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General Q&A

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

  • 634 Conversations
  • 1,519 Replies
Ben
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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634 Conversations
A
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) 

3311
atharkhan
9 months ago
Reckless_Kelly
Reckless_KellyContributor
asked in General Q&A
Multiple Client Entry on a single form

Is there a way to map a second client through either a Lead or Matter Form?We have created an updated Estate Planning Matter form that uses conditional logic to collect the spouse’s information, and we would like for it to be mapped to “Client 2” in the Matter so we don’t have to manually enter their information. Is this possible? Charles

655
B
58 minutes ago
J
Josh BlomContributor
asked in General Q&A
Intake Forms for 2 clients in the one matter

Hi, is there a way of sending different matter intake forms to 2 different clients in the one matter without the information being deleted? For example, in a Wills, Power of Attorney & Enduring Guardian matter there are some instances where there are husband/wife clients in the same matter and a matter intake form is sent to both clients. My experience is that if Client 1 completes the matter intake form and then Client 2 completes it after, rather than creating two separate mapped intake forms for each client, Client 1’s information is deleted when Client 2 inputs their information and submits the form.The only work around that I can see is to create two separate matters for each client or I simply don’t use the Matter intake forms, which is obviously not ideal. Any help/ideas would be appreciated!

833
B
59 minutes ago
J
JG3Frequent Scribe
asked in General Q&A
Anyone else having issues with SB playing nice with MS Office?

Maybe we’re an outlier, but of late, MS Office (Word, Excel, etc.) doesn’t play nice with Smokeball.  Maybe it was caused by a recent SB update or MS update, I don’t know, but it’s a recurring issue for at least the last 2 months.  What do I mean?  For example, Word will take an extended time to open when opening it with a saved SB file.  Sometimes it will freeze.  All the time, the program stays open even if you ‘save and close’ into SB.   Similar issues with Excel.Reinstall, reboot didn’t fix it.  SB tech support is still churning on this one.Just us or can anyone else commiserate?  

181
J
10 hours ago
S
SheldonContributor
asked in General Q&A
PDF's - saving after highlighting

sometimes after I have highlighted and/or edited a PDF which I opened from smokeball I cannot save it straight back to smokeball - I have to save it to my hard drive and then import it into smokeball and then delete the original file I opened.Does anyone else experience this issue?Is there a solution?Why does it happen?

164
J
10 hours ago
BenHallLaw
BenHallLawContributor
asked in General Q&A
Single Client Multiple Matters Portal

I represent an agency that has multiple matters. We often have the same points of contact over the various matters. I am setting up my stages and want to automate some communication to the contact at the agency based on the stage of the case. How does SB handle a single “client” or person with multiple matters? 

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BenHallLaw
1 day 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?

78236
C
2 days ago
mmcfarlane
mmcfarlaneContributor
asked in General Q&A
Creating Signature lines with multiple parties

I am having difficulty preparing signature lines for a lease when there are multiple individual tenants.  I can get the name of the first tenant to populate, but not the second…. I cannot find the different fields for each tenant…Please help?

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Sara Sultan
Community Manager
2 days ago
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jmwirthContributor
asked in General Q&A
Saving a letter opened from one matter to another matter while open

I frequently open a word document from one matter, edit it and otherwise change its content specific to another matter and then go to save it to the second matter, but the “save” and “save as” commands default to the matter from which it was opened and I cannot figure out how to exit the default destination so that the document can be saved directly to the second matter.  I realize I should probably think ahead and copy the document to the second matter before opening it, but I usually don’t remember to do so until after the document is opened and the editing has begun.  Is there a way to save a document once it’s been opened and edited to a matter that is not the one from which the document was opened?

852
M
5 days ago
KloseLaw
KloseLawRegular
asked in General Q&A
RingCentral

I am a careful adopter, but I feel like RingCentral is a great integrated telephone service.   I would like to get some feedback from Smokeball users who have integrated.   What have been your PRO’s  What are the CON’s I have seen some really negative review for small users . . .  Would love to speak to someone on the phone if they have a moment. Thanks, Peter Klose845-727-7727

1196
BenHallLaw
6 days ago
J
jasonbContributor
asked in General Q&A
Disable Working Time FIeld?

Is there a way to disable or hide the working time field entry? It is creating confusion for our attorneys and errors in billing entries. We just want one box to enter billed time. I don’t know why we would do work and not bill it. If we did, we would mark it not billable.Thanks.

10510
J
6 days ago
M
MFDRegular
asked in General Q&A
Recording Due Dates Related to Inheritance Tax (Pennsylvania)

How/where are firms recording the ITAX Prepay, Fiduciary Returns and Status Report due dates in the matter details? 

437
M
12 days ago
L
LeonieContributor
asked in General Q&A
Signatures on letters

We have 3 signatures all of which appear on the letterhead when a letter is generated.  In some instances, the name of one lawyer appears twice - as her own signature and as signature for another lawyer.  Have attempted (ad nauseum!) to change the fields etc but precedent chooses to ignore us.  How do we make sure that signatures appear as directed or otherwise only one signature (for the actual operator/owner/lawyer) comes across?

181
J
Smokeball Team
13 days ago
W
Wendy NContributor
asked in General Q&A
Multiple Re:Lines within one matter

Is it possible to set different Re: Lines within the same matter?  Eg my default set as Your Medical Negligence Claim but when I write to the Defendant, I want to say OUR CLIENT:   …..YOUR CLIENT…… 

161
Sara Sultan
Community Manager
13 days ago
C
Cath - PLQContributor
asked in General Q&A
Address details on Joint cards not updating individual contact cards

Good afternoon,When we have 2 or more clients with the same address, we create a joint card within the matter by ‘adding another person’ on the card.  We have noticed, when we search for their individual card to update any details, the address on the joint client has not been updated onto their individual cards.I could have sworn that it had done so previously.What is everyone else doing to navigate this?  Do you create the individual contact card first and then merge when opening a matter? or do you create the joint card in the matter and then update the individual card with the address? This seems like extra work.  The more data entry we have to do, the more errors that can happen.  The more clicks and typing we do, the less productive we become.Smokeball - can you please update so that if an address is created in a joint card that their individual card is also updated simultaneously.Thanks 

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C
15 days ago
C
Cath - PLQContributor
asked in General Q&A
Intake Forms

Can you add more than one intake form and send multiple intake forms in the one email?

221
Sara Sultan
Community Manager
26 days ago
C
Cath - PLQContributor
asked in General Q&A
Intake forms

I have generated an Custom Intake forms using one of our documents which we like to get signed by our client, can you add a signing field to the intake forms or a declaration box of some sort to confirm that the information they have provided is true and correct.

301
Sara Sultan
Community Manager
27 days ago
J
j in accountsContributor
posted in General Q&A
Issues in billing area

We have been with SB for 2 years now, coming from Leap. I have liked some features better than features on Leap but unfortunately there are quite a few things that leave me wanting. I am in accounts and I access billing all day and one of the main issues I have (and biggest difference compared to Leap) in billing is recording “people” to receipts or payments. Leap was great, in that, when you click on the “from’ or “to” it would show a list of all relevant people connected to the matter first, then if you needed someone else you would search, the other issue related to this is that only first and last names come up and it’s very unforgiving. Unlike in the Smokeball application, where as, when you start typing names, a larger choice is shown, billing is extremely specific and if you have a space or . in the wrong place or you miss it, you have nothing show up. I have expressed my thoughts regarding this issue a couple of times now with SB. Just thought that I’d pop it on here again too.

813
H
1 month ago
Reckless_Kelly
Reckless_KellyContributor
asked in General Q&A
Duplicating fields when converting from Lead to Matter

Is anyone else experiencing an issue when converting Leads to Matters where the Prospect becomes “Client 1” and there is a blank “Client 2” field, along with several other “!” and “2” fields for almost every information field in the Matter?We will have an estate planning Matter with Client 1 (prospect info) and Client 2 (blank). When I attempt to add a spouse in the Client 2 field, it will change Client 1 to Client 2 and then add a blank Client 3 field. All of the other fields have a 1 and 2 (Estate Details, Beneficiaries, etc), and when you fill one out, it messes up the whole matter. We are constantly having to delete matters and start over from scratch with the “Create New Matter” button.  

363
Sara Sultan
Community Manager
1 month ago
A
ARendellContributor
asked in General Q&A
Fee earner budgets

We have recently set our budgets for each fee earner for the next 12 months.Other than the Estimated Annual Cost field in the staff tab of the firm details which won’t work for what we want to do, is there a spot that we can enter each fee earner’s budget, for that to be used in reports for how each fee earner is tracking in meeting that budget?

595
L
1 month ago
O
onesimContributor
asked in General Q&A
Email receipt for invoice payment

The only thing I can find in help is how to email a Trust receipt, but I want to email clients a receipt for when they have paid their invoice.

992
T
1 month ago
J
JG3Frequent Scribe
asked in General Q&A
Blank letter - automated "cc" or "copy field"

Hopefully we’re missing what is an existing feature, but when writing a blank letter, is there an automated way we can add “cc” contacts to the letter from the list of contacts already tied to the matter? See below as it doesn’t appear this option exists.  It would be great to have this option, maybe in the form a new tab listing the contacts?At this point, we type-in relevant parties manually.  We’ll somehow survive, but it would be nice to have SB do the work...  

261
S
Smokeball Team
1 month ago
S
StuWegContributor
asked in General Q&A
File Destruction

How can I delete files and any backups? I am required to certify that I “deleted all materials” for a case. I am particularly interested in making a good faith effort to delete backup files.Thanks for any suggestions.Stu Weg

281
Sara Sultan
Community Manager
1 month ago
D
DMCContributor
asked in General Q&A
How to generate trust account statements for all clients

Hi thereIn QLD we have to provide a trust account statement for all clients as at 30 June. Is there an easy way to send these all at once?

796
E
1 month ago
KateSmokeball
Smokeball Team
KateSmokeballSmokeball Team
published in General Q&A
Tell us what you think: Share your feedback on the Client Portal here

Hi Team,I'm Kate the new Senior Product Designer here at Smokeball.It's my job to look at the Smokeball experience for firms as well your clients and make it as fantastic and easy to use as I possibly can.Right now my focus is on our client portal and the Tools in Smokeball that help you connect and communicate with your clients. I have two simple questions that will take less than 5 minutes to answer, but the insights you give will be invaluable.What are your clients telling you they want or need to make communicating with you easier? What would enhance your toolkit for communication with clients? 

19711
P
1 month ago

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