Boxridge Ledger & ShiftLog User Guide

Start here

Find yourself below and follow those steps. Everything else in this guide is there when you need it.

I work on my own

1. Install Boxridge Ledger on your PC (how) and fill in your business name, address and logo.
2. On your phone, open boxridgesoftware.com/shiftlog and add it to your home screen (how).
3. To have the phone and the PC share everything automatically, start a Solo plan and sign in on both (plans). Without a plan, ShiftLog and Ledger each work fine on their own.

I run a crew

1. Start a free 30-day trial of a Crew or Team plan on boxridgesoftware.com. No card needed.
2. In Ledger, open the Crew tab and sign in with the same email and password.
3. Make an invite code for each person (how) and text it to them.
4. Each week, approve their hours in the Crew tab and export them for payroll (how).

My employer sent me an invite code

1. On your phone, open boxridgesoftware.com/shiftlog.
2. Tap Sign in on the orange banner, enter the code, check the company and your name, then choose a password.
3. Add ShiftLog to your home screen. Log your hours as you go; they reach the office whenever you have signal.

How the two apps fit together

With a ShiftLog plan, every phone syncs to your company account at boxridgesoftware.com. Ledger signs in to the same account, so hours logged in a truck show up at the office, and what the office approves shows up on the phone.

• Crew members only ever see their own entries. The owner and office see everyone's.
• Nothing counts until it's approved. Approved hours go into Ledger's books and are locked on the phone, so payroll numbers don't move.
• Nobody needs signal to work. The phone keeps everything and sends it when it can.

ShiftLog and Ledger use the same version numbers (for example 3.48 and 3.48.12). Ledger's Settings → About tells you if a phone is behind.

Your type of work (trades, office, photography)

Ledger and ShiftLog use your words (Ledger 3.48.26, ShiftLog 3.48.20). Pick one when you set up, or any time in Settings → Type of work:

• Trades and contracting: jobs and customers, door codes, materials on a shift. Everyone who used Ledger and ShiftLog before this has it and sees no change.
• Office and professional services: projects and clients. Door codes and the material cost on a shift are tucked away, and the prep list is a To-Do List.
• Photography and events: events and clients, a Gear List, gate and access codes, venues.

It changes the words on screen and on your invoices and estimates, and offers a starter Price List. It never changes anything you've entered. On a ShiftLog plan, the owner's choice in Ledger sets it for every phone.

ShiftLog: set up your phone

Put it on your home screen

1. Open boxridgesoftware.com/shiftlog in Safari (iPhone) or Chrome (Android).
2. iPhone: tap the Share button, then Add to Home Screen. Android: tap the ⋮ menu, then Add to Home screen or Install app.
3. Open ShiftLog from the new green cube icon from now on. It opens even with no signal.

Sign in (with a plan)

Tap ☰ (top right). The Boxridge account box is at the top.

• I have an invite code: type the code (capitals and the dash don't matter), tap Next, check the company and your name, enter your email, choose a password (at least 10 characters) and tap Join.
• Sign in: your email and password. Owners use the email they signed up with on the website. Tap Show in the password box to check what you typed.
• Your account isn't in a company yet? ShiftLog says so and shows Start your company: type the company name and tap Start my company. You're signed in as the owner (30 days free, no card), and Ledger's Crew tab signs in with the same email and password.
• Forgot your password? Tap Forgot password? under Sign in. The website's reset page opens with your email filled in; the email it sends has a link to choose a new one.
• Bought software from us before? That account may not have a password yet. ShiftLog's sign-up asks you to choose one, and Account → Settings on the website shows Set a password.

The first time you sign in, everything already on the phone is uploaded to your account. On a new phone, signing in brings all your entries back.

Your settings

ShiftLog at a glance

ShiftLog is one long page you scroll down, made of blocks. Here's every block, top to bottom: what it's for and how you'd use it on a normal day. The numbers match the picture. Tap any picture to see it full size; tap again to close it.

1. 

   The top bar

   Your version number, whether everything has Synced, What's new and this User guide. 📷 Receipt opens the camera straight away for a receipt; ☰ opens Settings (your account, phone storage, rates, invoice details, job details, recently deleted).

   Use it: bought something? Tap 📷 Receipt, take the picture, type the amount, tap + Add Expense. Glance at the sync line before you leave a job.

2. 

   Log New Shift

   Your day on a job: date, job, hours (or time in and out with a break), odometer start and end, what you did and notes. The bottom part, Material Cost, logs a purchase for that job at the same time, with its receipt photo.

   Use it: at the end of the day pick the job (recent jobs are one tap), fill in the times and miles, tap Add Entry. Interrupted? It keeps what you typed; Save for Later does it on purpose.

3. 

   Quick Task Add

   Adds a short task (15 minutes to 2 hours) to today's entry for a job, with a note of what it was.

   Use it: a quick hardware run or a callback that doesn't need a whole new shift.

4. 

   Prep List - Things to Bring

   A checklist for each job of tools and materials to bring. It also shows the job's details (customer, address, door codes).

   Use it: the night before, pick tomorrow's job and add what you'll need; tick things off as you load the truck.

5. 

   Job History

   Everything logged for one job: every day, hours, miles and notes.

   Use it: when a customer asks "when were you here?" or before you invoice, to check nothing's missing.

6. 

   Expenses & Receipts

   Money you spent: amount, category, vendor, job and the receipt photo (📷 Take Receipt Photo or 🖼️ From Photos). Totals for the week, month and year, by tax category, and Export Expenses CSV. The list is folded away under Expense list.

   Use it: every receipt, the same day. After + Add Expense you'll see ✓ Saved. One receipt for two jobs? Tap Same receipt for another item.

7. 

   Invoice Items

   Things you charge the customer for that aren't hours, like a fixture you installed, with a price and whether it's taxable.

   Use it: add items as you go; they're picked up when you make that job's invoice.

8. 

   Invoice Generator

   Builds an invoice for a job and dates from your hours, mileage (if you bill it), expenses and items. Then Share as PDF (text or email it from the phone), print, or Save & Sync it so the office sees it in Ledger. Mark Billed Through remembers how far you've billed.

   Use it: pick the job and dates, tap Generate Invoice, check it, then Share as PDF. With a plan, the invoice gets your company's next number.

9. 

   Weekly Log Summaries

   Each week's shifts with hours, miles and pay, newest first. ✏️ edits an entry, 🗑️ deletes it (it goes to Recently Deleted first). Manual CSV Export and Print / PDF for a timesheet.

   Use it: at the end of the week, check your hours before payday.

10. 

    ☰ Settings

    Your Boxridge account and Sync Now, 📱 Phone storage, your rates and week start, invoice details (business name, address, logo, footer), job details (customer, door codes, client contact, payment link, billed through) and Recently Deleted.

    Use it: once at the start (rates and invoice details); after that, mostly to add a job's details or bring back something deleted by mistake.

At the very bottom: ShiftLog by Boxridge Software, the version, and a link to help and support.

ShiftLog: log a shift

The Log New Shift form is at the top of the screen.

1. Date is today. Job Name: type it, or tap one of the jobs you worked this week.
2. Enter Time In and Time Out and pick the Unpaid Break/Lunch. Hours Worked fills itself in (overnight shifts too). Or just type the hours.
3. Odometer: Start Miles fills in from your last entry with the same vehicle. If the odometer says something else (you drove somewhere in between), type the real number; it stays. Type End Miles and the trip miles are worked out.
4. Forgot the end miles yesterday? Just put in today's start: yesterday's end miles are filled in from it, and a note shows the miles so you can lower them if part of that drive was personal.
5. Shifts already saved with a start but no end count 0 miles. A 🛣️ Fill in missing end miles button appears above Weekly Log Summaries; it shows the list first, then fills each one from the next shift's start. Approved shifts are locked, so they're only pointed out: unlock them in Ledger (Crew tab → Approved → Unlock) or ask the office, then fill them in.
6. Drive more than one vehicle? Type it in Vehicle (Truck, Van, Car…). Miles only ever carry over within the same vehicle, and Ledger gets the vehicle with each shift. Leave it blank if you only drive one.
7. Don't track your own hours? ☰ → What I use ShiftLog for → Miles, expenses and notes. Each entry becomes a trip: where you went, vehicle, odometer and the business purpose (the IRS asks for it), with no hours or pay. 🚚 Mileage Log under Weekly Log Summaries saves the miles for the period shown as a spreadsheet. This choice is for owners and people using ShiftLog on their own: a crew member's phone always logs hours, so the choice isn't shown there.
8. Own rentals, or building or renovating homes? Once the properties are set up in Ledger (Settings → I own properties), a Property box shows on shifts and expenses. Pick which property the work or the purchase was for, or type a new one.
9. Weekly Log Summaries: this week is open; tap an older week to open it. Show picks the period: This week, Last 4 weeks, This month, Last month, This year or All.
10. Add a Work Description (it can go on the invoice) and any Materials & Notes.
11. Tap Add Entry.

• Got interrupted? The form saves itself as you type. Next time you open ShiftLog it says Picked up where you left off. 💾 Save for Later does the same on purpose. The material cost and its receipt photo are kept too.
• Bought something for the job? Fill in 💰 Material Cost under the shift (item, amount, vendor, and 📷 Take Receipt Photo) and tap + Log This Material Cost. It's saved as an expense for that job and date.
• Small extra task? ⚡ Quick Task Add adds 15 minutes to 2 hours to today's entry for a job, with a note of what it was.
• Door codes and gate codes: type one in Door Codes / Quick Ref and it's remembered for that job and filled in next time.
• Fix or delete: tap ✏️ or 🗑️ on any entry. Deleted shifts go to ☰ → Recently Deleted, where ↩️ brings them back.

ShiftLog: expenses and invoices

Expenses and receipts

Fastest way: tap 📷 Receipt at the top of ShiftLog. The camera opens; take the picture and you're dropped into the expense with the photo attached and the cursor in Amount.

1. In 💰 Expenses & Receipts, enter the amount, pick a category, and add the vendor and job if you like.
2. Tap 📷 Take Receipt Photo to open the camera, or 🖼️ From Photos to use a picture you already took.
3. Tick Taxable if you'll bill it to the client with sales tax, then + Add Expense.

Interrupted? If the app closes before you tap + Add Expense (the Back button, a call, the phone going to sleep), the expense you were filling in, receipt photo and all, is waiting when you open ShiftLog again, with a note saying so. Clear throws it away. A photo taken with ShiftLog's camera button is not saved in your phone's Photos, so this is what keeps it.

After + Add Expense a green ✓ Saved line shows the amount, vendor and whether the receipt photo went with it, and the form clears, photo too. Splitting one receipt between jobs? Tap Same receipt for another item on that line: the photo and vendor come back for the next one. Totals for this week, this month and all time are shown underneath, and Export Expenses CSV saves them as a spreadsheet.

Room for photos. Receipt photos are kept in the phone's photo storage, which has room for thousands. With a plan, photos older than 90 days that are safely in your account keep a small preview on the phone; tap it to see the full photo (it's fetched from your account, so that needs signal). ☰ → 📱 Phone storage shows how full ShiftLog's storage is, and a warning appears at the top well before it's a problem.

The expenses themselves are folded away under Expense list so the page stays short. Tap it to open; it shows the last 7 days, with Last 30 days and All to see more (ShiftLog remembers your choice). Billable items work the same way under Item list.

With a plan, each receipt photo is also saved to your company's account (right after its expense, whenever there's signal). The office sees it in Ledger, it's attached to the expense when approved, and a new phone gets it back. Until it's uploaded, the sync line says 📷 1 receipt photo waiting to upload.

Things you charge for

🏷️ Invoice Items is for things you bill the client for (a ceiling fan you installed, a service call fee), not things you paid for. Taxable items get your sales tax rate.

Make an invoice on the phone

1. In 🧾 Invoice Generator, pick the job. The start date fills in from the day after you last billed it.
2. Choose the end date and what to include (mileage, materials, billable items), then tap Generate Invoice to see it.
3. Send it: 📤 Share as PDF (text it or email it as a real PDF), ✉️ Email Invoice, or 🖨️ Print / Save as PDF. Sending several? + Add to Share Batch, then 📤 Share All.
4. Tap ✅ Mark Billed Through End Date so next time starts where this one ended. Ledger sees the same date.
5. With a plan (or Ledger sync), ☁️ Save & Sync Invoice sends it to Ledger as a draft and gives it the company's next invoice number.

Save a client's details (phone, email, address, a Stripe payment link) under ☰ → Manage Job Details and they appear on the invoice, with a 💳 Pay Now button when there's a payment link.

The same invoice as Ledger's. A phone invoice has Ledger's layout and exactly the lines Ledger gets: one labor line with what you did each day, mileage, each expense and each item. With a plan, your business name, address, email, logo, footer and sales tax rate come from Ledger's Settings, so every phone's invoices match. Once saved and synced, it shows the company's invoice number (the same series as Ledger's, so no two invoices ever share a number).

ShiftLog: jobs, prep lists, history

• Manage Job Details (in ☰): customer name (so several jobs for one client group together), phone, email, job site, payment link, door codes and the billed-through date. Tap the address for directions or the phone number to call.
• 🎒 Prep List: things to bring to a job (ladder, paint samples). Unchecked items show in an orange bar at the top of the screen and as a number on ☰.
• 🔍 Job History: everything ever logged for one job.
• Weekly Log Summaries: each week's hours, miles (with their dollar value) and pay. Tap the heading to open it. Manual CSV Export saves all your shifts; Print / PDF prints calendar pages.

ShiftLog: syncing and no signal

Everything is saved on the phone first, so ShiftLog works in a basement, a field or on a plane. Each change waits in line and is sent, in order, the moment there's signal (and every minute while the app is open). The line under the ShiftLog title and the account box tell you where things stand:

What the office's decisions look like

• Waiting for approval under an entry: the office hasn't looked at it yet.
• When you save (ShiftLog 3.48.23), ShiftLog says where it went: a crew member's shift is sent to the office for approval and can be changed until it's approved; the owner's own goes straight into the books, with no approval needed (it shows ✔ In your books).
• ↩ Sent back: with the office's note. An orange box at the top of the screen lists everything sent back; tap Fix it to open the entry, change it, and it goes back for review.
• 🔒 Approved: it's in the books and locked. To change it, ask the office to unlock it.

Sync Now in the account box sends and checks right away. Sign out of this phone keeps everything on the phone.

Ledger: install and set up

1. On the Boxridge Ledger page, click Download free 30-day trial and run LedgerBox-Setup (the installer's file name). It installs for your Windows user only; no admin password.
2. The first time it opens, a short setup asks for your business name, contact details, logo, rates and your next invoice number. You can skip it and use Settings later.
3. When you buy, paste your license key in Help → Enter License Key… and click Activate (the PC needs the internet once). One license covers 3 of your PCs.

After the trial, Ledger doesn't lock you out: your books stay open to look at, print, export and back up, and adding or changing records waits for a license key.

Settings worth a look on day one

• Rates & Business Info: hourly rate, the IRS mileage rate for each year (Use IRS Rate), sales tax, currency, default payment terms, business details, logo, the footer and payment instructions on invoices. Click Save Settings.
• Payment Integrations: your Stripe secret key and/or PayPal details, so invoices get "Pay by card" and "Pay with PayPal" links. Keys are kept in Windows Credential Manager, never in your books.
• Backups: on by default, every time Ledger closes. Add a second copy on a USB stick or cloud-drive folder.
• Appearance: Dark or Light.

Help → Getting Started (F1) has a one-page summary you can print.

Ledger: everyday entries

The New menu and the buttons on the Dashboard open an entry window from anywhere: Ctrl+E expense, Ctrl+T time, Ctrl+M miles, Ctrl+I invoice, Ctrl+Shift+I income, Ctrl+B bill.

Entering a stack of receipts fast

• Save & Next (Ctrl+Shift+S) saves and clears the window for the next one, keeping the date and other things that usually repeat. A green line counts how many you've added.
• Enter saves from a one-line box. In a notes box, Shift+Enter starts a new line.
• If something looks like one you already entered (same amount and vendor within 3 days, the same check number, same job and hours on a day), Ledger asks before saving it twice.

Trips and the Mileage Log

• Time & Mileage → + Log Miles records a business trip with no hours: date, vehicle, odometer and the trip purpose. Trips from ShiftLog's owner mode arrive the same way.
• 🚚 Mileage Log… makes the log the IRS asks for: every trip with its date, vehicle, odometer, miles, where, property, business purpose, the rate and the deduction, with totals. Pick the dates, a vehicle or a property, then save it as a PDF to print or a spreadsheet. The PDF points out any trip that's missing its purpose.
• Don't track your own hours? Settings → Properties and trips → I don't track my own hours: the Dashboard shows your trips instead of hours.

Expenses

• Date, amount, category, vendor (a vendor you've used fills in its usual category), job, description.
• Paid via: cash, check (with the check number and whether it has cleared the bank), card and so on. Check Register… on the Expenses tab lists checks and who you paid, for 1099s.
• Personal: keeps a personal purchase out of your business totals and taxes.
• Attach Photo… stores the receipt picture; View opens it.

Time and mileage

• + Add Time Entry: job, hours (or time in and out with a break), odometer, what you did.
• + Log Miles: a business drive that isn't a shift. The IRS wants a purpose for every trip, so Ledger asks for one.
• The Source column shows where an entry came from: Manual, ShiftLog, or Crew: Dana for approved crew hours.

The Dashboard

The year at a glance: hours, miles and the mileage deduction, expenses, invoiced, other income, net, unpaid invoices, and about how much tax to set aside. Year Summary (print / PDF)… makes a one-page report.

Ledger: estimates your client signs

Price a job before you start it, get the client's signature, then bill it without typing anything twice. (New in Ledger 3.48.19.)

1. Estimates → + New Estimate (Ctrl+Shift+E). Pick the customer, or + New Customer for someone new, and type the job and job site.
2. Add the work: + Add Line, 📋 Add from Price List… (tick the things you charge for and how many), or 🧾 Materials List… to add up materials with your markup. On an estimate, materials are not saved as expenses; that happens when it becomes an invoice.
3. Set Valid until (30 days unless you change it in Settings), a Deposit to start as a % of the total or a $ amount, and the Terms printed on it. Private notes stay private.
4. ✉ Send to Client… saves a PDF and opens your email with a private link. Your client opens the link on any phone or computer, reads the estimate, signs with a finger or the mouse (or Type it instead), ticks the approval and taps Approve & sign, or declines with a note. You get an email straight away.
5. Open the Estimates tab (or click Check for Answers) and the answer comes in: status Approved, their name, the time, and the signature, which prints on the estimate PDF.
6. With the client beside you? ✍ Sign in Person turns your screen into the signature pad.
7. ➜ Convert to Invoice: the whole job, or with a deposit, a deposit invoice now and the final invoice later, with the deposit taken off. The invoice window opens so you can check it before saving.

• Statuses: draft, sent (waiting on the client), approved, declined, invoiced, and expired once Valid until has passed (change the date to bring it back).
• Changed your mind about a price? Edit and save: if it's online and not answered yet, the client's link shows the new version. If it was already approved, Ledger asks first, because it then needs approving again.
• More ▾ in the list: copy the online link (to text it), mark approved by phone, mark declined, reopen, duplicate for a similar job, or delete (which takes the online page down).
• Price List (on the Estimates tab): the things you charge for again and again, with a unit and price. Add from Price List works on invoices too, and Save Line to Price List keeps a line you just wrote.
• A bigger job? Split it into sections (Ledger 3.48.26). + Section adds a heading such as Ceilings, Flooring or Labor; the lines under it belong to it, and the heading shows its subtotal. Select a heading to write a note that prints under it. ▲ ▼ move lines and headings. Each line has a Unit (sheets, box, hours). Fill in Scope of work (start a line with - for a bullet, indent it for a bullet under it) and Assumptions (one per line). The estimate then prints each section with its subtotal, a summary and page numbers.
• What the client sees. Untick Show Qty / Unit / Rate to keep your hourly rate and material prices off their copy (each line shows only its amount). With sections, Client sees: Section totals only shows just each section's total. Preview → Show: Everything (your copy) always has every line, quantity and rate, marked as your copy.
• Online signing comes with a Ledger license or a ShiftLog plan. On the free trial, clients sign in person.

Ledger: estimates on your phone

Write the estimate at the desk, then add the materials as you shop, or make a last-minute change on site, from your phone. (New in Ledger 3.48.20.)

1. On the Estimates tab click 📱 Phone…. It shows a QR code and a code like ABCD-2345.
2. Point your phone's camera at the QR code and open the link (or go to boxridgesoftware.com/estimates on the phone and type the code). That pairs the phone. Nothing to install; on the phone's browser menu, Add to Home Screen gives it an icon.
3. Your draft estimates are on the phone, with your customers and Price List. Open one to change a line, + From Price List, or + Materials list to add items as you shop (item, how many, cost each; math like 12.49*3 works), with your markup. Then Save.
4. An estimate with sections shows its lines under each heading. + Line in … adds a line to that section, each line has a Unit and a Section picker, and + Section adds one.
5. + New estimate starts one on the phone; it gets its estimate number when Ledger picks it up.
6. Back at the PC, the Estimates tab picks up the changes within a minute while it's open and shows a note saying what came in. Send to Client and Sign in Person check the phone first, and if it just changed that estimate, ask you to look it over before it goes.

• Only drafts go to the phone. Once an estimate is sent to the client, signed or invoiced it stays on the PC, so what a client was sent is never changed from a phone.
• Changed in both places? The newer edit is kept, and the note on the Estimates tab says which.
• No signal in the store? Your changes stay on the phone; tap Save when you have signal.
• 📱 Phone… also lists your phones and Remove Phone signs one out. Needs a Ledger license or a ShiftLog plan.

Ledger: ask for a review

1. Settings → Google review link: paste the link from your Google Business Profile (Ask for reviews).
2. When you mark an invoice Paid, Ledger asks whether to thank the client and ask for a review. Or on an approved estimate: More ▾ → Ask for a Review…
3. Read the message and change anything you like, then it opens in Gmail or your email program (or is copied, to text it).

Every message has your review link and asks the client to reply to you directly if anything wasn't right. Google doesn't allow asking only the happy customers, and this way you hear about a problem before anyone else does. Ledger remembers who you asked, and when.

Ledger: invoices and getting paid

1. Invoices → + New Invoice. Pick the customer and job. The period starts the day after you last billed that job.
2. Pull Time & Expenses for Job/Period fills in the lines from your entries. Choose how they look: one line per day with what you did, one total line, materials by category, and so on. Mileage is added at each year's IRS rate.
3. 🧾 Materials List… for what you bought: type each item, how many and what it cost (math like 12.49*3 works in any number box). It adds them up, adds a markup if you want one, and puts one line on the invoice, such as "Materials: Glass (2), Glazing points, Caulk (3)" at the client's price. Tick Show each item's price to list a price beside each item. When you save the invoice, the items go into Expenses for the job at what you paid (anything already logged is matched, not added twice), and Pull won't bill them again. Select the line and click Materials List… again to change it.
4. Add or change lines by double-clicking. Add a PO or job number, a job site, a quantity heading (Hours, Sq ft, Each…), payment terms (Net 30…) and a deposit already received.
5. Create Stripe Payment Link and/or Create PayPal Invoice so the client can pay online. Links charge the balance due.
6. ✉ Email Invoice: Ledger saves a PDF, opens Gmail or your email program with the message ready, and marks the invoice Sent when you say you sent it. 👁 Preview Invoice prints or saves a PDF.
7. ✅ Mark Billed Through records that this job is invoiced up to the period's end, for both Ledger and ShiftLog.

• Did they pay? Check Payments on the Invoices tab asks Stripe and PayPal and offers to mark paid invoices as Paid.
• Status (draft, sent, paid, void) can be changed right in the list. A late invoice shows in red with how many days late.
• Customers: save each one's email, phone, address, usual payment terms and a note to print on all their invoices.
• Overdue reminders (Ledger 3.48.26): turn on Settings → Overdue invoice reminders and Ledger emails a polite reminder when a Sent invoice is 7 and 14 days past due (or the days you choose), with its Pay online link. It comes from "your business via Boxridge" and replies come to your business email. Each reminder goes once, even with Ledger on two PCs. Preview the email… shows what your customer gets, and the last ones sent are listed there. Needs a license or a ShiftLog plan, like online estimates.

Ledger: what each job made

The Job Profit tab (Ledger 3.48.26) shows, for each job: what you billed, what came in, the expenses, the miles, the labor, and what's left, with the margin.

• Billed is before sales tax, from every invoice for the job except void ones. A deposit is counted once.
• Expenses are everything with the job's name on it, including materials lists saved from invoices. Personal expenses are left out.
• Miles are valued at the IRS rate for each trip's date.
• Labor is hours times the Labor cost per hour you type in (what an hour of crew time costs you). Your own hours count only if you tick Count my own hours too.
• Pick This year, Last year, This month or All time. Click a job to see every invoice, payment, expense and shift behind its numbers. Export CSV… and Save as PDF… are at the top.
• Jobs are matched by name, ignoring capitals and extra spaces, so use the same job name on invoices, expenses and shifts.

Ledger: income, bills and budget

• Income is money that didn't come through a Ledger invoice: cash jobs, Venmo, a PayPal invoice sent from PayPal's site. Record any processing fee too; it's deductible.
• Bills & Budget → Bills: add bills with due dates; they can repeat weekly, monthly or yearly. Mark Paid can log the expense for you and sets up the next one. Undo reverses it.
• Calendar: the month's bills due (red) and invoices you're waiting on (green, amber when late), with what's left to pay and to collect.
• Budget: Set Budgets… per category, then see spending against each, for business, personal or both.

Ledger: properties (rentals, builds, renovations)

For people who own rentals or are building or renovating homes. It's off until you turn it on, so nothing changes for anyone else.

1. Settings → Properties → I own properties. A Properties tab appears.
2. Properties → + Add Property: a name (like 12 Oak St), the type (Rental, Building, Renovating or Other) and the address.
3. Expenses, income, time & mileage entries and bills now have a Property box. Pick the property, or leave it on none. A bill that's on a property (mortgage, insurance, taxes) puts its expense on that property when you mark it paid.
4. On the phone, ShiftLog shows a Property box on shifts and expenses with the same list. Pick one, or type a new name; Ledger adds it as a property when the shift comes in.

• A rental shows money in (rent), what was spent by category, mileage, and what's left. Each category shows the Schedule E line it usually goes on; check with your accountant.
• A build or renovation shows the cost so far by category, plus hours and miles. These costs are often added to the property's cost (basis) rather than deducted right away; your accountant will know.
• Pick the dates at the top (this year, last year, this month, all time). Export CSV… saves every property's totals for a spreadsheet or your accountant.
• A property you're done with: Archive takes it out of the lists, and its records keep it. One with nothing on it can be deleted.
• Picking a property only labels a record. Your Dashboard, tax worksheet and other totals don't change.

Your crew: approving hours

Everything here happens on Ledger's Crew tab. The tab's name shows how many entries are waiting, for example Crew (3).

Sign in

Started the plan? Just sign in with the same email and password as on the website and your phone (tick Show to check what you typed; Forgot password? opens the reset page with your email filled in). Signing in also unlocks Ledger with your plan's key (Ledger 3.48.27), so there's no key to copy. Invited as an office seat? Click I have an invite code for an office seat under the sign-in box the first time. The sign-in is kept in Windows Credential Manager. Ledger checks for new entries when you open the tab, every couple of minutes while it's open, and when you click 🔄 Get new entries. It never makes the window wait on the internet.

Waiting for approval

Each row is one shift or expense: who, the date, the job, hours with time in and out, the unpaid Break (Ledger 3.48.27), miles, the amount, what they did, their notes and 🧾 when there's a receipt photo on the phone. Pick a person at the top to see only theirs.

The owner's own entries, and everything on a Solo plan, count as approved straight away.

Approved, unlock and payroll

• The Approved tab shows this week (Monday to Sunday) by default; change the dates or pick a person. Totals are underneath.
• 🔓 Unlock selected… takes an entry back out of your books and back to waiting, and lets the person change it on the phone.
• Receipt photos: rows with 🧾 have a photo from the phone; double-click the row to see it. Approved expenses keep their photo in your books (Expenses → View), and the Accountant Package includes it.
• ⬇ Export for payroll… saves a spreadsheet (CSV) with every approved shift (person, date, job, times, break, hours, miles, notes), expenses to reimburse and totals per person. Send it to your payroll service or accountant. Ledger doesn't work out payroll taxes.

Invoices made on the phones

An invoice saved on a phone (☁️ Save & Sync Invoice) appears in Ledger's Invoices tab as a draft with its company number, customer and lines, the next time the Crew tab checks for new entries. Add payment links and send it from Ledger as usual. Once it's sent, the phone can't change it any more. Your business details from Settings are sent to the phones automatically when they change.

Deleting something that came from a phone

In Expenses or Time & Mileage, Delete on a row from a phone tells you whose phone it came from and offers:

• Delete everywhere: out of your books, your Boxridge account, every Ledger, and the phone the next time it syncs, with its receipt photo.
• Send back to (someone else's): out of your books and back to them with your note, to fix and send again.

It needs the Crew tab signed in and the internet; otherwise nothing changes and Ledger tells you why. You can also delete it on the phone itself (Expenses → Expense list → 🗑️); Ledger follows at its next refresh. Things you typed into Ledger yourself are deleted as before.

Inviting and removing people

The owner can do this in Ledger (Crew → People) or on the website (Account → Company).

1. ➕ Invite someone…: their name, their email if you want it emailed, and whether they log time on a phone or work in Ledger at the office.
2. Ledger shows a code like K7Q4-M2XP and copies it, ready to paste into a text message. It works once, for 7 days.
3. A crew member enters it in ShiftLog on their phone (how). An office person enters it in Ledger: Crew → I have an invite code for an office seat.

• The People list shows each person's role, whether they've joined (or their open code), when their phone last synced and its ShiftLog version.
• Remove selected…: their phone stops syncing at once. Hours you already approved stay in your books. An unused invite can be cancelled the same way.
• An open invite holds a seat. If the plan is full, Ledger says so and how to make room.
• Crew can make invoices on their phones (off to start with): crew phones show only hours, miles, receipts and expenses, and the account refuses invoices from them. Tick it for subcontractors who bill their own jobs; their invoices come to Ledger as drafts with the company's next number. Phones pick up the change at their next sync. The owner, the office and people on their own always have invoices.

Plans, trial and billing

• Every plan includes Ledger on the office PC, syncing and the phone app. Yearly is two months free. The owner's Ledger key is under My software on boxridgesoftware.com (included with your ShiftLog plan). Signing in on Ledger's Crew tab unlocks Ledger with it by itself (Ledger 3.48.27); or click Copy key, then in Ledger Help → Enter License Key… and paste it. It works as long as the plan is on (trial, paid or no charge).
• Free trial: 30 days on any plan with no card. Add a card any time before it ends under Account → Company → Add a card; you're charged only after the trial.
• Change plan, card or billing: on the same page (Ledger's Plan and billing (website) button opens it). Stripe adjusts the next bill for a change.
• A payment fails: you get 30 days and reminder emails to sort it out. Everything keeps working meanwhile.
• Cancel any time, or after a trial with no card: the account becomes read-only. Hours, expenses and invoices are never deleted; you can look, export and come back.
• Receipt photos in an account that has been read-only for 90 days are deleted. The owner gets an email 14 days before, with the date. Photos of expenses you approved are already saved in Ledger on your PC.
• Already bought Ledger? Your license keeps working on its own. A plan adds the phones and syncing.

Tax time

• Tax Forms → Schedule C Worksheet: every category added up on its Schedule C line, with your mileage deduction on line 9 and processing fees on line 10. Print / Save as PDF…
• Estimated Tax: about how much to set aside each quarter from your profit so far, the due dates (04/15, 06/15, 09/15, 01/15), safe-harbor amounts, and the payments you've made. Pay the IRS online… opens IRS Direct Pay. It's an estimate, not tax advice.
• 1099s: the Check Register's Payments by payee marks anyone paid $2,000 or more (from 2026; $600 before) under Subcontract Labor.
• File → Accountant Package… makes one zip for your tax preparer: year summary and Schedule C PDFs, the workbook, mileage log, 1099 list, a receipts index with copies of every receipt photo, and estimated payments.
• File → Export to Excel… saves everything for a year (or all years) as a workbook.

Bringing in old records

Backups, other PCs, several businesses

Backups

• Ledger backs up every time it closes (your books and receipt photos), keeping the last 14 by default in Documents\LedgerBox Backups and in a second folder if you set one.
• After an update, the first time the new version opens it checks your books against what they held when the old version closed: nothing missing, the file not damaged, and it can save. You see nothing when all is well. If something is wrong it tells you, and one click puts back the backup made just before the update.
• New versions come out on Sunday nights and are offered to your PC the next day. Settings → Updates → Get new versions the day they're published gets them right away.
• File → Back Up Data… makes one wherever you choose. File → Restore From Backup… brings one back (your current books are kept aside first).

More than one PC

Settings → Sync Across PCs keeps your books in your own Turso cloud database so every PC sees the same records. It needs the internet while you work; receipt photos stay on the PC that has them. With a ShiftLog plan, each office PC also signs in to the Crew tab. Your license key isn't part of the books, so it doesn't sync: enter the same key on each PC (one license covers 3 PCs; Remove License on an old PC frees its place).

Several businesses

File → Businesses… (Ctrl+Shift+B) keeps separate books for each business, with its own invoices, numbering, settings, logo, payment connections and crew sign-in. A license covers one business; the More Businesses add-on adds more.

Keyboard shortcuts (Ledger)

If something looks wrong

Still stuck? boxridgesoftware.com/support.

Questions people ask