Tags, Groups & Custom Fields

Matter Report Tags let you categorize individual matters so you can filter them when running reports. For example, tag matters by practice area (Family Law, Estate Planning, Criminal Defense) to generate reports for just one category.

To add a tag to a matter:

1. Open the matter
2. Go to Matter Settings → Fields & Topics
3. Enter your tag in the Matter Report Tag field

When running reports, you'll see an option to filter by Matter Report Tags—only matters with the selected tag(s) will appear in the report.

Matter Groups are for clients who have multiple separate matters but want all of them billed together on a single invoice. This is completely different from Matter Report Tags.

Example scenario: A client has four separate matters. Instead of sending four invoices, they want one combined invoice showing all work across all matters.

To set up Matter Groups:

1. Open each matter you want to group
2. Go to Matter Settings → General
3. Assign the same Group name to all matters
4. Designate one matter as the Master Matter (your choice which one)
5. Enter time, tasks, and expenses into any of the grouped matters as normal
6. When ready to bill, create an invoice from the Master Matter—all grouped matters will be included automatically

Task Topics let you organize line items on your invoices into categories with subtotals. This is useful when you want to break down work by phase or type.

Example: You have five timed tasks that all relate to Discovery. By assigning them the "Discovery" topic, they'll be grouped together on the invoice with a subtotal—making it easy for clients to see how much time was spent on each phase of their case.

To set up Task Topics:

1. Open the matter
2. Go to Matter Settings → Fields & Topics
3. Define your topics (Discovery, Trial Prep, Negotiations, etc.)
4. When entering time or tasks, assign the appropriate topic

On the invoice, items will be grouped by topic with subtotals for each section.

Custom Fields let you add your own labeled data fields that appear in the invoice header—alongside standard fields like Invoice Date and Invoice Number.

Common uses:

• Court — Which court the matter is filed in
• Case Number — The court's case number
• Discharge Date — Key deadline for bankruptcy matters
• Policy Number — For insurance-related cases
• Any other matter-specific information your clients need to see

To create Custom Fields:

1. Open the matter
2. Go to Matter Settings → Fields & Topics
3. Add your custom field name and value

The field will appear in the header section of that matter's invoices automatically.

Invoice Tags (documented in the manual on page 33) are still fully supported. They dynamically insert data fields directly into your invoice text—perfect for customizing invoice headers, footers, or even individual task descriptions.

How they differ from Custom Fields:

• Custom Fields = Labeled fields shown in the invoice header area
• Invoice Tags = Data inserted into the body text of your invoice

Where to use Invoice Tags:

• Invoice header text (introductory paragraph)
• Invoice footer (payment instructions, disclaimers)
• Individual task descriptions (for dynamic text)

Invoice Tags are most useful when you want dynamic information woven into sentences or paragraphs, rather than displayed as separate labeled fields.