0 data file. This scanning can detect if an It's
Legal file was improperly closed but could be rebuilt (see below). If
the file can be opened without problems, the file will be loaded into
a document window. If the selected file is not an It's Legal data file,
a dialog will appear explaining this, and you will be returned to the
File Open dialog. If the selected file is damaged but can be rebuilt,
you will be asked if you wish to rebuild this file (see below).

TEMPORARY FILES

In order to allow the user to undo certain changes to their files,
It's Legal keeps two files open for each document window: The main
file, whose name is displayed in the title bar of the window,
receives all the data typed in by the user. The "shadow" or backup
file, whose name is of the form "LGLnnn.$$$" holds the previous
version of screens in the file. "nnn" is a number from "0" on up,
numbered in the order that the files were created on your data disk.

These *.$$$ files should not be deleted while It's Legal is
running--it could lead to serious problems with open documents. Once
you have quit It's Legal, you may delete any .$$$ files you feel you
don't need.

In the normal course of events, the temporary .$$$ files are deleted
when all changes have been written to the main file, and the main
file has been closed. Under some error conditions, such as power
outage or other hardware failure, the .$$$ files would not be
deleted. If you are unable to rebuild the data file you were working
on at the time of the failure, you may be able to rebuild the .$$$
file that was created as an automatic backup to your original file
(see below).

REBUILDING FILES

If you choose to open a damaged file, and there is enough information
in the file for It's Legal to try to reconstruct the data in the
file, It's Legal will ask you if you wish to rebuild the damaged
file. If you answer "Yes" to this dialog, It's Legal will read as
much data as possible out of the original, damaged file and write it
out to a new file in the current directory (usually the one
containing the It's Legal program). The original, damaged file is
never changed by the rebuild process. The new file will be named
"REBLDnnn.LGL" (files are numbered like temporary files, see above).

You can then use the File Open dialog to select this newly rebuilt
file and load it into a document window. Once you have opened a
rebuilt file, you should save this file to a different name, then use
the Verify function to check this document from beginning to end.

Once you have successfully rebuilt, saved and verified a file, the
"REBLDnnn.LGL" file may be deleted.

FILE SHARING

It's Legal 4.0 and It's Legal for Windows were designed
to be single-user programs. These programs may not
operate correctly if their files are used by another program
while It's Legal 4.0 or It's Legal for Windows are active.


COMMAND LINE OPTIONS/USE OF EMS AND XMS MEMORY

The following are command line options designed to enhance
operation of the program in the specified circumstances.  If
you experience any of the situations described, exit It's
Legal (if the program is running) and then restart the
program using the particular command.

NOTE:  You can combine command line options; for example,
you can start the program by typing "LEGAL -a -h."  The
order and case of the letters have no effect.  However, we
recommend that you not use the command line options -a, -b,
or -h unless you encounter a problem.

1.  If It's Legal locks up or displays scrambled
information during data entry, type the following to start
the program:

     LEGAL -b

This option disables a BIOS feature that increases the speed
of scrolling in data entry screens.  Consequently, when you
scroll the It's Legal screens, your cursor will move at a
slower rate.

2.  If you are using DR-DOS as an operating system and your
It's Legal data files are on floppy disks, we recommend that
you type the following to start the program:

     LEGAL -c

This option closes data files on floppy disks in a manner
that is compatible with DR-DOS.

3.  If desired, you can operate It's Legal with the
program's help system disabled.  This will free more memory
and make It's Legal run faster.  To run the program with the
help system disabled, type the following to start It's
Legal:

     LEGAL -h

4.  It's Legal 4.0 is able to use either Expanded memory (EMS)
or Extended memory (XMS) on systems that are running DOS
version 3.0 or higher. Although It's Legal does not require EMS
or XMS, using EMS or XMS can improve the performance of your
system, as well as allow you to work with more documents.

You must have installed the proper system software, such as
HIMEM.SYS, EMM386.EXE, or a third party memory driver, in
order to make this memory available to It's Legal 4.0. If you are
running It's Legal 4.0 in a DOS window under Microsoft Windows,
you will need to set the memory options in the .PIF that you use
to start It's Legal 4.0 in order to for It's Legal to use EMS or XMS.

It's Legal 4.0 will use this memory to hold temporary data for open
files, and the read-only document description files (*.OVL). The
program overlay file (LEGAL.OVR) will be pre-loaded into EMS if
there is sufficient space and the -A option is not used (see below).
If there is not sufficient free memory in the EMS or XMS areas,
It's Legal 4.0 will use conventional RAM (640Kb or below) to hold this
information.

If EMS and/or XMS is available on your system, you can tell It's Legal
4.0 not to use this memory by using command-line options. You may
need to do this if you find that It's Legal's use of EMX or XMS conflicts
with other programs on your system.

Here are some examples that you would enter at the DOS prompt:

   LEGAL -A         [tell It's Legal not to use Expanded memory  (EMS)]

   LEGAL -X         [tell It's Legal not to use Extended memory  (XMS)]

   LEGAL -A -X      [tell It's Legal not to use EMS and not to use XMS]


CONVERTING IT'S LEGAL 3.0 DOCUMENTS

It's Legal 4.0 can convert data created with It's Legal 3.0.  Use
the 'Convert Legal 3.0 Documents' option in the Installation program
to create Legal Interchange Format (LIF) files.  You can do immediately
after installing It's Legal 4.0 or at a later time by restarting the
Install program.

The conversion program produces a log file that provides basic
instructions and lists the resulting .LIF files, their document type
and the name you had assigned it in Legal 3.0's Document Organizer.
If you do not print the log file immediately, you can print it later
from DOS or any editor or word processor.  The log file is named
convert.txt and will be located in the destination directory you
specified (the default is LEGAL4).

More instructions are available through It's Legal's program operation
help.  Select 'Creating Documents' from the main topic list and then
select 'Converting It's Legal 3.0 Data Files'.

Please note that It's Legal 4.0 CANNOT convert the state-specific
Living Will and Health Care Power of Attorney documents from It's Legal
3.0 due to the many changes in state formats.
