# Time and invoicing Track time with the timer or by hand, set estimates, rates and budgets, and keep track of which hours still have to go on an invoice. Time tracking is built in: start a timer on a task or on the project itself, or enter hours afterwards. With a rate and a budget on the project you see what the work is worth and which hours still have to be invoiced. Taskstand does not make invoices, it keeps track of what belongs on one. ## Who works with time | Role | Logs time | Sees hours | Sees rates, budget and money | Marks hours as invoiced | |---|---|---|---|---| | Owner | Yes | All | Yes, on a paid plan | Yes, on a paid plan | | Manager | Yes | All | Yes, on Pro or Business | No | | Team member | Yes | All | No | No | | Client, Reader, Restricted | No | None | No | No | Clients, readers and restricted members see nothing time related at all: no timer, no hours, no estimates. The money follows the plan of the **project owner**, not your own plan. More about roles in [Members and roles](). ## Use the timer You can start a timer in three places: - **On a task in a list**: click the play button in the task row (**Start timer**). - **In the task itself**: click **Start** next to the task number. - **On the project itself**, without a task: click **Log time** at the top of the project. Use this for meetings, mail or anything else that has no task. You have **one timer at a time**. Starting a new one stops the one that was running. The running timer sits at the top of every page, with the time ticking. From there: - Click the time to **Adjust start time**, for when you started working before you started the timer. The timer keeps running. - Click the stop button to open **Stop timer**. Check the **Started at** and **Stopped at** times (the buttons **-15 min**, **-30 min** and **-60 min** move the end back), pick or change the task, add a note and click **Stop**. - **Keep running** closes the window without stopping. **Discard** throws the timer away and logs nothing. A timer without a task needs a note, because nothing else says what the hours were for. ## Log time by hand - **On a task**: open the task and click the plus next to the entries (**Log time**). The **Time entry** window asks for a **Date**, a **From** and **To** time or a **Duration**, and a **Note**. - **On the project**: the **Hours** page of the project has an entry bar at the top with the same fields and a **Log time** button. Hours entered there go on the project itself; you can hang them on a task later by editing the entry. A duration can be typed in several ways: `1:30`, `1h 30m`, `1,5` and `90` all mean ninety minutes. A bare whole number is minutes. `2d` means two working days of 8 hours. ### Edit or delete an entry Click the pencil next to an entry to edit it, or the bin to delete it. In the **Time entry** window you can change the times, the note and the task, and untick **Billable** for hours you will not charge. Those show as **Not billable**. You can edit and delete your own entries. The project owner can edit everyone's. On a completed or archived project no hours can be added or changed; invoicing them still works. ## Estimates Every task has an **Estimate** field in its time block, in minutes, hours or days (**Unit**). Next to the logged time the task then shows, for example, `3h of 5h`. An estimate is how much work is in a task, which is separate from how long it runs on the calendar (see [Timeline]()). Estimates are visible to the roles that track time: owner, manager and team member. ## The Hours page of a project Click **Hours** (the clock) in the bar of a project. Once hours are logged, the button shows the total instead of the word. The page lists every entry per day, with totals at the top: the total for the period, the time per person and, for those who see the money, what is **Not invoiced** and its **Value not invoiced**. Filter at the top: - **Member**: **Everyone** or one person. - **Billing** (owner and manager): **All hours**, **Not invoiced**, **Invoiced** or **Not billable**. For them the page opens on **Not invoiced**, because that is what is left to bill. - **Period**: **Day**, **Week**, **Month**, **Quarter**, **Year**, **From to** or **All time**. The arrows step through the periods; the double arrows jump to the nearest period that holds hours, and **Now** takes you back. The dashboard shows the hours per project too, with an **Unbilled** column for what has not been invoiced yet. ## Rates and budgets Rates and budgets are set by the project owner in the project settings, under **Rates and budgets**. They need a paid plan (Plus and up). On Free the block says your plan does not include them; anything filled in earlier is kept. - **Hourly rate**: one rate per project, with a currency in front of it (euro, dollar, pound, Swiss franc and a few more). - **Budget**: **No budget**, **Hourly** or **Fixed price**. - **Hourly** asks for the **Hours budgeted**. The dashboard shows the logged hours against it, for example `32h / 40h`, and turns red once the budget is passed. - **Fixed price** asks for the **Agreed price**. It is kept with the project as the agreed amount; it is not compared with the hours. The value of unbilled hours is the hours times the hourly rate of the project. ## Mark hours as invoiced Only the project owner marks hours as invoiced, and only on a paid plan. 1. Open the **Hours** page of the project. 2. Set the filters to what goes on the invoice, for example **Not invoiced** and the month you are billing. 3. Click **Mark as invoiced** and confirm. Every billable entry in view that is not invoiced yet gets today's date as invoiced. A running timer is left alone. To correct a single entry, click the banknote or check mark on its row: it switches between invoiced and not invoiced. In the **Time entry** window the owner also has an **Invoiced** checkbox. A project also has the statuses **To invoice** and **Invoiced**, which you can use to show on the dashboard where a project stands. See [Projects](). ## Hours across every project The page **Hours** in the sidebar puts every hour you may see, from all your projects, on one page. It is part of **Business**, and follows your own plan rather than the plan of a project owner, because the page belongs to no single project. The sidebar only shows it on Business and when you track time in at least one project. - **Group by**: **By project**, **By person** or **By client**. - **Member**, **Billing** and **Period** work as on the project page, except that there is no **From to** period here. - **Total** is the sum of the hours. **Value** adds up the money per currency, and only for projects whose rates you may see. Hours of other projects are counted, their value is not. Editing entries and marking them as invoiced stay on the Hours page of each project. ### Export Click **Export** to download the hours in view as a CSV file, for a spreadsheet or your bookkeeping. It follows the filters on screen and has one row per entry, with the columns Date, Project, Client, Person, Task number, Task, Minutes, Hours, Note, Billable, Invoiced, Value and Currency. The invoiced date, value and currency are only filled in for projects whose money you may see. ## Which plan carries what | | Free | Plus | Pro | Business | |---|---|---|---|---| | Timer, hours and estimates | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Rates, budgets and marking hours as invoiced | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | | A manager who sees the money with you | No | No | Yes | Yes | | Hours across every project, with export | No | No | No | Yes | The free trial works as Pro. Numbers and prices are in [Plans and limits]().