Email Notifications
Updated Oct 18, 2026
Matterly sends transactional emails when SMTP is configured under Super Admin → Settings → Email and the recipient has a valid email address.
You can edit wording under Super Admin → Email Templates.
Branding: client-facing emails (matter confirmation, cancellation, checked-out) are headed with the firm's own name and logo, so they read as coming from the practice and not the platform. Platform emails (firm welcome, invoices to firm admins, password reset) keep the Matterly branding, and every email carries a small "Powered by Matterly" footer.
Emails that send automatically
| When it is sent | Recipient | |
|---|---|---|
| Matter Confirmation | Matter is created as confirmed (reception or successful online matter) | Client |
| Matter Cancellation | Staff cancels the matter | Client |
| Matter Closed | Staff clicks Close matter | Client |
| Invoice | Firm Admin clicks Send on a client invoice | Client |
| Firm Welcome | Super Admin creates a new firm | New firm admin |
| Password Reset | A user requests a reset at /forgot-password |
That user |
| Appointment Reminder | 24 hours before a hearing, consultation or client-visible meeting (all-day items at 08:00 the day before) | Client |
| Payment Reminder | 08:00 the day before an unpaid invoice is due, and 3 days after | Client |
| Subscription Renewal | A few days before a firm's plan renews (scheduled daily) | Firm admin |
| Smart Form invitation | Staff sends a form link from Share → Email | Client |
| Forms requested | Staff sends one or more forms from a matter's Forms tab | Client |
| Smart Form receipt | The client submits or resubmits a Smart Form (PDF copy attached) | Client |
| New Smart Form submission | A client submits or resubmits a Smart Form (PDF attached) | Firm admins, partners, office managers |
| Changes requested | Staff clicks Request changes on a submission | Client |
Note: The three scheduled reminders require Laravel's task scheduler to be running (a single cron entry; see the Installer/Deployment notes). Appointment and payment reminders go by SMS or WhatsApp instead of email when the client has agreed to texts (see Client Texts (SMS)), and each kind can be turned off under Settings → Notifications.
Matter Confirmation
Purpose: Confirm the matter details.
Typical content: Client name, firm name, matter reference, practice area, dates, total.
Tips: Ensure the client email is correct before saving the matter.
Matter Cancellation
Purpose: Tell the client the matter was cancelled.
Typical content: Reference, firm name, cancellation reason (if entered).
Matter active
Matterly does not currently send a dedicated email when you click Mark active.
Clients already received Matter Confirmation earlier. Use the Client Inbox if you need to send a custom message before the appointment.
Matter Closed
Purpose: Thank the client after close.
Typical content: Matter dates, practice area, outstanding balance reminder.
Triggered when staff clicks Close matter on the matter.
Smart Forms emails
Smart Form receipt (to the client): confirms the firm received their response, with the date and time, and attaches their copy of the completed document as a PDF. Sent whenever the form captured a valid email address, including after a corrected resubmission. It does not depend on the staff-notification setting.
New Smart Form submission (to firm admins, partners and office managers): a summary of the answers, a link to the submission and the completed document as a PDF. Also sent for resubmissions. Switch it off per form under Smart Forms → Form settings → Notify staff on each submission (this also stops the in-app alert).
Changes requested (to the client): lists the answers you flagged and your note, with a button that reopens the form with their previous answers filled in and the flagged ones highlighted.
Smart Form invitation / Forms requested (to the client): the link (or links) to fill in, with your message. Links sent from a matter file the response on that matter automatically.
Invoice
Purpose: Send the invoice / payment request to the client.
Triggered by: Invoices → Send (not merely creating a draft).
Tip: Re-send if the client did not receive the first email.
Password Reset
Purpose: Let a user set a new password.
Triggered by: Requesting a reset from Forgot password? on the login page (/forgot-password).
Typical content: A secure, time-limited reset link (expiry follows the app's password token lifetime).
Payment Receipt
There is no separate “Payment Receipt” template beyond the Invoice email.
After you Record Payment:
- Update the invoice status to paid / partially paid
- Optionally re-send the invoice so the client sees the updated balance
Scheduled reminders
Appointment and payment reminders are reserved by an hourly job and sent by a job that runs every minute; the subscription-renewal email is sent daily. They only fire when the task scheduler (cron) is running on your server:
* * * * * cd /path-to-matterly && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1
Each reminder is sent at most once (per event time, invoice due date or billing period). A missed hour is caught up on the next run, and a rescheduled hearing gets a fresh reminder. If the scheduler is not set up, these three reminders won't send. Every other email in the table above is sent immediately by the action that triggers it and does not need cron.
Platform invoice email
When Super Admin sends a platform invoice to a firm, Matterly uses the platform invoice mailer (firm billing), not the client invoice template.
Making email work
- Go to Super Admin → Settings → Email (SMTP) and fill in the host, port, user, password and from address.
- Click Test SMTP.
- Super Admin → Email Templates → Test send for a template.
- Create a test matter with your own email and confirm delivery.