Tracking
What should a freelance timesheet include?
Five things: the date, the start time, the end time, the duration, and a single line describing the work. That is enough for a client to check the log against their own calendar and their own inbox, which is the only test a timesheet has to pass. A duration with no times attached is an assertion; a duration with times is a record.
Why
A timesheet is a document somebody else has to be able to believe. Start and end times are what make it checkable — a client can match them against a meeting, a deploy, an email you sent — while a bare total cannot be corroborated by anything. The one-line description is what turns a row of numbers into something they can approve without asking you a question first.
Do this
- Record the actual start and end times, not just the length.
- Write the description while the work is fresh; it is the line that will end up on the invoice.
- Group by day and by project, so the total for a period is visible without arithmetic.
- Export the range you are billing rather than the whole history.
Avoid this
- A weekly total with no sessions behind it.
- Descriptions like 'work' or 'dev' that mean nothing a month later.
- Hand-typing the sheet into a spreadsheet from a tracker that could have exported it.
- Sending a raw export with sessions from other clients still in it.
What it looks like in the log
The same advice, as the row a tracked session actually leaves behind.
CSV export — one row
- Date
- 2026-04-14
- Start / end
- 09:12 / 12:48
- Duration
- 3:36
- Title / notes
- Auth — handshake + retries
All of this is easier when the hours were written down as they happened. Punch O'Clock is a free tracker that does it in one tap, works offline, and exports the range you are billing.
Free. No ads, and no account unless you want sync.
Related questions
Does a client need every session, or just a total?
Send the total on the invoice and keep the session-level log ready. Most clients never ask for it; the ones who do are usually satisfied by the fact that it exists in a form you did not obviously write last night.
CSV or PDF?
PDF to send, CSV to work with. A PDF reads as a finished document and travels well by email; a CSV opens in a spreadsheet, which is what you want if you are combining projects or feeding an accounting tool.