Zola Suite Features

Built-in accounting was important and Zola's accounting features are excellent, though we'd occasionally like to be able to customize reports. Even so, we can get the info we need. Time entry is easy and set up to facilitate completeness. The automatic time entry windows help us not to lose time. Matters management is simple and flexible. Document upload and management is good, with features to avoid duplication, track versions, view documents easily, automatic OCR, integration with Word. Email handling and the ability to associate emails with matters is good. but the change from server-based management comes with

Some of the issues are simply the result of being a web-based program, so navigating and using requires people to change habits, and some features of local server-based management are not available. OCR is not always consistent - some documents that OCR in a local pdf editing app do not seem to OCR on Zola. Wish list: a plug-in to permit creation of a spreadsheet in Excel and direct upload to Zola...

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Christian, thank you for taking the time to share your experience with Zola Suite as well as your wish list. We always welcome feature requests and enhancements that will greatly improve our platform. We're working on some enhancements to OCR and we're discussing the ability to customize reports with our product team. Stay tuned!

Robust all-in-one package, which makes it very unique in the law practice management sphere. Very reasonably priced for the functionality. Relatively easy to use once you get past the learning curve. US-based support that is very responsive (more on that below).

Where do I begin?! I have had nothing but problems since the beginning - and I've only been using it for about 4 months. I prepaid for a year and now I regret it. I wanted an all-in-one reasonably priced software that includes CRM, accounting/billing, and time tracking without having to integrate with other apps. However, the program is a bit slow and clunky (I have a new laptop, so it's not the...

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Hi Jennifer. Thank you for sharing your feedback. We're very sorry to hear about your negative experiences. We recognize that transitioning to a new platform can be challenging but we strive to make the process efficient and seamless whether you're a solo practitioner or a member of a 200-user firm. In reviewing your feedback, it seems that many of these issues could have been resolved with more comprehensive training and better communication during the onboarding process. We have shared this feedback with our dedicated onboarding and training team, and a member of our senior leadership team will be in touch to make sure you are configured for success with Zola moving forward.

The best features of ZolaSuite for my firm is it's integration with Google Business for email, the fact that it has full-accounting including three-way reconciliation, its time keeping and billing features, and integration with law firm specific merchant services. I've tried Clio, which may be the closest competitor, and ZolaSuite beats their software, hands down.

The color scheme for read/unread emails in the Gmail integration could use different colors to more easily tell what emails are read or not read.

Austin, thank you so much for taking the time to review Zola Suite! We love hearing from happy customers like you.

We love how Zola Suite is cloud-based. We can manage our firm from anywhere in the world. We also love the integration between Zola Suite and Outlook for calendar management, Zoom for coordinating Zoom meetings with our clients, the Courts, and opposing counsel, and LawPay for easing the collection process. The CRM features are new to us and we are just exploring them now.

Zola Suite is a cutting-edge software platform. As such, it is growing and improving every day. There are certain features that we enjoyed with our prior practice management program that Zola has yet to implement. However, we have suggested these improvements and are optimistic that the suggestions will be implemented shortly.

Hi, Charlie. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience working with Zola Suite. We greatly appreciate it!

The responsiveness of tech support and customer service to not only troubleshooting problems, but suggested features and improvements, is absolutely top notch. That alone is enough to really recommend Zola.

Sometimes, the workflow can be a bit awkward, as some features are less intuitive or require more steps. Links that you would expect to be there are sometimes missing (for example, there is no way to click on the Matter on the Task item to go to the Matter page). For the most part, though, these things are often fixed in updates, and the usability continues to be refined so that clunkier parts of the site get better over time.

I love the ability to manage tasks within Zola Suite. Zola Suite also has a very intuitive document automation system.

Although I understand the HotDocs integration is not yet released and still in testing, it needs additional features. Specifically, the "Overlay" feature that is native to HotDocs needs to be activated within ZolaSuite. It also needs the ability to email the HotDocs interview to clients through Zola Suite.

Hi, Aaron. Thank you for sharing your feedback. We're thrilled to hear how Zola Suite has improved your firm's productivity. We're almost ready to launch our HotDocs integration and will be making significant enhancements in round two of the release. Stay tuned!

integration of accounting, document prep and merge, matters time tracking and billing features.

Integration with Best Case bankruptcy program would be great and help me tremendously

Hi John. Thank you so much for taking the time to review Zola Suite. We're thrilled to hear that our accounting system has helped your firm move away from QuickBooks and increase efficiency.

I find it easy to use and self explanatory. The biggest benefit has been the ease of tracking my time and easily generating client invoices.

It's not unusual for the site to freeze on me or to run slow. I've had times where I lost an email I drafted because the system locked up and I ended up starting from scratch without it saving a draft of the email.

On the whole, Zola is an excellent practice management software. The onboarding process was smooth and we were easily able to get our client and matter databases uploaded. The built-in email integration is hands-down the best feature about Zola. After linking your email account, the integrated email application allows us to quickly and easily save client correspondence and attachments directly to...

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The CRM feels pretty lacking. The fact that it is included is a nice bonus over other practice management offerings, but the overall functionality isn't great. You can't customize the CRM/sales process stages or really anything about the CRM for that matter, so you have to brute force your own process to fit what is given to you. We decided to use a different software for our CRM because it ultimately...

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Hi, Conner. Thank you for your feedback; we're thrilled to hear that Zola Suite has helped to improve your firm's efficiency and profitability. We're sorry that Zola CRM's capabilities have not lived up to your expectations. Currently, firms can only customize CRM Sources within Firm Settings but we're working on a major update that will include the ability to customize CRM stages. With respect to task management, we're actively working on the ability to add individual due dates for subtasks. We'll be sure to update you when it's released.

The customer service is excellent. Sometimes a software can be good, but if the customer service is not as good or better, it can make working with it more difficult. I have always had great customer support whenever calling Zola, and I called a lot at the beginning of the software implementation. I don't call as often now, but I know when I do call, I will get the same customer support as I did when I called more often. The Customer Support team is very good!

In the Documents section, there is no way to easily blackline documents and keep newer versions. Zola's software does not recognize the newer versions of documents. I'm hoping they will change this in the future.

Hi, Eva. Thank you for your feedback. We're thrilled to hear that Zola Suite has helped your practice become more productive. Within Zola's document management section, you can upload new versions of documents and the current version number will appear on the right of the document's name (example: "Ver 5"). By simply clicking on the version number, you will see every version that was uploaded along...

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The support staff is incredibly knowledgeable and quick to respond to any inquiries. If a feature is missing, they are quick to fix or add it. Billing is quick and easy, as is jumping to various matters. The calendar syncs to other calendar apps, making scheduling accurate. The reporting feature shows many different metrics of productivity. You can email directly from a matter and create a time entry,...

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The task feature is helpful for remembering deadlines and setting reminders, but does not send alerts when a task becomes due or overdue. Sometimes there is a delay between an email being received in my inbox and showing in Zola. Email glitches happen with some regularity. There is no ability to pop emails out in a separate window. When we have had an issue in the past, Zola has been fast to respond and resolve the issue. They have added functions and features based on our requests. There are bugs, but they work hard to correct them.

Hi Katherine, we're glad to hear that Zola Suite helps you manage your practice in a more efficient way. In regards to Zola's task feature, users who assign a task to another member of their team have the ability to receive an alert when the task is completed or overdue. Those who were assigned the task will receive an email with the task description and due date, and if the assignee doesn't complete the task in time, it will display in the "Overdue" tab of the assignee's task list. In addition, Zola's email client supports the ability to pop emails out into a separate window when viewing and composing emails. Please reach out to our Support team if you have any questions.

First and foremost, being able to access the software via a web-based login is extremely useful, especially when so many of us are working from home. Time entry is straightforward and easy. I do feel like it is helping us capture a higher percentage of our billable work than we did in the past. Most of the reporting functionality is really great. Customer support has been extremely responsive and helpful. Integration with Quickbooks Online is really nice.

The transition from our old software to the new (e.g., data migration) was tough. To be fair, we expected it to be tough: we used the old software for almost 15 years so it had a lot of data and we were heavily reliant on it and very used to the way it worked. The Zola customer service folks worked with us tirelessly to make it happen and that was great, but even though we expected the transition to...

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Hi Michael. Thank you for your feedback. We're happy to hear that Zola has significantly improved the efficiency of your timekeeping and billing processes. We're sorry to hear that your migration expectations were not met. With an advanced migration, our team will migrate contacts, calendar events, matters, tasks, unbilled time entries, trust balances and more. While most legal practice management...

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Zola Suite saves us time that we didn't realize we were wasting before. We're able to efficiently maintain and manage clients, files and leads all in one place. It also makes working from home as efficient as working in the office. Further customer support is amazing. They promptly answer every single question and concern.

There is very little that we dislike about Zola Suite. Anything that we have concerns about, they try to address and show us a proper way to manage. There are definitely some areas that are different than our prior software but that's to be expected. There are so many benefits to Zola Suite that we are not actually able to take full advantage of them yet as we are still working on transitioning to the system and learning the ins and outs.

First and foremost is the email system. All emails (both incoming and sent) are easily attached to the file with a click of the mouse. it is also very easy to attach a file document (a Z-doc) to an outgoing email or to download an email attachment directly to the file. Using the Intake forms (both shared and internal) are handy ways to have the quick information (critical dates, expenses, etc) at...

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The inability to connect with services like Zapier. I have a love-hate relationship with Clio and Zapier. I enjoyed linking Google forms and Smartsheet and Clio. I miss having that ability. I am also having challenges utilizing virtual assistants with the system. However, I am getting used to, and preferring using just one system.

Robust program that covers everything from case management to client lead intake to comprehensive firm accounting. Easy to use and navigate for the most part. Integrated CRM and FULL accounting of all operating and trust accounts with triple reconciliation keeps the entire process streamlined and accessible without having to utilize a dozen different programs and hoping nothing falls through the cracks.

Has minor UI issues that can be annoying, particularly the inability to active a full subscription without going through a multi-step process involving both the sales department and support team at Zola. This should be a "click here, pick your plan, enter your payment method" process with no need to have it "activated" by the company before being able to use it. That being said, there are some additional features that I would love to see Zola add/integrate/improve ASAP (which I am sending to Zola as suggestions for future improvements). If these features were incorporated, ZolaSuite would certainly be a category killer and rapidly take over the entire market, but they are not "dealbreaker" items as far as I'm concerned for overall ratings.

Great user interface. Reliable. Excellent customer service. Consistent updates making the product even better & adding new features (without charging you more for them).

Not every feature you want may be available today.

The website and app are easy to use, responsive and have a fairly logical layout. It's easy to search and find information, and data input is relatively simple. Our office doesn't use Zola as an all-in-one solution, but for the parts we use daily (which is still most of the features), we're very happy with the state of the software. Customer service has been incredibly responsive, and you really get the feel that they are willing to invest the time in problem solving. I also really feel like my input has been taken into account as product updates roll out. The mobile app has improved by leaps and bounds. It is in an excellent place, and very usable.

There are still a few bugs and features to fill in gaps as the software matures further, but nothing that prevents functionality. I've been with Zola for about 18 months; what would have been my biggest cons 6 months ago have since been addressed. The email interface requires the most work, but it too is nonetheless in a good state. Tagging emails to cases could be a little easier, and moving emails...

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The email integration is a revelation. Not only does it allow me to organize all email by matter, the automatic timer that creates a time entry for every email pays for the subscription by itself. Document management and automation are both outstanding in Zola. The user interface is outstanding. Every screen is logically laid out, packed with all the information I want to see at a glance, and visually...

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The process of sending an invoice could be streamlined, enabling the entire creation and delivery of the invoice from one screen (it requires a trip to the accounting tab to finish), and a send button would be nice, rather than the small share icon. Still, once you learn it, the process works as is. The client portal is new and fairly basic (with the exception of the optional smart phone app), enabling only limited document sharing, and lacks the private messaging and other functions I have found in other providers. But I think it is only a matter of time before Zola fully develops this secure communication tool. Email integration has been a bit buggy, but so far tech support has resolved any issues that cropped up.

The task template which allows me to create specific templates based upon my practice and how I work versus a generic input system.

I would like to see the task template updated to automatically populate a time schedule based upon the user's creation, in which of course the user should be able to revise it as needed for each entry. I would also like to see more customized billing. The current invoices are too generic. Lastly, document assembly and a document automation component is something Zola should consider as well.

Thanks for the review! Invoices can be customized to add as much (or as little) detail as you would like. Our support team will contact you to help you reconfigure your current template until you are 100% satisfied. Document assembly and automation features are in development and will be rolled out later this summer. Stay tuned, you won¿t be disappointed. We are also working on updating our task templates to add more features and will reach out to you to get your input.

There are so many things to rave about this legal management software. If we have to pick, I would say its awesome customer service and its basic accounting capabilities offered.

Glitches and technical errors, especially with Zola Suite email system, happen more often than our liking; however, Zola Suite's awesome technical support team and their great availability and ease of accessibility make these problems bearable.

Zola Suite allows me to manage both the clients side and the business side of my practice with ease. When I moved to solo practice I knew I would need a solid and easy to use practice management system and Zola has been a perfect fit for my needs. I also love the support Zola provides with real humans who are knowledgable about the product. Their follow up is outstanding.

I wish Zola had a better means for client to push a tab on my invoices and pay by credit card. Zola does integrate with Law Pay which has that feature, but the process gets clunky. That said, it is entirely possible that Zola has implemented a better process for credit cards and I am just unaware of it.

Thank you for sharing your feedback, David. We're glad that Zola Suite is helping to manage the business side of your practice with ease. We're sorry to hear you're having trouble with Zola's LawPay integration. A member of our support team will reach out to you for further assistance.

All the features Zola has to offer far exceed my expectations. The fact that you can tie every aspect of your law office in one central location makes everything so much easy in day to day operations. Document storage, data base, billing, expense tracking, template creation and usage, email. Everything you need in one location at the touch of a button

Emailing has limits in that there is no delivery/read receipt. In this day of electronic filing and communication, these features are very important to a law office. The app has a significant amount of limits that make its use a bit frustrating for our attorneys as they can't utilize all the billing codes properly for our firm.

Thank you for your review! We're committed to your firm's success and we're so happy to hear that we've exceeded your expectations. We do offer advanced proof of (email) delivery via an exclusive integration with RMail. We'd be happy to walk you through the process of sending one of these messages. As with the other features in Zola Suite, it's designed with the user in mind and you can do it all right through your dashboard ¿ no third party logins required! We'd love to learn a bit more about the issues you've encountered with billing codes. Our main goal is to help you run a more efficient practice, so please contact us at your earliest convenience.

Billing and keeping track of time is very easy with this software. Additionally, the "Tasks" feature is very helpful for remembering deadlines and the like.

Zola Suite does have a few bugs that could use some ironing out. Some days, some of the features are unavailable. At times, saving emails to the email page from Outlook is not as easy as it should be. If Zola Suite addressed this, it would be near perfect.

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback, Lucas! We're so glad to hear that Zola Suite's time tracking and task management features have helped you be more efficient. A member of our team will be in touch to discuss the Outlook issue you're experiencing; it sounds like we may need to update your Outlook plugin.

The RPost (e-mail encryption and e-signatures) and LawPay integrations, along with all of Zola Suite's inherent features (case management, custom forms, document automation, document management, excellent time tracking, client portal, business and trust accounting, etc.) provide a seamless and paperless process from client intake and e-signature of the engagement letter to getting the work done to...

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At one point, the e-mail integration was a bit buggy, and the merging of data from custom form fields for the document automation feature did not work as advertised on the training video. Fortunately, both of those issues have been resolved and have worked well since then.