Smokeball Q&A and Feedback

I want to give myself and my associate attorney billable hour “credit” for the time we spend in consultations, so it will show up in my Time reports. Should I create a Matter called “Consultations”? The PNC does not exist in Smokeball until they become a client (they stay in Lawmatics), but I still want to track the time. How do you guys handle that?

Is there any way to add a contact as being staff of a contact?For example: I opened a matter using clients personal details, however have now decided to open the matter using his company details instead. I cant find a way to then connect the two, or merge them (ideally to put him as a contact under the company contact).Would I have to just delete his personal entry and re-enter as Managing Director of the company entry?

Is there a way to modify the Matters List to include the client first name, also? I have several cases with the same last name and as I scan my matters I have to open each one to figure out which case it is. Am I missing something in settings where I can customize how they appear? Thanks!

Is there a way to tack on a mileage tracker when I am setting events on my calendar?

Is there a way to set the calendar view to the full week? My attorney works on the weekends and I need to be able to schedule on those days as well. Thanks!

How do I move new contacts to the client folder?

Is there a way to save draft invoices back into SB?I would rather email our director to check invoices than printing them out.I know you can choose to download it - but then I have to save locally and import it back into SB then email it back out.Seems like there should be a quick way to save the draft back into the matter and email from there?

Most of the time my attorney charges a set hourly rate (Ex: $350.00 per hour) but he also changes this on a case by case bases (Ex: $200.00, $300.00, etc.) So we end up having clients set at different hourly rates. It is time consuming and hard to remember to go back an change the hourly rate for each client. Is there a way to customize the hourly rate under each matter so that the client is automatically billed at “their rate” and keeps me from having to go through each invoice/time entry to manually change the hourly rate? Thanks.

Does anyone else have the issue where turning a Word document into a PDF within Smokeball causes formatting changes? This has been happening so much lately, that I just use the print to PDF feature in Word and then import the PDF into Smokeball. Obviously, this defeats the feature in Smokeball, so I am wondering if something is wrong on my end. I use Kofax PDF if that matters.

I sell pre-paid packages of hours. The more hours the person purchases, the cheaper the effective hourly rate. I therefore don’t want to track their hours at an actual rate (which may change depending on any refunds) and instead, I override the default billing rates and set myself for $1.00/hr and add $1.00 for every hour they purchase. Is there a way to remove the “$” from showing up on the invoices? If I can remove the “$” from the invoice sent to the clients, I can keep using this setup without it being too confusing for the clients as they won’t have to remember that $1 = 1 hour…  I know that’s a strange request. Any thoughts, insights, or work arounds are appreciated! 

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 veteran user looking for some advanced tips; this is the place to find answers. Our team aims to answer all questions within 48 hours of them being posted (weekdays only). Do you know the answer?We also have rewards, points and secret badges that are awarded to the most helpful members in the community. Read more about them by clicking here.  Why do we have a General Q&A as well as a country specific Q&A? We tailor Smokeball very carefully to the different jurisdictions where it is available. Sometimes your question will only be relevant to other people in your country. Because of this we have country specific sections for questions that only relate to a particular country. You can only see the country category for the country you’re operating your practice in.  How to ask a question Click “start a conversation” on the top right of any page in t