Terms and features

Your words#

EscBooks calls the people you work for clients, and their pieces of work projects. It also says subcontractor, estimate and retainer. If your field says matter, job, customer or quote, change them in Settings → Terms & Features. Pick an industry to see what it does:

The words change the sidebar, page titles, breadcrumbs, buttons, forms and the Command Menu, for everyone in your business. They stay inside EscBooks: the invoices, estimates and emails your clients receive keep the standard words, and so do connected assistants. These help guides use EscBooks' own words too.

Changing them#

Settings/Terms & Features

Terms & Features

Use the words your business uses, and hide the parts of EscBooks you don't need. Applies to everyone in your business.

Save Changes

Your Industry

Start from the words your field uses. You can change any of them below.

GeneralThe default setupClients · Projects · Subcontractors · Estimates · Retainers

LegalLawyers, paralegals, legal consultantsClients · Matters · Associates · Estimates · Retainers

TradesContractors, crews, installersCustomers · Jobs · Crew · Quotes · Deposits

CreativeDesigners, studios, video and photoClients · Projects · Freelancers · Proposals · Retainers

ConsultingConsultants, advisors, coachesClients · Engagements · Subcontractors · Proposals · Retainers

AccountingAccountants, bookkeepers, tax preparersClients · Engagements · Subcontractors · Proposals · Retainers

Rental propertyLandlords, short-term rental hostsTenants · Projects · Subcontractors · Estimates · Retainers

NonprofitCharities, foundations, community groupsDonors · Programs · Subcontractors · Estimates · Retainers

Terms

What things are called in the sidebar, page titles, buttons and forms. Invoices, estimates and emails your clients receive keep the standard wording, and so do connected assistants.

EscBooks calls itOneMore than one

Client

Client

Clients

Project

Project

Projects

Subcontractor

Subcontractor

Subcontractors

Estimate

Estimate

Estimates

Retainer

Retainer

Retainers

Features

Turn off what your business doesn't use. Nothing is deleted: turn it back on and everything's where you left it.

Estimates

Prices you send before the work, which can become invoices.

Retainers

Deposits paid ahead, and monthly fees with hours included.

Subcontractors

People you pay to do part of the work, with W-9s and 1099s.

Day rates

Billing a client or project by the day instead of the hour.

Fixed fees

Billing a project for a set price, whole or in parts.

Billing expenses to clients

Passing costs on to a client's invoice, with an optional markup.

Mileage

Logging trips by distance at a rate per mile or km.

Payroll

Recording each payroll from your provider: wages, payroll taxes and W-2 totals.

Properties

Rental property and buildings you own: rent and leases, Airbnb payouts, mortgages, security deposits and Schedule E.

Client Books

For accountants and bookkeepers: invite your clients, see where each one's books stand and message them.

Client trust accounts

A bank account holding clients' money until it's earned, like an IOLTA or a property manager's: a ledger for each client and a monthly three-way reconciliation.

Always On

The heart of EscBooks, for every business.

TimeProjectsClientsInvoicesIncomeExpensesEquipmentSubscriptionsConnected AssistantsReports

Step 1 of 4PauseStart over

1. 1In Settings → Terms & Features, pick your industry. Its words fill in under Terms.
2. 2Change any word yourself: one, and more than one.
3. 3Under Features, turn off what you don't use. Nothing is deleted.
4. 4Click Save Changes. The sidebar, page titles, buttons and forms use your words.

1. Under Your Industry, pick General (the default setup), Legal, Trades, Creative or Consulting. Each card lists the words it uses.
2. Under Terms, change any word: One is the word for one (Matter), More than one for several (Matters). Each can be up to 30 characters.
3. Click Save Changes, at the top or the foot of the page. Nothing changes until you do.

• Picking an industry replaces all five words with its own, including any you typed. Pick the industry first, then adjust.
• An industry also sets which optional features are on: Legal turns on Retainers and Client trust accounts; Accounting turns on Client Books and Retainers; Trades and Consulting turn on Mileage; Rental property turns on Properties and turns off estimates, retainers and billing by the day or by fixed fee. Clicking one shows what comes with it (tools and reports), every feature it would change, and its words, before you choose it. A feature your books already use stays on, and says why.
• A box left empty goes back to EscBooks' word when you save.
• The word for a feature that's turned off (subcontractors, estimates, retainers) is dimmed, and still saved.
• Only an owner can change these. Your accountant sees them as they are.

Features you don't use#

Under Features, turn off what your business doesn't use, and it leaves the sidebar, the Command Menu and the forms. Nothing is deleted: turn it back on and everything is where you left it.

• Estimates: prices you send before the work, which can become invoices.
• Retainers: deposits paid ahead, and monthly fees with hours included.
• Subcontractors: people you pay to do part of the work, with W-9s and 1099s.
• Day rates: billing a client or project by the day instead of the hour.
• Fixed fees: billing a project for a set price, whole or in parts.
• Billing expenses to clients: passing costs on to a client's invoice, with an optional markup.
• Mileage: logging trips by distance at a rate per mile or km.
• Client trust accounts: a bank account holding clients' money until it's earned, with a ledger for each client and a monthly three-way reconciliation.

Turning off a feature you've already used leaves that work as it is, and the page says so before you save:

• Active retainers keep billing and paying invoices; only the page is hidden.
• Open estimates stay as they are, and can still be accepted.
• Subcontractors stay on file, and in the year-end 1099 list.
• Mileage already recorded stays in your expenses and reports.
• Expenses waiting to be billed stay billable; new expenses won't be.
• Clients and projects that bill by the day keep doing so, and projects with a fixed fee keep it.

Always On lists the heart of EscBooks, which can't be turned off: Time, Projects, Clients, Invoices, Income, Expenses, Equipment, Subscriptions, Connected Assistants and Reports.

Retainers, Mileage, Properties, Client Books and Client trust accounts start off for a new business: turn on what you use, or pick an industry that turns them on. Marking a client trust account turns Retainers on, since its client ledgers are retainers. While you have a client trust account, open or closed, neither can be turned off.

Client Books starts off. Turn it on if you're an accountant or bookkeeper, to invite your clients and see where each one's books stand (the Accounting preset turns it on). Once a client has given you access, it shows whether it's on or not. See Your accountant.

Tags#

Tags are short colored labels for telling clients and subcontractors apart, and sorting them: Referral, Agency, Nonprofit for clients; Editor, Copywriter for subcontractors. Make one as you go: type it in the Tags box on a client or subcontractor and press Enter or a comma. The Clients list can then be filtered by tag.

Settings → Tags lists every tag, by what it's for. Edit one to rename or recolor it, or to merge it into another with Merge into; or delete it.