Send and save emails from a matter

Smokeball’s integration with Outlook allows you to send emails from and save attachments to your matter. 

Send an email from Smokeball 

1. Open a matter and select Email from the Actions toolbar. 
   

2. Click on the "To" field and select the recipient/s from the drop-down menu.

   

3. Add Ccs to the email by clicking on the "Cc" field. You can also select "Bcc" to add a Bcc.

   

4. Select Attach file to add matter files as attachments to the email.

   

5. If you don't have the Archie add-on or don't wish to use it, select Continue to Outlook to start composing the email in Outlook.

   

6. If you have the Archie add-on, you can get Archie to generate a draft of your email. To do this, write some instructions in the Tell Archie what to draft text box and select Generate Draft.

   

   Archie will start thinking, then it will generate a draft email. Review the draft and make changes by selecting Change Tone, Change Length, or Change Writing. You can also type any changes in the Any changes needed? text box and clicking the arrow. Archie will then regenerate the draft with your changes.

   • If Archie's draft misses the mark, select Try Again to run the draft from scratch.

   • You'll have the chance to edit the email in the next step, so the draft doesn't have to be perfect!

     

   • You can go back to a previously generated draft by selecting the left or right arrows next to your instructions. Note that drafts are discarded if you close the Email window.

     

7. Select Use this Draft to continue.

8. The draft will become editable. Make any changes, then select Continue to Outlook.

   

9. Outlook will open in a new window. From here, you can make further changes to the email, add styling and a subject line. 
   • You can use the Smokeball matter bar at the bottom of the email window to action Smokeball-specific tasks: 
     • View the details of the matter directly from Outlook by selecting View Matter. 
     • Select Attach to attach more documents from your matter to the email.
     • Add more email addresses by selecting Send To, which will bring up the list of parties and staff to select from. 
       

10. Select Send once you are ready to send the email. The email will be saved to the Smokeball matter. 

    

View all email communications for a matter 

You can access all emails sent from Smokeball regarding a matter by navigating to the Emails tab within the matter. 

Select the arrows next to the categories to show emails sent or received from a specific email address. 

Save emails to Smokeball 

With the Smokeball to Outlook integration, you’ll see a Smokeball search bar at the bottom of emails, allowing you to browse for a matter to save the email to. To save the email: 

1. Open the email in Outlook, then select Browse from the Smokeball search bar. 
   Alternatively, you can click into the Smokeball search bar and type in the matter you wish to save the email to.
   
2. Select the matter to save the email to.
   If there’s attachments you wish to save as well, tick the checkbox next to the attachment name.
   
   
   
   
   You can change the folder location that files will be saved to by clicking 'change' in the Location section of the window.
3. Click OK or Attach. 

Any emails saved to a matter will have the Smokeball tag applied to them in Outlook. 

They will also appear in the Received category in the Email tab of the matter.  

The email and associated attachments will also be accessible from the Documents section in the matter. 

Save multiple emails to a matter

You can save multiple emails to a matter from Outlook: 

1. In Outlook, hold the Ctrl or Shift key while selecting multiple emails. 
2. Right-click on one of the emails and select Smokeball – Associate emails with matter. 
   
3. Select the matter and tick the attachments you wish to save. Then, select OK. 

Save one email to multiple matters

An email can only be assigned to a single matter from Outlook.

If you need to have copies of an email added to other matters:

1. Save the email to a matter.
2. Right-click on the email in your Document list.
3. Select Copy to, then Another matter.
   
4. Select or search for the matter.
5. Repeat the previous steps for every applicable matter.

Save attachments from email replies

When you receive a reply to an email that has been saved to a matter, the reply will also be saved to the matter automatically. You can choose to have Smokeball save any attachments included in those replies. The attachments will appear in the Documents section of the matter.

To enable this:

1. Select the Settings (gear icon) in the top-right corner of the Smokeball Desktop App to enter Smokeball Settings.
2. Select Outlook and Notifications from the left-hand menu.
3. Tick either one or both of the following options depending on your preference:
   • Save file attachments from reply emails to a matter (e.g., PDFs, Word Docs, etc.)
   • Save inline images from reply emails to a matter (e.g., embedded logos, images, email signature icons, etc.)
     
4. Select Save.

Next steps 

Once you’ve learned how to send emails from Smokeball, learn how to send emails from Microsoft Word, or set up email containers to automate emails.