MiniBooks for FreshBooksby Groovy Squared

Support

Can't find an answer to your question? No problem, we're here to help. Drop us a line at support@groovysquared.com.

What's FreshBooks? How do I get a FreshBooks account?

Rather than build an invoicing application from scratch, we decided to leverage the mature and extremely popular web invoicing software FreshBooks. This allowed us to skip a lot of steps and focus on what we do best: building elegant iPhone applications that make your life easier. To create an account, visit the FreshBooks website or click here. On a tight budget? Don't worry, Freshbooks offers a free account for those of you with three or fewer clients!

What's the Subdomain for my account?

When you create a new FreshBooks account, you are assigned a unique url. Your subdomain is the part of the url between http:// and .freshbooks.com. For example, if your url is http://foo.freshbooks.com, your subdomain is foo.

On the setup screen, MiniBooks asks me for a "Token". What token?

Straight from the folks at FreshBooks:

Your Authentication Token is a verification code that allows third-party software and services to update and retrieve your account data. Your Authentication Token should be kept secret and only entered into software and services that you trust. Instructions to retrieve it are below.

I'm an administrator: where do I get my Authentication Token?

  1. Click on your white “My Account” link in the top right corner.

  2. Click on your “FreshBooks API” sub-tab on the top right.

  3. Click on your blue “terms of service” to review the terms of service.

  4. Click on your checkbox next to “Yes, I agree to the API terms of service” to agree to the terms of service.

  5. Your “Authentication Token” will become visible on your screen.

I’m a staff member: how do I retrieve my Authentication Token?

  1. Ask your administrator to agree to the API terms of service, mentioned above.

  2. Click on your white “Profile” link in the top right corner.

  3. Your "Authentication Token” will be visible at the bottom of the screen.

I'm a staff member. I can create invoices on the FreshBooks website, but MiniBooks tells me that I don't have access to invoices. What gives?

Unfortunately, this is a limitation of the FreshBooks API: it doesn't allow invoicing as a staff member even if that staff member can generate invoices on the website. We'd recommend petitioning FreshBooks to have this feature implemented by posting on their forums or by contacting them directly.

We'll continue pushing them for a fix as well.

I've entered taxes on the FreshBooks website, but I don't see them in MiniBooks.

This is another limitation of the FreshBooks API: we can't sync taxes. Taxes you enter in MiniBooks are not available on the FreshBooks website and vice-versa. For ways on how you can have this feature added to the API, see the staff invoices question above.

On a side note, we do plan on adding the ability to edit and delete taxes you enter in MiniBooks.

I forgot to start a timer, but I know how long I worked. How do I submit a fixed amount of time to FreshBooks?

  1. Select the timer tab and hit the plus button in the top right corner of the screen to create a new timer.

  2. Touch the timer anywhere except the "Start" or "Submit" buttons to bring up the timer edit form.

  3. Touch the Time field.

  4. Use the spinner to select the desired amount of time.

  5. Save the time, select a project and task, then save the timer.

That's it! You're ready to submit.