1Open the Matters table

Click Matters under TABLES in the sidebar.

Each row shows the matter's number, name, unbilled fees and disbursements, client, outstanding trust and unpaid invoices. Click the arrows beside a column to sort by it, and again to reverse it. Click a row to open the matter.

Type in Search matters... to narrow the list.

Sub-projects on shows only top level matters, with a count beside any that has sub-matters. Inline edit on lets you change a cell without opening the record. Setup chooses the columns and filters.

Click the pencil at the end of a row to open the matter over the list and change it there. Close it to go back to the list where you left it. The bin beside the pencil archives the matter, or asks an admin to.

2Create a matter

Click + New matter.

Under Matter details, pick the Matter Type, then the Matter Description and Client Name where your firm has them.

Click Matter Description to see that type's usual descriptions, such as Purchase or Sale under Conveyancing, and click one, or type your own. Typing narrows the list. With no type picked yet, the list shows every type's, and picking one fills in the Matter Type too. On the phone the descriptions are chips under the box.

Under Property (optional), start typing the street address. One list opens under the box: your own properties under Your properties, then new addresses under New address. Click one of yours to file the matter against it. A new address fills in the suburb, state and postcode.

Once you pick a client, a row above the address lists the properties on that client's earlier matters, each with the name of its matter. Click one to file the new matter against it. The row shows only while the address box is empty.

Picking one of Your properties works the other way. A row under Client Name lists the clients on that property's earlier matters, and a click adds every one of them. That row shows only while Client Name is empty.

Matter name fills itself in from the description (or the type), the property and the client. Type in the box to change it. Then pick the Status: Open, Closed or Pending. Estimated completion date and the description under it are optional. Diract sets the date the matter opened to today when you create it.

Under Additional fields, fill in the firm's other fields, such as Person Responsible and Key Date. Matter Number shows the number this matter will get, assigned when you click Create matter. An admin clicks Change numbering beside it to set the prefix, the digits or the next number for every new matter. The money fields at the bottom are filled in by the app from the matter's own entries.

A field that names a contact, such as Client, is picked from a list. Type to search it, or click Add new at the top for someone who is not there yet.

Client Name takes more than one client. Pick each one from the list, and the cross on a name takes that client off. On the matter's details, Add picks another.

Matter name names every client, joined by &. A new invoice bills all of them, and the trust reports name all of them.

3Read and edit the details

The matter opens on its Details tab, every field with its value. Click Click to edit on an empty field, or click a value, to change it. Press Enter or click Save. Escape puts it back, and the cross beside Save clears it.

The app fills some fields itself, and they have no editor. It assigns the Matter Number when you create the matter. It works out Unbilled Fees, Unbilled Disbursements, Outstanding Trust and Unpaid Invoices from the matter's own entries. Date Opened shows the day you created the matter, and Date Closed the day its status became Closed. Reopening the matter clears Date Closed. An empty one reads Filled in automatically.

Person Responsible and Person Assisting list only the firm's own staff.

The tabs across the top are the matter's own screens: Checklist, Trust Account, Time & Fees Report, Disbursements, Invoices, Emails and Settlement Adjustments. Each has its own guide.

Edit layout at the top right rearranges the Details fields. Add sub-project creates a matter under this one.

4Add a tab

Click Tab settings at the top right, then Add tab.

Under Templates, pick a screen: Details, Sub-projects, Checklist, Related Matters, Residual Land Solver, Calendar, Emails, Document templates, Precedent, Files or Settlement Adjustments. Under Custom dashboards, pick one of the firm's own dashboards or tables to show on the matter.

Type a Tab name... if you want something other than the template's own name. Click Add tab.

Tab settings then Edit tabs renames a tab, drags it into another order or removes it. A line shows where a dragged tab will land. Hold it near either end of the row to scroll, drop it on More to put it last, or open More to drag a tab from there. Click Done when you have finished. The same menu opens Access, which is who can see this matter, and Admin, which archives it and lists its deleted tasks.

5Work from the Sub-projects, Related Matters and Calendar tabs

On Sub-projects, click New sub-matter to open the new matter form filed under this matter. Click a sub-matter to open it over the tab, and the bin beside it to archive it. Open full page at the top of the panel opens it on its own page.

On a contact's Related Matters, click New matter to start one with that contact already in its Client field, or the first contact field when there is no Client. Click a matter to open it over the tab. The cross on a role, such as Client, takes the contact out of that field on that matter and leaves the matter as it is.

On Calendar, click a day to list what is due on it, then Add task to add one due that day. Click a task to change it, and Delete task to remove it.

6Work a matter from the phone app

Tap a matter in the phone app, or pick one in the list on an iPad. The dropdown at the top starts on Details. Tap it to choose Time and fees, Disbursements, Invoices, Trust or Emails. The dropdown leaves out a section when the firm has no table for it.

Time and fees and Disbursements open on this week. Tap Showing to choose This month or All time. Each entry shows its date, who recorded it and its amount. Its badge reads Written off, Billed, On a draft bill or Unbilled.

On Invoices, tap an invoice to open its PDF. The Share button in the PDF prints it or sends it.

New invoice lists the matter's unbilled fees and disbursements, all ticked. Untick anything you are not billing yet. Apportion selected fees discounts or marks them up by a percentage or an amount, or brings them to a Target a fixed fee total.

Pick the Template. On a Detailed template, For this invoice only shows or hides the itemised Professional Fees table and the Summary Fees by Lawyer table. Add each debtor, the responsible partner, the dates and the references.

Suggest beside Description of fees drafts a description from the fees you ticked. Use this puts it in the box, and you can change it there. A Detailed template without the itemised fees table needs this description.

On that template, Split into multiple invoices divides the fees into two to six invoices, in equal shares or amounts you type. Each invoice has its own description and can bill its own debtors. A disbursement goes on whichever invoice you choose for it.

Additional discount on total takes an amount or a percentage off the whole invoice. Then tap Create or Create and finalise. Create leaves each invoice Under Review, and Create and finalise marks it Sent. Open PDF shows each invoice ready to print.

On Trust, the figure at the top is what the matter holds in that trust account. A firm with two accounts picks one under Trust account. Tap Record receipt or Record payment, fill in the form and tap the button at its foot. Print receipt or Print payment then opens the document. Print ledger prints the matter's whole trust ledger.