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Way to turn off automatic timing out in Westlaw Next?

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 9:58 pm
by Judge Philip Banks
Self-explanatory. That feature is annoying.

Re: Way to turn off automatic timing out in Westlaw Next?

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:30 pm
by cinephile
This is why I prefer Lexis. And no, I never figured it out, but I'm not exactly computer savvy.

Re: Way to turn off automatic timing out in Westlaw Next?

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:52 pm
by Judge Philip Banks
cinephile wrote:This is why I prefer Lexis. And no, I never figured it out, but I'm not exactly computer savvy.
Can't figure it out either... :/ I think I remember my research professor saying that we can't turn off that feature, but I still feel like there's got to be a way...

Do you use Advance? I've only logged into my account once (to set it up), so I don't know how it compares to WLNext. Even though I prefer the WL UI over Lexis, I'd be willing to try Advance if it really is good.

Re: Way to turn off automatic timing out in Westlaw Next?

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:59 pm
by law777
Call them - they are available 24/7, i believe

Re: Way to turn off automatic timing out in Westlaw Next?

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:06 pm
by cinephile
Judge Philip Banks wrote:
cinephile wrote:This is why I prefer Lexis. And no, I never figured it out, but I'm not exactly computer savvy.
Can't figure it out either... :/ I think I remember my research professor saying that we can't turn off that feature, but I still feel like there's got to be a way...

Do you use Advance? I've only logged into my account once (to set it up), so I don't know how it compares to WLNext. Even though I prefer the WL UI over Lexis, I'd be willing to try Advance if it really is good.
Lexis Advance is pretty similar to Westlaw Next. Mostly I just save everything to pdf as soon as I open it, then I don't have to worry about the logout.

Re: Way to turn off automatic timing out in Westlaw Next?

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:14 pm
by Judge Philip Banks
I just got off the phone with the reference attorneys and technical support. The reference attorney said that there should be a way to extend the period of time before WLNext will time out, but he transferred me to tech support to figure this out. Tech support then said that all schools' contracts require that students' accounts time out after a certain period of time (the time period is uniform across all schools), and that it cannot be extended. So that's that...

Re: Way to turn off automatic timing out in Westlaw Next?

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:18 pm
by spleenworship
Judge Philip Banks wrote:I just got off the phone with the reference attorneys and technical support. The reference attorney said that there should be a way to extend the period of time before WLNext will time out, but he transferred me to tech support to figure this out. Tech support then said that all schools' contracts require that students' accounts time out after a certain period of time (the time period is uniform across all schools), and that it cannot be extended. So that's that...
Damn... I frequently end up saving cases I dont end up needing because I don't want to go through the hassle of going back to them.... And then I'm like "why the heck did I save this?" and waste 2 minutes figuring it out.

Re: Way to turn off automatic timing out in Westlaw Next?

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:21 pm
by Judge Philip Banks
spleenworship wrote:
Judge Philip Banks wrote:I just got off the phone with the reference attorneys and technical support. The reference attorney said that there should be a way to extend the period of time before WLNext will time out, but he transferred me to tech support to figure this out. Tech support then said that all schools' contracts require that students' accounts time out after a certain period of time (the time period is uniform across all schools), and that it cannot be extended. So that's that...
Damn... I frequently end up saving cases I dont end up needing because I don't want to go through the hassle of going back to them.... And then I'm like "why the heck did I save this?" and waste 2 minutes figuring it out.
Couldn't you just check your history?

Re: Way to turn off automatic timing out in Westlaw Next?

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:28 pm
by spleenworship
Judge Philip Banks wrote:
spleenworship wrote:
Judge Philip Banks wrote:I just got off the phone with the reference attorneys and technical support. The reference attorney said that there should be a way to extend the period of time before WLNext will time out, but he transferred me to tech support to figure this out. Tech support then said that all schools' contracts require that students' accounts time out after a certain period of time (the time period is uniform across all schools), and that it cannot be extended. So that's that...
Damn... I frequently end up saving cases I dont end up needing because I don't want to go through the hassle of going back to them.... And then I'm like "why the heck did I save this?" and waste 2 minutes figuring it out.
Couldn't you just check your history?

U would think so. But I tend to open ten or twenty cases at a time and go through them one at a time.

In all likelihood searching history would be more efficient, but I tend to get stuck doing things one way and find it hard to change. Stupid OCD.

Re: Way to turn off automatic timing out in Westlaw Next?

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:33 pm
by Judge Philip Banks
Well, at least if you save cases to a folder, you can create a little note under the case name and citation to remind yourself why you saved the case in the first place. That might be especially useful if you are saving in bulk and not looking at some cases until later.

Re: Way to turn off automatic timing out in Westlaw Next?

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 9:23 am
by The Duck
spleenworship wrote:
Judge Philip Banks wrote:
spleenworship wrote:
Judge Philip Banks wrote:I just got off the phone with the reference attorneys and technical support. The reference attorney said that there should be a way to extend the period of time before WLNext will time out, but he transferred me to tech support to figure this out. Tech support then said that all schools' contracts require that students' accounts time out after a certain period of time (the time period is uniform across all schools), and that it cannot be extended. So that's that...
Damn... I frequently end up saving cases I dont end up needing because I don't want to go through the hassle of going back to them.... And then I'm like "why the heck did I save this?" and waste 2 minutes figuring it out.
Couldn't you just check your history?

U would think so. But I tend to open ten or twenty cases at a time and go through them one at a time.

In all likelihood searching history would be more efficient, but I tend to get stuck doing things one way and find it hard to change. Stupid OCD.
Why not drop a note at the top of the case when you save noting why you saved it? I even highlight the applicable paragraph I'm interested in.

Re: Way to turn off automatic timing out in Westlaw Next?

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 11:59 am
by spleenworship
Judge Philip Banks wrote:Well, at least if you save cases to a folder, you can create a little note under the case name and citation to remind yourself why you saved the case in the first place. That might be especially useful if you are saving in bulk and not looking at some cases until later.

I can add a note?

Damn, I really should've gone to some of those trainings they offered longer than the 5 minutes it took to scam the pizza and head back out.

Re: Way to turn off automatic timing out in Westlaw Next?

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 11:35 am
by TTH
WestLaw time out drives me up the wall.

Re: Way to turn off automatic timing out in Westlaw Next?

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 11:42 am
by booboo
For WestLawNext... I usually open each case in a different tab and then they all timeout. Once that happens, I go back to my search page, and login. It usually takes me to my search results page. After that, I refresh each tab and it takes me back to each case I had open. Maybe that helps some of you?

ETA: Refresh or press the back button. If the Back button isn't greyed out, you can usually press that one you login to go back to the previous page.