General Q&A

does smokeball have any plugins to put on my webpage 

How do I complete the Payments Application without a website? The form is refusing my sign up without one.

If a client has multiple outstanding invoices, is there a report that shows balances due broken down by fees and expenses?  Likewise, is there a report that shows all invoices billed, (for a specific matter), whether paid or unpaid, broken down by fees and expenses?

Hi all We have noticed that the Application by Surviving Proprietor (ASP / 50TLA), the Application by Legal Personal Representative (ALPR / 49TLA) and the Application to Convert a Paper Certificate of Title to an Electronic Certificate of Title (CPCT) are missing the required Certifications.  They’re possibly missing from other docs in the Court & Authority Forms/VIC Forms/LTO Forms folder, too. These certifications (sometimes there are three, sometimes four) are required by Land Use Victoria, otherwise they reject the lodgement.   Here is an example:- Certifications1.The Certifier has taken reasonable steps to verify the identity of the applicant.2.The Certifier holds a properly completed Client Authorisation for the Conveyancing Transactionincluding this Registry Instrument or Document.3.The Certifier has retained the evidence supporting this Registry Instrument or Document.

Hi teamIn a conveyancing sale file, we occasionally have transactions that involve multiple properties which need separate (but interdependent) contracts.  All of the correspondence with the client is about both contracts, so it’s handy to do all the work in the one matter rather than splitting between two (or three, or four, depending on the matter!).We have no trouble in adding the multiple properties to the matter including the separate Vendor Statement information within each Property Information window, but we can’t seem to work out how to do a Contract of Sale of Land or a Section 32 Vendor Statement per property so that it populates only that property’s information.  Is this possible?Thanks!Tessa H

There was a feature that allowed you to pop out the folders in a matter in a file explorer view which meant you could easily navigate the folders in a matter (especially if a folder had sub-folders). This seems to have disappeared - will the feature be returning? (I hope so….) 

How do I add a paralegal like thisThank you in advance. Bobbie

Hi everyone! I am trying to swap to an iPad as the device I use at court, much easier to use than a laptop, lighter to carry around and a longer battery.However it seems like, whether you use the smokeball app - or the web app (app.smokeball.com) you can only view files on the iPad, not edit. I would love to be able to open up a word doc and edit it, save it straight back into smokeball - like is feasible on desktop PC’s and full blown laptops. Presently all you can do is download the document, make your edits, save to a location outside of smokeball and then re-upload into Smokeball (creating a copy of the original document essentially).Has anyone found a workaround for this? Or does anyone know if Smokeball is working on a feature to enable the Smokeball OS app or web app to function in a way that enables a save straight back in to Smokeball?

Our office is required by one of our clients to use Bar Codes on Deeds we prepare. Our old software created those without issue but it doesn’t seem that Smokeball generates useable barcodes. I can create them with a font but that font is not readable by the scanners. It doesn’t appear that Smokeball has a system and my efforts at customer service and support isn’t generate nay movement.Does anyone know how to creates useable bar codes?

I can’t figure out how to do it. Seems like a basic functionality that would be incredibly useful, as I currently have to manually check if my assistant has shared a document with me for my review/edits, etc. 

It is Trust Account Auditing time again and I need to provide a client list to my Accountants to enable them to choose random files to examine to ensure that I am complying with my Trust Account obligations.I am able to do a matter list or a client list for the financial year but this is too many files.  I need to provide a list of clients/matters that used my Trust Account during the 2023/24 financial year to my Accountants.Can someone advise how this list can be produced?

Is there a way to create a task from an email?  95% of my tasks for myself and my staff come from email.  Going back and forth can be a bit of a pain.  There is a way to make tasks off of email for Outlook.  Is there a way to create a task from an email - i.e. draft response to email, create task, hit send.  Email goes to file and task created.   Along with finally doing something about a Service tab for more than one defendant (or, my practice, 10+), this would be life changing. 

Hi we are new to Smokeball and need help with “office” PEXA payments.    When these payments are automatically deducted from our office bank account they are deducted as 2 separate payments (1 for PEXA fees the other for the registration fees).   The 2 payments can be for multiple matters.   I am having trouble reconciling in Xero.   How do I reconcile 2 bank payments to multiple matters in Smokeball?

Hi,Is it possible to customise/add additional matter details fields in Matter Types?For example in the Criminal Law Matter Types I would like to add in a Police Area Command/Police Station field.Thanks 

Hello. Maybe I missed where this info is being displayed now or an option to change it, but on the Billing Portal, is there still a way to see the balance of funds in a Client Operating Retainer account? This used to display on the Overview screen but now it only has Trust balance (presumably IOLTA only).Thanks! 

hi, in SB Billing I finalise all the billing in our firm and sometimes I need to CC the person responsible into the email that sends out the bill to the client, it would be fantasitc to have a drop down list of employees in these fields so that I dont have to manually type out the email address for everyone i want to CC the bill to. Regards CHRISTINE ATL

I am looking to hire someone on short-term project basis that can create some smokeball templates for us. Anyone know of anybody that does this?

So, I have two somewhat annoying issues with the new smokeball billing:When trying to edit a matter it will stay on a continuous loading loop and not allow me to click anything other tabs in the sidebar. I have to search something random just to get out of it. When creating invoices, I cannot preview the draft anymore. It just says “Generating PDF” forever.Has anyone else had similar issues with the new update?

Hello - new Smokeball user.  I am trying to set up workflows for estate administration matters, and wanted to set due dates for tasks based on certain dates such as when probate was granted, date of death etc.I can't find a way to make these critical dates so they show up in the workflow creation drop down when setting due dates for additional tasks.Any help gratefully appreciated.

There was a feature that allowed you to pop out the folders in a matter in a file explorer view which meant you could easily navigate the folders in a matter (especially if a folder had sub-folders). This seems to have disappeared - will the feature be returning? (I hope so….) 

I need to compare the contents of two different folders that are in the same matter. Is it possible to have two windows of the same matter open somehow?

Does anyone else have this problem? I am able to replicate the issue easily.

Where can I find my invoices for subscribing to Smokeball?

Is there a way through Smokeball liens to let it know that a lien is to be reduce by attorney fees (%) and costs and have it calculate the amount to be paid and report that on the disbursement statement?

My smokeball needs to be updated but I didn’t receive a prompt. Where do I go to update it manually?