Help & Documentation

Just getting started with Freckle? Read our Quick Start Guide! It’s the fastest way to get you going.

Want to know about how tagging can improve your experience?

For other questions & issues, keep reading!

Signing in & user accounts

How do I sign in?

Just like you, your Freckle account is a unique and beautiful snowflake… and to log in, you need only to type in its very own unique and beautiful URL.

Your Freckle account’s URL looks like this:

http://uniqueandbeautiful.letsfreckle.com

Where uniqueandbeautiful, of course, is merely a placeholder for your very own account name.
How do I know my account name?

If you are the account administrator, you picked your account name when you signed up. If you are a regular Joe User, you had no say in the URL, alas!

But either way, you should have an email in your archives from Freckle with your login URL.

The email is from Freckle Team and has the subject line “Freckle welcomes you!”
What if I forgot my password?

No problem! Reset your password by going to your Freckle sign-in page, located at:

http://YOURACCTNAME.letsfreckle.com/

And click the “Password Reset” tab on the bottom right.
What if I forgot my domain name (account name)?

Don’t remember your domain? Refer to your welcome email, with the subject line of either freckle welcomes you! (if you created the account) or You’re invited to freckle! (if you were brought onto an existing account).

Still can’t find it? Send us an email with your name & any other information that could help us locate your account.
How do I cancel my account?

This question is under Plans. Click here to go to it!
How do I add more members to our team?

You’ve upgraded from the Solo to the Mini plan because your team has grown and you want to add the new members to your project? Easy!

On the righthand side of your dashboard is your control panel. Click on “People” to get to the page with the active accounts.

There you can see all the accounts that are currently active – so far, there’s only one account listed and that should be you. Click the button on the top right corner labeled “+ add person” to do exactly that – add a new member to your project!

A pop up-window will appear where you can add user details and login data. Don’t forget to check the “Hide my password”-box if you’re feeling watched.

The added member is immediately visible on the list of active accounts. Move your mouse over the user’s field to change the settings, show reports or deactivate the user.

A disabled user can always be re-activated. Go to the active accounts (see above) and click on the “reactivate” button to re-animate an archived member.
How do I rename my account?

You’ve signed up as “Joe Normal” in the heat of the moment but now you want to change your account’s name to “Joe Superstar” because that’s who you really are? Easy!

First, log into your account and click on the “admin” tab to get to your admin area.

Changing your account name means that bookmarks, RSS feeds and sent invoices need to be updated, since all the old links connected to your old name will no longer work.

Enter your desired name into the text field.

Make sure not to forget to tick the check box, that reminds you that all your previous URLs, bookmarklets, invoice links and RSS feeds will stop working.

All you need to do now is click the button labelled “Rename account” and you’ll no longer be known as “Joe Normal”!

After the name change you will receive an e-mail with your new sign-in URL and a reminder to update your bookmarks, RSS feeds, invoice links etc.
How to I set User Permissions? / What is the Freelancer feature?

Sometimes you need a freelancer or subcontractor working on some of your projects, but you do not want them to have access to ALL of your projects. Someone who is marked as a ‘Freelancer’ will only have access to the projects you set for them, and they will not be able to see invoices, or other team member’s time entries.

To set user permissions you must be logged in as the account owner. Then click on the People tab

Hover over the team member you want to edit & click Settings

Then click on the Freelancer button to change the team member’s access

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)

Then you should be all set!

Logging time & tagging

How do I create a project?

You don’t need to ever create a project in advance with Freckle!

The first time you want to log time for a new project, simply type its name in the PROJECT field (middle field) when you log the time using the Quick Entry box.
How do I create tags?

You never have to create a tag up front with Freckle! You can create it when you need it the first time.

Simply add it to your TAGS/DESCRIPTION field when you enter your time.

See the next question for information on what makes a tag a tag.
What makes a tag a tag, instead of a description?

A tag is like a category, except you can use many tags on a given entry.

You can enter both tags (clickable categories) and more lengthy descriptions (only for that particular entry) whenever you log time, and both go in the third field (TAGS/DESCRIPTIONS) of the Quick Entry box.

A tag is one or two words, and separated by commas. For example:

tag 1, tag 2, this is not a tag

Freckle will automatically create two tags for you (tag 1, tag 2) because they’re 1 to 2 words each.
I want to write a very short description. How do I stop it from becoming a tag?

Freckle automatically creates tags from any comma-separated phrases of two words or fewer. But what if you don’t want them to be tags?

There are three ways to avoid it:

1. Tune the way you write descriptions, to either lengthen them, or skip commas (e.g. “did x, y and z” could become ” x y and z”)

2. Use a single exclamation mark (!) to tell Freckle “this is not a tag!”

Example:

!not tag, is tag

Freckle will create only one tag from this example, the “is tag.”

3. Use a double exclamation mark (!!), to make everything a description.
Example:

!!not tag, still not a tag
How do I change a tag from billable to unbillable and vice versa?

Easily! First click on the Tags section from the green control panel on the right.

You can see here which tags are billable, and which are unbillable.

To change a tag, hover over the tag, and select the edit button on the right.

You can then make a tag unbillable by adding a star * to the end of the tag. You can make an unbillable tag billable by just removing the star.
Why is my time being rounded? What is a minimum billing increment?

Freckle has a default of 15 minutes for a minimum billing increment. This is standard for many industries, especially design, programming & other creative services.

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.)

If you need to change this, read the next question!
How do I change the auto-rounding increment (minimum billing increment)?

Freckle has industry-standard 15 minute rounding out of the box (so to speak), but you have gobs of options if quarter hours aren’t your thing.

For a project that hasn’t been configured yet, mouseover its little grey dot—from any page—and click to configure.

For a project that’s been configured, click on on the project name—from any page—and then click settings.

Then, either way you get there, you will be looking at this little window:

Pick a new increment, click Save & Close and off you go.

As the account owner, you can apply this setting account wide. To do this, click on Settings & Tools and then Rounding to set a default billing increment for all new projects.
How do I mark time unbillable?

In any business where you sell your time, it’s absolutely critical to know how much time you spend that you can’t charge for!

Freckle has a powerful shorthand for tracking time you can’t bill for — what we call unbillable time. You mark your time entries as unbillable using special tags. When you apply an “unbillable tag” to any entry, it marks that entry as unbillable time.

An unbillable tag looks like any other tag — up to two words long — except that it is followed by an asterisk (*).

These are examples of unbillable tags you might like to use/create:

invoicing*
initial consultation*
pre-sales*
internal*

Keep reading our FAQ for more about unbillable tags!
How do I create unbillable tags?

There are two ways to create an unbillable tag:

1. Write the tag-word in your tags/description field, like any other tag, but add an asterisk (*) to the end of it. For example:

sales call*

2. You can also edit an existing tag to make it unbillable by adding an asterisk (*). But remember, that will affect all existing entries with that tag!
Am I getting the most out of unbillable tags?

You can track your unbillable time several ways with Freckle.

Many Unbillable Tags

With one approach, you may have several tags which define different types of unbillable activities, for example:

initial consultation*
pre-sales*
invoicing*
transit*

Then you can use these tags to be very specific about what type of unbillable time you are tracking, in one go. You’ll have an easy time seeing how much time you spend on pre-sales and initial consultations, no problem!

Just a Couple Unbillable Tags

With the other approach, you take advantage of the fact that a single unbillable tag “taints” the whole time entry and causes it to be unbillable. You might have only one or two tags that indicate an entry is unbillable, and use those in every case.

Then you can log a time entry like this:

3h wireframing, internal*

This approach is best if you like to keep your use of tags to a minimum, and especially if you have cases where the same work (e.g. wireframing) could be billable—or it could be unbillable.
How do I edit tags?

You’ve added a tag in a hurry and typed “porject” instead of “project”? Don’t worry, there is an easy way to fix this.

If you want to correct a typo or simply rename a tag move your mouse over the entry and click the edit-button.

Type in the correct tag, save it and voila!
How do I merge tags?

You’ve realized that you used that “porject” tag far too often already. Let’s merge it with the happily coexisting “project” tag!

Go to your “Tags” page by clicking on the tag-button on your green control panel.

You toggle between showing all tags or only show the unbillable ones by clicking one of the respective buttons.

You can also search for specific tags by using the search bar.

To merge tags, simply search for your typo then move your mouse over the tag and click the merge-button. A new window is opened that lets you pick the tag that you want the typo-tag merged into. Pick the correct tag from the drop down menu.

Careful – the tag will be permanently merged!

There is no undo, so please double-check before clicking the button “Merge tags (no undo)”. Done!
How do I edit/delete entries?

You’ve tracked the first hours on Freckle and notice that there’s something wrong with the numbers. So how do you undo wrongly tracked time or correct falsely added numbers?

Go to your dashboard (which you can access by the green control panel on the right side) where you can see all your recent entries.

Move your mouse cursor over the entry that you want to edit/delete. Do you notice the two buttons at the end of your entry?

Click on the edit-button if you want to change date, time, project, project member or the description of the entry.

If you are happy with the changes you’ve made, click the save-button. If not, you can always cancel the editing process.

Deleting an entry is just as easy. Instead of clicking the edit-button, click the red button marked with an “x” to delete the whole entry.
How do I force a tag to turn into a description?

Did you know that you can tag your tags?

![your tag]

By putting an exclamation mark in front of your tag you tell Freckle not to automatically convert your text into tags but to add a description. This feature comes in handy if your description is only one or two words long when otherwise Freckle would automatically create a tag.

Also, you can use !! anywhere in the description (including at the start) and freckle will not mark anything in the rest of the description as a tag.
Another special tag is the unbillable tag.
How do I set a tag as unbillable?

Did you know that you can tag your tags?

[your tag]*

By putting an asterisk (*) after your tag you mark it as unbillable. Your time will be tracked but not added to your invoice.

Another special tag lets you force descriptions.

On the project page, you can also set entire projects as unbillable. Hover over the specific project and click on the settings button. Here you can choose whether the project is billable or not.

Freckle Timer

How do I use the Timer?

To open the timer click on the “Timer” in the dashboard. (You can also install a bookmarklet, we’ll get to that in question #2)

It will then open with a list of projects that you have already created in Freckle. Click on the project you want to time, and press the blue play button.

Freckle will now start counting your time, and you can feel free to minimize the timer so it is out of the way. Alternatively, timers are saved on the server, so you can close the timer window and reopen it later and no data will be lost. When you are finished working, press the blue pause button. If you plan to resume working later you can at any time press the play button. However if you are done for now, click on the pink check mark.

This will open up a space to edit the time, and add any necessary tags / descriptions. When done editing, simply press the LOG button, and magically your hours will be added to your Freckle homepage.
How do I install the Timer Bookmarklet?

Does your browser support bookmarklets? If you are using Safari, Chrome or Firefox you can use Freckle’s bookmarklet feature.

Go to “settings & tools”, which you can find in the gray bar at the top of your screen. A pop up window appears. Click on the “Timer” tag, there you will find a big blue button, which you can grab with your mouse and drag it to your bookmarks bar.

Using the bookmarklet in IE is a bit more complicated but the single steps are easy to follow so that you can enjoy your bookmarklet-goodness even with IE!
What does the little speaker icon do?

Located on the bottom right hand side of your Freckle timer is a small speaker icon.

You can stay informed about currently running timers with a ping sound that is played every 15 minutes (or the billing increment of the project you’re running the timer on is set to). This way you don’t accidentally leave your timer running after you have finished working on a project.

To activate this make sure the speaker icon says “on” — if it says “off”, click it to turn the ping on. You’ll hear the ping once when you turn it on.
Can I use keyboard shortcuts in the timer?

You sure can! On the bottom of the timer’s window is a list of available keyboard shortcuts.
Can I create a new project from the Timer, if I have not yet created one on my Freckle homepage?

You can create a brand spankin’ new project on the fly just by hitting the “+ new project” button on the upper right hand corner of the Timer. You can then later click on the “Freckle” button to open your homepage in a web browser.

Deleting, Archiving & Managing Projects

How do I configure projects?

Did you know that you could configure projects in Freckle? You can! There are 3 simple ways of configuring your projects – in just a few clicks!

Go to your dashboard (to get there click “dashboard” on the green control panel).

Move your mouse over the gray circle in front of the project you want to configure.

Click on the gray circle to open the configuration window for your project, where you can change the project’s name, set the project budget, the tracking increment and if the project is billable or not.

There isn’t just one way of doing it in Freckle – you can also configure your project’s settings by clicking on the label “projects” on your green control panel. There you can find all projects that you’ve added so far. Move the mouse over the project that you want to configure. Notice the new buttons?

Click on settings to open the configuration window (see screenshot) and configure your project.

And there is yet another way of configuring your project.

On your project’s page (click “projects” on the green control panel, then choose the project you want to configure) is a button labelled “settings” in the top right corner.

Clicking the button will open the same configuration window (see screenshot) where you can configure your project as much as you like.
How do I delete a project?
There’s a nice big delete permanently button on the individual project page!

Don’t see the button? To delete a project, the project must be empty. It can’t have any time entries in it. This is for your protection, because time is your livelihood. :)

If you’re bound & determined to delete a project that has entries, you can either delete or reassign the entries. But there’s a better option, archiving. If you archive a project, your data is hidden – but safe! You can recover it any time. See the next tip for how to archive.

If you really want to delete a project, here’s how:
1. If the project has time entries, either delete or reassign them all.
2. Click on the project name anywhere in Freckle (including from the Projects tab) to go to its page.
3. Click the red “delete permanently” button at the top right.
Remember, you can’t undo a deleted project!
How do I archive a project (hide it from lists, reports, etc)?
Project list getting a bit cluttered? Want to clear out ones you’re done with?

If you want to get a project out of your lists, and reports, etc., but don’t really want to delete all those time entries, we have a better option for you!

You can ARCHIVE any project, regardless of how many entries it has. (Then, in case you made a mistake or changed your mind, you can always get it back!)

Here’s how you do that:
1. Go to the individual Project page.
2. Click the “archive” button next to the project name.
You can recover an archived project any time—read on!
How do I look at an archived project?

You can look at an archived project any time!

You’ll find a list of them on your Projects tab, at the bottom of the page.

First, go to your Projects page:

Then scroll down:

Click any project name to check it out!
How do I restore an archived project?

To bring an archived project “back to life,” simply go to its Project page (see the above tip!) and click the Reactivate Project button:
How do I merge projects?

So you’ve been working on two different projects that have now become one? There are ways to bring two or more projects together with Freckle’s merge-function.

Go to your project’s page by clicking on “projects” on the green control panel. There you can see a list of your current projects.

Move your mouse over the project that you want to merge. After the merge the project will be permanently deleted so make sure to double-check which project you’re opening.

On mouse-over you will notice three buttons. One of them is labelled “settings”. Click to open the settings window. The main tab enables you to change the settings of the project. Click on the tab labelled “Project merge”.

At first, choose the target project. All of your entries and invoices of the current project will be merged into the target project. The current one will be permanently deleted so please double-check before merging your projects. Btw, you can’t merge projects into archived ones. You have to re-activate them first (you can do so on the project’s page), then it’s ready for merger.

Before you enter the “merge projects” button check if all the entries that you’ve made are actually merged into the new project.

If you’re happy with what’s being merged, be bold and hit the “merge projects” button. After you’ve done this, the original project will be permanently deleted and all your entries and invoices merged with the target project.
How do I create a project in advance?

Most of the time it’s great to simply add a project on the fly, right at the moment when it happens. At other times you might want to add projects in advance. You can do so by going to your dashboard (get there by clicking on “dashboard” on your green control panel).

At the top you’ll find the quick entry bar, where you can log your time that hasn’t already been logged via the timer.

Write “0” in the time field and add your project’s name, then log your zero minutes by clicking the “log it” button.

Voila! Your new project has been added without having tracked any time yet. You can now edit your settings for your project and start tracking your time whenever you feel like it!
What is my pulse and how can I check it?

The Pulse gives you a graphic interpretation on how much time you work on your projects. If you only have one project that you’re working on the Pulse can still provide you with useful information on your work patterns.

To see your Pulse simply click on “Pulse”, which is located on the green control panel.

The Pulse you see is always for the current month but you can toggle between months by using the buttons labelled “previous month” and “next month” in the upper right corner.

Clicking on a pie chart will lead you directly to a report for the day. There you can view a full break down of your workday. Hovering over the pie chart will give you the total amount of time you’ve worked on that day as well as how many hours were spent on which project.

You can also see which projects were the active ones in your set time frame, as well as which are the most popular tags you’ve used.

The information on the Pulse page allows you to analyze your work behavior, lets you easily recognize patterns in your work flow and give you enough information to optimize your work days. By default you see all users in your account (except if you’re on a Solo account), but you can filter the pulse by individual user.
What are reports and how do I run them?

A report lets you see how many hours you’ve worked on a project or specific parts of a project.

To run a report simply click on “reports” on the green control panel.

To run a report simply click the button “run a report” (it’s pretty intuitive)!

A box opens up that lets you pick the timeframe…

or the project / client…

or toggle (select/deselect) all of the team members!

And if you want to be even more specific, you can also define tags.

By adding tags you can narrow down your report or focus on certain aspects of your projects. Make sure to not add tags of different projects if you’ve set a specific project, otherwise you won’t get any results.

If you’ve narrowed down your report-criteria click on the button that says “run it” and watch your report appear on screen!

If you want to save your report permanently you can do so by pressing the button labelled “save permanently”. Now you can always access this report from your “Reports” page.

If you’d rather download a CSV file you just need to press the button labelled “download as CSV”. See, how easy this is?

By simply moving away from the page the whole report is being discarded.

As you’ve already noticed, there’s not just one way to access features and functions in Freckle. Another way to see the report of a day is to go to your Pulse page and click on a pie chart to receive a report for this specific day.

Invoicing

How do I create a new invoice?

To create a new invoice first go to the Project page, and select the project name that you would like to invoice for.

Then click on new invoice to get started.

Your new invoice will open in a new window, and you can enter information and edit any light blue box

Once you are done editing, press the Save & Preview button at the top of the invoice.
How do I select the hours to be included in an invoice?

After you have created your new invoice you can choose the hours to bill in the Summary section of the invoice. You can either choose “All open hours” to select all outstanding non billed hours, or select a calendar date range.

In this section, you can also toggle between an hourly rate or a flat rate for the project.
How do I add expenses and line items to an invoice?

When you are looking at the specific project that you want to invoice (found through the projects tab) look at the Expenses and Line Items box

Here you can add any necessary items that the client is going to be billed for. Then in the summary section of your invoice, click on the include all unbilled expenses option to add these to your invoice.
How do I add taxes or rebates to an invoice?

After you have created an invoice, you can use the tax lines to add taxes or rebates to an invoice. Click on the add tax button on the invoice.

Freckle can create multiple tax lines, and even negative taxes as required in some countries.
How do I share my invoice?

Once you have finished editing your invoice, click on the Save and Preview button.

You then have the option to either print the invoice

or to send a helpful little link to your client.
What about hours I may have invoiced outside of Freckle?

On the project page, locate the Invoices box, and you can see the “Invoiced out of Freckle” option. Click on the Mark Hours button

Here you can specify what hours have already been invoiced so Freckle stays up to date on your work!
How do I access previously created invoices or export them?

Under the invoices tab on the dashboard of course!

Here you can review all previously created invoices, and sort them at your discretion

In the invoices tab you can also download a CSV file of your invoices to be used with other programs such as Microsoft Excel.
I don’t live in the US. Can I customize currency and date formats?

Absolutely. Freckle comes with a pre-configured list of languages, regions and currencies. Choosing these will change how currencies and dates are formatted on your invoice. You can then go ahead and change headings and labels on the invoice to your liking (and Freckle will remember for your next invoice!).
Can I have my invoice as a PDF?

Absolutely! Just open up an invoice and click the “Download as PDF” button. Note that i may take a few seconds to generate the PDF, so be patient!
How do I mark an invoice as paid?

You can mark an invoice as paid by clicking the little $ icon next to it in the list of invoices.

Plans & Billing

How do I cancel my account?

All you need to do to close your account is: log in to your Freckle account, click on the Admin button at the top right, and click the Close Account tab in the window that opens. Please read the information carefully before clicking the final link!

You will be redirected to an “Unknown account” page after your successfully canceled account. Please note that we will delete all of your data from our servers if you close your account. Closed accounts cannot be reopened!!
How do I change the owner of an account?

If you are the owner of an account and need to pass the ownership to another member, you can do that in a few simple steps.

Log into your account, then click on the “admin” tab at the top of the screen to switch to the admin-area.

There you will find a link labelled “Change account owner”. Click on it.

The drop down menu lets you pick the name of the new owner of the account.

Changing the owner means that you won’t receive receipts and billing problem notices. It also means that you can’t add more projects or members to the team. Everything else stays the same.

With 5 simple clicks you’ve transferred your ownership to another user!
How do I change / update my billing information?
First: you must have the power. That is, you need to be logged in as the person who created the account in the first place.

Once you’re logged in as the demigod that you are, click the Admin tab at the top right:

Now you’re in the Admin area.

Click on that Billing tab if you’re not already on it (you should be), and there you can:
- change up your credit card
- change up your credit card’s billing address
- enter an alternative address for the invoice (purely for show, special tax needs, etc.)
How do I upgrade / downgrade my Freckle plan?

First: you must have the power. That is, you need to be logged in as the person who created the account in the first place. (Just like for your billing details, because this kinda move potentially involves money and data!)

Once you’re logged in as the demigod that you are, click the Admin tab at the top right:

Now you’re in the Admin area.

Click that little Upgrade/Downgrade tab on the left, and you’ll see a list of plans, just like this:

Your current plan is highlighted, and next to the other plans are the things you can do with them: either upgrade to them, or downgrade to them.

Or, you might not see a cute little downgrade button next to the future plan of your choice. You might see how to downgrade as a link. This means you have to make some changes to your account before you’ll be able to fit in the smaller plan.

There’s more info here, if you want to downgrade
What happens when I upgrade from the free trial to a higher Freckle plan?

First of all, the extra goodies (invoicing, more user accounts) will be available immediately.

And, because Freckle is billed monthly on an in-advance basis, your free trial will end, and you will be charged immediately for your next month of service, and your billing date will change to the day you upgraded each month.
What happens when I upgrade to a higher Freckle plan?

First of all, the extra goodies (like more user accounts!) will be available immediately.

If you’re not in the trial period anymore, you will be charged for your next month of service for the higher plan on your next billing date.

If you’re still in the trial period, your free trial will end, and you will be charged immediately for your next month of service, and then again every 30 days.
Oops! My credit card didn’t go through because of a temporary problem. What happens next?

First off: don’t panic! We know these things happen.

Your account will continue to work fully for 30 days past a failed credit card transaction.

We will attempt to automatically rebill your card in just a few days.

If your billing information is incorrect, sign in and update it and we will try again with the new information.

If your card information is correct and you know the charge didn’t work because of a temporary problem, you can use the “try current credit card again” button to instantly pay.

Past 30 days’ due, your account will be locked. You’ll still be able to log in to update the billing information or retry the current card on file, but not enter time or run reports. No matter how long your account has been locked, you only need to pay one month’s billing in order to reopen it.
How can I view past Freckle payment receipts?

If you’re the admin on your Freckle account, log in, click the Admin tab, then click on Billing if it’s not already selected.

Under the Invoices headline, you’ll see a select menu. Click it to view, print, or save any past invoice (in a new window).
I’m in a country with strict business tax laws. How can I set extra information to appear on my Freckle email receipts?

You can add any information to your Freckle invoice that you need!

If you’re the admin on your Freckle account, log in, click the Admin tab, then click on Billing if it’s not already selected.

Under the Have special invoice needs? heading, you can enter an alternative address to your credit card billing address, and include any additional information you need such as tax ID numbers or contact persons.

Be sure to click the Save button when you’re done!
Can I pay with PayPal?

Sorry, not at this time!

We’re investigating PayPal subscriptions as an option, but there are many complexities if you want to upgrade, downgrade, or cancel your account. If PayPal is the only way you could pay for Freckle, please let us know by email so we can notify you if we are able to add PayPal as an option.

Currently Visa, Mastercard and American Express can be used to pay for your Freckle subscription.

Importing and Exporting Data, Integration & API

Can I export data from Freckle?
Yes, absolutely. Your data is always yours.

There are several ways you can get your data out of Freckle:
1. Subscribe to your RSS feed
2. Download the results of any report as a comma-separated values file (CSV) — there’s a button on every Report page
3. Query any tag, project, or report as XML
4. Use our API
Keep reading the below questions for details.
Can I import data from Freckle, Harvest, Basecamp, Freshbooks or Tempo?

Yes, you can import data from Harvest, Basecamp, Freshbooks, Tempo and of course from Freckle—our data import feature is now in beta! Note that you need to be logged in as account owner. To import files from these applications, go to “Admin” then “Data import”.

You will then see a grey box where you can select a file to upload & edit options of the to be imported data.

To export data from Freshbooks, you need to you need to export a CSV file format from Freshbooks. Check out this Freshbooks forum for more info!

Learn more about the Freckle CSV import format.
How can I subscribe to an RSS feed of time entries?

Log into your account, click the Pulse tab, and you’ll see an orange feed button right there:

This RSS feed includes all entries for all people who log time on your account.
How can I get Freckle data in CSV?

First, run a report for any time frame, people, tags, & projects you’re interested in. Then, on the report page, you’ll see a button to download all of the time entries in that report as a CSV file:
Does Freckle export to Excel, QuickBooks, or other applications?

While Freckle does not export to these specifically, almost all spreadsheet and accounting packages will import data from CSV (comma-separated values). Freckle just does not create QuickBooks or .XLS files directly.

See the previous question on how to get any Freckle data you need in CSV format!
How can I get Freckle data in XML?
You can export most Freckle data as XML, even without using the API. Here’s how:
1. Go to any page for a report, person, tag, or project
2. Add .xml to the end of the page’s URL
3. Your browser will try to render the XML output. Save the file as text using your browser’s file options.
Does Freckle have an API?

Yes!

To learn more, visit our Freckle API documentation.
Where do I get my Freckle API token?

Every user account has his/her own unique API token.

You can find it under Settings & Tools, and then API:
Can I log time to Freckle from the command-line?

Yes, we have an unofficial RubyGem you can use to track time from a CLI. View the repository on Github.

You can also log time from your commit messages when using repository hosting services like Beanstalk and GitHub. See below for more information!
Sorry, but we can’t provide support for Ruby, Ruby Gems, or this particular tool!
What open source libraries use the Freckle API?

There’s some really cool libraries written by our users! Check out the Freckle API documentation for a comprehensive list!
Can I log time from Beanstalk or GitHub commit messages?

Yes, you can!

Both Beanstalk and GitHub have integration with Freckle time tracking. You can log time directly from your commit messages, with descriptions and tags.

See the following questions for information on how to set it up.
How do I configure Beanstalk to log time to Freckle?

You can log time from any Beanstalk account, for any Beanstalk repository.

For information on how to configure it, see the excellent instructions on the Beanstalk web site.
How do I configure GitHub to log time to Freckle?
To set up GitHub configuration, first get your API token. (That’s covered a little earlier on this page.)

Then log into your GitHub account and go to the repo you’d like to link to Freckle.

Under the name of your repo, click the Service Hooks tab next to General Settings:

Then choose Freckle from the list that appears:

Finally, you’ll get to the configuration screen. You’ll need to enter three things:
1. Your account name (subdomain; e.g. http://youraccountname.letsfreckle.com)
2. Your unique API token
3. The exact, pre-existing Freckle project name you’d like to log time for
For an account named nutsnbolts (e.g. http://nutsnbolts.letsfreckle.com), your configuration should look like this:

Keep in mind that it’s critical that the project name is exactly the same as it is in Freckle! That includes any punctuation such as spaces, dashes, & whatnot.

The email addresses for each GitHub user account must also match the email addresses we have for that person in Freckle.

Once you’re all configured, save and click the Test Hook link.
How do I add time to my commit messages for Beanstalk?
Add time to your commit message using square brackets containing the key f: followed by the amount of time you’d like to log.

For example, [f:5m] will log 5 minutes, so will [f:5], [f:1] will log an hour, [f:1h] will also log an hour, and so on. The [f:xx] syntax offers the same smart time parsing features as the Quick Entry box.

Here’s a detailed breakdown of how you can specify time:
- m, min, mins, minute, minutes – Sets the time
  in minutes (e.g. 15m)
- h, hr, hrs, hour, hours – Sets the time in
  hours (e.g. 1h)
- d, day, days – Sets the time in working days
  (e.g. 1d would be 8 hours)
- 4 – Sets the time in hours
- 4,15 4.15 4:15 – Sets the time in hours and
  minutes
The rest of your message will be used to create tags and description. The syntax is exactly the same as the TAGS/DESCRIPTION field in the Quick Entry.

For example:

"tag 1, tag2, here's a longer description [f:1.5h]"
How do I add time to my commit messages for GitHub?
Add time to your commit message by adding f: followed by the amount of time you’d like to log.

For example, f:5m will log 5 minutes, so will f:5, f:1 will log an hour, f:1h will also log an hour, and so on. The f:xx syntax offers the same smart time parsing features as the Quick Entry box.

Here’s a detailed breakdown of how you can specify time:
- m, min, mins, minute, minutes – Sets the time
  in minutes (e.g. 15m)
- h, hr, hrs, hour, hours – Sets the time in
  hours (e.g. 1h)
- d, day, days – Sets the time in working days
  (e.g. 1d would be 8 hours)
- 4 – Sets the time in hours
- 4,15 4.15 4:15 – Sets the time in hours and
  minutes
The rest of your message will be used to create tags and description. The syntax is exactly the same as the TAGS/DESCRIPTION field in the Quick Entry.

For example:

tag 1, tag2, here's a longer description f:1.5h

The f:xx part will not show up as part of the description in Freckle.

For our non-US Customers

I’m in a country with strict business tax laws. How can I set extra information to appear on my Freckle email receipts?

You can add any information to your Freckle invoice that you need!

If you’re the admin on your Freckle account, log in, click the Admin tab, then click on Billing if it’s not already selected.

Under the Have special invoice needs? heading, you can enter an alternative address to your credit card billing address, and include any additional information you need such as tax ID numbers or contact persons.

Be sure to click the Save button when you’re done!
Can I set the week to begin on Monday?

Absolutely!

To set your week to begin on Monday (instead of the default, Sunday), log in to your Freckle account, click the Settings and Tools button in the top bar. Then click the Date and Time tab.

Swap the Weeks start on… select list to your day of choice.
Can I pay in euros (or other currency)?

Sorry, not at this time!

But let us know if it’s important to you, so we can evaluate the level of interest. Click the pink Feedback button on any Freckle screen.

<img src="/wp-content/themes/cleanr/images/blog_header.png" width="375" height="76" alt="Freckle Time Tracking">

Help & Documentation

Signing in & user accounts

Logging time & tagging

Freckle Timer

Deleting, Archiving & Managing Projects

Invoicing

Plans & Billing

Importing and Exporting Data, Integration & API

For our non-US Customers

Signing in & user accounts

How do I sign in?

How do I know my account name?

What if I forgot my password?

What if I forgot my domain name (account name)?

How do I cancel my account?

How do I add more members to our team?

How do I rename my account?

How to I set User Permissions? / What is the Freelancer feature?

Logging time & tagging

How do I create a project?

How do I create tags?

What makes a tag a tag, instead of a description?

I want to write a very short description. How do I stop it from becoming a tag?

How do I change a tag from billable to unbillable and vice versa?

Why is my time being rounded? What is a minimum billing increment?

How do I change the auto-rounding increment (minimum billing increment)?

How do I mark time unbillable?

How do I create unbillable tags?

Am I getting the most out of unbillable tags?

Many Unbillable Tags

Just a Couple Unbillable Tags

How do I edit tags?

How do I merge tags?

How do I edit/delete entries?

How do I force a tag to turn into a description?

How do I set a tag as unbillable?

Freckle Timer

How do I use the Timer?

How do I install the Timer Bookmarklet?

What does the little speaker icon do?

Can I use keyboard shortcuts in the timer?

Can I create a new project from the Timer, if I have not yet created one on my Freckle homepage?

Deleting, Archiving & Managing Projects

How do I configure projects?

How do I delete a project?

How do I archive a project (hide it from lists, reports, etc)?

How do I look at an archived project?

How do I restore an archived project?

How do I merge projects?

How do I create a project in advance?

What is my pulse and how can I check it?

What are reports and how do I run them?

Invoicing

How do I create a new invoice?

How do I select the hours to be included in an invoice?

How do I add expenses and line items to an invoice?

How do I add taxes or rebates to an invoice?

How do I share my invoice?

What about hours I may have invoiced outside of Freckle?

How do I access previously created invoices or export them?

I don’t live in the US. Can I customize currency and date formats?

Can I have my invoice as a PDF?

How do I mark an invoice as paid?

Plans & Billing

How do I cancel my account?

How do I change the owner of an account?

How do I change / update my billing information?

How do I upgrade / downgrade my Freckle plan?

What happens when I upgrade from the free trial to a higher Freckle plan?

What happens when I upgrade to a higher Freckle plan?

Oops! My credit card didn’t go through because of a temporary problem. What happens next?

How can I view past Freckle payment receipts?

I’m in a country with strict business tax laws. How can I set extra information to appear on my Freckle email receipts?

Can I pay with PayPal?

Importing and Exporting Data, Integration & API

Can I export data from Freckle?

Can I import data from Freckle, Harvest, Basecamp, Freshbooks or Tempo?

How can I subscribe to an RSS feed of time entries?

How can I get Freckle data in CSV?