A leading national law firm with nearly 1,000 set out to transform how its attorneys access and use knowledge. By adopting imDocShare, the firm brought secure iManage content directly into Microsoft 365 without moving or duplicating files.

What began as a simple requirement to view and edit iManage documents within SharePoint soon evolved into a firm-wide initiative to unify search, reduce context switching, and streamline attorney workflows. imDocShare Hybrid Search App became foundational to transforming how knowledge is accessed across the enterprise.

When Browsing Was No Longer Enough!

As SharePoint Online became the daily workspace for attorneys, a friction emerged: lawyers needed faster, more intuitive ways to locate documents stored in iManage. While imDocShare Web Parts enabled real time viewing and editing, attorneys increasingly expressed the need for a search first experience rather than navigating pages manually.

The Firm adopted imDocShare Hybrid Search App, an enhanced search experience embedded directly into the SharePoint search bar. This innovation solved the challenge immediately.

imDocShare Hybrid Search delivered a unified search capability directly within the SharePoint search bar. Attorneys can now search by document name, number, client ID, matter ID, or metadata, and receive results from both SharePoint and iManage instantly. This eliminated context switching and introduced a single, firm-wide search experience.

• Real-time, secure access to iManage content within SharePoint without duplication.
• Unified search across iManage, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft 365 content.
• Higher attorney productivity through instant document retrieval.
• Reduced dependency on multiple systems and improved intranet adoption.

Consistent governance and security through permission based visibility.

imDocShare Hybrid Search unifies search results from iManage Work Server, SharePoint, or any Microsoft 365 content, and Microsoft 365 Q&A capabilities. This elevates SharePoint to a true central digital workspace, where attorneys access everything they need through one interface.

For a large, multi-office law firm, the impact was transformational:

Documents are now located in seconds, not minutes, dramatically reducing time spent searching across systems.

All content remains securely stored within iManage, with only searchability extended into SharePoint.

SharePoint becomes the “knowledge home,” allowing attorneys to:

• Browse iManage workspaces via imDocShare Web Parts.
• Search across systems with Hybrid Search.
• Access Microsoft 365 files in the same location.

The intranet evolves from a static site into a dynamic, high-value daily workspace.

Through the combined implementation of imDocShare and Hybrid Search, the firm achieved:

• Unified knowledge discovery across SharePoint, iManage, and Microsoft 365.
• Faster document retrieval via unified search experience.
• Greater attorney adoption of the SharePoint intranet.
• No content duplication, preserving ethical wall compliance and governance.
• Reduced system switching, enabling attorneys to focus on high-value work.
• Real-time access and editing of iManage documents within Microsoft 365.

Attorneys can now search, find, view, and edit iManage content – fully within SharePoint, securely and seamlessly.

This transformation reflects a growing shift across the legal industry from system-centric knowledge management to user-centric knowledge delivery.

Modern law firms are unifying search and access to eliminate friction and place knowledge directly where attorneys work. By simplifying discovery and aligning knowledge access with everyday workflows, firms gain measurable advantages in:

• Time savings
• Responsiveness to clients
• Attorney satisfaction
• Operational efficiency

This firm’s forward-looking approach serves as a model for how legal organizations can future-proof their knowledge ecosystem through unified, intelligent, and effortless search.