General Q&A

Infotrack reports that Smokeball posts Infotrack expenses (filing fees and process service) under the [User] who submitted the expense. Our firm attributes expenses to the [Responsible Attorney]. As a result, our firm must correct each Infotrack entry from the [User] to the [Responsible Attorney] which is a never ending task.  If your firm uses Infotrack then I would like to know how your firm handles the attribution of Expenses.

Can I create phase codes for a matter so I can easily see the time spent on different categories of activity on the same matter?

We have a potential witness we would like to connect with. He wont answer his phone unless he knows who it is, so i need to text him first. I dont have an email address for him so i can’t use the communicate option. I dont want to use my personal phone. Is there a way to send a text to him if i dont have his email?  Thank you 

Does Archie work on mobile devices?

EASY report to do that several may need.I would like to print information on what is out there for Payment Plans …Specifically this time, I’m looking for a report of Failed Payments …But other Payment Plan reports would be good.

Is there a way to prepare a list of which matters have money in trust, and how much each has in trust.  Not a full trust statement for all matters, or for individual matters.

Since the most recent update to Smokeball, I believe that a feature that used to exist is gone. Previously, I liked to group and sort matters by stages in the main matter view before accessing a specific matter and I cannot find this feature now. How can I group matters by stage and next event date for ease of access?

Is there a way to show that a client has been sent to collections, rather than just putting a note on it.  I’m printing out a list of people who owe money and ½ have been sent to collections. I don’t want them to show on the list every time.   Same with someone who has filed bankruptcy. THANKS

Syncing outlook email with smokeball.  I was able to sync my calendar but still don’t understand how to sync email with my smokeball.  mb

I have been having trouble with the matter details shuffling themselves around, on the right side. Even after moving Billing Details to the bottom, some how it gets back to the top, while Upcoming Events gets moved to the middle of the list. This has been happening more often. Is it possible to lock it in place as a default? It used to be an inconvenience, but it is not reach the point of being annoying. Thanks

When opening a new matter under the heading ‘insolvency’ it only gives you the option of ‘bankruptcy’ which relates to individuals.  It would be great if you could add a second option of ‘liquidation’ which relates to companies - we do a lot of insolvency work for a companies and I have to delete the reference to ‘bankruptcy’ each time as it is not relevant.  

We find that if a Teams meeting invite conflicts with another event in SB, that outlook calendar appointment does not sync across to SB.  [it took a bit of time to figure out the cause of appts that don’t sync]If there are two appointments in outlook (not Teams meetings) that conflict (or overlap) - they still sync over in SB Calendar regardless [this is great]I don’t know of any settings I can set in SB to counter this - has anyone else had this issue and found a workaround?  One of our operatives in particular requires her Teams meetings on auto accept - which works fine of itself if there is no conflicting appt in SB Calendar - but the fact that it will not sync across to SB Calendar if there is a conflict is a real pain as I have instructed all staff that we are all to work in SB Calendar.Any suggestions/ideas??ThanksAnnie

Hello, I am wondering if substantial amount of work was completed for a MetLife Real Estate matter, and that transaction cancelled, can the Attorney still bill MetLife for that work?  

Hello Friends! I am starting to create workflows for my personal injury practice. The standard ones that Smokeball already has didn’t function well for me. Wondering what processes you all have set up workflows for and how they’re functioning to help improve efficiencies and systems in your practice.  Looking forward to connecting and hearing from you! Faith

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?