HourSlipGuides / Clients and projects
Clients and projects
Clients hold the money side: the rate, the currency, the payment terms and the tax. Projects sit under a client and are what you press play on. Set both up well and invoices need almost no editing.
Add a client
Go to Clients (⌘2, or Ctrl+2) and press Add Client. The form asks for:
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name | Required, and must be unique. Printed under Bill to. |
| Where Email Invoice… addresses the message. | |
| Address | Printed on the invoice under the name. |
| Currency | Starts as your region's currency. Every invoice for this client uses it. |
| Hourly rate | The default rate for all of this client's projects. 120 and 120.50 both work, and so does a comma. |
| Custom terms | Off by default, so the client follows Settings › Invoices. Turn it on to give this client its own payment term (0 to 120 days) and tax rate. |
| Invoice template | The template this client's invoices start with. |
A typical use for custom terms: one client pays in 30 days while everyone else gets 14, or an EU client is on reverse charge and needs 0% tax.
Read a client card
Each card shows the client's rate and three numbers: how many projects it has, the unbilled hours, and what those hours are worth. Below that is the last invoice with its status (Draft, Sent, Paid or Overdue).
When there's unbilled time, a green Invoice button appears with the amount. It opens a new invoice for that client covering everything unbilled so far.
To edit a client on a Mac, double-click the card or right-click it. On Windows and Linux, use the edit button on the card.
Rates and currencies
Each client bills in one currency, and HourSlip never converts between them. Totals that span clients, such as Outstanding in the Invoices list, are shown per currency.
Changing a client's rate affects unbilled time and future invoices. Time already on an invoice keeps the rate it was invoiced at.
Add a project
Go to Projects (⌘3, or Ctrl+3) and press Add Project (New Project on Windows and Linux). You need at least one client first.
- Name and client. The project name appears as a line on the invoice.
- Rate. Leave it alone to use the client's rate, or override it for work billed differently, such as a lower rate for maintenance.
- Hours budget. Optional, in whole hours.
- Color. Used in the timer panel, the timesheet and the hours-by-day chart, and beside the notch on a MacBook.
Projects are listed under their client with the hours tracked so far. The play button on a row starts the timer on it.
Hour budgets
A budget is for fixed-scope work: you quoted 40 hours and want to know before you pass them. Give the project an hours budget and its row gets a progress bar that counts all time on the project, billed or not, including the running timer.
On a Mac the bar turns amber at 80% and red once you're over, and the timer panel shows the percentage while you track. On Windows and Linux the bar turns red past 100%.
The budget is a warning only. HourSlip doesn't stop the timer or cap the invoice.
Archive or delete
Archive a project when the work is finished. It disappears from the timer panel and the pickers, and its history and invoices stay intact. Turn on Show Archived in Projects to see it again, and unarchive it if the client comes back.
Deleting is stricter:
- A project with no invoiced time can be deleted, along with its time entries.
- A project with invoiced time is archived instead, so the invoices stay correct.
- A client with invoices can't be deleted until those invoices are. Without invoices, deleting a client also deletes its projects and their time.
The free version's one client
The free version includes one client with as many projects as you like. Adding a second client opens the upgrade sheet. Pro removes the limit.