General Q&A

Have a question for the Smokeball community? Can't find what you're looking for? Ask it here!

  • 367 Conversations
  • 810 Replies
Ben
Rank
Ben
started this topic

How to use Smokeball Q&A

Welcome to Smokeball Q&A! What is this category for?Whether you are just beginning to move your firm over to Smokeball or you’re a veter...
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367 Conversations

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Anonymous
posted in General Q&A

Hotkeys and keyboard shortcuts - do you use them?

There’s been a few conversations here in the community about wanting to use keyboard shortcuts or hotkeys in Smokeball to quickly get something done without extra mouse clicks. For example, CTRL+S to save CTRL+F to find something are pretty common ones in other software.We know @atharkhan would love to use keyboard shortcuts when tagging emails and @JKibler to open and save a memo. Our own @Sara Sultan loves them, and can probably teach us all a thing or two!Do you use keyboard shortcuts too? What would use use them for?Answer our poll and put in your suggestions in the comments or send us a feature suggestion - we love hearing your thoughts.(and, if you’re wondering what’s currently possible in Smokeball, @leonzhou gave an example) 

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A
11 months ago
K
KatyContributor
asked in General Q&A

Searches

Is there a way to add details to a contact only entry (not matter related) so that I can easily search even if I don’t have the name on the tip of my tongue? I’ve tried putting ‘Process Server’ in the occupation field and when that didn’t work, I tried putting it in the Notes field. But that also did not work. When I search contacts for Process Server, nothing comes up. 

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Emma
Smokeball Team
7 hours ago
H
harleyridinContributor
asked in General Q&A

Workflow to Stage

I would like to apply a different workflow to each individual matter stage. Is this possible? For instance, Intake stage would get an intake workflow, when moved to next stage, next stage would get the next stage’s workflow.

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H
11 hours ago
K
kamrynbarrieContributor
asked in General Q&A

How to Save PDF from adobe application to Smokeball matter

Hello all,  This problem came up to me when i used adobe to redact a pdf and wanted to save it directly into smoke ball (the originals are already there) but to do this without having to save to a new folder then go and import. Is there a way to save this “as new” to the original PDF or matter? The chrome extension does not work since it is being used through the adobe application. Is there an adobe integration?  Thank you so much! 

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Sara Sultan
Community Manager
13 hours ago
S
Steph1104Contributor
posted in General Q&A

Outlook Problems

I was wondering if Smokeball causes anyone else’s Outlook to constantly freeze up.  We have really had it with this problem. We have to reinstall both Microsoft office and Outlook all the time. This is a firmwide problem. Thanks! 

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Sara Sultan
Community Manager
13 hours ago
A
AaronContributor
asked in General Q&A

How to generate reports to allocate partner compensation?

I’m in the process of forming a partnership with a colleague. We’re setting up a compensation model that is roughly as follows on a per matter basis:10% of receivables go to originating attorney30% goes to firm for overhead and later profit share60% goes to attorney billing (i.e. the attorney generating the billables gets 60% of that revenue)I’m nervous about a bookkeeping/reconciliation nightmare that awaits me or some poor office manager we might hire. I’m wondering if existing Smokeball tools/reports can help me automate most of this as long as we set everything up correctly and are diligent and accurate in our billings.I appreciate any tips or insights, especially from those who might have similar setups or compensation models. Also open to feedback on better ideas/approaches. 

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A
14 hours ago
K
krichardContributor
asked in General Q&A

Payment Allocation of Trust Payments

Hi!  We just completed our first set of invoices in Smokeball. We are integrated with Quickbooks.  We applied trust payments before finalizing the invoices, so that payment of funds from trust was reflected on the invoice.  For invoices with only a partial payment from trust, the corresponding bank register entry in Quickbooks did a split allocation between attorney fees and reimbursed office expenses.  It looks like it is using some unknown percentage basis for the split.  Is there a way to set the allocation to pay all reimbursed office expenses first and then apply payments to fees?  I looked everywhere I could think of in Smokeball but can’t find any allocations options.  Thanks!

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E
Smokeball Team
1 day ago
J
JG3Frequent Scribe
asked in General Q&A

Time on a matter versus billing - flat fee services

Hello all.Is there a canned report that I’m missing that we could compare, for various matter types, the actual time worked versus what we assess for a flat fee for said matter?  (For flat fee matters, we nonetheless add time, but we mark it as non-billable).Essentially, we’re trying to right-size our flat fees; and I don’t see an easy way to do the analysis. Short of a report that’s already created, going forward, I suppose I’m cross-referencing time entries  for specific matters against billing and income reports.  It’s job security I guess...

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M
Smokeball Team
1 day ago
K
KylieContributor
asked in General Q&A

Email option for precedents

Is there any way of returning to the option to ONLY email precedents through Outlook? there is now a button that has 'send’ and then I have to select email or communicate. It's just adding one more step - whereas previously I could go right to email.

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K
2 days ago
D
dcainContributor
asked in General Q&A

Scanning and Twain for double sided documents

Has smokeball figured out the issue why I can no longer access Twain for scanning two sided documents. I had no issue until several updates ago and I have not been able to do it since.  I reached out and I was told that they were working on the issues and it has now been several months and it still doesn’t work. 

2
Sara Sultan
Community Manager
2 days ago
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NHCriminalDefenseContributor
asked in General Q&A

Communicate As Sole Form of Client Communications

Hello SB Community! Does anyone use Communicate as the sole form of communication with clients vs email and Communicate? Right now, we mostly use Communicate to send discovery and sensitive materials to clients, opposing counsel, and experts.Thank you!

1
Funkytown
2 days ago
P
PLUContributor
asked in General Q&A

Word document - cross-reference fields not updating

I use a lot of cross-references in my Word documents (pursuant to para. 6.3; subject to section 8; etc.) But now in Smokeball if I insert a new numbered paragraph or section, the cross-references do not automatically update, and I have to select a specific cross-reference and update it individually. Does anyone know how to get all of the cross-references to update at once in Smokeball?

2
P
6 days ago
J
Jenna StorrierContributor
asked in General Q&A

Grouping time entries for Autotime

Is there a way that I ungroup the entries that have grouped on the same day and see them individually on the time & disbursements tab? Thank you 😎

3
adeleh
Smokeball Team
8 days ago
Funkytown
FunkytownRegular
asked in General Q&A

Document management - filter or export PDF's without Word documents

A client has requested her file. The file is complex and very large (100’s of gigabytes) due to multiple parties, extensive discovery, and multiple pending cases.Smokeball database includes dozens of folders and subfolders with documents. What’s the best way to share the file with the client? Creating links for every folder would be time-consuming - and would cause the inclusion of many word documents that should not be included. Is there a simple solution?

2
Funkytown
8 days ago
S
sjflaxContributor
asked in General Q&A

Cross Claims

What do you guys do for civil matters that involve cross claims?  When at times you are filing as petitioner for one pleading but as a respondent for another?

1
Sara Sultan
Community Manager
9 days ago
M
mjjohnsonContributor
asked in General Q&A

Deleted Contact

Can deleted contacts be retrieved somehow?

2
M
14 days ago
mallorylarkby
mallorylarkbyContributor
asked in General Q&A

Smokeball and New Outlook

Has anyone started using the New Outlook and been able to link e-mails to matters to Smokeball?

4
J
15 days ago
David7700
David7700Contributor
asked in General Q&A

Change Matter Name

In a matter (say an estate administration matter for example) we do not want the file name or matter name that prints on invoices and shows at the top of the Smokeball window and that appears as “Client” to be “Smith | Jones | Roberts” (say if there are 3 personal representatives). What we want is for this to say “Estate of Jane Smith”. Can we edit our own file names/matter names? 

4
David7700
19 days ago
K
KatyContributor
asked in General Q&A

Delete Expense

Why can’t I delete an expense? We have a double entry on an expense where the attorney and I both entered it and now I can’t delete it. I’ve marked is not billable so it won’t show up on the invoice but I really want it gone gone. 

4
Sara Sultan
Community Manager
22 days ago
W
WichitaLawyerContributor
asked in General Q&A

Change Log for 8.13

I am a beta tester for Smokeball and just updated to 8.13. However, I can’t find the change log for this version. Also, why did they get rid of the feature that you could send an email to a closed file without have the closed files “open” on your matter screen?

1
Ian Sperry
Smokeball Team
22 days ago
K
KateLContributor
asked in General Q&A

Trust Payment Request

I am wondering if there is a function for staff members to enter in trust payment requests and for these to then be authorised by an approved person? 

1
J
23 days ago
N
nicknorrisContributor
asked in General Q&A

Logic rules for Intake Forms

In the new Lead Intake Forms and Matter Intake Forms will there be the option for logic rules?  For example, if I ask a client if they are currently in bankruptcy and they check yes it provides a follow up question.  If they answer no it would just go to the next question.

3
J
26 days ago
M
MargaritaRWCContributor
asked in General Q&A

Embedding New Contact Form

Is anyone else having a problem with seeing the full embedded form on their website? I’ve tried the embed code in several different locations, and it always cuts it of from the top and the bottom, which forces people to scroll down within the window to see the next question. 

7
J
26 days ago
T
taniatuttleContributor
asked in General Q&A

Pleadings Index

Is there a way to print or create a table from the list of documents in a folder.  We have a Pleadings folder and am looking for a way to create a Pleadings Index. 

2
Sara Sultan
Community Manager
26 days ago
W
Wendy MarroquinContributor
asked in General Q&A

How do I permanently delete e-mails from a matter?

How do i permanently delete the e-mails that were tagged to one matter by outlook? Do i have to go one by one and untag? 

2
W
27 days ago

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