Quickstart: From task to invoice

Take one real piece of work through Projectous, from the task to the bill. At the end you have a draft invoice for real hours, ready to check and send when you choose. You need no contracts, services or teammates for it.

As the person who signed up, you are your company's admin, which the invoicing steps need.

1. Create a client and a project#

Open Projects, under Work, and press Add Project. Give the project a name, and an acronym if you like.

Your own company is already in the list as a client, for internal work, and is picked for you. For client work, open the client picker and choose New client, or type the client's name and choose Create. Enter the name and press Create, then press Create again for the project.

More options for projects are in Projects.

2. Add a task#

Open the project, type the task in the "Add a new task..." row at the top, and press Enter. Use a real piece of work you are doing for this client.

What else a task can hold is in Working with tasks.

3. Track time on it#

Press play beside the task, or Start timer in the open task. The timer takes the task's project. When you finish, stop it from the Timers panel on the side rail and add a note about what you did.

Already worked the hours? In the Timers panel, press +, enter the Duration, pick the Project and the task, add a note and press Save. It is logged for today; More options lets you choose another day.

See Time tracking for everything else timers do.

4. Check the entry and its rate#

Click the entry in the Timers panel to open Edit Timer.

• Notes say what you did. Invoice Notes, if you fill them in, are what the client reads instead; when they are empty, the invoice shows the task's title.
• Client Rate is what an hour is billed at. With no contract, it comes from the client's Default Client Rate, and the field shows that rate greyed out. To bill this entry at another rate, type it and save. To change the client's rate for all their time, open the client from Clients and set Default Client Rate on the Details tab.

Where rates come from once you add contracts is in Rates.

5. Create a draft invoice#

1. Open Invoiceable, under Finances. It lists the time not yet on an invoice.
2. Change the client filter from All Clients to your client. Tick the entry, choose Create Invoice from Select Bulk Action, and press Go.
3. Your time has not been reviewed yet, so you are asked to confirm. Press Continue.
4. Press the Invoice # button that appears. The invoice opens in a new tab, as a draft.

Each line carries the rate Invoiceable showed for it. Edit it directly: click the description, the rate or the hours on a line to change them. Everything else you can change is in Invoicing.

You now have a draft invoice for real work. When it looks right, you can send it, but nothing goes to the client until you do.

What to do next#

• Invite your team and give somebody a task: see Inviting people, then assign them in the task.
• Package work you sell again and again as a service.
• Bill retainers, fixed prices and milestones with contracts, and see every way an agreement is billed in Invoicing.
• Check hours before you bill them with review.