How do I track my time?

As a business, you can track time to document your business' and team's productivity, or to bill back to the client for your services worked. All time you track will be saved until you're ready to bill for it later.

You can track time with the timer, or by logging time manually. Time entries can also be marked as billable, edited or deleted afterwards. If needed, you can adjust the day you start your week on in your Basic Information settings.

• Tracking Format
• Start Timer
• Add a Time Entry
  • Day view
  • Week View
  • Month View
• Manage Time Entries
  • Billed, Unbilled, and Non-Billable Status
  • Edit, Delete, and Resume Timer
• FAQs

Tracking Format

Before you start adding time, you can choose whether you'd like to track your time by duration in hours and minutes, or by start and end time. This can be adjusted anytime and applies to everyone including your team members, with the below steps:

1. Go directly to Time Tracking preferences, or select the Settings section
2. Under Advanced Preferences, select Time Tracking
3. Choose between Track time entries by duration for hours and minutes, including the ability to pause, or Track time entries by start and end time. Your changes will automatically save.
   

Start Timer

Track time while you're doing work by using the timer with the below steps:

 

1. Select the Time Tracking section
2. From the Day sub-tab, select the Start Timer button
   

While the timer is running, you can fill out the entry with more details:

1. Select the Add a client or project field, and choose between internal client, browse through your existing list, or enter a new client or project instead
2. If applicable, check the box off next to Apply to Retainer if you'd like to associate this entry to an existing retainer for a client or project
   
3. Next, in the Add a service field, enter or browse through your existing services, or enter a new service instead
4. If needed, enter any notes in the What are you working on? field
5. If your Tracking Format is set to Duration, pause the timer by selecting on the pause button, and resume by selecting the play button, or hovering over any logged time entry and selecting the play button to resume that particular time entry 
   
6. If your Tracking Format is set to Start and End Time, a pause button is not available, so instead, hover over any logged time entry and select the play button which will create a separate time entry with the same details and a new start time
   1. When you’re done, select the Log Time button to finish.

Start Timer Notes:

• Cancel Timer - Select Discard at the bottom of your timer if you'd like to cancel it entirely
• Continuous Timer - The timer will continue running until you select the Pause, Log Time, or Discard button, and will stay open as you navigate to different parts of your FreshBooks account or if you close the browser window
• Pause Timer - If your Tracking Format is set to:
  • Duration - Pause by selecting the pause button in the timer, then resuming it from the time entry by selecting on the play button that appears above it
  • Start and End Time - A pause button is not available, change the started at time if you’d like to have it start earlier, or hover over any logged time entry and select the play button which will create a separate time entry with the same details and a new start time
• Pop Out Timer - When the timer is running, select the pop out icon in the top right corner to have the timer in its own window
  
  • To pop the timer back into your FreshBooks account, select the X button to close the window, the timer will reappear back in the bottom right corner of your account
    
     

Add Time Entry

Day View

The Day sub-tab is useful for logging time on a day by day basis. All time entries logged on that particular day will appear in a list below the New Entry button. To log time on the Day sub-tab, use these steps:

1. Select the Time Tracking section,
2. On the Day sub-tab, select the day you want to log time on, or use the calendar icon to jump back or forward by weeks
3. Select the New Entry button
4. Then select the Add a project or client field, and choose between internal client, browse through your existing list, or enter a new client or project instead
   
5. Next, if needed, select Add a service and choose a service
6. Depending on your tracking format, either:
   1. Duration - In the HH:MM field, enter your time as a decimal (1.5), as #h #m (1h30m), or with a colon (1:30)
   2. Start and End Time - In the Start and End fields, add the start and end times
7. If needed, select Add notes and include any details
8. When you’re done, select the green checkmark button to save your entry.

Week View

The Week sub-tab is ideal if you log time in bulk, especially if your daily time entries are similar. You can also use the Week view to copy a week with recently logged time entries over to a new week for quick timesheet entry. Use the below steps:

1. Select the Time Tracking section, then select the Week sub-tab
2. Next, select the week you want to log time on, or use the calendar icon to jump back or forward weeks
3. Select the New Row button
4. Next, select the Add a project or client field, and choose between internal client, browse through your existing list, or enter a new client or project instead
5. Next, if needed, select Add a service and choose a service
6. Select the green checkmark button to continue
7. Enter the time as a decimal (1.5), as #h #m (1h30m), or with a colon (1:30) into any box for each day of the week available
8. Repeat steps 3-7 for any additional client, project and service as needed
   
9. When you’re done, select Save to finish logging time for the week.

If you’ve already logged time on another week recently using the Week view, the option to copy it over to another week will become available. Select the copy over all rows from most recent timesheet link under the New Row button. Then you can go to step 7 above and continue with the rest of the steps to fill in the boxes with your time logged.

Month View

If you prefer to log your time in a calendar view, you can use the Month sub-tab view instead. The total for each week is displayed as well as the monthly total at the bottom of the calendar, allowing you to review how much you've logged weekly or monthly at a quick glance. Use the below steps:

1. Select the Time Tracking section, then select the Month sub-tab
2. Next, select the day you want to log time on, otherwise it will default to today's date for you
3. Select the New Entry button
4. Then select the Add a project or client field, and choose between internal client, browse through your existing list, or enter a new client or project instead
   
5. Next, if needed, select Add a service and choose a service
6. Depending on your tracking format, either:
   1. Duration - In the HH:MM field, enter your time as a decimal (1.5), as #h #m (1h30m), or with a colon (1:30)
   2. Start and End Time - In the Start and End fields, add the start and end times
7. If needed, select Add notes and include any details
8. When you’re done, select the green checkmark button to save your entry.

Manage Time Entries

Billed, Unbilled, and Non-Billable Status

There are three types of statuses on your time entries that determines whether they can be invoiced or not:

• Marked as Billable
  • Billed - The time entry is recouped, whether generated onto an invoice or manually marked as billed, once billed, it cannot be rebilled again unless marked as unbilled manually
  • Unbilled - The time entry is ready to be billed on an invoice and charged to a client
• Non-Billable - The time entry is not available to be billed on an invoice, this is useful if you’re tracking time that can’t be billed to a cllient
  • Tracking time to an internal client or flat rate project will automatically mark the time as non-billable by default

Update the status of your time entries by marking them as billed or unbilled using the All sub-tab.

Edit, Delete, and Resume Timer

Edit a time entry logged by yourself or by any team member, except contractors, who can only edit their own time. To edit, either modify several time entries in bulk with the steps in How do I review my time? in the All sub-tab, or use the below steps to edit an entry individually:

1. Either in the Day, Week, Month or All sub-tab, select the time entry in the list below
2. Change any detail as needed, including checking off or unchecking the Billable box (if applicable)
   
3. Select the checkmark button to save. 

From the Time Tracking section, hover over any tracked time to quickly perform any of these actions: 

• Edit - Select the pencil icon to modify your time entry as needed
• Delete - Select the trash can icon to delete the time entry permanently
• Start Timer - Select the play icon to start a new timer
  • If the time entry was logged on a previous day, choose between these additional options:
    • Start Timer Today - Select to start a new timer today with the same details filled out
    • Resume Timer on [Day] - Depending on your tracking format, selecting Resume Timer on [Day] will either:
      • Duration - Select to resume the timer on the same day the time entry was logged
      • Start and End Time - Select to create a separate entry on the same day the time entry was logged

FAQs

How do I generate an invoice with tracked time on it?

There are many ways to generate an invoice, use the steps in How do I generate an invoice? to get started with rebilling your time back to a client.

How do I add a time entry on behalf of my team member?

You can add time entries for any team member except contractors, using these steps: 

1. Select the Time Tracking section
2. Then select the Day, Week, or Month sub-tab
3. In the dropdown under Hours Logged By, select the team member you want to add time for
   
4. A banner will appear indicating You are viewing [team member's] timesheet. Follow the steps in Add Time Entry above to add time as needed.