Solved

We often have expense entries that need to be supported by a receipt or invoice. We’ve seen that in the Smokeball web browser option, there’s an “attach file” option. However, we can’t find a similar option when entering expenses in Smokeball on our desktop application. Is there a way to attach files (receipts, invoices, etc.) to expenses in the desktop Smokeball app?

We have created Lead Intake forms for use on our website, and we have created one for our internal use for creating new leads from phone calls. The problem is that once the form has been completed, it does not “reset” for future use, or if we partially fill it out without submitting, the filled out fields remain until manually deleted. Is there a way to create a Lead Intake form that can be reused on the same computer without having to remember to open an Incognito Tab every time?

So is there really not a way to download (say Court pleadings) from a website into Smokeball directly?  Or is it really that archaic that we just have to put them in a download folder then UPLOAD them into Smokeball?  On the same note then, is there really not a way to sync between file viewer (even OneDrive) and Smokeball?  Clio has this feature and you would thing a competetor program would also feature this skill?   So far, fairly frustrated with Smokeball and weve had it a week. 

Has anyone started using the New Outlook and been able to link e-mails to matters to Smokeball?

We generally provide free initial consultations, but there are times that a client need an extended consultation or we may give some substantive suggestions during the consultation. On those occasions we will charge the (prospective) client for the time. However, in those situations the client is still prospective and hasn’t signed a legal service agreement yet. We create leads for prospective clients but only convert them to matters once we are hired and have a signed legal services agreement. I recently realized, however, that Smokeball will not let us bill from a lead. We have to convert the lead to a matter in order to create an invoice. I’m not too happy about that limit in Smokeball’s functionality, but I want to know how other firms deal with the situation. How are you creating an invoice and billing for consultations? I’d also like to request that Smokeball allow users to bill from a Lead (since you can attach time and expense entries to a Lead), but I’m not sure how to submit

Why is there no way to set up a non- trust account?

We have different hourly rates for different corporate clients.  Is there a way to set up our own billing types so we can configure matters using that set of rates?  For example… Instead of Fixed Fee or Contingency, we would use a Billing Type of DCE Liquor so that all billing on that file would be at the specific negotiated hourly rate with them?  Then, another case, we could chose Star Service so their, different, hourly rates are applied?

Hello How do you change a matters case stage for a personal injury case Ex. treatment to record collection to demand to settlement stage Thank you Dan 

Good morning,I’m just wondering if it’s possible to do a general search for a precedent without being constricted to a singular precedent folder? As in, if I’m after a precedent, but can’t remember what folder it’s in, is there a way to do a general search?Thank you very kindly.

As predicted, when we lost the autosave of invoice function last month, paralegal staff (who don’t have billing permission/access), now constantly ask for copies of invoices, ask if client X paid for A, B, or C, etc. They need this information to close estates, settle divorces, commence flat fee matters, etc.https://community.smokeball.com/general%2Dq%2Da%2D7/retiring%2Dautomatic%2Dinvoice%2Dsaving%2Dto%2Ddocument%2Dfolder%2Dnot%2Dgood%2D2999We’re still looking/waiting for the billing widget (available to all) to add a “paid” line, but is there some limited view-only access to the billing function we can enable for paralegal staff?  I don’t see it.  My understanding is that access billing is all or nothing. Should there be a limited access, best case it would be ‘view only’, not allowing, for example, creating invoices, deleting payments, transferring Trust monies, etc. I’ll put in a feature suggestion...

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.

How do I add  “<<Body text>>”  to my container or template? I don’t see the option in the list of fields. I ran a search when editing a container and a template and I don’t see it in either. Am I looking in the wrong place?

Did you guys remove the ability to invoice a lead? I have been invoicing leads since we started with Smokeball and now all of a sudden I can’t. I don’t know if it’s a change you made when you updated or something wrong in my Smokeball here. 

For some reason, my Outlook Smokeball integration saves all of the emails one of our staff member writes, automatically, to one specific matter.  Has anyone else experienced this, and is there an easy fix?

Since transitioning to Smokeball, our firm has utilized Law Pay as a payment platform. This integration tool, however, is not very intuitive as far as applying the payments we receive through the platform to our clients’ payment portal. I find that I have to manually apply the payment to their client payment portal. This often creates a little bit of confusion as there is not a way to streamline the process of receiving payment, to the remittance of funds to our firm account. Does smokeball have a way to automatically apply payments received through Law Pay to balances due? If not, is there a way to work around this? 

Hello. Being nice has gotten too expensive, and I want to implement surcharges for LawPay payments. I did my research, and decided on a strategy, but when I engaged LawPay, I was given the following feedback …  Can anyone provide any hints, tips, or hacks to easily implement surcharges while using the Smokeball and LawPay integration? Thanks, all!

Is there a way to upload a pdf containing information about the case and have Smokeball automatically take that information from the pdf and place it into the case in the places it belongs? For example, if I upload a document explaining how a client was injured, can Smokeball take that information and populate it into the case details or into another document that would need that information? 

I am new to Smokeball.  I have Ringcentral as my telephone provider.  I can get Ringcentral to record phone calls.  I was told either Ringcentral or Smokeball could transcribe the recording and put it in the correct matter file.  But I am having a lot of difficulty figuring out how to do this.Anyone conquer this challenge?Ross

Hi is there an update on how smokeball is expected to run under emulation on the new copilot+ PC'S ro be released on 18th June 2024? Is there any workarounds if it's not running eg via the Web?

Part of my practice is debt collection.  The matter profile I use is under “Debt & Bankruptcy - Debt Collection.”  When setting up the matter, I would like to include the principal judgment, as well as calculate ongoing interest.  I don’t see any way to do this under “debt collection” or basically “pre-judgment” interest.  This would be very helpful for me to glance at an information point and see exactly what amount the defendant debtor (not my client) owes at any given point, as well as use in forms and judgments. This is especially true for FDCPA debt.  It seems this feature may be a thing outside of the US, and on “Post Judgment Debt Collection” but not where I really need it to be.  Can anyone help advise if 1) I’m setting it up incorrectly or 2) confirm this is not a feature that exists (right now?)  Simple case scenario, debtor fails to pay invoice due on 5/1/2024 for the principal amount of $10,000 and agreed to contract interest of 18% APR on default.  Today is 5/20/25, I

We have clients who we have ceased to act for that still have outstanding accounts. How can I send them a monthly invoice to charge them the interest on their outstanding account?At the moment the only way I can see it working is to charge them a $0.10 disbursement every month to trigger an invoice, charge interest on the overdue debt and then waive the $0.10 disbursement the next day so it doesn’t add to the balance.

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?

I see how we can save a PDF into SB from a browser or outlook, but how do we save a PDF into SB from Acrobat or other native application?  Also, how do we save a Word doc that originates outside of SB (not from Outlook or browser)?  Thank you! 

Is there a way to text people without them having to download the Client Portal app? I’ve been hearing confusion from clients about the new app and seems like it was easier before. 

We have Ooma as a phone/fax service. To send a fax, we drag a PDF into the application. We cannot drag a PDF from SB into the application as it says it doesn’t recognize it as a PDF. So currently, we have to save the PDF to a temporary file and then drag and drop it into the fax application. Is there a quicker way to do this from within SB? Can anyone tell us why the PDF isn’t recognized as a PDF when we try to drag it out from SB?