Getting started¶

This page is for attorneys, paralegals and office staff who are opening Kosmos for the first time. It covers signing in, the page you see first each day, how the application is laid out, and the settings worth a look on your first day.

Sign in¶

Your administrator gives you the address of your firm's Kosmos and a password. You sign in with your work email address, and every sign-in has a second step: a code from an authenticator app on your phone once you have set one up, or, until then, a code Kosmos emails you. So have your work email open the first time.

1. Open your firm's Kosmos address. The page reads Log in to your account.
2. Type your Email and Password and click Submit.
3. Find the six-digit code in the email Kosmos sends you (or open your authenticator app, if you have set one up).
4. Type the code on the next page and click Verify.

You are now in Kosmos: on the Dash if this is your first visit of the day, on Tasks otherwise.

To sign out, click your name at the foot of the sidebar (the person icon, until you choose another) and then Log out. The same menu shows who is signed in and opens Settings.

Good to know:

• The emailed code works for five minutes. After five wrong tries Kosmos discards it and shows "Too many incorrect codes. Please log in again."
• There is no button to send the code again. Click Back to Login and sign in again. That sends a new code and cancels the old one.
• After five wrong passwords (or app codes) Kosmos makes you wait before the next try: 30 seconds at first, longer with each further miss, up to 15 minutes. The page tells you how long. Nothing is locked; just wait and try again.
• Log out signs out the browser you are using, and no other. A browser you do not sign out of stays signed in until it goes eight weeks unused. To sign out everywhere else at once (a lost phone, a shared computer), use Sign Out Everywhere Else under Settings → Security; you stay signed in where you clicked it.

If you forget your password¶

1. Click Forgot Password? on the sign-in page.
2. Type the email address on your Kosmos account and click Submit.
3. Open the link in the email Kosmos sends (it works for three days), type a new password twice and click Submit.

Kosmos shows "Your new password has been set." Sign in as usual. You still need an emailed code.

Start the day on the Dash¶

The first time you open Kosmos each day, it takes you to the Dash, whichever page you asked for. After that it leaves you alone until the next day. The Dash shows up to three sections:

• Upcoming Events: the next seven pending events on the matters you can see, earliest first. An event whose date has passed stays here until it is no longer pending. Click a card to open the event.
• Work in Progress: work that is recorded but not yet billed, as a chart and a table of Hours, Gross, Comp and Net for each matter. It starts on This Month. Use the date button on the right to pick another period. You see your own work. Administrators, and users with the Reports permission, see the whole firm's and can switch between By User and By Matter.
• Collections: Past Due balances and matters with Low Trust Available (Pending). Only administrators see this section.

Good to know:

• Kosmos checks again in each browser you use, and when you return to a tab left open from the day before. It waits while a dialog is open or you are typing in a field, then takes that tab to the Dash.

Find your way around¶

The sidebar on the left is the main menu. Entries appear in this order.

The button at the foot of the sidebar narrows it to icons, and widens it again. The Kosmos name at the top opens Tasks.

Work inside a matter¶

Click Matters, then a matter's name, for example "Rivera v. Northside Logistics". The matter opens on its Contacts tab. At the top are the matter's name, two pills (Detail and Case) and two small buttons that add time or an expense to this matter.

A matter has two sides. Click a pill to change sides.

Detail is the office side of the matter: who is involved, what work was recorded, what is scheduled, the court proceedings and the money. Case is the working file: the documents, the passages you marked in them, the fact timeline, witnesses, notes, email, and the AI tools with the matter's saved case law. Kosmos reopens each side on the tab you last used there.

AI appears only when your firm has set up AI. Without it, saved case law has a Case Law tab of its own in that place, and there may be neither. Rates and Ledger need the Financial permission. Saved case law needs the Research permission. Ask your administrator. The tabs are described in Matters.

Move to another matter¶

1. Click the matter's name at the top of the page. A list opens.
2. Click the matter you want.

The other matter opens on the side you were on (Detail or Case). On the Detail side, the two arrows at the far right step to the previous and the next matter in the same list.

Good to know:

• The list holds matters with the status Open only. To reach any other matter, use Matters or Search.

Search¶

1. Click Search in the sidebar.
2. Start typing. Results appear as you type, grouped under Matters, Proceedings, Contacts, Intakes and Notes.
3. To narrow the results, click a tab: All, Matters, Proceedings, Contacts, Intakes or Notes. (Intakes and their tab appear only if you have the Intakes permission.)
4. Click a result.

The matter, contact or intake opens. A note opens in a new browser tab. Search looks at matter names and descriptions, case numbers, contact and intake names, email addresses and phone numbers, and notes. A case number is found without its punctuation: "2024cv12345" finds "2024-CV-12345".

Good to know:

• This search does not read documents. To search inside one matter's documents, use the Search tab on its Case side.
• If you type digits only, Kosmos looks for phone numbers, case numbers and a matter's client reference number, not names or notes.

Keyboard shortcuts¶

Click Shortcuts in the sidebar for a list inside Kosmos, or see Keyboard shortcuts for every one. Many start with the Space bar: press Space, let go, then press the next key within half a second. These are the ones most worth knowing.

Good to know:

• Shortcuts do nothing while you type in a field, or while a dialog or a confirmation prompt is open.
• Switch Matter always opens the matter on its Detail side.

Make it yours¶

Everything here is under Settings in the sidebar.

• Settings → Profile: your Username (the short name shown on tasks and entries), name, Email address (what you sign in with) and Initials. Click Update Profile to save. Change Password is below it on the same page, and under Icon you can pick the icon that stands for you at the foot of the sidebar (a chess piece, an animal, a smile, a rose) in place of the plain person.
• Settings → Security: set up an authenticator app, so your second sign-in step is the code the app shows instead of an email. Click Set up an authenticator app, scan the QR code with the app (Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Authy, 1Password or any other that shows six-digit codes), type the code it shows and click Confirm. Your firm may require this; if so, Kosmos brings you to this page after you sign in and lets you go nowhere else until it is done. If you lose your phone, ask an administrator to reset it.
• Settings → Appearance: under Theme, pick Auto (follows your computer), a light theme (Basic, Letterhead, Matcha, Nord) or a dark one (Everforest, Gruvbox, Kosmic, Nord). Kosmic is Nord over the animated night sky from the Kosmos website. Under Matcha, Gradient lays a wash of light behind the page: Cool is green and lavender, Warm adds a patch of sun; None is the plain page. Under Navigation, pick Vertical (the sidebar) or Horizontal (a bar across the top). Both apply at once. There is no save button.
• Settings → Notifications: click Enable beside Daily Digest Email to get one email a day listing overdue items, today's schedule, and events and tasks due in the next three days. Send Test sends one now. If the email cannot be sent, the reason appears below the button.

Good to know:

• Sign-in codes go to the email address on your profile. Changing your password does not sign you out.
• The theme is saved in the browser you are using, so set it on each device. The navigation choice follows you to every device.
• The digest covers the firm's events and tasks on the matters you can see, not only your own. It skips weekends until you click Mon–Fri Only (Enable), and sends nothing on a day with nothing to report.

What you can and cannot see¶

Your administrator decides what each person can reach, using five permissions: All Matters, Financial, Intakes, Reports and Research. Without All Matters you see only the matters you are assigned to. Without one of the others, its sidebar entries and tabs are not shown to you. Reports is switched off for a new user until an administrator switches it on. Search finds only what you may open. If you follow a link to a page you may not open, Kosmos shows "You don't have permission to access this page."

If something you need is missing, ask your administrator. Administrators: see Users and permissions.