WESTLAWNEXT QUICK REFERENCE FOR PREFERENCES, CUSTOM PAGES & FAVOURITES
WestlawNext Customisation
Preferences | Custom Pages | Favourites
Create your own research experience
Setting Preferences, saving Favourites and creating Custom Pages allows you to tailor WestlawNext to your
specific research needs. This is particularly helpful if you use international materials, news or Practical Law
content because this content does not form part of the core US content sets searched by WestlawNext’s global
search. By building a Custom Page, however, you can gather and search your key content from one page and,
even better, you can make it your Start Page. Custom Pages can also be shared with other WestlawNext users so
one person’s effort can be re-used. Saving Favourites and setting preferences also improves how WestlawNext
works for you.
Set your Preferences
1. Sign on to WestlawNext at www.next.westlaw.com.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Edit home page. Tick the Folders, Favourites and Custom Pages
features. Click Save.
Figure 1. Click on Edit home page and Preferences to set your own features
3. Click on Preferences. You can change your preferences at any time.
a. Profile Tab. Select Auckland time zone. If you mainly search UK and Canadian cases, Set UK and Canada
as your Find jurisdiction. Click Save.
b. Billing Tab. Ignore Billing option. NZ users pay by subscription. To Send History At Sign Off, tick the
option and provide an email address. Click Save.
c. Search Tab. If you want to change your search preferences to always run searches as Boolean terms and
connectors, tick both search option boxes. This overrides WestlawNext’s default plain language search
method which may retrieve additional results that do not necessarily contain your exact terms and
phrase connectors. Select the default sort order you prefer. Click Save.
d. Delivery Tab. Decide individual preferences. If you make changes, click Save.
e. Citations Tab. Suggest ALWD or Standard for citation format. Select other preferences as wanted. Click
Save.
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Adding and Organising Favourites
Using Favourites is a convenient way to create groups of content you frequently search and have them
accessible on the right of the home page. Add Favourites whenever you are at a particular content type by
clicking Add to Favourites. You can then group together content that you typically search together. For example,
by topic (intellectual property), jurisdiction (United Kingdom) or content type (journals). To group and manage
Favourites, click Organise. Drag, drop, rename and delete Favourites as needed and then click Done.
Figure 2. Add your frequently used content as a Favourite.
Searching and Navigating a Custom Page
Searching from a Custom Page is easy and similar to running searches anywhere else on WestlawNext.
1. If you are not already on your Custom Page, click the Custom Page you want to search in the Custom Page
widget on the Home Page.
Figure 3. Navigate to a Custom Page.
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2. If you are already on a Custom Page and want to navigate to another Custom Page you have set up, click on
the name of your page in the upper right corner above the Manage Page link.
Figure 4. Navigate to a Custom Page and select the content you want to search .
3. By default, Custom Pages will search all checked content on your page. You can choose to select specific
content by choosing the All Clear button. Then select the content set(s) you would like to search by ticking
the box next to their name.
4. Once you have selected the content you want to search, type your query into the search box at the top of
the page and click the Search button. You can run a terms and connectors search or a plain language search:
a. If your search does not contain any recognised Boolean connectors (for example/p, /s, %, !, +20) the
search will default to plain language. AND, OR or a phrase within quotation marks will not trigger a
Boolean search (although this can be modified on your Preferences Search Tab).
b. You can trigger a terms and connectors search in three ways:
 Using recognised Boolean connectors such as /p, /s, %, !, +20. For example, burden /s proof prov! (a
space is an OR connector)
 Enter the Advanced command ADV: into the search box. For example, ADV: picketing and (mall
“shopping centre”)
 Using the advanced search template.
5. Your results are organised based on the content sets you selected to search. Your content sets are shown on
the left side of the page with the number of results next to each category. Click to an individual content set
to see more results. Additional filters will appear after you click into a particular content set. See Figure 5.
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Figure 5. Search results on Custom Pages.
How to Create a Custom Page
1. Click on the Create New link from the Custom Pages widget on the WestlawNext homepage. Name your
new page in the pop-up that appears and click Create Custom Page.
Figure 6. Click Create New to create your own Custom Page and name the Page.
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2. Select the Manage Page drop-down and click on Add Content Section.
3. After naming the new content section, eg, United Kingdom, click Save and a new content box will appear.
Click the Add Content button to start adding content to your section.
Figure 7. Add content S ections, Name them, then add content to your Custom Page.
4. To browse and add UK, Canadian, EU, Hong Kong, Korean and other Multinational content, click
International Materials. A blue link indicates a multi-base which you can select by ticking it, or you can click
on the blue link and drill down further to select individual databases. Use the breadcrumb trail at the top of
the Tab to easily navigate back to International Materials and continue making selections.
You can also search and add content by typing the content name into the search box at the top. This is a
good option for publication titles, eg Harvard Law Review, or for country materials, eg Australia & New
Zealand News.
Figure 8. Add Content to your Custom Page by browsing or typing a content name and
searching for matching content .
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Once you find the content you want, check the box next to it. Your selection appears on the right side of the
window. Check additional boxes to add more content to that section or click Save to save your selection.
Figure 9. Add Content to your Custom Page by browsing or typing a content name and searching
for matching content
5. Repeat steps 1 to 3 for each content section you wish to add to your Custom Page.
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To add tools to a Custom Page, follow these steps:
To add Tools to your Custom Page, such as Find a Citation, Folders, and Favourites, click the Manage Page dropdown, then click on Tools Section. Select the tools you want to include and click Save. The tools you selected will
automatically appear on the right side of your Custom Page.
Figure 10. Add Content to your Custom Page by browsing or typing a content name and
searching for matching content .
Make a Custom Page Your Start Page and Send a Custom Page
To make a Custom Page your Start Page when you log in to WestlawNext, form the Custom Page, click Make this
My Start Page.
To share your Custom Page with other WestlawNext users, select Manage Page from the Custom Page you
would like to send. Click Send Copy. Select or enter the email address. If your colleague is outside your
organisation, an invitation to accept the Custom Page will be sent.
Figure 11. Make a Custom Page your Start Page and Send a Copy to share with other
WestlawNext users.
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Edit a Custom Page
1. Select the Manage Page drop-down in the upper right-hand corner of your Custom Page and click Edit Page.
2. Use the Edit Content, Rename and Delete commands to make your changes.
3. Re-arrange sections by dragging and dropping them anywhere on the page. You can also drag and drop
content links.
4. After you have finished making you changes you must click Save Changes to save any changes.
Figure 12. Edit, Rename, Delete, Drag and Drop and then click Save Changes.
LOOKING FOR MORE INFORMATION?

To register for a webinar, visit http://training.thomsonreuters.com.au/products/westlawnext/webinars/

For free user guides and e-tutorials visit http://legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.com/westlaw-support and
WestlawNext Help Center at https://ia.next.westlaw.com/StaticContent_29.1.2007/help/index.html

To contact a NZ trainer, email [email protected]

For technical assistance, email [email protected]
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