Track changes for draft emails
An Outlook Add-in for law firms.
No more manually styling your edits.
Show markup to draft emails with a single click.
Enable in-the-moment feedback & learning
What does Sideline do?
Sideline is an Outlook Add-in helping lawyers teach and develop critical written communication skills through real, on-the-job and in-the-moment feedback.
- Marking up the body of a colleague's draft email? Instantly see how much you've changed, or automatically convert your edits from clean into redlined text.
- Received your email back with edits made in clean? Sideline shows you the changes with a single click.
- Received your email back with edits shown in redline? Sideline lets you accept or reject any of the changes.
What's the strategic benefit of Sideline?
Sideline is a tool to boost learning & development by making it easier for the experts who already exist in your organisation (i.e. supervisors) to give detailed feedback on the draft emails they're already reviewing and settling on a daily basis.
It's true that manually styling edits (the most common current workaround) takes up a lot of time. And we could calculate 'hours saved' multiplied by 'charge out rates' and show you an impressive dollar figure. But that's missing the point. Sideline is about developing your most important asset - your staff. And it does that in a way you can be 100% confident works - not by lectures, workshops, e-learning modules or simulations, but by making real-world feedback easier to give and receive.
Is Sideline hard to learn and adopt?
Sideline fits within with lawyers' existing email drafting and review workflows, rather than trying to change how people work. Lawyers are already familiar with track changes and document comparison concepts. Most happily use Sideline without any training or by viewing our short intro video. That said, many lawyers do appreciate the option of a 10-15 minute live onboarding session, which we provide at no extra charge.
Importantly, while Sideline is all about improving collaboration, there's no need for supervisors to touch Sideline if they don't want to. Supervisors can simply markup draft emails in clean as usual, and once received by the original drafter, the original drafter can click one button in Sideline to see a redline. This makes change management and adoption much easier.
How expensive is Sideline?
We offer a 14 day free trial. Cancel anytime, no minimum user numbers. No hidden costs. No tricks.
Contact us for a quote in a different currency or enterprise-wide licensing arrangements. We serve law firms all around the world.
What about IT security and compatability?
Sideline is hosted on Microsoft Azure and TLS-secured to protect data in transit. No data (including emails) processed through Sideline is ever stored on our systems.
Sideline has also been independently security tested. Please get in touch for more information.
Sideline requires MS365 or Office LTSC2021, with Exchange Online. It works on Windows, Mac and Office on the web. Because Sideline has been built on Microsoft's modern, web-based 'Office Add-ins' platform, it won't interfere with Outlook or any other add-ins you have. Deployment is performed centrally and takes around 5 minutes.
What about these other common concerns?
I'm worried this will slow down Outlook even more.
Sideline is built on Microsoft's modern, web-based 'Office Add-ins' platform. This provides both security and performance isolation, so you won't have issues around speed or conflicts with Outlook or other add-ins. The problematic add-ins are the older style VSTO/COM add-ins.
I'm worried our Outlook ribbon is already too cluttered.
When you deploy Sideline, a new button labelled 'Track Changes' will appear in end users' Outlook ribbons. While nobody wants more clutter and confusion on the ribbon, this button presents something familiar and easy to understand.
We're very cautious around data security. Can we deploy on prem instead?
It's possible to deploy Sideline wholly within a customer's Azure environment. Please contact us for further information.
What's the ROI? How much time is saved?
Sideline is predominantly a learning & development tool. Think about how much you would be willing to spend per lawyer for a traditional training programme on email drafting and written communication skills. Compare that against the per lawyer cost of Sideline, knowing that everyday, on-the-job feedback is by far the most effective way to improve these skills.
How can I try Sideline on my Outlook?
Please contact us for step-by-step installation instructions. IT admin privileges will be needed to install Sideline because it connects with secure parts of your organisation's Microsoft ecosystem. As a result, it's not possible for end users to simply click a download button and start redlining emails. You can however try the clickable demo at the top of this website.
