OpenBooks—Time Billing and Matter Management + Trust Accounting

Important: OpenBooks is still in beta and comes with no warranties or guarantees. Use at your own risk. You better know what you’re doing.

Download the Latest Version of OpenBooks

Download OpenBooks version 2.19

New in OpenBooks 2.19

if your database can’t be found (e.g. if Dropbox suddenly without warning moves and renames a parent folder), you’ll now be prompted to manually select it again, or create a new one
fixed an issue where OpenBooks could not be launched on some older versions of macOS
other bug fixes and under-the-hood improvements

Download OpenBooks version 2.19

Requires:

macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer; and
Apple Numbers version 5 or newer.

New in OpenBooks 2.18

trust ledgers for which a statement was issued on 30 June and which has had no subsequent transactions will no longer show up as requiring a statement to be sent in the trust statements view
fixed bug that prevented the rejection of a trust transfer requisition
improved format when writing or exporting log messages to disk
other minor UI changes and under-the-hood improvements

Download OpenBooks version 2.18

Requires:

macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer; and
Apple Numbers version 5 or newer.

New in OpenBooks 2.17

trust reconciliation statements are now automatically saved as pdf (and will continue to automatically print independent of the general preference to save documents as pdf only)
added ability to view a trust payment requisition by double clicking the associated payment from within the payments cashbook
added admin ability to move timesheet data between matters
improved position and alignment of attachments when automatically generating emails with trust receipts and trust ledgers
improved database management
fixed bug that would sometimes prevent saving documents as pdf in macOS Monterey
other bug fixes and under-the-hood improvements

Download OpenBooks version 2.17

Requires:

macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer; and
Apple Numbers version 5 or newer.

New in OpenBooks 2.15

added support and integration for Hazel, an app for automatically filing your documents
fixed a bug that would sometimes prevent OpenBooks from launching after updating
added other admin-only functions

Download OpenBooks version 2.15

Requires:

macOS 10.13.0 High Sierra or newer; and
Apple Numbers version 5 or newer.

New in OpenBooks 2.14

fixed bug in macOS Big Sur that prevented saving trust records as PDF
added the ability to view a debugging/error log and export it to disk
improved a number of admin-only functions
made other under-the-hood improvements and bug fixes

Download OpenBooks version 2.14

Requires:

macOS 10.13.0 High Sierra or newer; and
Apple Numbers version 5 or newer.

New in OpenBooks 2.13

added ability to print a timesheet containing all the billed time for a matter (useful when preparing a bill of costs)
from the trust accounting cashbook control account ledger, it’s now possible to manually post a negative transaction and to record a custom transaction description
Mail should automatically tag outgoing messages with the relevant project when automatically sending receipts and trust ledgers
other bug fixes and improvements

Download OpenBooks version 2.13

Requires:

macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer; and
Numbers version 5.0 or newer.

New in OpenBooks 2.12

trust payments cashbook now includes a column for the associated payment requisition number
the detailed view of a trust requisition now includes its status and, if it has been approved, by whom and on what date it was approved
other UI tweaks, improvements and enhanced admin tools

Download OpenBooks version 2.12

Requires:

macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer; and
Apple Numbers version 5 or newer.

New in OpenBooks 2.11

trial balance now includes in its header the month and year to which the trial balance relates
trial balance will be automatically saved as pdf when reconciling trust account records
payments cashbook will contain fewer blank rows when printing

Download OpenBooks version 2.11

Requires:

macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer; and
Apple Numbers version 5 or newer

Warning: OpenBooks 2.11 has not yet been tested to work with macOS 10.15 Catalina. If OpenBooks is crucial to your workflow, it is recommended that you do not upgrade to Catalina at this time.

New in OpenBooks 2.10

when printing trust receipts, automatic email now includes salutation with recipient’s first name
added support for Numbers 10.0 to fix bug where some users were unable to print documents based on new templates if running Numbers version 10.0
fixed bug where entries would sometimes appear more than once in search results when searching the file register
other bug fixes and improvements

Download OpenBooks version 2.10

Requires:

macOS 10.13.0 High Sierra or newer; and
Apple Numbers version 5.0 or newer.

New in OpenBooks 2.9

can now print trust transfer journal
fixed: columns in table views (e.g. Receipts Cashbook) can now be reordered by dragging once again
can now add a new matter on the fly when preparing a costs agreement
the name of the user who prepared the statement is now properly recorded when printing a trust account reconciliation statement
fixed bug that prevented printing account statements
fixed: can once again open a new trust ledger to be the recipient of the transfer when creating a trust transfer requisition
other bug fixes and improvements

Download OpenBooks version 2.9

Requires:

macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer; and
Apple Numbers version 5.0 or newer.

New in OpenBooks 2.8

in trust accounting, you can now manually post a transaction to the Cashbook Control Account
fixed a bug where transactions would not be automatically posted to the Cashbook Control Account if it already contained a transaction of the same type for the same month but in a different year
minor UI changes to the main menu

Download OpenBooks version 2.8

Requires:

macOS version 10.13 High Sierra or newer
Apple Numbers version 5.0 or newer

New in OpenBooks 2.7

exported account statements now include “Payee” column
newly created task categories now appear at the beginning of the list when recording time
reordered main menu to move File Register higher in the list
the available balance of a trust ledger will no longer be increased by a new receipt until that receipt has issued on the server
the matter view is now the same whether you access it from the active matters list, the all matters list or by searching
fixed: amounts of cancelled receipts are no longer included in total amount received when reconciling trust records
fixed: deposited amounts of cancelled receipts are no longer displayed in receipts cashbook
fixed: amounts and deposited amounts of cancelled receipts are no longer displayed when printing receipts cashbook
fixed bug that affected default file names for timesheets, account statements and trust ledgers for cases with file numbers that contained colons
fixed: leaving the amount field empty when issuing a bill will no longer cause an error
the Statutory Deposit ledger is no longer displayed in the File Register
many other bug fixes and under-the-hood improvements

Download OpenBooks version 2.7

Requires:

macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer; and
Apple Numbers version 5.0 or newer.

New in OpenBooks 2.6

improved performance when selecting a case in large databases
added email notifications for more types of trust transactions
it is now possible to enter multiple paragraphs in the instructions field when preparing a costs disclosure/agreement
it is now possible to enter 0 for disbursements and internal expenses when preparing a costs disclosure/agreement
fixed bug when printing payments cashbook
fixed bug that prevented requisitioning ledger transfers
fixed bug when leaving the hourly rate field blank when opening a new matter
fixed bug with closing and deleting cases
fixed bug where mark as sent dialogue would timeout after printing trust ledger
made automatic backups more robust
other bug fixes and improvements

Download OpenBooks version 2.6

Requires:

macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer; and
Apple Numbers version 5.0 or newer.

New in OpenBooks 2.5

introduced numerous under-the-hood changes to support larger file registers
for instance, the most recently added cases will now always display on top (yay for less scrolling)
it is no longer necessary (or possible) to enter or customise the file number when opening a new matter
trust receipts are now automatically attached to an outgoing email message after printing (ready to be sent to the client, if desired)
fixed bug where trust ledgers would not automatically attach to the outgoing email after printing
receive email notifications once trust receipts and payment requisitions have issued
trial balance and reconciliation statement will now print automatically when reconciling trust account records
trust ledger titles will now indicate if the ledger is closed
added setting to change password
fixed bug with the forgot password feature when authenticating to approve requisitions
other bug fixes and improvements

Download OpenBooks version 2.5

Requires:

macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer; and
Apple Numbers version 5.0 or newer.

New in OpenBooks 2.4

added ability to prepare costs disclosures and costs agreements
added all new preference panel
added preference to configure whether, when printing trust records, to print a hard copy or just save a PDF
added ability to view log of all changes made to case and trust ledger details (in compliance with Rule 39 of the Legal Profession Uniform General Rules)
now only designated trust account signatories can approve trust payments
printing a trust account ledger will now automatically attach the trust statement to an email that can be sent to the client
refined main menu
improved performance with large file registers
other bug fixes and improvements

Download OpenBooks version 2.4

Requires:

macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer; and
Apple Numbers version 5.0 or newer.

New in OpenBooks 2.3.1

improved the algorithm for determining which trust ledgers need statements to be issued (e.g. ledgers for which statements have already been issued will no longer show up)
PDFs will now automatically open after printing/saving
fixed bug where documents would not print properly if the ‘delete Numbers documents after printing’ setting was enabled

Download OpenBooks version 2.3.1

Requires:

macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer; and
Apple Numbers version 5.0 or newer.

New in OpenBooks 2.3

added two new options to the main menu: “Issue Trust Account Statement” and “Browse All Matters”
“Issue Trust Account Statement” will allow you to view and track the trust ledgers that require end of financial year statements to be sent
“Browse All Matters” will display the complete file register in your OpenBooks database
made further enhancements and refinements to the info displayed after selecting a matter
changed the timer display and added an option to reset the start time of the timer
you can now issue a trust receipt from within a matter even if the matter has no trust ledger
other bug fixes and improvements

Download OpenBooks version 2.3

Requires:

macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer; and
Apple Numbers version 5.0 or newer.

New in OpenBooks 2.2

dramatically enhanced the options available from the matter view, which is displayed after selecting a matter either by browsing or searching in the file register
after selecting a matter from the file register, you can now add time entries, Add Disbursements, view and print timesheets and lists of disbursements, issue trust receipts, and requisition payments and ledger transfers, among many other things
improved performance when searching the file register
added a button to trust matter ledgers to requisition payments and ledger transfers
the current cashbook balance and available cashbook balance will now be displayed when entering an amount for a trust payment requisition
improved layout of printed trust ledgers (Thanks, Lydia!)
enhanced the trust reconciliation preview
fixed bug where button to open new ledger would be dimmed if no trust ledgers were selected
it should no longer be possible to open more than one trust ledger for the same matter
other bug fixes and improvements

Download OpenBooks version 2.2

Requires macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer.

New in OpenBooks 2.1

after starting a clock/timer OpenBooks now displays the time elapsed and other details of the current timer
options to “Stop Clock” and “View Clock” will no longer be displayed in the main menu unless the clock/timer is running
added ability to browse as well as search the file register
enhanced the financial overview displayed after selecting a matter from the file register
added new actions to take after selecting a matter from the file register, such as email, which will automatically start a new timer and create a draft email with an appropriate subject line
added ability to reopen a matter after browsing to or searching for it in the file register
added ability to reopen a trust ledger when issuing a receipt
added ability to cancel and reverse trust cheques
it is no longer possible to requisition a payment if the ADI balance is insufficient
it is now possible to requisition a nil payment though the user will be warned before proceeding
fixed bug with Numbers 6.0 which prevented adding new templates to print various documents
fixed bug that would display duplicate entries in cashbooks after choosing to view more transactions
fixed bug that sometimes displayed dates that were out by one day when printing receipts and payments cashbook
fixed bug that prevented viewing details of certain older payments
fixed bug that prevented posting to cashbook control account
other bug fixes and improvements

Download OpenBooks version 2.1

Requires macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer.

New in OpenBooks 2.0.11

dramatically increased speed and performance
added ability to create new ledger on the fly when requesting ledger transfer
trial balance will now only list ledgers with nil balance if the last transaction date of the ledger was within the reconciliation period
closed trust ledgers will no longer display a “Close” button (how can you close something that is already closed 😕)
cancelling at any stage of adding a new ledger now behaves as expected
fixed bug where negative currencies would sometimes display incorrectly
fixed bug that prevented viewing ledger transfer requisitions
fixed bug that would display the details of the corresponding payment requisition when a transfer requisition was selected
fixed bug where names of trust ledgers with nil balance would not display in trial balance
other bug fixes and improvements

Download OpenBooks version 2.0.11

Requires macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer.

New in OpenBooks 2.0.10

added ability to search the file register for open and closed cases and view associated information (feature still in beta)
enhanced the list of trust ledgers to include columns for last transaction date and balance, among other details, which allows the list to be sorted by date and balance as well as alphabetically by surname or given name
combined trust payment requisitions and ledger transfer requisitions into one enhanced view and added ability to add a new payment requisition or ledger transfer requisition from within the new requisitions view
OpenBooks will now suggest a file number when opening a new matter (it will be the next file number available, but can be edited)
when adding time manually, there is now just one confirmation screen to confirm the start time and end time and other details
added ability to view the trust cashbook control account
closing a case now automatically records the date that it is closed
fixed bug where certain values in trust reconciliation statement would not be formatted as currency
added support for Numbers version 6.0
OpenBooks now requires Numbers version 5.0 to be installed
other bug fixes and improvements

Download OpenBooks version 2.0.10

Requires macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer.