Released: Version 4.6
Early this morning we released version 4.6 which includes some new features we hope you will enjoy.
What’s new in this release?
A Redesigned Generate Invoice Page
Your generate invoice page has been redesigned to be even easier to use. In addition, you can now choose which details you wish to display or omit when generating invoices from your timesheets.
An Improved Search Interface
Your search tool in your account has been upgraded from a pop-up window to a slide-down interface which will hopefully save you even more time when searching for information inside your account.
There are more details about the release inside the application. Be sure to click your “4.6” link at the bottom of your account for more information on this release.
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8:59 am
Love the new search drop down! I’ll test the timesheet invoice generation at the end of the month. Thanks!
9:50 am
Hi James,
Thanks for the great feedback! I’m happy to hear that you love the new search drop-downs. I hope you’ll love the new improvements to the generate invoice screen as well.
10:11 am
Love the new generate invoice checkboxes, I’ve always wanted to get rid of some things but loved the detailed view. Now I can. Thanks Freshbooks, as always you’re amazing.
11:01 am
Love it guys and now I am an official company as well I can start subscribing at last!
Keep up the great work and a fantastic website.
Thanks
Steve
1:06 pm
Nice one guys, I love the new search, and I’m sure I’ll like the invoicing thing.
Keep up the fantastic work!
2:10 pm
These new features are great, but why not address the features critical to success of our business and should be in just about every billing system.
Mailable Statements
Finance Charges
Actual ability to use due dates on invoices
Being able to put billing period on invoices automatically
and so on
There is not much more you NEED to do to the billing invoices that will make a lick of difference before these features are addressed.
It would be nice if the real issues would be addressed rather than putting out benign features.
2:58 pm
Hey there Christopher, your opinions are most definitely noted and we certainly hope to add these abilities to FreshBooks in the future.
It’s important to note that our heritage, and indeed our current state, is that we’re an invoicing system, not a billing system; in accounting terms, we’re an “open item” system rather than a “balance forward” system.
Statements, late fees, billing periods, carry-forward balances, et cetera are all functions of a balance-forward system, and they’re all certainly the types of things we’ll be implementing in the future. But we need to travel a careful road, to ensure the majority of folks using FreshBooks as an open item system aren’t impacted.
As always we’ve got our ears open to the requests of our users, and we’re certainly not ignoring anybody’s needs. But as an invoicing system, rather than a billing system, our primary focus will always be on improving our users’ experiences based on the things they have issues with.
One small note too: the changes we announce are just the ones that affect the user interface. We make a ton of back-end fixes with each release, too. For instance, in this new version, it should no longer be possible to cause yourself problems by uploading invalid logo files. Now we fix them if we can, otherwise we reject the file. It’s the type of thing not worth announcing, but it was a common source of pain for our users, hence the fix.
I hope that gives you a bit of insight into what our releases are all about.
3:45 pm
I disagree, if your producing invoices, you should be producing statements and finance charges. Without any accounting integration, you don’t have any option to do it on a back end.
But you choose what your product does and does not do. I just find it strange you go about 80% of the distance, but the 20% you lack is critical enough to eliminate such a large market share. On top of that, the 20% isn’t even the hard stuff, it is probably easier things to implement than a majority of the features.
4:06 pm
I am liking the new release a lot. I previously used the “detailed” billing option, but spent a lot of time manually removing parts of the item description that I didn’t want to include. Now I can just click a few boxes and the invoice is exactly the way I like it. Good stuff!
4:24 pm
Being new to Freshbooks (and to creating invoices), I’d like to congratulate you on an excellent invoicing tool. I love how easy it is to use – the new release makes it even easier, and I love your whole attitude to business. Keep up the good work, you’re doing great!
I only have two clients as I’m such a newbie, but over the next few months, I hope to have many more, so I’ll be upgrading soon, and will definitely recommend you to my contacts.
5:28 pm
Hi! I’d like to ask you about recurring expenses. It’s very painfull to put the same 30 expenses month by month. You told in the forums that it would be implemented in the next release (4.6) and I was waiting for it… Could you tell me more about this issue?
Thanks
6:26 pm
Hey Frankie, I’m not sure if maybe somebody was unclear, but we hadn’t planned to release a recurring expense feature with this release. It is on our radar but isn’t quite a top priority at this point, we do hear you though! And it’s firmly on our list.
6:37 pm
I like it, however I would really really like a per client billing option field in all clients. IE some way to have a different billing rate from one client to the next.
6:55 pm
Hey Daniel, some people are never happy are they
Keep up the great work.
7:48 pm
Another nice enhancement. I’m with Frankie, I would absolutely dance for joy if there was a way to enter recurring expenses.
9:10 pm
Good stuff in the update. I was really hoping my suggestion for making tasks taxable would be in here since that seems more like a “bug” than a feature request.. ahh well
10:23 pm
I’ve liked this system from day one, and the continued enhancements are great. I really didn’t expect an accounting system, but as a one-man shop, this provides me with all the help I need. The fact that it sends out late notices is a big help, too.
One thing I WOULD like is to have the option of outputting a PDF and telling the system I sent the invoice “manually.” I can see how there might be a downside to this (I might forget to flag it, and I can’t tell if they’ve actually looked at it as I can with the current system), but I have a couple extremely “challenged” customers who SWEAR they never got an invoice when I sent one via the normal Freshbooks system. The way it is now, I have to send it the normal way AND output a pdf to e-mail as an attachment. Some clients are great about using it, but there are those few . . .
Again, great product.
10:55 pm
Agree – love the system. Agree – need the ability to generate invoice as PDF and flag the invoice as “Sent Manually”. I have clients that have strict guidelines about the format and presentation of their invoices and you don’t generate compliant invoices. I need to prepare the invoices manually in some cases and submit myself.
8:15 am
Great job guys! Improvements come over time and you can’t expect things to be perfect to fit everyone’s needs – Freshbooks fits our needs and we love each improvement that you make. Seems with each new release there are new complaints of what it does not have.
Guess that’s just human nature… I believe the free trial is there to see if it fits your needs – use that before you switch to a new software application to see if what it has will work for you.
8:44 am
With version 4.6 you’ve missed again, despite numerous requests, a simple improvement for intl. users.
Again is not available a specific VAT ID number field both for the account holder and the customer.
As any european company we must state a VAT ID number field in the invoice; a simple addition that is missed again.
It’s a pity, because in this way I must give up to use your service for legal reasons, and I don’t have found yet a comparable service in Europe.
You are fresh, you are usable, but you are useless for a tax compliant european company. C’mon , only two fields more! Or you don’t want euro business?
10:08 am
Thanks for the latest improvements, I love that you are actively updating the site.
I agree, re-occuring expenses would be helpful. That way I won’t have to enter my freshbooks charge every month
Good work and Thanks again for a great product that is actually fun to use!
10:22 am
@Dave @Chris
With regards to marking invoices as sent “manually” there’s a work-around that lets you mark invoices as ’sent’ without sending an email.
To do this:
I hope this helps.
10:40 am
@Piero
re VAT IDs – here is a link to some work arounds that offer what you need:
http://forum.freshbooks.com/viewtopic.php?id=2794
2:14 am
Great changes…we just started using this system and love it.
I would like to see a couple of things:
- recurring expenses would be a real life saver
- affiliate payouts with per job and percentage options
- a way to setup a payment page for first time sales wihtout having to generate an invoice manually
But still I love this program…much easier than anything else we have tried
11:21 am
Great work as usual guys! Don’t know what I’d do without FB! (besides have a huge cashflow issue like I did before)
6:13 pm
Nice new features. But when would iyou ntegrate some more Project Management Features, like staff “to dos” or messages from project manager to staff, calender with milestones, etc…? This would make freshbooks nearly perfect!
Keep it up!
12:04 pm
Hey there Sven, future plans all have to do with invoicing, since that’s our thing. If you’re looking for project management tools, you’ll probably want something like Basecamp that lets you have all that! And it integrates with FreshBooks too.
12:26 pm
Yay horray for these updates. Thrilled! Waving from Brooklyn!
4:27 pm
You guys continue to amaze me… you’ve taken a job I used to HATE and made it something I actually enjoy.
Congrats!!
9:32 pm
FINALLY!!! Something that’s NOT so confusing like Quickbooks or MS Money or Quicken… I am a simple technician that does computer repairs. I have wasted so much time trying to figure out how to make those other software work for me… then, I seen your ad on Joomla.org and decided to bite. I am so happy I did!!! This is so simple even an ID10T can figure it out. I will be paying for this service because if I don’t then I’m an idiot!!!
THANK YOU FRESHBOOKS
6:19 am
Nice to see the process is still improving, but as a design company I REALLY need to be able to add my own invoice layout – it’s an expression of design capabilitiy which can impress clients. I’m sure that others have mentioned this before.
E.g. all we need is somewhere to upload a pre-formatted template HTML file, complete with required template variable tags and it’s done.
Any ideas on when we might be able to do this??
11:25 am
I most definitely hear you, Steve! I don’t know if this is coming ASAP or a bit later, but I do think wheels are in motion to allow for custom invoice templates in the future; we most definitely recognize the reasons for it.