Working Offline

The master copy of your firm’s data lives in Outlaw’s database. Your computer keeps a complete working copy and acts as a buffer between you and that database: every save lands in the buffer instantly (that’s why the app never makes you wait on a spinner), and the buffer syncs to the database moments later. When the internet drops, only that last step pauses. The buffer keeps accepting your work and holds it until a connection returns.

Picture the concrete case: you’re drafting case notes on courthouse wifi and it dies mid-sentence. Nothing visible happens. You finish the note, complete two tasks, record your time. Each save lands in the buffer and queues for the database. Twenty minutes later your connection returns, and the queue empties in the background.

Every Device, Updated Live

The database isn’t just the master copy: it’s the hub. The moment one of your buffered changes reaches it, the server pushes that change over a live connection to every signed-in device in your firm: your other computer, your phone, your colleagues’ screens. Nobody refreshes anything. Complete a task at the courthouse and the receptionist sees it done before you’ve packed your bag. The same live channel is how their changes appear on your screen as they happen.

How to Read the Indicators

The footer of the app tells you the whole story at a glance:

• Connected / Not Connected (bottom left): whether the app can currently reach the database. Dark green means yes; dark red means no.
• Queue: N shows how many changes are in the buffer waiting to sync. Watching this count down after reconnecting is how you know everything is landing.
• Up and down arrows: data actively uploading or downloading, with a progress count.

Individual records carry the same story in their text color: black means synced to the database, blue means in the buffer and waiting, and dark red means a sync was attempted and failed. Hover over it to see why.

When Outlaw Sends the Buffer

The app doesn’t blindly fire your changes at the network. Before sending anything, it checks that the conditions are actually safe:

• there’s a real working connection, you’re signed in, and the live update channel to the server is open;
• the initial data load has finished, so nothing is sent against a half-loaded picture;
• nothing is mid-download (uploads and downloads never mix);
• and if you have several tabs open, exactly one tab does the sending, so the same change can’t race itself.

Then the buffer empties, oldest first. A change that fails to send retries automatically with growing delays, and sending a change twice is harmless by design: the database recognizes and ignores duplicates. In the rare case the database permanently rejects a change, it doesn’t vanish: it appears in the Needs Attention panel at the top of your Home page, where you can open the record to fix it or discard that change.

If the App Closes Mid-Edit

Here’s the honest part. A record you have open in an editor, with unsaved edits, lives in your computer’s memory. Close the browser or crash, and that half-finished edit can be lost. Two important exceptions are saved to disk continuously as you type:

• Notes: a half-written note is recovered the next time you open the record.
• Tasks: an interrupted task edit re-opens, mid-edit, the next time you visit your tasks.

Everything you’ve actually saved is in the buffer and perfectly safe, connection or not. And two more backstops: the Blame Log on each record shows your unsaved edits as a pending entry, and Log Out is disabled while any record is still open for editing. Finish or discard those edits first, and the menu tells you why it’s waiting. Changes you’ve already saved never hold you up: it’s fine to log out while they’re still waiting to sync, and they finish the next time you sign in. If you reopen Outlaw while still offline, the app loads your firm’s data from the local working copy. You can keep reading and working without a connection at all.

When the Same Record Changed in Two Places

If a colleague edited the same record while you were offline, the most recent save is what everyone sees, and nothing is lost. Open the record’s Blame Log to see exactly who changed what and when, restore the other version outright if it was the better one, or copy the pieces you need into the current entry.

What Still Needs a Connection

Anything that talks to the outside world wants a live connection: adding or suspending users and changing email addresses (these touch the login service), taking payments, exporting your data, and opening documents stored in the cloud. The app disables these actions while offline rather than letting them fail. Files you attach while offline upload when the connection returns. Just leave the original file where it is on your computer until the queue empties.

If Things Feel Slow

Outlaw should feel quick. If it starts to drag, a few things are worth checking:

• Reload the page (after saving anything you have open). A browser left running for a long stretch can get bogged down, and a fresh load usually clears it up.
• Your browser matters. Chrome and its relatives (Edge, Brave, Opera) are the fastest. Firefox is noticeably slower, and desktop Safari slower still, though Safari on an iPhone or iPad is quick. Outlaw needs a modern browser and won’t run on Internet Explorer at all.
• On a Mac running Safari, the Limit IP Address Tracking network setting can slow the app down considerably. If Safari feels sluggish, try turning it off for your network in System Settings under Network (open the active connection’s details). It’s a privacy feature, so the choice is yours, but it can come at a real cost to speed here.