AI tools that work with Smokeball: what to check

Smokeball's help page on the Smokeball Marketplace says to select Australia in the region selector on the left panel, then filter by what you want from the I want to... menu. Category links on a listing help you find similar ones. The left rail on each listing shows the regions and plans that integration applies to.

Do the region step first. The Marketplace lists integrations for other countries too, so filtering first saves reading listings that do not apply to you.

Through Smokeball's API. Smokeball's developer platform overview says technology partners apply to the Smokeball Partner Program, build their app, publish it for review and then launch it in the Marketplace. Smokeball's page on requesting API access says a firm building its own app must be on the Prosper+ plan and have a developer.

When you connect an app, Smokeball's authorisation documentation says you are sent to a Smokeball login page and sign in with your Smokeball credentials. The app asks for a list of scopes, such as reading contacts, reading matters or writing to matters. That list is the practical question for a small firm. Ask the vendor in writing which scopes their app requests and why each one is needed. A tool that only drafts emails has no obvious reason to write to your matters.

If most of your work arrives by email, yes. Smokeball's own add-in for new Outlook does the filing. Its help page on connecting to new Outlook (updated 29 October 2026) says the add-in works in Outlook on Windows and Mac with Microsoft 365, and in Outlook on the web, with a Microsoft 365 Business, Education or GoDaddy-hosted account. Personal accounts such as Outlook.com and Hotmail are not supported. From the add-in you can assign emails to a matter, save attachments, create tasks, and mark emails you send from a matter as billable or non-billable.

Any AI tool you add should sit alongside that. Check: does it run in the Outlook your team actually uses, and does it file to the same matters, or leave filing to Smokeball? For more on checking Outlook add-ins generally, see our guide to the best Outlook add-ins for Australian law firms.

That depends on the tool, so ask each one. Smokeball's Archie page (as at 7 November 2026) says Archie operates in Smokeball's secured environment under zero-data-retention agreements, that data is never shared with third parties for viewing, training or AI modelling, that Archie works only within the matter you are in, and that Smokeball is certified to ISO 27001:2022.

A third-party app comes from a different company, which may use its own servers. Before anyone connects one, get answers in writing and keep them on file:

• Where is the application and database hosted?
• Is any AI processing done outside Australia, and is anything kept there?
• Is our client correspondence used to train AI models?
• How do we disconnect it, and what happens to our data when we do?

Ask whether a tool prepares work for you to check or acts on its own once connected. The safer habit is a tool that shows you the filing, the time entry or the calendar entry first and only writes it to Smokeball when you confirm. A draft can be fixed. A sent email cannot.

Time is where this matters most. If a tool suggests time entries from email, check that you can see and edit the entry before it lands on the matter. If you want a rough idea of how much email time goes unrecorded at your firm, try the unbilled time calculator.

1. It does one job you do every week: drafting, filing, time, summaries or document review.
2. It is listed for Australia in the Smokeball Marketplace, or the vendor can show how it connects.
3. It works in the Outlook your team uses, including new Outlook and Mac if anyone uses one.
4. The Smokeball scopes it asks for match that job, and the vendor explains each one.
5. The vendor states in writing where data is hosted and processed, and whether it trains AI on your mail.
6. You see and confirm anything it writes to Smokeball or sends on your behalf.
7. You can disconnect it yourself, and the vendor says what happens to your data.
8. You can test it on a real week of mail before committing.

For the inbox habits that make any of these tools work better, see how to manage a law firm inbox in Outlook.

Yes. Smokeball's own add-in files email, and with the Archie add-on it can draft replies. AI Legal Toolbox is another option: an Outlook add-in, made in Australia, with an AI paralegal called Nova. It drafts replies into your drafts folder and never sends, and files emails and records time in Smokeball after you confirm. It is hosted in Sydney, with AI text processing by OpenAI in the United States, not retained there. It starts with a 7 day free trial (card needed, nothing charged until day 8), then $149 AUD per practitioner per month including GST. See the facts page.

Smokeball pages and menus change from time to time, so check the Smokeball pages linked above for the current details. Last checked 7 November 2026.

This guide is general information, not legal advice.