Time, expenses and bank

Share time with a link

With a time link your customer can see at any time what you worked on: all time for a customer or a project, what is already billed and what is still open. They open the link in a browser, without an account and without an app. Folnaro keeps the page up to date on its own and encrypts everything on your Mac before it is uploaded.

What a time link is

Next to the folder, a time link is the second way to share time with a customer (see Share times with customers). Instead of writing files into a shared folder, Folnaro keeps an encrypted copy of the time sheet up to date on a service at zeiten.folnaro.app. Your customer gets a link like https://zeiten.folnaro.app/#Vb2xQ8mT4kLp9sWq3nYd7c.

• Always current: when you track or change time, Folnaro uploads the new state in the background, at most every 15 minutes per link. The top of the page says when it was last updated.
• The same figures as on the invoice: Folnaro applies rounding, minimum time, included hours and budget exactly as it does when billing. Your customer sees nothing you don’t see yourself.
• For a customer or a project: you can give one customer several links, for example one per project.

Create a time link

Before Folnaro uploads anything for the first time, you accept the Data Processing Agreement once, because the service stores your customers’ time on your behalf, encrypted and without being able to read it. Folnaro shows it to you with your first link, with Read and Accept.

1. Select a customer or a project. In the list, in the inspector or with a right click, choose Share Times…. For a time entry the command is called Share Times of Website Relaunch…, with the name of its project.
2. Under What Your Customer Sees, check the scope and the period. On the right you already see the page as your customer will see it.
3. Under Share By, leave Link selected.
4. Click Create and Copy Link.

Folnaro uploads the page and puts the link on the clipboard. Only once that worked does the window show the finished link. The window remembers your choices for this customer, so next time the same two clicks are usually enough.

You can also select Folder as well. Folnaro then also writes the same time as files into a folder, as before.

What your customer sees

• Scope: the whole customer or one or more projects.
• Period: the current billing period, the current and the previous month, only unbilled time, everything or a custom period. Your customer can open earlier months on the page themselves, as far as they lie within the period.
• Content: descriptions, people, start and end times and whether a running timer is visible. A running timer keeps counting on the page in the browser; Folnaro doesn’t upload anything every second for it.
• Billing: unbilled and billed time, amounts, the status of your invoices, the invoices as PDF and budgets and included hours. Without amounts your customer only sees hours.
• Rounding: As on the Invoice shows the time as you bill it. Exact shows the tracked time without rounding.

Two templates help you get started: Customer with Included Hours shows the included hours of the current period without amounts, Project with Budget shows a project with all time, budget and amounts. As with the files, only confirmed and stopped entries appear; an agent’s suggestions only after you confirm them.

Your customer’s page

At the top your customer sees your name with your logo or monogram and when the page was last updated. Below are the total for the period, split into unbilled, billed and included, a weekly chart, a card per invoice, the budget per project and below that all entries by week. With Download CSV they take the entries with them, with Save as PDF they print the page through their browser. At the bottom is your email address for questions.

The page addresses your customer the way you set it for the customer, formally by default in German, and follows their document language. At the bottom they can switch between German and English. The page looks just as good on a phone as on a computer, light and dark.

With View as Customer you open the real page in your browser and see exactly what your customer sees.

Unbilled, billed, budget and included hours

The page and the inspector in Folnaro show the same figures:

• Unbilled: time that isn’t on a finalized invoice yet, with an amount when the page shows amounts.
• Billed: time on a finalized invoice. Each invoice gets a card with number, date, hours and net amount. With Invoice Status turned on it also says “Paid on …” or “Open, due on …”.
• Included: time covered by included hours. The included hours card shows what the current period includes, what was carried over from the previous one, what is used and what is left.
• Budget: used and remaining hours or amounts per project. From the share set under Warn At, the card carries a warning symbol and the percentage.

Each entry carries its state as text with a symbol, such as “Unbilled”, “Billed, RE-2026-0142” or “Included”. When your customer filters the page by project or month, the page only adds up the values Folnaro calculated. It never rounds on its own. With Invoices as PDF your customer can download the last three invoices there.

In the inspector of a customer and of a project you find the same figures under Time as Kranich Yoga Studio UG sees it, with your customer’s name. So before every conversation you know what they are looking at.

Set a password

A password protects the link further: without a password the link alone opens the time, with a password your customer needs both. Turn on Password. Folnaro suggests a password of four words and two digits, such as crane-lamp-shore-42. Generate New Password gives you another one, with Set Your Own Password… you pick one yourself with at least 12 characters. A generated password is stronger than most chosen ones. The page shows a Password Hint above the input field, such as “It’s in my message from Monday”.

• Send the password another way than the link, for example with Send with Messages… when the link goes by email.
• After creating the link Folnaro shows the password once. Later you can see it again after you sign in with Touch ID or your password.
• Whoever enters a wrong password several times has to wait. After very many tries in one day the link pauses and Folnaro lets you know. Change Password… releases it again.

How long a link is valid

Under Valid you choose:

• While the Project Runs: every new time extends the link. When no new time is added for 90 days or you complete or archive the project, the link ends on its own. Seven days before, Folnaro reminds you once, with Extend by 90 Days. This is the default.
• Until a Date…: a fixed end, for example the end of the project.
• Until I End It: no end. Folnaro asks you every 90 days whether you still need the link.

An expired or ended link shows your customer a calm page with your name and a note that the link is no longer valid.

Pass the link on

Once the link is ready, pass it on the way that suits your customer:

• Copy puts it on the clipboard, for a message or your chat.
• Share opens the macOS share menu with Messages, AirDrop and your other services.
• Send by Email… sends it through your email account with the Time Link template, in your customer’s form of address. The password is never in the email. After sending, Folnaro offers to send it by message. Folnaro remembers the recipient for this customer.
• Show QR Code shows a code your customer scans with their phone. Folnaro creates it on your Mac. Save as Image… saves it.

When you send an invoice, turn on Include Link to the Time. Your customer’s link then appears in the invoice email, and Folnaro remembers that for this customer (see Send the time link along).

Manage links

A customer’s links are listed in their inspector under Time Links, each with its state, such as “With password · last opened on October 10” or “Expires on October 19”. Through the menu with the three dots, or a right click on the customer, the project or a time entry under Time Link, you reach:

• Copy Link (⌥⌘L), also under Edit > Copy Time Link.
• View as Customer opens the real page in your browser.
• Edit… changes what your customer sees. The link stays the same.
• Change Password… sets a new password or turns it off.
• Extend… moves the end further out.
• Renew Link… replaces the link with a new one. The old one then only shows that it is no longer valid. You need this when the link reached someone who shouldn’t have it.
• End Link… ends the link at once. Folnaro asks first and names the customer.

All shares, links and folders, are under Folnaro > Settings… > Shared Times or in a customer’s inspector with All Shares. The list shows customer, scope, expiry, last update and state for each share: Current, Waiting to Upload, Expires Soon, Paused or Problem. Select several to extend or end them together or to upload them at once with Update Now.

Time links belong to your data. They are kept up to date after the trial too, and you can keep creating new ones.

How secure this is

• End-to-end encrypted: Folnaro encrypts the time, your name and everything else on your Mac (AES-256-GCM). The key is in the link after the # sign. A browser never sends that part to a server. The service only stores encrypted data and can’t read the time.
• Nothing to see, guess or find: the link contains no name. Its secret part has 128 bits and can’t be guessed. Search engines don’t index the page, and a preview in messages shows the same neutral card for every link.
• No cookies, no tracking: the page loads nothing from third parties and sets no cookies. It only remembers the link for the open tab, so reloading works.
• You only see the day: Folnaro shows the day your customer last opened the link. No time, no address, no count. The page says so too.
• In the EU and only for a while: the data is stored in the EU. When a link ends, the service deletes the time at once and only keeps your encrypted name, so the page can show that the link is no longer valid. After twelve months that is deleted too.
• The keys stay with you: link, password and the key to change it are in the Keychain, not in the database. With iCloud Keychain you manage the link on your second Mac too. If the Keychain is missing, for example after restoring onto a new Mac, Folnaro shows Not Available on This Mac and offers Renew Link….

What you should know: the link works for anyone who has it. If your customer forwards it or it sits in a browser history, someone else can see the time. Some companies have links in emails opened by a security service. For sensitive time, set a password. Folnaro serves the page itself. After every new version Folnaro checks that the served code matches the code in the app and lets you know if it doesn’t.

Agents can create and change links through MCP when you give them the right for time under Settings… > Agents. An agent only gets the link itself when you turn on Agents May Pass On Links.

Common problems

My customer doesn’t see a new time yet.

Folnaro uploads at most every 15 minutes per link. Running and suggested entries only appear after you stop or confirm them. Ask your customer to reload the page, or click Update Now under Shared Times. The page names its last update at the top.

“The link is paused.”

Someone entered a wrong password very often in one day. Check that your customer has the right password and release the link with Change Password…. If the link reached the wrong people, choose Renew Link….

“Waiting to Upload” has been showing for a while.

Your Mac was offline, or the service isn’t accepting anything right now. The page keeps showing your customer the last state with its date. Folnaro tries again on its own and lets you know if it takes longer than a day. Check your internet connection.

“Choose a shorter period.”

A link holds very many entries, but not an unlimited number. Choose a shorter period under Period or split the projects across several links.

The link shows “Not Available on This Mac”.

The link’s key is missing from this Mac’s Keychain, for example after a restore without iCloud Keychain. Open Folnaro on the Mac where you created the link, or choose Renew Link… and send your customer the new link.

My customer can’t find the password.

Show it with Touch ID and send it to them again, or set a new one with Change Password….