Let’s not mince words here: It takes about 15 seconds to set a project budget the quick way, or 30 seconds to set a project budget the long way.
Here’s how:
If I (your narrator, Amy) sound like I’m on crack, forgive me. ;)
Features & Changes
10
Jun 11
New Options, Revamped Features and Optimizations, Oh My!
We’ve been working hard on implementing some of our most requested features, and we’ve recently updated Freckle with more options than you can shake a pair of ruby slippers at.
Check out this list of great updates!
* Live search on nearly every page
* The Timer loads faster! Like lightning!
* We support Tempo data importing
* Unselect / select all team members on reports – only available if you have more than one user. No more extraneous clicking!
* Now includes an hours field in a CSV export
* Project merge option is only visible to account owners
* The mobile web version of Freckle for the iPhone is improved, and looks better on iPhone 4 screens
* The People page has been reformatted to show info about team members who are marked as freelancers
Along with all these, we have made some other minor tweaks & optimizations that make Freckle just a little bit more awesome. Please give them a try, and let us know what you think!
8
Jun 11
New Freelancer Role!
Got a team? We’ve got a shiny new feature just for you!
We call it The Freelancer! While we may be getting swept up in summer blockbuster fever, the freelance feature is an incredibly useful tool for teams who may need to bring on a sub-contractor, freelancer, or junior team member for just one or more projects.
You wouldn’t want this person accidentally messing with your other projects, fiddling with invoices, or other people’s time, right? We didn’t think so! Enter The Freelancer role!
Here’s how you can set up these permissions of a new or existing freelancer (or subcontractor, or junior team member) in your Freckle account:
- Log into Freckle as the account owner
- Click on the People tab
- Hover over the team member you want to “restrict” & click Settings
Here you can change the permission role, and under the “Project Access” tab, choose which projects the new freelancer can access. (You can also create new projects here, too! Just type in the new name, like you do when logging time.)
We hope you enjoy this new feature, and if you have any questions or comments please don’t hesitate to drop us a line! :)
12
May 11
How to change billing increments
Freckle has industry-standard 15-minute rounding out of the box (so to speak).
That means if you enter 3, 5, or 8 minutes, all will be rounded up to 15 minutes. This reflects the actual cost of changing from one very short task to another, and correctly compensating you for many small interruptions! That’s why it’s a standard practice for consultants.
You have gobs of options if quarter hours aren’t your thing, including disabling the billing increment altogether.
Watch this video to see how to change billing increments for your account as a whole and for individual projects!
Learn even more about billing increments in our FAQ!
12
Aug 10
Expense tracking is here!
Our #1 requested feature is… expense tracking and line items for invoices! And believe us, we hear you.
Today we launched the beta version of expense tracking! It goes great with a fine chianti, and also with the beta version of invoicing.
Why beta? Because we’re hard at work to make it even better, and we don’t want you to think that we’re done! (And, although we beat on it pretty hard in our testing lab, there’s a small chance you’ll find a bug.)
Don’t wait, try it out now!
Here’s how you can try it out right now:
- Click on any project name
- Type a numeric value (no currency symbols) in the left box
- Type a brief description (no tags) in the right box
- Click the “apply tax” checkbox, if you need to charge your client taxes for it
- Click the “+” button (or hit Enter)
Ta-da! Your expense will be added.
Click on any project name, or go to the Projects page for a full menu
Enter your expense (or line item)
Hey, look! There it is! (And you can delete it.)
Wanna break your expenses out into their own invoice? No problem!
Then, when you invoice, you can choose whether or not to include expensed items. And if you tax your time, non-taxed line items will show that they are not taxed.
You can even generate an invoice with only line items, if that’s your thing!
Hmm, it’s a little annoying to go to the Projects page…
We know! We’re scheming. But we didn’t want you to wait for the world’s most perfect solution.
Ideas? Feedback? Questions? Issues?
Let us know!
27
Jul 10
Invoicing with Freckle: A Comic in 7 Steps
Did you know Freckle does invoicing? Cuz Freckle absoluuuuutely does invoicing!
All paid account levels have unlimited invoices. (Free users, all you need to do is upgrade to any paid plan to invoice your heart out!)
And we’re adding a lot more power to it, too. Wanna get the inside skinny on our customer-driven roadmap? Just keep reading…
Why tell, when you can show? Follow the bouncing pink arrow!
OMG! Invoicing! We're not done yet, but what a start!
Now on your project pages - soon, everywhere! Mwahah!
Just click the button to start! By default, all your open (not-yet-invoiced) hours will be included, but of course you can tweak the dates! When you're done, your invoice will be listed riiiiight here.
Configure on-the-fly! That's right, those pink arrows are not some weird invasive species, they are options you can set -- or not! -- when you create your first invoice for a project.
If it's blue, it's for you! Everything in blue is something you can change, tweak, change, or delete. Plus, of course, the date ranges.
No accidental surprise auto-emailing here. You choose how to send your invoice to your client: print and mail? Email a link? IM a link? Skype a link? Tweet? Your choice!
Already been invoicing? No problem! Create a catch-up invoice so you can set your baseline to zero, and enjoy one-click invoices that include all your not-yet-billed time.
Thanks for reading! We hope you’ll create your first invoices soon… and let us know what you think!
Invoicing is Going & Growing!
Thanks to your feedback, we’re focusing heavily on growing the invoicing feature. Here’s just a quick hit list of some of the things we’re working on related to invoicing…
- expense tracking / line items
- marking invoices as paid, income projection
- split hourly rates (e.g. Tim charges $x, Janice charges $y)
- grouping projects by client
- recurring budgets / invoices
There’s more, but we wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise!
What do you need from an invoicing tool?
Dream big! In a perfect world, what would an invoicing/cashflow tool do for you?
