Hours/Rate Invoice Headings – Round 2
A big thanks to everyone for all the great feedback from our last release where we introduced the concept of invoice headings that showed hours/rate vs item/unit cost. We’ve taken it all in and are now ready to deliver “round 2” of the release and we think you’ll be pleased. Here’s the run down:
Drop-Down “Task” Column
You’ll be happy to see that we have added a “Task” column to the time-based invoice heading template. The “Task” column works just like the “Item” column, allowing you to pull-in tasks, and to create and save new tasks on the fly. This should save you a lot of time.
Also, when generating an invoice from a project, the Task column will now auto-populate with the appropriate tasks.
Finally, if you had been associating time-based activities, like “consulting”, with Items, you’ll probably want to create those activities now as Tasks.
“Tasks Invoiced” Report
To accompany the new “Task” column we’ve introduced a new “Tasks Invoiced” report. It is identical to your “Item Sales” report and helps you break down your revenues by Task – pretty handy!
Item/Expenses on Bottom of Invoice
If you are showing time entries and Item entries we have now defaulted the Item entries to the bottom of the invoice. This way, if you are showing time entries and expenses the expenses will appear at the bottom of your invoice, not the top.
P&L Report – Select your Start Date
This is unrelated to the invoice headings but a neat little addition to the P&L report. You can now specify a specific ending date for your P&L – ideal if your fiscal year is not Jan-Dec.
So that about sums it up. We’re pretty happy with the updates; hope you are too! Always keep the suggestions coming.
users collect enough money to buy all 
11:41 am
Awesome! This is exactly what i was hoping for
You guys rock
6:00 pm
As I said on facebook, this is exactly what I was after when I first started using freshbooks! The old system didn’t add tax but this reworked system does, and right now its a manual add. . . would it be possible to ask for the ability to edit tasks with taxable info?
12:38 am
Thank you for the quick turnaround on the P&L report dates. That’s fantastic. Just the “Due Date” function for invoices to go now….
1:23 am
yesss! nice to see that feature requests come to reality!
1:26 am
And you guys are buying me dinner on Thursday at Stubbs? AWESOME!!!
11:02 am
If we’re billing time on a line item or two… and then putting several tasks up .. we have to put $0 for the tasks and the invoice fills up with unsightly $0′s…
if a line item’s price per unit or subtotal = $0, can we have an option to simply hide that field?
I just like to bill 10 hrs for this, 15 hours for that, with a list of tasks involved (no $$ associated with the tasks).
11:53 am
I love FreshBooks. Since beginning to use it last month, I’ve knuckled down on those lost, unbilled hours. I’ve now become far more resourceful and billing more accurately now I can log my hours and gauge how long projects are taking me. Kudos, team!
12:12 pm
YES!
12:44 pm
Two things: I’m with some of your other users on the need for a “Due Date” box to be on our invoices.
On the new tasks update, round 2… (good job!, by the way,) there’s only one thing missing: The ability to edit or delete a saved task from the drop-down list. You can ADD a new task, but you can’t EDIT or DELTE any of the ones that are there. For Items, we have an ITEM tab up top that keeps a list of all of our saved Items. Will there be something similar for TASKS soon?
I really appreciate how pro-active your development team is… makes me actually feel heard on these blogs.
Keep up the good work.
Chris
12:56 pm
Updates like these are precisely why I love FreshBooks. Keep up the great work!!
~Crystal Coleman
1:24 pm
Hey Chris, you can edit your tasks from “Time Tracking – Tasks”. This option has actually always been there, but we didn’t allow you to pull this information onto the invoice in the past.
1:28 pm
YES!! You got it!
1:35 pm
I create my time entries from the Time Tracking tab using projects. While this is a great addition for some, to me it looks like a duplication of what is already there. The task is already printed in the time entry notes section. Maybe there is a more efficient way for me to log my time and convert it into an invoice? For example, an invoice line will read:
Task | Time entry notes
Workstation maintenance | [CS 03/01/10] Workstation maintenance: {description}
2:31 pm
So great! And it really makes me happy to see how you responded to people’s feedback – and quickly too! Most companies ask for user feedback but make few (if any) changes.
Thanks!
4:43 pm
I need an hours total at the bottom of each invoice.
3:50 am
I bill my clients by the day as opposed to by the hour, can this be an addition? at present i have to put 0.5 hours down to show half a days work! Its a great app though and helps loads with keeping the client aware of outstanding invoice payments.
11:08 am
You guys are simply the best. Keep it up!
12:57 pm
Thank you. The hours at the top and items at the bottom is truly an appropriate presentation for professionals.
The other major request is to have a subtotal and adjustment (discount, etc.) field in the totals section of the invoice. The client needs to see the value of the entire project before a discount is applied.
Thank you!
9:19 pm
This is exactly what I was asking for. What’s in Round 3?
1:03 am
Very nice. Thanks for sharing your valuable information and first of all i would like to appreciate your for taking our feedbacks. Keep it up.
11:49 am
[...] Hours/Rate Invoice Headings – Round 2 [...]
5:11 pm
I agree with everyone here that these changes are the sign of your dedication to a spectacular system. I also agree that a couple of additional items would be very useful to most… (1) an auto tally of items/hours on the invoices so, that we can better understand our inventory and/or time committed to each customer, and (2) Due Dates. But, not just due dates on the invoice… due dates on the Support Tickets would be useful. Those tickets are often used as a client portal to updates on their projects, and it would helpful to the business person servicing that client to be able to prioritize and manage the business day better by those more time sensitive project deadlines.
9:27 am
[...] Hours/Rate Invoice Headings – Round 2 [...]
9:27 am
[...] Hours/Rate Invoice Headings – Round 2 [...]
9:07 pm
The “Freshbook”er’s never cease to amaze with improvements. I have been a loyal user/customer for 5 years!! Keep up the great work!
1:52 am
Nice to see the improvement. Keep in up
3:20 am
You all rock. Thanks!
12:31 am
Just want to add that I have the same comment as Brian (Mar 10, 1:35p). For my latest invoice, in the task column, I went through and put in the blank from the drop down menu for all 30 entries, just so it wouldn’t look so silly with the task listed twice. (i.e. In the task column and then also in the notes.) I know how much others really wanted this new task column, but I don’t understand how they are using it. What am I missing? Thanks!
11:38 pm
Ditto what Amanda and Brian said. I am confused as to why tasks appear twice. I had to do the same as Amanda — make each task column line item blank, which can be a tad tedious with 50 lines. I too do not understand how people are using this.
Suggestion — maybe there can be a toggle for the entire column?
7:48 pm
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10:49 pm
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