Setting Up Invoice-by-Project Time

Use this when a client wants a contractor to log time against specific project line items each week, and wants those projects to appear as separate line items on the invoice.

Prerequisites

• Client Projects feature must be enabled on the account’s plan. It’s plan-gated. If the Add button on the Projects page is greyed out, the plan either doesn’t include Client Projects or is at its limit — enable/raise it before continuing.
• You need the exact project names from the client and to know which contract job(s) each project attaches to.

Step 1 — Create the project list on the client

Billing → Projects (Client Projects)

1. Search for and select the client.
2. Add each project by name (optionally set a start date, and an end date if the project is time-boxed).
3. Associate each project to the relevant contract job(s) — this is what makes the projects appear as options on that contractor’s timesheet.

Tip: include a catch-all like “Non-Project Related” if the contractor logs hours (travel, admin, expenses) that don’t map to a specific project.

Step 2 — Switch the invoice template to bill by project (Still in Beta)

On the client’s Invoice Groups → Basic Settings

• Set the “Invoice By” dropdown to Project.

This is the switch that splits the invoice into one line item per project instead of a single lump line for the job. (Other options here are Contract Job, Purchase Order, or Custom Field — Project is the one for this use case.)

Step 3 — Contractor enters time by project each week

Once Steps 1–2 are done, on the contractor’s weekly timesheet they:

1. Add a Project row.
2. Pick the project name from the associated list.
3. Enter hours per day against that project.
4. Repeat for as many projects as they split time across in the week.

Those per-project allocations flow straight through to the generated invoice as separate line items.

What you owe the client vs. what they owe you

• Client provides: exact project names, and which job/contractor they attach to.
• You configure: confirm the plan feature is on, create the projects + associations (Step 1), flip the invoice template to “Invoice By: Project” (Step 2).
• Contractor does: just picks the project and logs hours each week — no extra setup required from them.

Quick pre-check before going live

1. Confirm the account’s plan has Client Projects enabled.
2. Confirm the contract job(s) the projects should attach to.
3. Decide whether a catch-all project (“Non-Project Related”) is needed for non-project hours/expenses.