What’s New with Zola Suite?
While we’re often celebrated as the “most robust” cloud-based practice management solution, we refuse to rest on our laurels. Every year, we make hundreds of updates and enhancements to Zola Suite (983 in 2018, to be exact). While our platform evolves, our goal remains the same: To empower your firm to be more efficient and profitable with a single source of truth across everything you do.
zDrive for Mac
- This tool allows users to edit documents and save them back to Zola Suite automatically (no uploads required)
- Once downloaded to a user's Mac device, files stored in Zola are browseable directly in Finder and can be quickly accessed in the Task Bar
LEDES budgeting
- Set a budget for individual LEDES codes within a LEDES-based matter
- See billed amounts against the total budget as the case progresses
Effective Rates report
- This report showcases a list of all users along with hours worked, fees collected and the effective rate for each
Matter User Rate report
- This report shows, by matter, the Responsible, Originating and Billing Attorneys rate along with any additional Matter Collaborators
Dedicated Timekeeper Goals setup page
- There is now a dedicated page to help you quickly create, edit and delete Timekeeper Goals for your firm
Default time list option for non-staff accounts
- Users with Non-Staff permissions can now pre-filter the timelist for their own time entries
Ability to sort notes
- Users can quickly sort Notes by created time
Updated user list
- We've redesigned the Users & Groups page in Firm Settings
Dedicated subject and body for State of Account emails
- Set a default email subject line and body copy when sending Statements of Account emails to clients in bulk
Expanded Matterscapes billing options
- Customize your matter views with Origination Splits, Responsible Splits, Billing Type and Billing Group
Default worktype
- Define a default worktype that will pre-fill when entering time entries
Soft Cost quantity update
- When entering the quantity for a Soft Cost, Zola Suite now supports two decimal places to support fractional quantities such as mileage
Mobile App updates
- Updates and enhancements to iOS and Android apps
Bulk Billing Center
- Print and/or blast Invoices or Statement of Accounts in bulk more efficiently
Color-coded matter-related contacts roles
- Customized color codes can now be applied to each Matter Role
- Matter-related contacts can also be favorited, floating them to the top of the list
Matter option on Billed and Collected report
- View Billed/Collected amounts grouped by Matter
Credit card expense updates
- When creating and editing Credit Card Expenses, you now have the ability to assign a User, as well as Expense and Task Codes
Configurable discount column
- Additional customization options when it comes to generating invoices
Updated custom date ranges
- Custom Date Ranges can now be typed directly into the From and To date fields when publishing invoices or generating reports
Revamped phone call notes
- Add tags
- Create a new task
- Option to open in a new window
- When you select a contact under the "Spoke With" dropdown, the contact's business, mobile and fax numbers appear
- Filter phone call notes by tags with advanced search functionality in the Matter's Communications tab
Vendor Bill updates
- Ability to assign User, as well as Expense and Task Codes when creating/editing Vendor Bills to facilitate LEDES billing
Efficient document uploading
- Faster upload speeds when uploading documents via Zola Caseway
- Upload files up to 4 GBs
Flat Fee Productivity Report update
- Flat Fee Productivity Report can now show data for individual services to enable firms to identify best and worst performing flat fee services, independent of a matter
Additional submatter billing options
- For Split Fee Matters, users can now adjust Matter Number, Matter Name, Billing Notes, Invoice Note and LEDES information for submatters
NetDocuments integration
- Access matter-related files stored within NetDocuments right in Zola Suite's platform
- Upload/download document, perform advanced searches and access workspaces
Email management enhancements
- Auto-selection of matters for inbound emails from matter-related contacts
- Prompt to create a time entry upon saving an email to a matter (to capture time spent reading messages)
- Blue dots more clearly display unread emails
- Firm contacts are automatically added to the suggested recipient list and float to the top, right after matter-related contacts
Timekeeper Goal Report
- Firm admins can set, and track billable hours and/or total billing goals for members of their firm
- Metrics can be viewed year to date or by prior month and prior week’s progress toward those goals
Custom payment allocations
- Firms can now specify how incoming payments should be applied
Secure payment links
- Invoices sent via email can now include payment links that allow clients to make payments (through LawPay) without the need to log into Caseway, Zola Suite’s client portal
New LEDES formats
- Zola Suite now supports 1998B Alpha, Case Litigator and a Tymetrix version
UniFLOW expense importer
- If you use devices that output Uniflow format, Zola Suite can now import those expenses under the Time/Expense section
Faster intakes
- Fields for first name, last name, company, email and phone can be entered directly in the New Lead window
Favorite reports
- Favorite reports that you view several times a week
- Available from any page of your Zola Suite account
Manual entry for credit card transactions
- Credit card entries can now be recorded manually
Create expenses from credit card transactions
- Record Costs charged to Credit Card Accounts (via manual entry or through downloaded bank activity)
- Option to pass the expense along to a client
Bulk download LEDES invoices
- LEDES invoices can now be downloaded in bulk, allowing you to process invoices across matters with one click
Billing contact available on printed invoices
- When printing an invoice, the Billing Contacts Name/Information is now included on the invoice
Edit contact tags
- Contact Tags can now be edited under Firm Settings (limited based on permission level)
New task status
- A Task can now be labeled as “Not Started”
- Users can also now search by assigned date and completed date
Vendor Box dropdown
- When adding a Vendor, you will now find there is a new Vendor Box dropdown field to indicate the corresponding Box for 1099 filings
Single click invites for firm users
- Invite colleagues whose calendars you follow to events with a single click
Text and email event reminders for external invitees
- Send text and/or email reminders to invited participants
Tag contacts
- Tags can now be associated with contact records, allowing you to easily sort your contacts and export CSV lists
Restore deleted matters and documents
- Restore previously deleted matters and documents with a single click
- Matters and documents can only be restored within 90 days of deletion
Import time entries and expenses on demand
- Easily import a spreadsheet with time entries and expenses right through your Zola Suite account without the assistance of Zola’s migration team
- Contact us for copies of these import templates
Account Reconciliation enhancements
- More filter and sort options so you can find and review transactions with ease
Vendor bills search feature
- Easily locate vendor bills that have been entered into Zola Suite with our new search feature
Vendor payments filtering
- Filter your Vendor Payments report by Vendor allowing you to see all transactions made to one Vendor at a glance
Date calculator
- Determine future or past event dates with the option to exclude weekends and federal holidays
Firm Collaborators
- Assign additional users to a matter
- Firm Collaborators are also filterable in Matterscapes
Matter-related contact notes
- Add notes or descriptions for each matter-related contact
Matter billing groups
- Create your own custom billing frequencies that can be set on the Contact- and Matter-level
Save payment information
- Credit card payment information can now be saved via LawPay
- These saved payments can be used for future Retainer and Invoice Payments processed through Zola Suite
P&L Report update
- The Profit and Loss Report is now drillable, so you can quickly jump into the General Ledger for the account of your choosing
Billing Contacts added
- You can now select matter-related contacts to be “Billing Contacts,” allowing invoices to be shared with them through the Caseway™ Client Portal
Batch billing enhancements
- Flat Fees can now be entered as unbilled activities which can easily be invoiced during batch billing
AR Aging Report enhancement
- The AR Aging Report now has additional date ranges
Multiselect for Matterscapes™
- The Dropdown and Radio Button Filters on Matterscapes™ are now multi-select
Bulk actions for matter basics
- You can update an array of matter-specific information without hopping between several screens
- Update information such as Responsible, Originating and Billing Attorney, Practice Area, and Rate Card for several matters at once
More matter-related timers
- You can have 10 matter-related timers (up from five) on your right-hand pane
PDF templates
- Use PDFs for templates in Document Automation
Matter-level invoice note
- Enter a matter-level note that will automatically appear on all invoices for that matter
Bulk printing sort
- When printing invoices in bulk, firms can now sort by matter number, invoice number or client name (ascending or descending order)
- The invoices will print in the same order the firm prepares the mailing
Custom UTBMS codes
- Firm administrators can now create custom billing codes in existing categories
User images from the Microsoft Network
- Pull user images from the Microsoft Network (when available)
- User images will be shown anywhere a user can be selected, like when assigning a task to a colleague
Receipts
- Easily attach an image or PDF file of a receipt when creating a check, expense or vendor bill
AP Aging Summary Report
- Outstanding payments to vendors grouped by aging period
Generate invoices by Billing Attorney
- Option to generate invoices by Billing Attorney, as well as Responsible Attorney
Journal entry reference and print option
- Save a reference number with a journal entry and print a PDF copy of the entry with a single click
Write-offs
- Write off remaining balances for fees that won't be collected
- Within an invoice, you can enter the date of the write-off and include a note that explains why the fee was waived
Write-Off Report
- Aggregate all write-offs for a given date range
- Results can be filtered by client, attorney, practice area and location
User groups
- Add users to a group (or a number of groups) within your firm
- Matter permissions can be assigned to user groups, saving you time in selecting individual users for each matter
Quick timer narratives
- Quickly add notes as a timer runs
Shared Matterscapes™
- Users can share Matterscapes™ and mark them as a Shared view so the custom views are available to other users at the firm
Flat Fee Productivity Report
- Review hours worked and collections for Flat Fee Matters
Default folder structures by practice area
- Create default folders for documents and notes for each practice area within Firm Settings
Billed and Collected Report
- Firms can now view billed and collected fees with a single click
- This report features a number of smart filters so you can easily sort by Timekeeper, Practice Area or Location
Consolidated invoices
- Generate consolidated invoices when there is a client with multiple matters in any given billing cycle
User calendar view summary - My PastTime
- Individual users can track their time and progress with color-coded calendar view to make sure they're staying on track
Enhanced Billable Hours recap
- Now includes a calendar view with heat mapping so firm admins can easily monitor productivity
Admin dashboard
- Users with Administrative permissions can view key business intelligence metrics through our admin dashboard
- Users can access data including AR, WIP, AP and productivity intel
Next generation IP docketing with Zola Ambient IP
- IP docketing solution that seamlessly connects with the USPTO's systems to easily track the status of all patents and trademarks
- When a new event or action is added, Zola Suite automatically notifies the firm and creates a corresponding task
Advanced calendar search and reporting
- Search events by combinations of owner, category, matter and date range
Zola Signature™ web portal
- A white-label portal with immersive branding, including a custom login page and branded email notifications when new documents are added
zDrive
- With zDrive, users can edit documents and a new version of the file will automatically save back to Zola Suite
Calendar following
- Follow and view your team's calendars
- Each member of your team is assigned a different color so you can easily differentiate the ownership of each event
Bulk assign emails to matters
- Select multiple messages in your inbox, and assign them to a single matter and a specific email folder
Edits to invoice line items now update the corresponding time entries
- When updating a line item on an invoice, you’ll now be presented with the option to have your changes saved on the associated time entry as well
Bulk delete invoices
- Multi-select and delete invoices using the "Multi-Select Options" button
Updated Firm Settings
- Collapsable menus have been added for organization
- Address information has been moved to "Invoice Customization" under "Billing" on the left side
Billable - "No Charge" option
- If you set a matter’s billing preference to "No Charge", time entries for that matter will now default to “No Charge” instead of "No charge, don't show"
AR Aging Report update
- Now presented in landscape view to accommodate additional columns of data
Enhanced Account Reconciliation module
- Improved Reconciliation interface for better user experience
Two-factor authentication
- For extra security, you can enter in an authentication code in conjunction with your Zola Suite password when logging into your account
Narrative templates
- Add a default narrative to any work category. The narrative template will be displayed in the time entry description
Department-Based Accounting
- Generate Profit & Loss statements for different departments, teams or individual members
Configurable time entries generated by email
- Users can choose to review and edit time entries generated before they are automatically saved
- This can be either a default preference by user or a toggle that can be enabled/disabled as you compose an email message
Smart Account Reconciliation Module
- Firms who prefer to manually reconcile their accounts can now use this module to match their “books” on Zola Suite with their bank account statement by clearing or adding individual transactions
- Works seamlessly with download account activity
Administrative Fee Soft Cost
- Easily charge your clients a soft cost expense that is a percentage of the total fees on their invoice
- Change these settings on a matter-level or in Firm Settings
Bulk Printing
- Easily print hundreds of invoices with Zola Suite’s enhanced bulk printing options
- You can either print the 20 invoices selected on a page or all invoices in the entire recordset you’ve filtered
Rules-based calendaring
- Automates procedural, administrative and regulatory deadline
- Automatically enters critical deadlines into your calendar
- Monitors for rule changes
Matterscapes™
- Customized matter view
- Filter matters by practice area, responsible attorney, open date or custom fields
- Save filters so users can efficiently manage their caseloads at the click of a button
Fee Allocation Report
- Allows you to see a detailed view of fees, soft costs and hard costs that have been collected by Matter, User and collection date
Apple Watch application
- Take your practice on the go by using the Zola Suite app on your Apple Watch
Task updates
- Assign tasks to multiple assignees
- Mark as Phone Call
- Add tags
Soft Cost updates
- Create pre-defined Soft Cost Expenses with default rates
- Quantity can also be applied to Soft Costs
WIP-AR-Trust Report updates
- Now includes a column that shows the Matter's evergreen threshold
Accounts Payable management
- AP checks can be printed when paying via check
- Payments can be recorded via credit card
Invoice sent date
- Set an invoice sent date regardless of whether you used Zola Suite’s invoice blasting feature
- You can set this on an individual invoice or by multi-selecting invoices on the Invoices & Payments page
Statement of Account Summary updates
- We’ve refactored Statement of Account Summary in a way that makes it clearer to your clients
- “Previous balance” now reflects the balance owed on the prior invoice
Vendor bills
- Manage and pay vendor bills and pass on expenses to clients through Zola's Account Payable system in the accounting platform
WIP-AR-Trust Report
- See WIP (broken down into un-billed time, soft costs and hard costs) along with Unused Operating Retainer Funds, Unused Trust Funds and AR
Pre-bill invoice enhancement
- Summary on invoices in pre-bill stage now shows available funds in trust or operating retainers as well as any amounts outstanding after application
Report enhancements
- Date filters added to the Statement of Account and WIP reports
Built-In Email Enhancements
- Ability to insert images in composed emails
- Preview snippet of email body is now visible on Dashboard and Email sections
- Count of unread messages shown in Inbox
- One-click archiving
Invoice blasting
- Contact Support for more details
Bulk share with Caseway
- Select multiple documents and share them via Caseway at the same time
Smart intake form sharing
- Securely share intake forms with clients and prospects
- Client submissions will automatically fill in custom forms
- Forms are mobile and tablet optimized and branded with your firm logo
Split Origination/Responsible Attorney Report
- Advanced compensation reports that show billed, collected, responsible and originating
- Please contact us to have this feature activated for your firm
Rate Cards
- Create Rate Cards that can be easily applied to matters
- Rate Cards can also be inherited from a default set at the client-level
Bulk email invoices
- Bulk email invoices or Statements of Account to an unlimited number of recipients
Updated Trust Ledger Summary Report and AR Aging Report
- Trust Ledger Summary Report has a practice area filter, an Excel export option and zero balances do not display by default
- Filter the AR Aging Report by Responsible Attorney, Originating Attorney and Client. Results can now be exported to Excel
QuickBooks integration
- Choose whether you'd like to use Zola Suite's built-in Accounting or Quickbooks integration
- Sync Invoices, payments and much more
Bulk apply trust funds
- Automatically apply available trust funds to open invoices
Print payment receipts
- Print receipts with any payment you make through Zola Suite
RICOH printer integration
- Scan and OCR in one step into Zola Suite using RICOH's multifunction printers
Download bank and credit card activity
- Download activity from over 3000 financial institutions
- Quickly reconcile your accounts and assign any of them as billable expenses with a few clicks
New user interface
- New navigation and icons were added throughout our platform
- Filter buttons are now larger and more clear
- New tabs in Documents, Time/Expense, and Accounting sections more neatly organize the information allowing you to review your access information with fewer clicks
Microsoft Outlook ribbon plugin
- Directly save emails to a matter from Outlook
- Access Zola Suite documents for attachments
- Automatically create time entries as you draft matter-related emails
- Compatible with Outlook 2013/2016 for PC
2-way sync with Google and Office 365
- Sync your Zola Calendar directly to your Google or Office 365 Calendar
- Any Events you create in Zola Suite will show up on your Google or Office 365 Calendar, and vice versa
Mobile email
- Access your Zola Suite email directly through our iOS and Android applications
Quick add
- Easily perform a wide variety of actions from any screen in Zola Suite by clicking on the (+) sign on the top right hand corner of your screen
Add attachments to tasks
- Attach matter-related Zola Docs to tasks to stay organized and get things done
Document integration (Box, Dropbox, Drive, OneDrive)
- Connect your existing Drive, Dropbox, Box and OneDrive account(s) with Zola Suite
- Once your account has been integrated, you will be able to “link” a matter folder within the Documents section
New invoice options
- Separate fees and expenses
- Generate a Statement of Account Summary which will include any prior outstanding balances, new charges, payments received and total outstanding balance
Cash accounting
- View Accounting Reports such as P&L, General Ledger and Balance sheet on either a Cash or Accrual basis
Custom fields
- Custom Fields can be created for any Matter or Contact information you would like readily available
Matter communications
- Our new and improved Communications tab in Matter Details gives you the ability to forward, "reply all" to, and download email attachments
Tablet-friendly apps
- A mobile app version of Zola Suite can be used on your iPad
Evergreen retainers
- Receive notifications when the retainer balance of a Matter goes below what you have set as a minimum balance
RPost integration
- Send encrypted emails
- Access court-admissable proof of delivery, time and email contents
- Obtain e-signatures on legal documents
Pre-billing
- Create draft versions of your invoices
- Review and approve invoices before they are sent out to your clients
Timekeeper Productivity Report
- Review all hours, broken up by billable and non-billable, and realization rate by timekeeper
Trial Balance Report
- Shows a listing of the most recent balances for each account as of a set date
Sales Tax Report
- Shows information about sales tax amounts collected for a particular duration
Microsoft Word ribbon plugin
- Open matter-related documents from any matter folder or subfolder stored in Zola in Word
- Save new documents or new versions of existing documents directly into matters
- Create new folders and subfolders within matters
Document automation
- Generate documents and correspondence with ease
- Automatically create Retainer Agreements, Closing Letters, Medical Request Letters or anything else you need for a case