Run your freelance work in Filarr

Set up clients, contracts and invoices the way Alex Morgan does: client folders, locked contracts, unpaid invoices in one list, tasks on one page.

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Alex Morgan is a freelance designer. She works for two clients, Lumen Health and Northwind Coffee, signs a contract before each job and sends invoices every month. All of it lives in Filarr: a folder per client, contracts behind a password, unpaid invoices gathered in one list, and a note per client that ties the files to the next steps.

This tutorial builds the same system with you. At the end, you have your client folders, a list of unpaid invoices that keeps itself up to date, a reminder to chase a late payment, and your tasks for the week on one page.

Before you start

Step 1: Create a folder per client

  1. On the home screen, click New Folder. If the button reads New, click it, then choose New folder.
  2. Create Clients, Contracts and Invoices & Quotes, unless they already exist.
  3. Open Clients, click New Folder, and create one subfolder per client: Lumen Health, then Northwind Coffee.

To tell the folders apart at a glance, right-click one and choose Color & icon. See Organize files in folders.

Step 2: Bring in the files

  1. Open a folder, for example Clients, and click Upload Files.
  2. Select the files on your computer and confirm.
  3. Drag each file onto the subfolder of its client.

Do the same for Contracts and Invoices & Quotes. You can also drag files from your computer into the open folder, up to 25 at a time, but not a whole folder. See Add files to Filarr.

Step 3: Lock the contracts

Contracts hold signatures, rates and bank details. A password on the folder keeps it closed even while Filarr is open on your screen.

  1. Right-click Contracts, then choose Password-protect.
  2. Type the password twice, and a Hint (optional) if you like.
  3. Leave Apply to all items in the folder ticked, and click Protect folder.

Filarr now asks for this password before it opens the folder. The password works on this device only, and nobody can recover it for you: pick one you will remember. See Password-protect a file or folder.

Step 4: Tag the invoices

A tag says where an invoice stands, whatever folder it sits in.

  1. In Invoices & Quotes, click an unpaid invoice to open its Details panel.
  2. Under Tags, click Add a tag…, type Unpaid, then press Enter.
  3. On the next unpaid invoice, type the first letters and click Unpaid in the list. Here Enter would create a new tag instead.
  4. Tag the invoices you already sent with a Sent tag, the same way.

A chip per tag now shows at the top of the folder, with the number of files. Click one to see only those files.

See Tags, favorites and recent files.

Step 5: Gather every unpaid invoice

A smart collection lists the files that match a rule, wherever they are, and keeps the list up to date.

  1. In the sidebar, click Collections, then Smart collection.
  2. Name it Unpaid invoices.
  3. In the rule line, choose Tags, then has at least one, then type Unpaid.
  4. Click Create.

When a client pays, remove the Unpaid tag from the invoice: it leaves the collection on its own, and the file stays where it was. See Collections and smart collections.

Step 6: Plan a reminder to chase

  1. Right-click an unpaid invoice and choose Add Reminder.
  2. Write the Reminder message, for example "Chase Lumen if still unpaid".
  3. Pick In a week, a time, and the priority High.
  4. Click Add a reminder.

On that day, the desktop app shows a notification, even with its window closed, as long as Filarr still runs in the notification area. The Reminders page in the sidebar lists them all. See Reminders and timeline.

Step 7: Write a note per client

The note keeps what the files do not say: who to call, what was decided, what comes next.

  1. Open the Lumen Health folder and click New Note, then Start with a blank note. The note is attached to the folder and shows there as a card.
  2. Type the title, Lumen Health, then the names of your contacts and where the project stands.
  3. Type [[ and the first letters of a file, for example "Lumen - disc", then press Enter. The note now links to that file: a click on the link opens it.
  4. Write the next steps as tasks: type [ ] and a space at the start of a line, then the task.
  5. Hover a task, click + Due date, and pick a day. Add a reminder in the same window if you want to be warned: a due date alone never notifies you.

If you imported Alex's notes, the note Lumen Health already exists: skip the first two steps, open it, and pick the folder in the Folder list of the right panel. See Link your notes and Tasks.

Step 8: See your week on one page

Click Tasks in the sidebar. The page gathers the tasks of all your notes. The Today tab sorts them by date: overdue, today, tomorrow, the days after.

To add a task without opening a note, click New task and write it in plain words, for example Chase Lumen friday 10am !high.

Filarr reads the date, the time and the priority, and puts the task in a note called Things to do, or in the note you choose on the right. With the interface in English, write the task in English. See The Tasks page.

Your Filarr now works like Alex's: a folder per client, a locked contracts folder, a live list of what you are owed, and the week's work on one page.

What next?