How to Turn on General Retainer in a Matter

Overview

In this article you will learn how to turn on the general retainer in a matter within Actionstep. Many firms require the ability to receive client funds prior to starting work (in the operating account in addition to the Trust Account). Actionstep’s General Retainer functionality makes receiving funds, paying invoices, transferring funds between matters, and refunding retainers simple yet customizable to suit the specific needs of your firm. 

Note: General retainers do not work with the QuickBooks Online or Xero integrations.

Setting up general retainers before connecting to QuickBooks will prevent the connection.

Getting Started

Once you turned on General Retainer in Actionstep Billing admin page, to enable it in a matter please follow these steps below.

Open any matter you wish to use a General Retainer, select the Billing icon.

After the billing page loads select "Matter Billing Options"

Note:

Note: Notice in the picture above that there is no section for General Retainer.

When the new page loads navigate your way down till you see the section for General Retainer, once there turn on and save.

After you save select on the Overview link on the left hand side and once the page loads you will now see a General Retainer section.