Summarize time/fees and expenses on an invoice

By default, Smokeball will display time/fees and expenses as a list on your invoices. However, you can instead generate single-line summaries for time/fees and expenses if that is the preference of your firm and clients. Read on to learn more.

Summarize an individual invoice

If you only wish to summarize invoice information on a case-by-case basis, the best time to do so is when you are drafting or editing an invoice.

On a draft invoice, select the three dot icon(s) above the Time & Fees or Expenses tables and then select Show as a summary. Enter the text you wish to display on the invoice in the provided text box.

Your invoice will be formatted accordingly:

If you prefer to change the invoice back to the default Smokeball presentation, click on the three dot icon(s) again and then select Show as a list. 

Append a list of time/fees and expenses to a summarized invoice

If you do not wish to foreground a long list of fees and expenses but still wish to include an itemized breakdown of each at the end of the invoice, you can do so after selecting the Show as summary option. After you select Show as summary, click on the three dot icon(s) again and select Append a list of entries to the invoice. 

The single-line summaries will still appear on the first page of the invoice; however, an Activity List showing each individual entry will now be added to the end of the invoice:

Summarize all invoices by default

If you prefer to present your time/fees and expenses as single-line summaries on all invoices, navigate to Firm Settings > Invoice Settings. Select the invoice template(s) you wish to modify and then select the PDF Invoices tab.

Scroll down to the Time & Fees and Expenses section and select the Use a single line summary toggle(s). Enter the text you wish to display on your invoices in the text box. You will also have the option to append a list of time/fee and expense entries using the checkbox. 

Scroll down to the bottom of your screen and select Save to confirm your changes. 

Did You Know

You can also generate invoices with cover letters.