TemplateLab Key Terms and Definitions

TemplateLab Library: Also known as the Forms & Templates Library, this is where Smokeball hosts all of its authored templates, publicly available agency and court form templates, and your firm's personal templates. These templates are configured to auto-fill with data from your matters.

Template: A preset document formatted to contain fields and texts to that does not have to be recreated for each use. Templates come in both Word and PDF formats.

TemplateLab Toolbar: A list of available Smokeball data fields in Word. The toolbar also includes the tools that enable the creation of templates with Asks and If/Then/Else statements.

Field: Also known as a data field, a field is a dynamic data point linked to information from a matter. Fields are inserted into templates and pull corresponding information from the matter into the template upon use.

Learn more about using fields. 

Asks: Pop-up questions that can be built and inserted into templates to help account for information that is not in Smokeball, such as the time of a court proceeding. Asks can be inserted as a field into a template or as part of an if/then/else statement. Asks will run automatically once a template which includes them is run.

Learn more about Asks. 

If/Then/Else Statement: A conditional statement that will return different blocks of text/information depending on whether the condition is true or false. Like Asks, these can also be inserted into your templates.

Learn more about If/Then/Else statements. 

Modify Mode: An action you can take by right-clicking on the title of a template in the TemplateLab Library. A menu will appear and you can then select Modify to begin editing the template. Edits made to the template in modify mode are permanent.

Version History: Changes you make to templates are tracked and previous versions are stored so that you can revert to them if necessary. Right-click on any template in the TemplateLab Library and then select Version History from the pop-up menu. You will then be able to choose the version you wish to use.

Form Suites: Collections of templates you can subscribe to. You can sort these collections by practice area (e.g., Family or Bankruptcy), jurisdiction (e.g., Circuit Court of Cook County), or agency (e.g., Cook County Assessor).

Matter: A case file entered into Smokeball by a user. 

Matter Category: Area of Law/Practice Area (e.g., Civil, Criminal, Family, etc.)

Matter Type: Subset of an area of law (e.g., Criminal > Felony, Personal Injury > Motor Vehicle Accident).

Layout: Screens arranged with fields for input of specific information. Some matter types have unique layouts. For example, a personal injury matter may include a Medicals & Settlement Details layout.

Smart Letterhead: Also known as a container, a letterhead which can be attached to a client's templates from within the TemplateLab Library or generated as a blank letter directly from a matter. A Smart Letterhead can mirror your company's font, logo, and style as well as contain fields for both the firm and addressee. TemplateLab technicians will set up three types of smart letterheads for you:

Letter: contains a heading, date, addressee information, salutation, letter body, closing, and postscript.

Letter, No Signature: contains a heading, date, addressee information, salutation, and letter body.

Letterhead only: heading only

Smart Captions: Also known as court captions, these can be attached to your pleading templates within the TemplateLab library or generated as a blank pleading directly from a matter. A smart caption will mirror the font and style of your firm's court pleadings and also contain both case details and fields for your firm. TemplateLab technicians will set up two smart captions for you:

Caption: contains a court caption, pleading body, closing, and firm information block.

Caption, no signature: Contains a court caption and pleading body.

Container Type: TemplateLab technicians will set up two container types, each with limited fields specific to that type:

Letter: fields available mostly relate to addressee and firm information along with limited case details

Form: fields mostly relate to case details, party, and firm information.

Normal Style: Standard text and paragraph style applied to a Word document. Applying the normal style to a container will control the settings of any document attached to it.

Learn more about formatting templates. 

Logo and image files: Your firm's company logo or attorney signatures that you wish to insert into your templates. These images must be in .jpg format.

Learn more about adding logos and signatures.

Header for forms: A field which can pull in important court information, such as jurisdiction, district, county, and division. This information may be different for each state.

Court Caption - Table: A field used in Smart Captions that will pull in initiating parties, responding parties, and case number from your matter. In order to work, this must be inserted into a one-row, three-column table in Microsoft Word.

Learn more about fields which require tables. 

Body Text: A field used in both Smart Letterheads and Smart Captions that pulls in text from the template it is attached to. If a body text field is missing, then language in the letter or pleading template will not appear even if the letterhead/caption is otherwise correctly attached to the template.