General Q&A

Is there a way to completely delete a matter that was duplicated? It’s confusing because in outlook emails, it brings up all matters with that name even deleted.  

Can payment plans still process automatically if a matter is closed? 

Hi there,Is there a way of recording payments on a matter.For example, say you initiate legal action against a debtor for $50,000 and they pay $10,000 upfront then $1,000 per week, how do I record this in the matter so I can keep track of the balance?ThanksDavid

I am unable to open Excel documents from Smokeball and have to export them to open. Is anyone else having this issue? I get a message stating “There was a problem communicating with Excel.  Please close the application and try again. It is recommended you save all open documents before closing”

Is there a way for our reminders to include some sort of confirmation? Something similar to doctors office reminders, press 1 to confirm etc.? 

Hi there, we’re 6 weeks into using Smokeball and I am needing help regarding invoicing in SB billing. How do you determine if an invoice is being generated to be paid into the Trust vs. Operating? Thank you!

Very new to Smokeball. We have costs that the firm has prepaid prior to onboarding with SB. I need to know how to reimburse the firm, from the Trust Acct, for costs pre-paid over the life of the case. Also need to know how to pay Lien Holders out of the Trust. We went from desktop Quickbooks to On-line QBs so I am learning two new systems. 

Our firm is new to SB, and is a few months out from using SB billing. Most of our clients have several matters that we bill to monthly. As I understand it now, there is not a great way to bill a client for multiple matters without them receiving a separate email for each invoice and each matter (not ideal for us or our clients).I believe our work around could be using the combine/cover letter feature. Is there a way to edit/customize that cover letter at all? Is there a way to choose what information is shown? I would love to hear from other  Firms and how they bill clients with multiple matters to get some ideas on how we can make it work.Thank you!

Is it possible to change the default categories under the to-do list from “Today/This Week/This Month” to the next “7/14/30 days.” I know I can make manual lists with a specific date range, but I would have to update those everyday to achieve what I am tying. I would like to be able to always be able to see the tasks that are due in the next 7/14/30 calendar days.

Is there a way to send a full intake form to a lead? For example- we prefer our estate planning leads to complete a full questionnaire before their consultation, not just a general intake. 

I am not sure what is the best type of matter to open a new file for.  I was just appointed by the Court as the Receiver in a divorce action.  I am not representing the plaintiff, defendant or any party.  Rather, I am acting as the eyes and hears for the court.  What would be the best option to choose when opening this matter in Smokeball?  Thank you.

When an associate runs their “weekly status report,” two matters he works on don’t show up. He is tagged on both matters, and has recorded billable time on the cases. They also don’t show up when he runs a “matter-full list” with his tags. Why are these cases not included, and what can we do to ensure they are included moving forward? Thank you!

Has anyone else been unable to sign onto Smokeball on a mobile device (cell phone)?

Is there a way to combine contacts? For some reason clients have been entered multiple times (probably by different staff members) so we have more than one contact set up for the same person. Is there a way to combine them? I don’t want to delete them because they are associated with matters.

Is there a way to copy emails such that they are in more than one folder or more than one matter, like you can do with documents? I understand that you can re-tag an email such that it will move to a different matter, but what if an email covers more than one matter and you want it assigned to both matters.  Example - email is from client with two separate matters and needs to be attached to both Matter 1 and Matter 2 Also, what if you want the email assigned to a specific subfolder?  For example - email includes a settlement offer from opposing counsel and you would like it to be saved in the Settlement subfolder   You can do this with documents so easily - I would think you should be able to do the same with emails.

I just noticed a new feature: Smokeball Messenger includes an option to summarize a conversation using Artificial Intelligence. I used that feature and found a short summary and an action item list. Checking with a tech savvy client, he said that the summary is not viewable to the client. This feature could be handy. Anyone else using it? 

Is there a way to add another field/s under addressee details for invoicing templates? For instance, I want to direct an invoice to a client representative, rather than the organisation as a whole.  See example below of what we currently have populating our template:  Organisation NameOrganisation Address I want to direct our invoice to perhaps the account department and a specific account manager, like below: Account ManagerOrganisation DepartmentOrganisation NameOrganisation Address I’ve attempted to rectify this before by changing the debtor, but for reporting/billing purposes its not ideal as SB lists the debtor as the account manager, rather than the organisation as a whole. It also can get confusing if the account manager moves on from the organisation.  Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks!  

My task list displaying on the dashboard is too long to be useful.  I prioritize my tasks by adding a “Priority” category to the tasks that are my top priority for that day.  I can sort the tasks by category on the Tasks tab (so I can put my 3-4 priority tasks at the top).  Is there a way to sort tasks displayed on the dashboard by category?Any other ideas for highlighting priority tasks?  Thanks.

Is the a way to run a report on which clients need to replenish their evergreen retainers?  If not, what about a print feature for the Evergreen screen?   Unfortunately, whenever you invoice a client and include an evergreen request, the invoice is considered “paid” only if they pay their past due balance and does not flag the user that they have not paid their evergreen.

Hi,How do I add my precedent to SB please?

Is there a way to change the default Billing Type when opening a new matter?  Right now our default is fixed and I would like to change it to Time Based.

How does another firm you send files to via messages (formerly communicate) download all files at once, instead of one at a time? 

Are there step by step instructions to provide to non smokeball users on downloading documents from messages/the communicate feature?  We get a lot of questions from other firms and don’t have a good clear answer to provide to them. 

I have set up dashboard to view billing and hours for the week/month.Is there a way to see other staff’s billing and hours?

Hi,How can I correct the letter to remove the underscore from our PO Box address?