This morning’s upgrades are complete, and version 4.3 of FreshBooks has arrived on the scene with lots of great improvements and a few exciting new features.
Here’s a quick summary of what’s new and improved:
Expenses
- At long last, you can now manage expenses inside FreshBooks using the “expenses” tab.
- Expenses can be assigned to a client which allows for easy application to invoices.
- Expenses can also be assigned to a project, and you’ll be prompted to include any associated expenses when generating an invoice for a project.
- There are new expense reports under the “reports” tab.
PDF invoices and estimates
- You and your clients can now view (and save) your invoices and estimates in PDF format.
New and improved client import
- Our client import tool has been completely re-designed! You can now import your contacts directly from Microsoft Outlook, Gmail, or Yahoo! Mail.
“Save and add another”
- We just made life easier when adding multiple expenses, items, tasks and support departments.
Minor updates
- You may now choose to have no currency symbol.
- Invoice numbers can now contain the following symbols: ‘:’, ‘-’, and ‘.’
- Uploaded logos are now automatically (and optimally) resized for better presentation.
- Status legends can be permanently turned on or off.
- Help boxes can be permanently turned off.
We’ll be highlighting a few of these new features in greater detail over the course of the next couple weeks.
To see these improvements now, log into your existing FreshBooks system or create a new one for free, and enjoy!
Copyright © 2000-2007
9:36 am
Any chance we will be able to setup “recurring” expenses anytime soon? Like for hosting etc. so we don’t have to enter in every month
Thanks!
10:14 am
Awesome FB team! Thanks!
10:15 am
Hey Sean - recurring expenses is something we considered for this release, but we wanted to do this release with the “minimum” number of features and get some feedback.
This is great feedback and we’re all ears for more.
- mike
10:37 am
Hi,
Is anyone else having problems logging in this morning? I tried Safari and Firefox (latest versions) and the login page just sticks, won’t load.
Thoughts? Is this a problem because of 4.3?
So glad to hear about the new features…can’t wait to start using them.
10:40 am
Great work FB! Just the other day I was lamenting the fact that I had done a bad job of keeping track of business expenses in January and February and now I have a fun way of doing so. The interface makes me want to enter them all right now!
11:16 am
Brandon: haven’t heard anything of the sort, but keep in mind the Internet in general has been undergoing some pretty major traffic routing issues the last couple months. It’s not uncommon for a handful of sites and servers to be unreachable for whatever reasons in recent days. We’ll double-check to see if anyone’s having issues here, but nothing’s been reported thus far!
11:19 am
Hi Brandon, good to hear from you over the phone today! That secure socket layer for your FreshBooks URL is needed to login properly. Let us know how your ‘new feature’ test drive goes.
Thanks Aaron, glad to see we’re able to shed a new light into the way you see expenses
12:18 pm
Recurring expenses (monthly) would really help me. I’d love to see that. Please!!! Please!!! Please!!!
Good work on this release.
12:46 pm
Yesterday I thought to myself (while on vacation) I wish Freshbooks could handle expenses. I get to my office only to find out it has been added. It was kinda like Freshbooks was reading my mind. Creepy.
1:32 pm
We tried the mind-reading thing for a while, but ultimately we found we learned too many things we never, ever wanted to know. (Sunir, I’m looking at you.)
1:35 pm
bula,
great update and thanks.
another vote for recurring invoices for the next release.
jonathan
2:00 pm
Please, please…when is expiring retainer support coming?
2:12 pm
Thanks for the Expenses feature I’ve posted a thread about this feature few weeks ago and here it is. Another feature that would be great is to customize invoice layout, waiting to see…..
2:27 pm
Ability to use dynamic variables on reoccurring invoices is a big concern of ours. We are constantly having to manually update an invoice when it is generated for our reoccurring services and then send them via snail mail as our clients want to know what “period’ an invoice is for.
Couple other things that would be a huge help.
Ability to automatically archive paid invoices
Larger edit area for item description
Larger display area for description in the invoices list
Some way to schedule archiving of invoices, they get out of hand.
I second the reoccurring expenses, but I don’t use that, I just use Freshbooks as a front end, but I can see the value of that. But if you are handling expenses, you need to offer reports for taxes.
Right now invoices have no concept of due dates, this causes us a lot of grief and I feel it is a big issue.
Commissions (for reseller sales) would be a big help
I know there are a few other ones, but that’s what I had in mind.
2:36 pm
Expenses. Hurrah! Long awaited for sure. And so far it looks like a smooth implementaiton, good work!
The one tidbit of feedback I have for the Expenses, is that it would be nice if it can factor in tax. Because it would be handy if Freshbooks could be used to keep track of GST expenses.
3:05 pm
Hi Guys, I am so happy to see expenses in this upgrade. My invoicing has been excellent since finding Fresh Books, but my expenses are in a mess and I am really looking getting them sorted out.
Looking at it today and I have one or two comments. I think it is excellent to have expenses in fresh books and it looks great, so these are just some feedback.
1. Would it be possible to have paid and unpaid selections for expenses and be able to mark a date paid. That way we could see what money we owe out. An invoice could be paid a month after it is received.
2. Would it be possible to put in the amount without VAT (Irish Tax) and have freshbooks add the VAT on, similar to the way it is done for invoices.
3. Would it be possible to have a “paid by” field (pay pal, bank transfer, credit card, cheque, etc)
3:46 pm
Is there a way to run a report to see a client’s expenses against invoices?
To explain, if I’m hiring a subcontractor to do work on a project for me, I’d like to run a report to see what my profit will be once the expense is subtracted from the total invoice(s).
4:29 pm
Expenses!! My prayers to the ‘bookkeeping goddess’ have come true!
THANK YOU!!!! I can finally get rid of QuickBooks 4ever! What an albatross *that* is.
I second Alan’s request #3 about having a ‘paid by’ field. That would be awesome.
The only other thing would be banking. I know I’m really looking forward, but, if you can’t dream BIG why bother?
Thanks again! Great Release!
4:36 pm
Nice work guys. IThe expenses are good for a first pass.
+1 for recurring expenses, paid and unpaid, paid by, larger edit area (a simple JS script to expand it yourself)
A big plus would be if you could email the PDF with the email invoices.
Thanks again.
5:33 pm
version 4.3 on Safari 3.0.4 looks very weird. The buttons and links are not where it suppose to be. I tried firefox on same computer which is Mac OS 10.5.2 and that’s looking just fine. Any thoughts?
5:51 pm
Hey Okan and other Safari users. Try:
1) pressing “SHIFT”
2) hitting “Refresh/Relead”
That will refresh your browser and ignore the cache…Safari doesn’t do that naturally for whatever reason.
6:33 pm
I really like the update and I would also like to see recurring invoices for expenses.
Maybe there could be a field added that you can enter how you paid for the item, ex: credit card, check cash.
If a company has multiple divisions adding a field for which division of the company would be helpful. Ex: Marketing, Accounting, Human Resources and they all would have the default list of expenses. This would allow someone to see which division has the most expenses.
11:18 pm
Being able to do bill pay would be a nice addition to the expenses piece.
2:15 am
I occasionally mark up certain expenses before billing them to my client. I love the expenses tab but I can’t apply them all directly to my invoices because the markup isn’t there. Another example, my cost of hosting fees may only be 19.95 (something I want generated on my expenses report) but I bill my client a retail rate of 29.95. I guess I’d like to see a markup option (with percent and currency options) that is hidden from your client when added to the invoice but when you generate an expense report you see the amount you paid, then the profit you made off the markup. I also love the idea of recurring expenses!
11:07 am
Sooo glad to have the expenses feature added!
Our firm too would greatly benefit from having a markup option, one that is hidden from the client on the invoice…
11:31 am
Kudos to this, FB!!! FB is making my life easier all the time!
1:13 pm
while this sounds wierd… i CANT WAIT to do my taxres next year!
Its gonna be a breeze because of the new expenses feature
Yall just keep making this thing better and better and better and better
keep up the great work Freshbooks!
1:17 pm
Will you guys ever release a version where one can enter a list of items, it creates a drop down list and each time I create an invoice/contract I can choose from the drop down list and create an invoice that way?
1:18 pm
Terrific Upgrade! The expense feature makes this so much more of a well rounded tool.
One feature I was really hoping to see (perhaps next round) is the ability to add headlines to Invoices and Estimates.
Particularly with estimates, it would seem to make so much sense to start off with a title - for example, in my case - “Search Engine Optimization Project” or “Ecommerce Platform Project”. Currently whatever happens to be the first line item of project tasks ends up as being viewed as the default title in project list views.
Keep up the great work!
1:28 pm
This is a great feature!
I also second the notion of recurring expenses. In addition, I’d like to see category fields and reports for annual taxes, e.g., (advertising, transportation, entertainment, and etc.) This way I may easily track my tax outlook in Freshbooks too.
Again, awesome feature. I’m looking forward to its evolution!
1:43 pm
Excellent news! Thanks for the expenses it will be a great help.
The other suggestions regarding reoccuring expenses and marked up expenses for those of us the resell services would be great. I also would use the “email a pdf invoice” feature as well. Some of my clients like to log in to view the invoice, others see it as bother.
However, I understand - best to take one step at a time, and this is a big one!
Thanks again - freshbooks is great!!
2:05 pm
Mel and Jessica, a markup option is a great idea…I guess for now you can enter your true cost in the expense, then mark it up when you invoice for it that way you can run reports at the end of the quarter or year that shows total sales, and total costs…and the difference!
Vivian, from the sounds of what you are describing, we already have the ability to add items and have them show up in the dropdown. From the Invoices tab, click the Items subtab and add your items there.
Seems like recurring expenses is a popular request. Thanks everyone for all the great comments!
- Levi
2:09 pm
Nice work.
Can you now assign invoice numbers through the API to any number you choose?
2:13 pm
Just to correct myself, I made the statement below earlier. Category fields are already an option! It’s the field highlighted at the top of the create an expense page. Awesome! Time to do away with my spreadsheets and Quickbook considerations; I’ve been waiting for a simple online solution for over a year. In the “expenses” category for what’s new, I highly recommend the feature to “categorization for taxes” be considered; I initially thought it was only for a per project/client basis.
Anyhow, this feature is included, so disregard this statement from earlier:
“In addition, I’d like to see category fields and reports for annual taxes, e.g., (advertising, transportation, entertainment, and etc.) This way I may easily track my tax outlook in Freshbooks too.”
2:14 pm
“In the “expenses” category for what’s new, I highly recommend the feature to “categorization for taxes” be considered; I initially thought it was only for a per project/client basis.”
BTW, this is in regards to the blog info above.
2:59 pm
Hi Shane - Yep, for the past few months you’ve been able to submit arbitrary invoice and estimate numbers using the API.
You can find out more here.
4:24 pm
Thanks FB team!
I was really hoping to see a simple fix (yes, I think it’s a fix) that allows me to specify the display name associated with my outgoing e-mails, so it shows as from “Digital202 Billing” instead as just “billing@digital202.com”.
I’ve heard some hesitation from your side, but no one’s given me thoughtful reasoning for why not to include this.
(That, and per-client auto-incrementing invoice numbers.
Thank you!
–D
8:40 pm
Well done guys I’m so excited. Is it possible to add another field for the tax portion? So a field for the expense amount, then the GST and PST? That way we can print a report at the end of the year that automatically separates these parts out.
Furthermore, I don’t necessarily rebill the exact expense to my client as I mark up most of my stuff like hosting and printing. Is there any way you can have a field to rebilll a certain client and then put in the marked up price to add to the invoice?????
Now that would be sweet as I imagine most of us designers mark up our client disbursements. Very important!
Thanks again.
5:03 pm
The new updates are great! I would like to see template support in the future to be able to customize the look and more importantly the information that can go on an invoice. I’m a caterer, so event date, event time, delivery location….etc. That type of thing.
9:26 pm
I’m still hoping for an option to put a support ticket on “hold”. Right now, it is either “open” or “closed” and many times we need to just put ticket on Hold. It would sure make life easier when looking over “open” tickets
10:56 pm
Thanks for the pdf functionality! I had to get an invoice to a person other than my contact and it was great to just download it rather than have to print to a pdf converter.
9:59 am
FB Team:
As always, a job well done.
I think I’ve asked about this before but will ask again anyway.
I often get requests from clients for hours used at any given time in the month.
Is there a way of sending them this information (based on project and task times logged to the time sheet)?
The invoices always show a break down with hours and hourly charges, but since most of them buy hourly retainer packages (by the month), it would be great to be able to go in and send them a quicky update.
Thanks for any advice!
Best,
Jef Keep
4:52 pm
I haven’t read through all the comments so I apologise if I’m repeating this, but since the upgrade, Freshbooks doesn’t seem to remember my selection of Daily, Weekly or Monthly from Time Tracking from one session to another; it always reverts back to Daily.
12:35 am
Love the new feature — know it will be even better over time.
Two requests:
1. Ability to add more than one expense at a time. I liken this to an expense report whereas you may have more than one type of expense for a client e.g travel, photography, etc. I would hate to think I’d have to invoice a client separately for each expense, ouch.
2. Instead of only being able to invoicing a client for expenses, I’d love to have the ability to have an expense added into an existing invoice. perhaps after selecting a client, a sub-menu could give a list of open invoices to attach the expense to?
Thanks for the upgrades.
10:49 am
One feature I’ve been asking for and not getting is the ability to create an invoice and turn that invoice into a recurring profile. Right now if I want to invoice someone and make it recurring I have to enter everything twice.
12:20 pm
John: we’ll take a quick look, but haven’t heard that before, no… and a quick check shows it’s working fine for me.
1:53 pm
Late Fees! We have hundreds on invoices and when people don’t pay on time we want them to pay for that, but updating all the invoices is time prohibitive.
9:57 am
I’m considering a invoicing system now.. freshbooks looks great. Only two things id need more though:
- Custom fields, or space to enter additional information in a prominent area on the invoice, e.g. to invoice Spanish clients it must have the clients NIE number on. I’m sure lots of other countries need similar things.
- Customisable Invoice Templates.
Otherwise freshbooks looks great. Are there any plans for these features?
3:01 pm
Hey Matthew, I think right now we’re no on the first, and yes on the second. As far as your first request goes, you might find just sticking their NIE # into the client name would work for you. Bit clumsy, but does the trick!