Roadmap · Updated 10 November 2026
What We're Building Next
Sidebar is shaped by the firms that use it. Here is what we're working on, in order of priority, and everything that has already shipped. Tell us what matters to your firm and it moves up.
Next
In order of priority
- Phone01
3CX Integration
The problem
Some tasks are quicker to say than to type, and lawyers are often away from their desk.
What changes
Talk to Sidebar through your firm's 3CX phone system. Call in, and it listens, answers you out loud, and sends the finished work to your inbox.
Our firm wants this - Practice management02
Write Access to Smokeball
The problem
Sidebar reads your Smokeball matters for context, but the work it prepares is still filed by hand.
What changes
Sidebar saves what it prepares back to the right matter in Smokeball, ready for a solicitor to review.
Our firm wants this - Email03
Emails to the Right Person
The problem
Emails about a matter land in a shared inbox or with the wrong person, and someone has to sort them before anyone can start the work.
What changes
Sidebar works out which matter an incoming email belongs to and forwards it to the solicitor running that matter, with the work it asks for already done: a draft reply or document, ready to review.
Our firm wants this
Shipped
46 features, live today
Where You Work
Email Your Assistant
Jul 2026
Send work to your firm's assistant address and the finished work comes back in the same email thread.
Instant Acknowledgement
Jul 2026
Every request is acknowledged within a minute, so you know it has been picked up.
Microsoft Teams Chats
Oct 2026
Message Sidebar in a Teams chat and get answers there, with live progress while it works.
Teams Group Chats
Oct 2026
In a group chat it answers when mentioned, and can help several colleagues at once.
Documents in Teams
Oct 2026
Finished documents arrive in the Teams chat, shared only with the people in it.
Outlook Calendar Events
Oct 2026
Ask for a meeting or deadline and it creates the Outlook event and invites the colleagues you name.
Your Firm's Share Links
Jul 2026
Send a OneDrive or SharePoint link from your firm and it opens the files itself.
Scheduled Tasks
Oct 2026
Ask once for something recurring, like a weekly matter summary, and it arrives on the schedule you set.
Practice Management
Smokeball Matter Access
Sep 2026
Sidebar reads the matter in Smokeball, including its newest documents and emails, before it starts work.
Matter Status Reports
Sep 2026
Ask which matters are most pressing, or where a practice area stands, and get the answer from Smokeball.
monday.com Boards
Jul 2026
It reads your monday.com boards for context, and updates a status or adds a missing matter when asked.
Priorities Digest
Aug 2026
A regular digest of what needs doing across the firm, grouped by owner, with what to do first.
Documents
Tracked-Change Redlines
Jul 2026
A marked-up Word document with real tracked changes and short margin comments, changing only what you asked.
Schedules of Changes
Jul 2026
Compare two versions of a document and get a clear schedule of every change.
Letters on Your Letterhead
Jul 2026
Letters drafted on your firm's letterhead and signed the way your firm signs.
Your Forms, Filled In
Jul 2026
Send your own Word or PDF form and get the same form back completed, layout untouched.
Agreements From Your Precedents
Jul 2026
Agreements, costs agreements and other documents built from your firm's own precedents.
Binding Financial Agreements
Jul 2026
Disclosure documents turned into a gap analysis and a draft agreement, ready for solicitor review.
Translations Beside the Original
Jul 2026
Foreign-language documents come back with the original kept and the English beside it.
PDF Redaction
Jul 2026
Sensitive details truly removed from PDFs, not just covered with a box, then checked.
Chronologies
Sep 2026
A matter chronology with a schedule of documents, on your letterhead.
Transcripts
Nov 2026
Send a voice memo, a recorded call or a meeting and get a timestamped transcript with the speakers apart, made on your firm's own computer.
Indexes and Tabbed Bundles
Sep 2026
A matter folder indexed, or a set of PDFs combined into one paginated, tabbed bundle.
Bills of Costs
Sep 2026
A tax invoice and time schedule turned into an itemised bill of costs.
Draft Emails for You to Send
Aug 2026
Ready-to-send drafts in your firm's email format, signed by you, for you to check and send.
AML Onboarding Follow-Ups
Aug 2026
Your AML tracker reviewed, and a chaser drafted for every client still owing onboarding forms.
Reads Anything You Send
Jul 2026
Scanned PDFs, phone photos, spreadsheets, Word comments, attached emails and zipped folders.
Quality of Work
Verified Legal Citations
Jul 2026
Law in an advice is checked against an official source before it is cited, never stated from memory.
Asks Only What Matters
Jul 2026
It plans first, and asks one specific question only when the answer would change the work.
Every Item Checked
Jul 2026
Send a photo set or a bundle and it examines every item before it says it has reviewed them.
Drafts for Solicitor Review
Jul 2026
Work comes back as a draft with the points a solicitor must decide flagged. It never files or signs.
Your Firm's Dashboard
Sign Up, Get an Address
Oct 2026
Sign up and your firm gets its own assistant email address straight away.
Tasks With Live Progress
Oct 2026
Every request you sent, by email or Teams, with live steps while it works and what went back.
Templates and Precedents
Oct 2026
Upload your precedents and preview them in place. Sidebar works from them.
Formats It Remembers
Oct 2026
Ask it to keep a format "going forward" and it saves it as your firm's template.
Your House Style
Oct 2026
Set the tone and house style every reply is written in.
Signature, Logo and Disclaimer
Oct 2026
Your firm's signature, logo and disclaimer on every reply.
Team and Invitations
Oct 2026
Invite colleagues, approve people who ask to join, and choose who is an admin.
Matter Access
Oct 2026
Restrict sensitive Smokeball matters to the people listed on them.
Passkey Sign-In
Oct 2026
Sign in with Face ID, Touch ID or Windows Hello.
Oct 2026
Whether Sidebar is answering right now, with 90 days of history and every incident explained.
Safety and Privacy
Same Thread, Same People
Jul 2026
Replies go only to the people on the original email, never to anyone new.
Each Matter Kept Separate
Jul 2026
Work on one matter never draws on or mentions another matter or another colleague's request.
Financial Numbers Never Sent
Aug 2026
Tax file numbers, bank details and card numbers are blocked from ever leaving in a reply.
AI Disclosure on Every Reply
Sep 2026
Every reply says plainly that your firm's AI assistant prepared it.
Phishing and Injection Refused
Oct 2026
Unverified senders, hidden text and planted instructions are caught and flagged, never acted on.
Something your firm needs that isn't here?
Tell us what slows your firm down. The most requested work moves up the list.
This roadmap shows our current plans, not commitments. Priorities change as we learn from the firms using Sidebar, so items may move, change or be dropped.
See It Work on Your Own Matters
A day or two with our engineers, building a workflow on your firm's real work.