Actionstep Features

- Workflows that are customized for different types of cases - Customized tasks that are automatically assigned to particular employees - Case dashboard: the "one stop shop" for all basic info related to a case (employees involved, clients, other important players in the case, calendar appointments, notes, etc.) - Contact records that exist independently of cases but may be linked to cases -- so...

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- Challenging initial setup (customization of features) - Cumbersome process to unlock encrypted zip files after backup request - Previous difficulty with calendar integration caused problems with client scheduling and has made us skittish about returning to use of the calendar, even though we see this as a high-value feature of ActionStep

Nothing - I found it was more trouble than benefit. The software claims to manage emails, and it will manage them as long as you stay with that software. If you want to change to another software, you cannot retrieve your emails.

The description of using "work flows" sounds like a very good and useful idea. It is not. The company wants users to hire a "partner" company to set up the software or purchase pre-programmed workflows from third party vendors. "Partner" companies are extremely expensive, if they return your call at all. You pretty much have to hire a third party company to program the software just to use it. As far as I can tell, the workflows are so detailed that you will spend every minute typing data into the software system instead of doing legal work. When I got rid of the software, none of the thousands of emails flagged into the system could be exported into another system. It was very difficult to transition away from the program.

Hi Catherine. Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback, and I'm very sorry you haven't had a great experience. In response to your points you raised: Actionstep allows you to export all of your data at any time, including e-mails. You can read more about this on our user guide. Data is exported in a standard format, but unfortunately it is beyond our control as to whether or not...

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The ability to build my practice management system my way, using tools available within Actionstep and also through the integration of other applications.

The need to manually link incoming emails to matter files. I mention this because I came to love the ability to create a unique email address for each and every matter, but I do acknowledge that the need for higher levels of security is the reason that this feature had to be retired.

Hi Peter, Thank you for your fantastic review. Its great to hear after all these years Actionstep continues to grow with your firm. As always, please do not hesitate to contact our customer success or support teams should you have any questions. Thanks

the display of the program is good and some of the support team is quite responsive

The invoice system is terrible as it is not able to add it back to the matter. Further, the invoice system does not accept other currency billing method - this must be changed asap. Other CRM can amend the invoice on the matter file - not like actionstep need to download and upload the documents manually - that's ridiculous

Hi Arthur Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback, and we very sorry you haven't had a great experience. We have made significant upgrades to our billing since this review and hope you have had the opportunity to try them. Additionally, we have recently released our Lawpay add-on which should help amend some of the issues raised here. Addressing your questions around implementation, our support team is available to answer any queries you may have to make the most of our software - support@actionstep.com Thanks

You can customize it according to your needs, including custom reports and exports. It's easy to use on a daily basis and has an attractive platform that is well organized. It has it's own document storage, so you don't have to use two different programs/services to get it to work (such as box or another doc storage service) It does conflict checks and syncs with e-mail so you can assign e-mails as you send/receive them to the matter they are relevant to.

The customer support is terrible. Response time has been poor. When there is a response, it typically is, refer to the on-line manual. My spouse is an IT person, so I'm fairly computer program savvy. So I don't contact tech support unless I've gone through everything in the manual and tried everything I can think of first. When that is met with "look at the manual" it's beyond frustrating. Once we get past that, it usually doesn't take them long to get the issue resolved or walk me through what needs to be done to achieve the goal. Also, in order to use the macros letters/documents where information auto-populates from your case into the letter or document, you pretty much have to be a computer programmer to get that to work.

Jennifer, thanks for your feedback. [Updated Aug 2020] - Over the last year, we have focused on improving our support teams response rate & the quality of their responses. We now see upwards of 90% positive feedback after customers have dealt with our team and strive to improve that even further. We apologize you had a poor experience with our team. If there is anything we can do to help you get the most from Actionstep, please do not hesitate to contact our team.

We like how we can use our workflows to track each client thru the process. The reporting we receive is great and helps us stay on top of our business.

The accounting reports cannot be changed and at times the accounting functions don't work the way we would want them to.

Briana - thank you for such a positive review. Delighted your experience with Actionstep has been great. Just wanted to mention that we continually make updates to our product, including to the accounting function, so if you do have specific requests or suggestions, do funnel them through support@actionstep.com so our product team can review them in light of upcoming development. Thanks again!

It was easy to integrate and allows all team members to access all information from anywhere with an internet connection. Including file notes, emails and documents as well as time records. You can set tasks and monitor the step a matter is on with ease.

Integration with Outlook is good but not able to upload documents or attach documents if using Office 365

Hi Tammy, Thank you for such a positive review. Great to hear you are using our add-in for Office 365. To you comment on being able to upload & attach documents - this is now a supported feature. We are continuing to improve the add-in but if you do have specific requests or suggestions, please do not hesitate to email support@actionstep.com so our product team can assess them in light of upcoming development. Thanks

e-mail integration is easy and seamless highly customizable excellent document management

steep learning curve weak online training materials requires a consultant to truly make it work our version does not yet sync with Quickbooks

Richard - thanks for taking the time to review Actionstep - it's great to hear such positive comments about email and document management. I just wanted to acknowledge your comments on training. We are working on improvements to our on-boarding materials will most certainly use your feedback to improve training. I will ask someone in our our support team to get in touch with you about your Quickbooks Sync. Thanks again and do get in touch with our support team anytime you need help: support@actionstep.com

It's thorough knowledge of the special rules that apply to law firms; the ability to modify your processes to reflect your specific jurisdiction and forms. I like the ability to see who did what, and when. There is a lot of accountability in this system.

Some of the accounting modules are (rightly and deliberately so) difficult to correct if an error is made in parts of the accounting system. The system forces a great deal of transparency. They just need to update all the accounting modules.

The best feature is the ability for everyone to enter their time contemporaneously. The customizable workflows are nice, though there is a bit of a learning curve to implement them. Also,it's nice to have practice management and accounting all rolled into one software.

Some of the reports aren't very good. The basic accounting reports, like the income statement and balance sheet, are fine. But some of the others, like the ones that look at time entries or payments by clients, are difficult to understand. They have some very fine nuances that aren't explained anywhere, and that makes it hard to make apples to apples comparisons if you have to use two different reports.

Hi Ashley, Thank you for such a positive review. Great to hear you have utilized Actionstep to make your firm more efficient and thus more billable time. We understand our product is comprehensive and it sounds like you have started to customize it to your needs. In regards to your custom reporting - I have put in a request to our Customer Success Manager who can help you create the reporting you require. Thanks

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No cons were added to this review

I now have an almost complete solution to practice management. Before, I had no system, no way of keeping things straight. But then I started to become too busy to keep track of things in my mind, and it started getting chaotic. That's where Actionstep has saved my practice from disorganization. I track all of my time and do all of my billing from Actionstep. I keep my entire database of contacts on Actionstep. Trust ledger accounting is great. Tasks, calendar reminders, document storage, file notes. It's all great. When a client calls, I quickly pull up their file and *bam*, there's everything. There are many other useful features that I know I just haven't even tapped into yet.

- There is a pretty steep learning curve, and the user guides aren't always that helpful. Sometimes I find myself spending 20 minutes trying to figure out a very simple thing, like how to reopen a matter that I accidentally closed. - Before using Actionstep, I kept everything on Google Drive. Great, Actionstep integrates Google Drive. But not as well as I would like it to be integrated. I had to...

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I think I trialed almost all of the major case management software companies out there and this company blew all of the others out of the water for me. The product is reliable and does exactly what we need. Before we purchased this product I had to do most of my work manually and things would slip through the cracks. This product has resolved that issue. I also love the document generation feature...

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No cons were added to this review

We rely on tasks and steps to complete estate planning for our clients, and Actionstep makes it easy to keep track of where we are in our planning process. With Actionstep we can easily transition from one step or task to the next, eliminating the need for pen and paper. We use this program frequently throughout the work day. We can even email and upload documents through their secure client portals. We would be lost without it!

the only con to Actionstep is not having a local customer service rep, but they are good about getting back to you in a timely manner, so the lack of someone local doesn't usually come into play.

AmyAnn - thanks for such a wonderful review - we are so happy you and the team at Lakeview Trust & Estate Law find Actionstep so necessary!

I like that it keeps all of our records easily accessible without having to pull each file.

It is so customizable it makes it hard to set up and use the software. I had to watch several hours of videos to design one matter type and invoice. I also wish that the HOME section of each matter had "sticky note" capability.

Hi Julie - thanks for your review and your comments. it's really helpful to get this kind of feedback from our customers. We are working on our on-boarding processes and your comments will help us to make improvements. Regarding your sticky notes comment - some of our customers find File Notes are a decent substitute for sticky notes, as the text within the notes can easily be pasted into different areas of the system. I hope that helps. If you have any further queries please do get in touch with our support team on support@actionstep.com as they often have suggestions for using the system to suit you best. Thanks again for your review.

I have found that the combination of file management, ticklers, calendar and ability to operate across the law firm by our users was very helpful

As an Internet cloud-based program it is subject to the rims of the various Internet providers use across the firm. That being said, in four years I have only had one problem which lasted more than half a day, and it was probably addressed by customer service

Hi Bruce, Thank you for your response - Great to hear you are seeing the benefits of Actionstep across your entire firm. Thanks

Actionstep makes it so easy to manage our hundreds of cases, by use of customizable overviews and matter data.

Sometimes our emails do not come through to the inbox in actionstep- mostly internal emails and sometimes emails from outside parties go straight to the case.

Narissa - thank you for your review. It is great to hear how Actionstep helps you manage such a huge caseload! I will raise your note about emails with the team here. If you have any other questions about the system, please do contact our support team (support@actionstep.com) and they will be happy to investigate.

Easy to use and manage client and matter information and link applicable parties.

Two users can be in the same document at the same time (without any notice) resulting in work being lost when one user saves over the other. Interface isn't seamless between Powerpoint & Adobe.

Thanks for your positive comments. A quick tip on document editing: you can use our "check-out" feature to check out a document for editing and then check it back in when done. That will indicate to other users that you are working on the document. Hope that helps

Love how everything relating to a client emails, documents, notes, calendar is all in one place. Plus reasonable cost even for small firm. We like integration with gmail.

We're waiting for integration of accounting software which is the last piece of the puzzle. Wish we could have faster upload/download times for documents. But that could be a function of cap of internet speed in a rural area.

It is very easy to use and navigate. i would recommend this portal to other paralegals.

I wish when entering court dates that I can add more than one attorney at a time.

Sarah - Thank you for such a positive review. We are delighted Actionstep compares so well to other providers in your experience. We will certainly raise your note about adding multiple attorneys at a time to court dates with our product development team. In the meantime, our support team is always on hand for any queries - support@actionstep.com

Ability to generate documentation. Could-based (no servers needed). Document management. Trust accounting works very well.

Interface with Xero is a bit clunky. A bit complex when trying to set up new Action Types.

Actionstep makes it easy for multiple team members to monitor client matters. It is extremely helpful to have so many features for client management available all in one place and on the same platform.

I need to be able to draft "visually appealing" statements that span the entire service of a matter and have not been able to find a place in a/s to do that.

Workflow automation, task creation and automated emails

Setting up the system to integrate with office procedures is difficult and very expensive. Setting up is not user-friendly and will cost over $20,000 for even the smallest of offices. They are constantly making changes to the system which always breaks something else. Their support is poor to none. Had we not invested so much already into this system, we would look for something else. Lots of "promises" with no delivery. This product could be the best there is if they would just make what they have actually "WORK".

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback on your experience with Actionstep. We're pleased to hear that the workflow automation, task creation, and automated emails have helped to save you time in your case management. Regarding the changes we make to the system, we strive to improve our product by releasing updates that add new features, improve existing functionality, and address any issues. However, we understand that changes can sometimes result in unexpected glitches, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We appreciate your feedback and encourage you to reach out to our support team if you have any further concerns or issues. We value your business and hope to have the opportunity to earn back your trust.

We like the matter dashboard a lot and it's probably the firms favorite feature since all the most important information is readily available.

INTEGRATIONS: If you're looking to switch to AS because of the integrations they offer make sure they actually work exactly how you intend them to. Lawpay: If you use lawpay their integration is useless since it only grabs new charges and does not include any past due amounts. I brought this up because we really wanted this to function, but we were told they would not fix the issue. InfoTrack -...

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Hi Peter, Thank you for your feedback. I have passed this on to our product team. I have also passed on your details to our Customer Success Manager who will reach out to you to find solutions for these pain points. Thanks, Matt