Checking on court cases and filings got a little easier this month in Forsyth County.

Clerk of Court Greg Allen said an online docket system went up about two weeks ago on the office’s Web site.

The search allows people to look up dates and filings for both criminal and civil cases.

That information could previously only be accessed from the public computers at the Forsyth County Courthouse.

“It relieves my staff from a lot of phone calls,” he said. “People ask if something’s been filed or who is the judge on this case, or can you give me my case number, a lot of the routine things we usually help people with.”

The online search has been “received very well” so far, Allen said, especially by attorneys or others who routinely use the courthouse computers to check for updates.

The vendor that does the court’s case management software added the online capabilities as part of its contract with the county, Allen said.

Opening up the online search saves people trips to the courthouse to look up information, he said, though the full documents associated with filings are still available only in the records room in the courthouse basement.

Making those documents available online would “allow people to sit at home and look up all the dirty laundry on anybody they wanted to.”

“We don’t want to embarrass anybody,” Allen said. “It is public record, but you have to make an effort to come see it.”