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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!

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  • 1,683 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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697 Conversations
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DebbyJContributor
asked in General Q&A
Searching for files to attach to emails

Hi, When I’ve prepared an email to send and need to select an attachment, is there anyway I can change my default to always ‘Show emails’ when the selection box appears? It’s a pain to scroll through all the documents only to find out that what I need to find is actually an email. It would be great if I could change that to default to always show them. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a user default, or it’s system wide, my colleagues would also like the facility to make it default. If anyone knows, please share it with me. Thank you

181
Sara Sultan
Smokeball Team
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Faith MorseContributor
asked in General Q&A
Cases Settled Report

Fellow Personal Injury Practitioners: Have you found a way to run a report that shows cases that have settled over a certain time period and the revenue from those cases? Preferably also showing case tags and attorney and staff time in the file? Thanks! Faith

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SheldonContributor
asked in General Q&A
Communication with Word

Anyone else find that they have to kill all smokeball process at least a couple of times a day because it wont communicate with word? Its extremely frustrating if you need to open a document quickly and Smokeball chooses not to speak to word in the middle of a conference.

1046
LitalienLaw
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Joe.BurgerContributor
asked in General Q&A
Jail Time Served

Does anyone know how to get Prior Time Served (in Days) for previous jail time to populate?

121
Sara Sultan
Smokeball Team
rlake
rlakeRegular
asked in General Q&A
Estate PLanning - Intake Form for Couples

While the current intake form for estate planning permits two people, a couple for example, to complete separate intakes via links sent to them; the process is flawed. The first person or client to complete the intake form will have their details uploaded automatically to the ‘Wills Details’ area of Smokeball but the second person’s details are not uploaded. It also appears that the same form is use for both people which causes confusion with pre-filled data when sent to clients. I understand that the issue likely arises because the intake form does not have the capability to bifurcate when the second person’s details are entered. When will this issue be fixed or what can be done to solve this for us practitioners now.

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Ben.Enviah
Smokeball Team
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sgibsonContributor
asked in General Q&A
Is there a way to import time entries into SB?

We work with a contract attorney who bills her time into her own system. We then bill her time to our clients through smokeball. Is there a way to import multiple time entries into SB so she does not have to duplicate work?

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Sara Sultan
Smokeball Team
LitalienLaw
LitalienLawContributor
asked in General Q&A
Intake forms mapped fields

I am new to SB and trying to set up my intake forms. For some reason, when I choose a mapped field, nothing comes up. Any idea what I am doing wrong? All I get is what is in the screenshot.

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LitalienLaw
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Monica K.Contributor
asked in General Q&A
Activity tracker/Time and Fees

Newer user here. When posting time, I frequently look at the total number to track work toward my billable hour requirement. I am surprised that the “time logged” shown on tight hand side of the time chart is total time, not billable time. Is there any way to make that display default to billable time? I see the $$ amount there but I have different rates for different matters so that is not as helpful. I have noticed that I can modify my dashboard to display billable hours, and I have done so, but it would be better in my opinion if billable hours (and billable $$) was included on the chart with “time logged”.

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DocsContributor
asked in General Q&A
How do we change our address and contact information on all our forms?

Good morning, I work for a small firm and we will be moving in June to a new office. Is there a quick way to change the address and contact information on all of our forms?

231
zac.meyer
Smokeball Team
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KVenditContributor
asked in General Q&A
Medical Provider/Payor

When entering in invoice amounts in the medicals tab, I want to show payments made by our client. I know how to add a payor to the line and then enter the client as an additional payor, however, when I do this it creates a “provider” contact box in the contact details section under the widgets. So when opening the matter it shows numerous contact entries for the client--one for “Petitioner” and the others for “Provider”. Is this a glitch or am I inputting information into the invoice section incorrectly?

321
Josh Hehner
Smokeball Team
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morganwendtContributor
asked in General Q&A
Client-side confirmation of payment plan installment

Does anyone know if a client receives any sort of confirmation or notification when they make a payment towards their payment plan? We were billing recently and decided not to send bills to clients on a payment plan who have no new activity, but then we were wondering when they would be receiving communications from us about their balance and what that communication would look like.

373
Sara Sultan
Smokeball Team
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KLFlanagan1212Contributor
asked in General Q&A
Adding an Attorney after Matter is open without an Attorney

Hello, I’d like to add an Attorney to a matter when the matter was opened originally with the Respondent as pro se. How do I add an attorney now that the formerly pro se Respondent has obtained an Attorney?

181
Sara Sultan
Smokeball Team
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bethany778Contributor
asked in General Q&A
Labeling Documents Uploaded Through the Messages Portal

Hi, we have a client that wants to label her documents as she uploads them through the message portal. Is this possible? If so, how should I instruct her to do so? Thanks in advance, everyone for the help!

342
Funkytown
LitalienLaw
LitalienLawContributor
asked in General Q&A
Invoice number on letter

Hello, I was just wondering if anyone knows what Smokeball uses for Invoice Number. I need to add their invoice number to my letter when paying the sheriff’s department for service.

335
Sara Sultan
Smokeball Team
Joe
JoeContributor
asked in General Q&A
Billing & Printing

I have two unrelated questions. My first questions is related to “tasks.” Is there a way to print my task list? Secondly, is there a way for Smokeball to be automated that when I client is within a certain amount of their retainer, a “red flag” comes up on that particular clients matter so the firm can notify the client and/or stop working on the matter?

211
Sara Sultan
Smokeball Team
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marianne rankinContributor
asked in General Q&A
reMarkable Paper Tablet

Just wondering if anyone uses a reMarkable Paper Tablet and then directly transfers/saves files into a matter in Smokeball? Or would we have to export the reMarkable file as a pdf to our network or a computer and then import the files into Smokeball as normal? Thanks so much.

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Travis PierceContributor
asked in General Q&A
program opening pdfs

I accidentally clicked on ‘open always’ with a program I didn’t want to be the default for opening pdfs… now, every pdf opens in that program (like I told it too, not like I wanted). Where can I change this default program?

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jharrellContributor
asked in General Q&A
Time & Expenses Pop Out

I often move quickly from one matter to the next and it is easy to forget to adjust my billed time as I go. I used to “pop out” the Time & Expense screen and keep it on a third monitor. This approach allowed me to constantly see my billed time and make adjustments quickly without having to click through other screens. Recently, the “pop out” feature has not worked. Smokeball thinks that the tab is popped out (shows “Show Time & Expenses” button to “pop back” the screen) but the tab is no where to be found. I used to adjust the resolution of the monitor and the tab would magically reappear properly popped out. That no longer works. Has anyone else had this problem and developed a fix?

473
rosemarieurban
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ThomasContributor
asked in General Q&A
Intergration with Stripe and Xero - Accounting for Stripe Fees

In Settings > Payment Provider, it is possible to toggle on or off “Request Stripe fee from clients for invoice payments”. Unfortunately, if I toggle it off, SB does not deduct the Stripe fee before sending the payment details to Xero. This means the Stripe fee has to be manually entered when reconciling the Stripe fee in Xero. However, Stripe definitely does deduct the fee, which means that when the payment comes through from Stripe it does not reconcile with the Xero transaction from SB. It would be great if, when the option to recover the fee from the client is toggled off, SB included the Stripe fee in the transaction that gets sent to Xero. P.S. sorry about the misspelling of integration in the subject line - I was unable to edit it out.

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Jess
Smokeball Team
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WichitaLawyerContributor
asked in General Q&A
Cloud Sync Microsoft 365

Just wondering if Cloud Sync for Microsoft 365 is up and running? I have this as an option in Outlook and Integrations but I am unable to to click on it to set it up. Thanks

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GcaputaContributor
asked in General Q&A
Add-in for Outlook

Hi all! We recently got new laptops and I have downloaded SB to it. However, the SB ribbon that used to be there in order to sync my emails in Outlook to a SB matter is now gone. I believe it is an “add-in” through Outlook. However, everything I have tried (I.E.: trying to add the add-in through “options”, “add-ins”, “COM Add-ins”, etc.) has not been working. Appreciate the help! Thank you!

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KimSRLO
KimSRLOContributor
asked in General Q&A
Messages disappear too fast!

Is there a way to adjust how quickly the notification for a message disappears and moves down to either internal or external discussions? We use messages for internal communications and sharing of drafts almost exclusively. I want to be able to quickly look at a message from a teammate and determine if I have to address now or later. Unfortunately, the messages always disappear once I view them - even for 2 seconds -- and then I have to remember what file it was that I saw it on and go find it and that kind of defeats the whole purpose of having this tool, in my mind. I want to reduce my inbox by having these communications here, but I can’t keep them where I want them!

261
Sara Sultan
Smokeball Team
KateSmokeball
Smokeball Team
KateSmokeballSmokeball Team
published in General Q&A
Help us build better communication tools for your firm - paid research

We’re currently running research to help reshape the design of our software and we’d love your opinion. Details What: Video call on a desktop or laptop computer (not a mobile phone) Duration: 1 hour Compensation: AUD$100 Please note, we’re located in Sydney, Australia, and while we’re doing our best to connect with as many people across the planet as we can; apologies in advance if there are no convenient slots available. If you would like to participate, click here to book a convenient time.

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KateSmokeball
Smokeball Team
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MikePfContributor
asked in General Q&A
Backing Up all of Smokeball

Has anyone learned how to backup your smokeball documents/data to a local server?

3667
J
Smokeball Team
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Lynda BabisterContributor
asked in General Q&A
How do I create a disbursement only invoice?

I have some matters where I need to create an invoice that just covers the disbursements on the matter, and no time and fees. Time and fees are invoiced later. Is there a way I can create an invoice which picks up only disbursements?

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J

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