Time narratives

What a narrative is

Every time entry carries a narrative: what was done, as the client will read it on the bill. A narrative the firm keeps is a ready-made version of that sentence for an activity, such as "Drafted and revised the statement of claim" for drafting. On the entry form, the Narrative box has a menu beneath it reading Start from a narrative the firm keeps. Choosing one fills the box with its text, which you can then change before you save. The menu appears only for activities that have narratives.

Keep the list

Under Settings, Time & billing, Time recording, Narratives lists the short texts offered for each activity on the entry form, in the order they are offered.

• Narrow the list by Activity, and search it.
• Add narrative asks for the activity and the Narrative text, and saves it with Add narrative. An activity offers up to 50 narratives.
• A row's menu has View details, Edit, Move up, Move down and Delete. The order here is the order of the menu on the entry form, so put the ones used most at the top.
• The list can be exported like any register, after you confirm.

Activities themselves are kept under Settings, Time & billing, Codes, Activity; see Codes and integrations. A narrative stays with its activity: when the activity is deleted, its narratives go with it and return if it is restored.

What it does not do

A narrative is a starting point only. It does not set the time, the rate or whether the work is chargeable; the activity decides whether it is chargeable (see Record time). Changing or deleting a narrative never alters entries already recorded with its words.

Only someone who may keep narratives sees Add narrative and the row menu; everyone who records time sees the menu on the entry form.