Freckle Time Tracking

Don’t miss the beat with Freckle’s weekly activity reports

2013-05-23T20:43:36Z

You’re busy creating—and time tracking is probably low on your list of priorities. At Freckle, we try to get out of your way by providing a fast-loading and friendly app to get your time entries logged quickly.

But wouldn’t it be great if Freckle comes to you instead of you having to go to Freckle?

Introducing our weekly activity reports! Punctually every Monday morning (in your local timezone!) we will deliver you a personalized weekly activity report email, showing everything you’ve logged for the previous week, including the mini-pulse!

The best thing? One click will take you to a report in Freckle, where you can edit entries or add time that you forgot to log (we’re human, after all). For your business, it’s important that you don’t miss out on logging billable time and the weekly reports will help getting you paid for your hard work!

And for admins of bigger teams, we’ll additionally send you a weekly report of all time logged by everyone for the previous week (we’re truncating emails that would get too long, but you’ll be able to get the gist of it plus review all hours via a link to a Freckle report!)

In our efforts to save you time, we’ll automatically stop sending you reports if you don’t log time for a while (so you don’t have to read these emails!), but you can also choose either not receive Freckle’s weekly time reports at all or just until you log time again.

You can also edit your report preferences in the new Notifications section under Settings & Tools in Freckle.

Look for your weekly report in your inbox!

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No need for invoicing? Turn it off!

2013-02-26T21:44:44Z

We have good news for those of you who don’t have a need create invoices (or if you roll your own invoicing), or if you need to use an external app for it (maybe because your accountants make you do it!)—Freckle now supports turning invoicing off altogether.

To turn it off, you need to be logged in as the account owner Go to admin then Settings.

To disable invoicing, uncheck the checkbox and click “Save settings”. The change will take place immediately, but you can always re-enable invoicing again.

The settings page will show you in detail what will happen and how Freckle deals with any existing invoices you may have in your account (we’ll just hide them for later, so you can restore ‘em).

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Custom fonts, Markdown and PDF invoices!

2013-02-04T22:38:24Z

With our HTML invoice customization that’s available in our small, medium and large plans, it’s easy to make your Freckle invoices extra stylish. Here’s how you do this with a font from Google Web Fonts.

First, choose the font you like of course. Here we’re picking Open Sans, and select the normal, bold and italic styles so we can have some extra fun. Next, copy the link element that’s generated for you.

Then, just paste it into your Freckle invoice customization. Be sure to replace http:// with https:// in the link element so your invoices will show correctly on all browsers. To apply the new font to the invoice and the optional report, use a CSS style rule that targets the #invoice and #invoice_report elements, and sets the font-family.

To have some extra fun, let’s try out Freckle’s new support for Markdown in the description and footer fields in your invoice. Markdown is a simple formatting language that allows you to easily add extra headlines as well as **bold** and _italic_ text to your Freckle invoice:

This even works with our new PDF downloads for invoices! Here’s an example of a Freckle-generated PDF invoice! And there you have it, amazing-looking customized invoices, and it took just a few minutes to set up!

The best thing? In a month from now, when you generate the next invoice for the client, Freckle remembers all your settings and your invoice will look gorgeous with no extra effort needed!

With our invoice customization, you can do some pretty fancy things. Check out this live example of a shared Freckle invoice!

Here’s the customization code for this invoice:

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For a fresh 2013 look: Add a dash of PDF invoices, integrate with PayPal, sprinkle in some API docs and mix!

2013-01-31T02:41:26Z

This year we asked ourselves, “What’s cooler than surviving the apocalypse?” Our answer was obviously, “MORE FEATURES!” (cue the confetti and cheering fans!)

To start 2013 off right, we’ve rolled out a few features that you’re gonna love.

In January we nerded out a bit with these new features. But we figured you wouldn’t mind. :)

Uninvoiced hours in the project list
New API developer documentation
Download invoices as a PDF
Clients can now pay invoices with PayPal
In addition to Freshbooks, Basecamp, Harvest and Tempo you can now also import time logged in Toggl into Freckle.

This month, the Freckle project list got a bit of a make over. You can now see uninvoiced hours in the project list (and group by it!) so you can easily check what clients or projects you need to invoice!

Our shiny new developer website is an interactive guide for you to test different API calls to our API test account, as well as real Freckle accounts.

January was also the month of new Freckle Friendships. This month Freckle befriended PDF invoices and PayPal, as well as Toggl.

It’s now easier than ever to print and send your invoices, import your existing data from outside of Freckle, and (drum roll please) GET PAID!!

Last, but certainly not least! This January, Freckle got all dolled up with some seriously awesome enhancements:

Graphical and layout updates for a funky fresh 2013 look
Performance updates
Improved security
New Privacy Policy

Merging projects, and saving new and updated entries is faster than ever before, especially if you have a large account or huge projects. We also beefed up security this month. Not only do always run the latest and greatest security patches so your data stays safe, we now require the account owner password for certain actions—to always keep your data under lock and key.

And now, Freckle’s new privacy policy is in full support of US-EU and US-SWISS Safe Harbor frameworks.

We’ve had a great first month in 2013 and we hope you did too! We’re super excited to bring you more features and updates this February.

Thanks to all of you who supported and talked to us this month. We’re so thankful to have such smart and awesome people as our customers! Let us know your thoughts on what would Freckle even better for you!

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Get Paid With PayPal Integration!

2013-01-30T16:42:13Z

We’re super excited to introduce to you the newest friend of Freckle, PayPal! Now, when you create a invoice in Freckle, you have the option to allow your client to pay via PayPal.

And since you only need to enter what you need, when you need it, it’s still just as easy to invoice your client as it was before. All you need to do is choose the currency that’s right for you, and enter your PayPal email address in the ‘RECIPIENT EMAIL’ field.

Freckle has even generated a long list of potential currencies for you to choose from that match those supported by PayPal (not all of Freckle’s currencies are supported by PayPal, so double-check before you save the invoice!).

Just like before, you’ll get a link to share with your client. Only now, Freckle will show you when your invoice is awaiting payment from your client, when the payment is pending and when your invoice is paid!

You can even view a real time detailed payment log of your PayPal account during and after the transaction. And Freckle will do all the work for you, immediately changing the status of your invoice without you needing to lift a finger!

When your client receives the invoice, they’ll be able to pay you in a few simple steps! When PayPal payments are enabled by you, the invoice has a ‘PAY WITH PAYPAL’ button for your client to click on.

By clicking on the shiny new PayPal button your client will be immediately directed to their own PayPal account. Then all they need to do is choose their method of payment, click ‘PAY’ and be on their merry way! Note that if your client does business in another country or chooses to pay you via bank transfer or eCheck, the payment may take a few days to be completed (as usual with PayPal).

Just check the list of invoices in Freckle for the current status. If your client pays you with a credit card or via a PayPal balance, the transaction will appear almost immediately.

Of course, PayPal will always send you emails about the status of any payments.

Once the transaction is complete, you and your client will both see a fancy ‘PAID’stamp in the right hand corner of your invoice. Go ahead, get all warm and fuzzy inside when you see that stamp, that’s what it’s there for!

And don’t forget to download your invoice as a PDF or print it out for your records. Cause when you create an invoice in Freckle, you’ve got options, baby!

Let us know your thoughts on what you’d like to see Freckle invoicing do–we’re constantly working on improving and tweaking what Freckle has to offer you!

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New and awesome developer docs!

2013-01-29T15:46:16Z

Nerd alert! This article is about our new developer documentation.

Want to integrate Freckle with an app of yours? You’re probably aware of our API, and now we’ve a shiny new developer website available as a guide to you!

Next to listing all the API functions and showing examples with JSON and XML (your choice!), we’ve also whipped up a fully interactive site where you can test various API calls to our API test account as well as real Freckle accounts (thanks to Hurl, here’s our fork).

The new developer site is open source and on GitHub—in case you find an issue we welcome any fixes and clarifications and additions (for example, if you have a new Freckle client library, feel free to add it via a pull request!).

We’re also working on a V2 of our API that will introduce a lot more functionality as well often-requested features (like access to the Freckle Timers). If you’ve feedback, questions or requests, please head over to the API documentation site and use the feedback & support form (or write to support@letsfreckle.com!). We’d love to hear your thoughts!

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Lookin’ back: the dashboard mini-pulse

2013-01-29T15:51:40Z

You probably love the mini-pulse on your Freckle dashboard, which shows you which days you’ve worked on (and how much and on what) for the current week.

We’ve added a new feature to “look back” on the last 7 days of work—so you can quickly see if you have some more time tracking left to do for last week as well:

In true Freckle spirit, the mini-pulse automatically remembers your preference when you go back to the dashboard later, all without configuring anything. We’re looking forward to you looking back!

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4 Years of Freckle… 31 Days of Freelancer Gifts!

2013-01-29T15:57:31Z

We can’t believe it, but we launched Freckle 4 years ago this month. It’s been one helluva crazy time. A lot has changed! And a lot hasn’t changed at all, too:

Our #1 mission is still to help you kick more ass in your business, whether you’re a solo freelancer or consulting agency.

That’s why we’ve grown our team this year, and why we’re pouring more of our resources than ever before into creating awesome, actionable tools & educational materials for you. Great software helps, but it’s only one ingredient in the recipe for your success.

Surprise… You are the person who can do the most to grow your business!

And that’s why we’re celebrating our birthday with presents for you.

Every day in December, we’ll send you a worksheet, checklist, or other actionable goodie designed to help you get more out of your business in the new year. That’s “Freelancember” in a nutshell: Free gifts for freelancers, consultants, & agencies.

Oh, and it’s free!

So, if you’d like to learn how to…

raise your rates
attract your ideal clients
get great testimonials
get busy with your long-term goals
market without tears
and more…

Then you’ll want to sign up for free Freelancember goodies today:

Why are the Freelancember goodies so good? Simply put:

Between us, we’ve got over 25 years of consulting experience, so we know what we’re talking about. And we brought in a guest expert, Brennan Dunn, to boot!

Plus, we believe Serious Business doesn’t have to be drab and boring, and I (Amy), Thomas and Devon (our customer ambassador!) worked our little tails off to bring the same level of joy & fun to Freelancember as we do to Freckle itself.

So don’t miss out on a single day. Just drop your email in the box below and we’ll send you nothing but Freelancember freebies:

Enjoy your free gifts, and please feel free to share them with folks you know who could use them! Our goal is to help you succeed in business while staying sane and happy!

And, once more: A BIG thank you goes out to all of our customers, friends and family—we couldn’t have done it without you! <3

Happy Holidays and joyeaux noelle!

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Never Loose Track of Your Time Zone Again

2013-02-23T18:08:45Z

Time zones can be a tricking thing for freelancers today. Forget about doing time zone math in your head, it’ll make you dizzy. Not to fear! The Freckle Quick Entry box is here for you!

When you’re traveling, Freckle is time traveling. There’s no need to adjust what time zone you’re in, because Freckle does the work for you.

When your computer changes time zones, Freckle will automatically correct itself and change with you.

You’ll see a message when you log in telling you that Freckle’s got your back. Just click the purple ‘Reload Now’ button and your account will be right on time.

So it’s okay, go ahead and embrace you jet lag. Catch up on your sleep and maybe even see the sights. Freckle will keep tracking your time, on time, no matter where in the world your business takes you!

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Take notes in the Freckle timer—introducing the scratchpad!

2013-01-29T15:57:53Z

Ever wanted to scribble down somes notes about what you’re working on while a timer is running? Now you can, directly in the Timer window!

Once you start a timer, this convenient notes area will automatically open—just click it and take all the notes you want. Each project has its own scratchpad!

No need to click save—notes are automatically saved on the Freckle servers, so you never need to worry about losing what you wrote down. You can close the timer window, or your browser, and reopen it later (even on a different computer!)—your timers and notes will still be there!

Now when you decide it’s time to log time—the notes you took are automatically used as a suggestion for the tags and description for the entry you’re logging.

And once the entry was successfully logged, Freckle clears out the notes field and you’re ready to log more time! Easy as that!

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