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Logging time & tagging

  1. How do I create a project?
  2. How do I create tags?
  3. What makes a tag a tag, instead of a description?
  4. I want to write a very short description. How do I stop it from becoming a tag?
  5. How do I change a tag from billable to unbillable and vice versa?
  6. Why is my time being rounded? What is a minimum billing increment?
  7. How do I change the auto-rounding increment (minimum billing increment)?
  8. How do I mark time unbillable?
  9. How do I create unbillable tags?
  10. Am I getting the most out of unbillable tags?
  11. How do I edit tags?
  12. How do I merge tags?
  13. How do I edit/delete entries?
  14. How do I force a tag to turn into a description?
  15. How do I set a tag as unbillable?

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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

  5. 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.

  6. 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!

  7. 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.

  8. 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!

  9. 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!

  10. 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.

  11. 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!

  12. 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!

  13. 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.

  14. 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.

  15. 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.