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How Do I Get Started After Migrating From FreshBooks Classic?

If you've recently migrated to the new FreshBooks from FreshBooks Classic, the new FreshBooks has been rebuilt from the ground up, with over 250 new features to help you run your business more smoothly. Below is more information on how to get settled in, what's been improved and what’s newly built.
 
 

Get Started after Migration

Download the Mobile App

The new FreshBooks has an entirely new mobile app - you can download it for iOS and Android here. Learn about mobile-specific features like Mileage Tracking here.
 

Invite Your Clients

If you've been setting up usernames and password for your Clients to log into Classic to view their Invoices, Estimates and Project progress, you'll need to re-invite them in the new FreshBooks so they can set up their own Client Accounts instead. There are two ways to do this: 
 

Reconnect Apps & Integrations

If you’ve been using apps and integrations to help run your business, you’ll need to reconnect to them again once you’ve moved to the new FreshBooks. 
 

Reconnect your Bank Accounts

The new FreshBooks connects with several partners for automatic expense importing (as well as Bank Reconciliation). Depending on where your company is based, you can connect your bank and credit card accounts using Plaid, SaltEdge or Yodlee.
To figure out which bank import partner you can use, start here and follow the specific links provided.
 

Re-Invite your Team & Review Roles

If you previously had an Accountant, Contractors, and/or Staff working with you on FreshBooks Classic, they will be asked to migrate over with you as well. You can also re-invite your Team Member if they have yet to migrate over. As a refresher, with the new roles in the new FreshBooks:
  • All Staff with only access to Expenses will be assigned as Employees, anything more than that will be assigned as Managers instead
  • You can now invite up to 10 Accountants
  • A new Admin role allows you to promote any Team Member to have similar permissions as you (ideal for business partners, secondary administrators and more)
Check out these additional resources on Team Members to learn more:
 

Set Up Emails & Templates

Any custom emails you had set up in Classic will need to be re-customized. You can use the new Emails & Templates section here to customize your emails with Placeholders (also known as Dynamic Variables).
 

What’s Not Available in the new FreshBooks

Below are features that are currently not supported in the new FreshBooks, grouped under each tab in FreshBooks Classic:
 

My Account

  • Subdomains (URL) & Billingarm Custom Login Pages - Your unique subdomain (e.g., examplecompany.freshbooks.com) and login page will be replaced with a centralized login at my.freshbooks.com for all new FreshBooks accounts
  • Username Logins - If you were logging in with an username, this will be replaced with your email address instead when logging in at my.freshbooks.com
  • Reusing the Same Email Address - The new FreshBooks only allows one role to be associated with each email for improved security, reusing the same email for multiple roles (e.g., for a Staff and for a Client) will not be allowed
 

Settings

  • Global Payment Reminders & Late Fees - With the new Due Dates feature, your invoices will automatically be 30 days due after the Date of Issue, which is when any reminders will go out. Available as a Client-specific setting only (global-wide setting is coming soon)
  • Compounding Late Fees - Currently only a Late Fee can be applied once in the new FreshBooks
  • Global Settings - Settings for Invoices, Payments, Time Tracking and more are only accessible in these specific sections in the new FreshBooks (global settings area is coming soon)
  • Support & Documents - Use Support Ticket apps, and file storage options like Google Drive, Dropbox instead
 

Emails

  • Customized Email Templates - Re-customize your templates after you migrate
  • HTML / Plain Text - All emails in the new FreshBooks are sent in HTML
  • Weekly Account Summary Email
 

Home

  • Show or Hide Graphs - All graphs in the new FreshBooks are visible by default with no option to hide them (certain graphs are not visible for some Team Members depending on their role)
  • Specific Graphs - Invoices & Expenses, Active Projects and Support Tickets are not available
  • Recent Activity (RSS Feed) - Now a Notification Bell in new FreshBooks, some activity is not tracked including Client logins
  • Customer Reviews - Export a Customer Reviews Report to backup all your reviews before migrating
 

Clients

  • Client’s Last Login Date - This extra column displaying the last login date is not available
  • Client Logins - If your Clients were given an username and password, your Clients can set up a new Client Account instead. The Primary Client can only create an Account but they can invite others, like Secondary Contacts to join to view content too
  • Account Statements - Clients can only see their Account Statement if it’s emailed or sent to them
 

Invoices & Estimates

  • Autobiography - This is called Invoice/Estimate History in the new FreshBooks and shows most activity except timestamps
  • Billed To - Only the Primary Client will appear on the Billed To area of the Invoice, even if the Invoice is sent to a secondary contact (support for secondary contacts coming soon)
  • Copy Recurring Profiles - Recurring Templates in the new FreshBooks cannot be duplicated yet
  • Invoice PDF with Payment Link - Coming soon
  • Item Qty Default - All new Items added to an Invoice default to a Qty of 1 in the new FreshBooks
  • Recurring Profiles Automatically Billing Specific Projects - Recurring Templates in the new FreshBooks will pull all unbilled time from all Projects instead, rather than from specific ones 
  • Templates - Items and Services (also known as Tasks in Classic) are not listed in separate sections in the new FreshBooks, but are under the same section on the Invoice or Estimate
  • Snail Mail - Send invoices by mail through an Integration called Mailform instead
 

Expenses

 

Online Payments

 

Time Tracking & Projects

  • Multiple Timers Running - Only one timer can be run at any time in each new FreshBooks business 
  • Bulk Assign Tasks to Projects - Services (also known as Tasks in Classic) can be set to automatically add to all new Projects by default in the new FreshBooks
  • Pop-Out Timer - The new FreshBooks’ Google Chrome Extension allows you to pop-out your timer into a separate browser window as needed
  • Subcontractors - If you've invited another Staff or Contractor to track time for you on the same Project you're a Contractor for, have the Business Owner of the Project invite your Subcontractor instead
 

Reports

  • Customer Reviews
  • Document Usage Report
  • Estimated Billing Report
  • Revenue by Staff Report
  • Support Tickets Report
  • Snail Mail Report
  • Tasks Invoiced Report
  • Task Summary Report
  • Time to Pay Report
  • User Summary Report
 

Integrations & API

  • Integrations & API - Reconnect your Integrations after you migrate (if you’re using API calls, please reach out to api@freshbooks.com
  • API - Ensure you’ve migrated your XML API to the new REST API
 

Explore the new FreshBooks

Browse through what’s still around and what’s new in the new FreshBooks by clicking anywhere below, or continue reading (follows the order of the new FreshBooks navigation).
 

Account

Instead of using a unique subdomain link to log into your account, login at my.freshbooks.com with your email and password.
Once logged in, note that your account’s navigation is now on the left side (instead of on top like FreshBooks Classic). Some sections will reveal sub-sections underneath (e.g., Invoices has Retainers underneath when you click on it).
 

Notifications & Settings

Notifications

  • Notification Bell (New! 🎉) - Stay up to date with activity in your account with in-app notifications for most events like paid invoices, overdue invoices, and project activity
  • Keyboard Shortcuts (New! 🎉) - Quickly navigate through your account with keyboard shortcuts
 

Settings

Instead of FreshBooks Classic’s My Account and Settings tabs, you can manage your account-wide and business-wide settings in the gear icon in the top left corner:
 

Dashboard

Similar to the Home tab in FreshBooks Classic, see snapshots of your business’ finances with graphs to track outstanding invoices, revenue, expenses and unbilled time to name a few. You can also do the below on your Dashboard:
  • Invite - Quickly invite Team Members
  • Create New… - Quickly create new things like Clients, Invoices and more=
  • Read for more details on each of our Dashboard graphs

Clients & Client Experience

Similar to the People tab in FreshBooks Classic, except Team Members are now found in a separate section in the new FreshBooks. In the Clients section, you can:

Invoices

Similar to FreshBooks Classic’s Invoices tab, you can see both Invoices and Recurring Templates (also known as Recurring Profiles in Classic), as well as a separate sub-section for Retainers:

Invoices

  • Due Dates (New! 🎉) - This new Due Date field lets your Clients know the date to pay Invoices by, otherwise unpaid Invoices will go into Overdue status
  • Invoice History (New! 🎉) - Track any activity on your Invoices and send messages to your Clients by clicking on the history banner at the top of any Invoice (previously called the autobiography in Classic)
  • Payment Reminders - Reminder emails are sent once the Invoice’s Due Date has passed, and only to the primary Contact on file
  • Late Payment Fees - The new FreshBooks only charges Late Payment Fees once per Invoice when enabled
  • Logos & Templates - Customize the look of your templates, upload different logos and switch between two different templates anytime
  • Mailform - If you’re looking to send by Snail Mail, use the Mailform app
  • Share via Link (New! 🎉) - Share invoices with a link anytime
  • Terms & Invoice Settings - Terms and Invoice Settings like Online Payments are remembered from the last Invoice created, rather than on a per-Client basis
Learn more about other Invoice features here. If other businesses from FreshBooks Classic have migrated over to the new version, you can re-receive their invoices with the steps here.
 

Recurring Template Invoices

Recurring Templates are nested inside the Invoices section as a sub-tab.
  • Add Unbilled Time & Expenses - Automatically bill for future unbilled time and unbilled expenses
    Set Custom Frequency (New! 🎉) - Choose from generating invoices Weekly, Monthly, Yearly or Custom
 

Retainers

(New! 🎉) Retainers are similar to Recurring Templates (known as Recurring Profiles in FreshBooks Classic) but with specific differences:
  • Set a budget with your Client and reserve a block of time for time tracked on a recurring basis
  • If you track any hours beyond the budget, those time entries are automatically flagged as excess hours, which you can then bill onto a one-off invoice (and at a different Rate too)
  • Learn more about Retainers here

Payments

Similar to FreshBooks Classic, manage all your payments in one place, as well as create Checkout Links, or log Other Income Entries. In the Payments section, you can:
  • Accept Bank Transfers - Canadian and US businesses can enable accept ACH Bank Transfers on Invoices with WePay or Stripe
  • Advance Payments (New! 🎉) - Formerly known as Virtual Terminal in FreshBooks Classic, Advanced Payments allows you to save your Clients’ credit card details, proactively charge with the details on file, and set up Recurring Payments automatically via Subscriptions
  • Other Income (New! 🎉) - Log non-Invoice income like online sales, rent and more as Other Income entries
  • Partial Payments - You can choose to accept Partial Payments on a per-invoice basis with WePay or Stripe
  • Payment Schedules (New! 🎉) - Set a schedule for your clients to pay in installments by specific dates (up to 12 payments) on a per-invoice basis
 

Checkout Links

(New! 🎉) Collect payments on fixed priced items and services with a link that can be shared online. View all payments in the Checkout Links Payments tab inside the Payments section too.

Expenses

Similar to FreshBooks Classic, your Expenses and Recurring Expenses are separated in sub-tabs for you to review as needed. In the Expenses section, you’re able to do:
  • Bank Connections (New! 🎉) - Also known as Bank Import, connect to your bank account to have expenses imported automatically from one of our three bank import partners (depending on your country)
  • Costs of Goods Sold (COGS) - Marking an individual Expense or Expense Category as as COGS moving forward is now done on the Expense itself instead of the Profit & Loss Report in Classic
  • Duplicates - See potential duplicates flagged as a banner above your list of Expenses, as well as on individual Expenses
  • Expense Markup (New! 🎉) - When rebilling an expense to a Client, you can specify the percentage of the Grand Total you’d like to markup for the Client
  • Multi-currency Expenses (New! 🎉) - Each expense can be assigned its own currency

Estimates & Proposals

Just like in FreshBooks Classic, Estimates are similar in the new FreshBooks. For Plus or Premium plans, Proposals (New! 🎉) are similar to Estimates, but allow you to provide a richer experience with these features:
  • Sections & Rich Text Formatting - Add sections before and after the line items, as well as upload images, and format your text with bold, italics, bulleted lists and more
  • Attachments - Attach files like PDFs, spreadsheets and more
  • eSignatures - Require your Clients to sign before accepting your Proposal
 

Time Tracking

Similar to Classic, you can track your time and review time. Projects have been moved to a separate section in the new FreshBooks. With Time Tracking, you’re able to toggle between the track and review tabs at the top of the page:

Track Time

  • Services Management - Previously called Tasks in FreshBooks Classic, you can manage all your Services in your Settings separately
  • Tracking Format (New! 🎉) - Choose to track time by duration or by start and end time:
  • Views - Log your time on either the Day, Week, or Month view
  • Timer - Track your time and leave it running in the background until you stop it, or resume a Timer from any of your logged entries
  • Generate Invoice - Quickly generate an invoice for your tracked time and expenses
 

Review Time

Review all time tracked by you and your Team Members in the All tab here. You’re also able to:
  • Edit Team Members’ time entries
  • Search for specific Time Entries
 

Projects

Similar to Classic, in each Project, you can see all associated Time Entries, Invoices and Expenses assigned to it:
  • Archive Projects - When you’ve completed a project, archive it to put it in a read-only state (and no new time can be tracked towards it)
  • Billing Methods - Choose which method to bill your Project by
  • Discuss (New! 🎉) - This tab on each Project allows you to collaborate with your team and client by sharing files and comments
  • Hourly Budget & End Date - Specify a budget if needed, and a due date for the Project - this will help you track all hours logged by you and your team, and see how many days are left
  • Project Profitability (New! 🎉)  - See how profitable your projects are, and run a Profitability Summary Report or Profitability Details Report
 

My Team

Rather than have all of your team be Staff or Contractors in Classic, several new roles and improvements have been added to the new FreshBooks, to make it easier to collaborate. These are the new roles: 
  • Business Owner - This is the primary administrator of the account
  • Admin (New! 🎉) - This is essentially a secondary administrator but they do not have full access like the Business Owner does
  • Manager (New! 🎉) - Similar to the Admin role above, except they do not see financial information or any Team Member's time or expense entries
  • Employee - Similar to the Staff role in FreshBooks Classic, they can track time and expenses for all Clients
  • Contractor - Similar to the Contractor role in FreshBooks Classic, they also get their own account and all time entries they track will appear in the Business Owner’s account
  • Accountant - Like in FreshBooks Classic, they can access your reports, but they can also add/edit Expenses, make Journal Entries, add accounts in the Chart of Accounts, and more
 
For full details on each of these roles and what they can or can’t do, check out these resources:
 
Each Team Members also has specific settings for: 
  • Billable Rate - Set a Billable Rate for that Team Member's time tracked towards any Project
  • Cost Rate (New! 🎉) - Measure Project Profitability by tracking how much you pay each Team Member for their work with a Team Cost Rate
  • Client Access - Determine which Clients your Team Member has access to; this will also affect their access to Projects they've been invited to 
 
 

Reports

(New! 🎉) The Reports you know and use regularly in Classic are still in the new FreshBooks, but are now all on one page and with new looks:
  • Favourite Reports - Click on the star icon over up to 4 reports so you can quickly access them at the top of your Reports section
  • Fiscal Year End - Set your Fiscal Year End in Business settings to unlock additional filters in your reports

Accounting

We’ve expanded our functionality to offer double-entry accounting (available on our Plus or Premium plans) with new reports and features like:
  • Chart of Accounts - See your Chart of Accounts, and have your Accountant add custom accounts as needed
  • General Ledger Report - Drill down into each account in your General Ledger Report to see all activity recorded as transactions/Journal Entries
  • Trial Balance Report - Identify discrepancies in your account totals and ensure your accounts balance in the Trial Balance Report
  • Journal Entries - Invite your Accountant and they’ll be able to create Journal Entries as needed
  • Balance Sheet - Unlike Classic, the Balance Sheet in the new FreshBooks is automatically populated for you, and your Accountant can create Journal Entries to add any additional information to your Chart of Accounts, which in turn will reflect on the Balance Sheet
  • Bank Reconciliation - Connect your bank and credit card account(s) via Bank Connections, and use Bank Rec to match transactions from your bank statement to entries in FreshBooks, ensuring your books accurately represent your bank accounts and that all your funds are accounted for
     

Need Help?

We want to ensure you have a smooth experience moving over to the new FreshBooks. Check out our webinars if you want a guided demo here, or watch recorded webinars here. If you’re experiencing any issues or you have further questions, please reach out.

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