General Suggestions

These suggestions improve day-to-day use, especially on touch devices, stylus devices, and small screens.

Screenshot placeholder: App running in full screen with Help minimized as a small chip and Canvas controls visible.

For a better app experience on Android tablets and touch devices, consider changing the device navigation setting from gesture navigation to button navigation.

Button navigation can make it easier to:

Avoid accidental back gestures while drawing or selecting text.
Keep the app stable during stylus writing.
Use full-screen modes without fighting edge gestures.
Switch apps deliberately when needed.

This setting is controlled by the operating system, not by CogniVenue-Legal. Look for system navigation settings in the device Settings app.

CogniVenue-Legal keeps the workspace in its own landscape or simulated full-screen portrait layout while allowing Android’s native activity orientation to follow device rotation. You can therefore momentarily rotate an Android tablet to reposition the device’s navigation buttons without changing the app workspace orientation.

Before using this technique, enable Auto-rotate in Android Quick Settings or Display settings. If the device orientation is locked to Portrait or Landscape, physically rotating the device will not reposition the navigation buttons while CogniVenue-Legal is open.

When typing while holding the tablet in landscape, momentarily rotate the device to portrait. This can move navigation buttons from the wide bottom edge to the shorter bottom edge, reducing accidental touches near a full-width keyboard. Return the tablet to your preferred physical position after the buttons have moved.
When handwriting in a portrait PenPad, momentarily rotate the device to landscape. This can move or hide the navigation buttons along the longer bottom edge, keeping them away from the writing hand. Reposition the tablet in portrait after the buttons have moved; the simulated portrait PenPad remains portrait.

Android, the device’s auto-rotate setting, and the selected navigation mode ultimately control where and when the navigation buttons appear. In any full-screen portrait layout—Global UI, document view, or Canvas/PenPad—opening the keyboard temporarily aligns the native activity to portrait. Dismissing the keyboard or closing the text-entry control restores native landscape orientation, then returns native orientation control to the device sensor.

Use a floating keyboard on tablets

On tablets, enable the keyboard’s Floating mode when it is available. A full-width keyboard fixed to the bottom of the screen can occupy a large part of the display and force document, Canvas/PenPad, annotation, search, and dialog controls upward.

A floating keyboard is especially useful when:

Entering search text in a document.
Adding tags or comments.
Typing in annotation and color dialogs.
Naming a Case, Canvas, PenPad, document, or folder.
Working in global, document, or Canvas/PenPad full-screen portrait mode.

Portrait full-screen modes are simulated inside CogniVenue-Legal, independently of Android’s native activity orientation. In Global UI, document-view, and Canvas/PenPad full-screen portrait modes, a visible keyboard temporarily requests portrait activity orientation so the keyboard aligns with the simulated portrait layout. Dismissing the keyboard restores native landscape and then returns orientation control to the device sensor. Keyboard layout and floating-mode availability otherwise remain controlled by the installed keyboard and operating system.

The top-left control is always visible. Click or tap its double-arrow notch to expand the carousel containing the Hamburger menu, Search Case, app full-screen, annotation color, and Center Canvas controls. Search Case opens a searchable Case picker that deliberately switches the complete workspace to the selected Case. The hamburger drawer provides access to app-wide actions and settings, including Help, GUI Mode, Backup/Restore, and other available controls.

Screenshot placeholder: Expanded top-left carousel with the Hamburger menu, Search Case, full-screen, color selector, and Center Canvas controls.

Account access does not expire

Free accounts are not time-bound trials. Free and paid accounts have no time-bound access limitation for existing Cases, Global Library material, or Global Library subheads.

A free account can create up to two Cases and cannot create Global Library subheads. The first paid allowance purchase is the required 5-pack, which provides additional Case creation allowance and enables unlimited Global Library subhead creation. After that first 5-pack, additional Case creation allowance can be purchased in packs of 1 or 5.

Deleting a Case does not return its creation allowance. Delete all documents, Canvas/PenPad files, recordings, and other content before deleting the Case itself.

Full-screen app use

For focused work, use the app full-screen control after startup.

Once the whole workspace is full screen, use the top-right Landscape workspace and Portrait workspace buttons to switch layouts. On Android, the CogniVenue-Legal workspace orientation remains independent of the native activity orientation, and portrait workspace is simulated inside the app. This lets you momentarily rotate a tablet to reposition its system navigation controls without rotating the CogniVenue-Legal workspace. When a keyboard opens in Global UI, document-view, or Canvas/PenPad full-screen portrait mode, the temporary native portrait alignment described above applies. Portrait workspace keeps the browser, document, and Canvas/PenPad relationship visible with more vertical working room.

If the left browser is squeezed shut, use the left-center handle to slide it over the document temporarily. It stays open while you choose Cases, library locations, documents, and Canvas/PenPad files; close it with the browser close control or by clicking/tapping outside it. Landscape and portrait workspace splitter positions are remembered independently.

Full-screen mode is useful when:

Reviewing long documents.
Working with the Canvas.
Writing in PenPad.
Using a stylus.
Comparing document pages with notes.

If you need Help while in full screen, open Help, then use Float Help or Minimize Help so the main workspace remains accessible.

PenPad portrait writing

For running text notes with a pen or stylus, set the PenPad to full-screen portrait mode when available.

Portrait full-screen PenPad gives a more stable writing surface because:

The writing area is taller.
Accidental toolbar hits are reduced.
Continuous handwriting has more vertical room.
Stylus movement feels closer to a paper notebook.

Use landscape when you are mapping, comparing, or presenting. Use portrait when you are writing longer notes.

Palm contact and stylus responsiveness

Palm rejection can prevent many unintended touches while you make handwritten notes, but the writing feel varies by tablet, digitizer, stylus, driver, app, and operating-system settings. On some devices, writing may feel more responsive when the hand or palm is not resting on the screen. If you notice lag or reduced responsiveness, try lifting your palm slightly. A drawing glove may reduce skin friction, but it does not replace palm rejection or guarantee faster input.

Center Canvas before adding content

Press Center Canvas before:

Card creation.
Copy to Canvas.
Document annotation actions that send material to Canvas.
Adding new source-linked notes.
Starting a dense issue or evidence map.

Find Center Canvas at the workspace’s top left, or in the expanded tool strip in full-screen Canvas/PenPad. On Canvas it restores the most zoomed-out view (5%); on PenPad it fits the page. After Copy to Canvas puts selected document text into a new Canvas node, the view automatically changes to 50% for readability. Press Center Canvas again when you want the widest overview.

Zoom in at Canvas/PenPad level before working on small cards or controls, then adjust the selected node’s text size if needed. See Canvas zoom, then node-level zoom and Copy document text to a node.

Bring hidden Canvas objects back into view

Press Center Canvas to return to the Canvas’s most zoomed-out 5% central overview or fit the fixed PenPad page. It resets the view without moving saved objects. A distant Canvas item can still lie outside that central overview.

If an item is still outside the view, check the active file and location, then pan or zoom from the overview to find it. After locating the area, zoom the Canvas/PenPad in before selecting the card. For small arrow-creation or background buttons, use Canvas-level zoom; the node’s text-size buttons enlarge its text, not those controls.

Help while working

The Help window can be used in three ways:

Docked: Help stays on the right side.
Floating: Help becomes a movable window inside the app.
Minimized: Help collapses to a small chip while keeping its place, search, and history alive.

Use floating or minimized Help when you need to keep the workspace visible while following instructions.

Navigation mode

Temporarily reposition navigation buttons while writing