View all new features and refinements to Smokeball this month.
January 27, 2026
The following updates are released as part of Version 9.14 of the Smokeball Desktop App.
Improved consistency when creating Lead contacts
When creating a contact in a Lead, the Letter setting in their contact card will now default to Informal. This change makes it consistent with the behavior when creating a contact in a Matter.
HubSpot Integration improvements
Note: The HubSpot Integration is currently undergoing closed beta testing.
- You can now choose the direction of contact syncing to be either from Smokeball to HubSpot, or HubSpot to Smokeball.
- You can now choose whether to sync Contacts Only or Contacts and Won Deals.
- A deal with the status of Closed/Won will still create a general matter. However, if the deal contains any of the following HubSpot Activities this information will also be attached to the deal:
- Note: This appears as a Note in Smokeball.
- Task: This appears as a Task in Smokeball.
- Meeting: This appears as a completed Task, with record duration using the Meeting category.
- Call: This appears as a completed Task, with record duration using the Phone Message category.
Notable bug fixes
- In Smokeball Settings > Firm Details, we fixed an issue where the field in the State drop-down menu was editable, which was causing issues with reporting.
- Fixed an issue where users couldn't change the Contact in a Safe Custody packet if the contact name was too long.
- Fixed an issue where a Task's Due Date was incorrect when initiated from a Workflow, or not updating for users in different time zones.
- Fixed an issue where matters with statuses other than Open and Pending were appearing in the default Matter List view.
January 22, 2026
Invoice reminder title improvements
The title and subtitle on invoice reminders now match the title and subtitle specified in the Invoice Settings of the matter, or the Invoice Template. Prior to this change, the Invoice Reminder always followed the matter number - client - matter type - other side order.
Option to configure partial payments to apply to disbursements first
You can now choose to have partial payments apply to disbursements first, before being allocated to time and fee entries. Note if your firm has connected Xero to Smokeball, we do not recommend that you enable this option.
Learn more about configuring partial payment allocations.
January 20, 2026
Customise the messaging for specific Intake Forms
You can now edit the New Intake Message, Reminder Message and form completion Confirmation Message for specific Intake Forms by selecting Settings > Message Templates when you have the form open in the Form Builder.
January 14, 2026
Archie Prompt Input Builder
You can now make Archie collect information that is not stored in a matter by creating Prompt Inputs. Prompt Inputs are run before the prompt itself and give Archie more context to generate a better answer.
Learn more about Prompt Inputs.
January 6, 2026
Auto-fill on names in Intake FormsÂ
If a person’s contact details have already been entered in an Intake Form, typing the first two letters of their name will allow the respondent to reuse those details instead of entering them again.
Auto-fill on company contact details in Intake Forms
If a company's contact details have already been entered in an Intake Form, typing the first two letters of their name will allow the respondent to reuse those details instead of entering them again.
Contact Name column in the Intake tab of a matter/lead
We have added a column that displays the Contact the Intake Form was sent to, providing better visibility when forms have been sent to multiple parties.
Copy a group and section in the Intake Form builder
A Copy icon has been added to the top-right corner of a Group in the Intake Form builder.
A Copy icon has also been added to the Edit Sections area.