Setting up your workspace

Everything here lives under Settings. You can change any of it later, but three settings shape how the rest of the product behaves, so they are worth deciding now rather than after you have a month of data.

Your trial

Signing up gives you 14 days, with every feature on. You are not asked for a card to start.

When the trial ends the workspace becomes read-only: everything you entered is still there and still visible, but nothing new can be added until you choose a plan. Read-only lasts a further 30 days before the workspace closes — and even then nothing is deleted. Get in touch and it reopens.

Worth knowing

A read-only workspace refuses saves quietly rather than loudly. If a setting seems not to stick, check whether the trial has run out.

Workspace and branding

Settings → Workspace & branding.

• Company name — appears on invoices, estimates and every email SimpliWork sends on your behalf.
• Logo — the same. Upload it once.
• Time zone — every date in the app is shown in this zone. Get it right before anybody logs time, or a Monday morning start can read as Sunday night.
• Date format — cosmetic, but it applies everywhere at once.

The three that change how things work

Require time approval

Settings → Time & billing rules.

On, every time entry waits for somebody to approve it before it can be invoiced. Off, hours are billable the moment they are logged.

If more than one person logs time, leave this on. It is the check that catches a mistyped eight-hour day before it reaches a client. If you work alone it is friction with no benefit — switch it off.

Time rounding

Also under Time & billing rules. Round logged time to the nearest 6, 10, 15 or 30 minutes, or leave it exact.

Rounding applies when the entry is saved, and what is stored is the rounded figure. Decide before real hours go in.

Require a receipt on expenses

An expense cannot be billed without a receipt attached. Most contractors want this on — it is the difference between a reimbursable expense and an argument.

Sales tax

Settings → Time & billing rules. Off by default, and while it is off no tax line appears anywhere. Switch it on and set your default rate; individual invoices can override it.

Categories and rates

On each client, not in Settings. A category is a kind of work — Labour, Equipment, Emergency call-out — and it carries the rate you bill that client for it.

You need at least one category per client before anybody can log time against their jobs, because a time entry has to say what kind of work it was.

Next

Adding your team — invitations, roles, and the difference between a login and a worker.