Creating a project in Harvest is one of the first steps to getting started. After you set up a project, you’ll be able to track time to and invoice for the project.

If you already have a project set up, you can quickly copy those settings into a new project. Duplicating can also be used as a workaround for project templates.

Administrators can create projects for all clients, and Managers can create projects if they're given permission in their user profile.

Creating a project

1. Go to your Projects section.

2. Click the New project button in the top left. 

   

3. Assign a Client from the drop-down menu, or create a new client.

   • The client is the person or company for whom you’re completing this work. You can add and edit clients and their contact info under Manage > Clients.
   • Only Managers with permission to edit clients will be able to create new clients within a project.

4. Name your project. You can also add a Project code if you’d like.

5. Enter the project’s start and end dates. These are for your reference only and have no effect on your ability to track time, and you can always change them later if need be.

6. Enter project Notes if you need them. You can control who sees these notes from Settings > Edit preferences > Show project notes.

   • If you’re creating a Fixed Fee project, we recommend using the Notes to record invoice information, like your payment schedule. That’s because we’ll reveal these notes to you when you create your invoice. So use this field to enter any info that’ll help you make those invoices.
7. In the Permissions section, you can choose to Show project report to Administrators and people who manage this project, limiting visibility, or you can open it up to everyone on the team. If you open it up to everyone, Members on the project will be able to see the total hours for the project and how that compares to the budget. They won’t see any billable amounts or costs, though. Here’s how it breaks down: 

8. Select a Project type: Time & Materials, Fixed Fee, or Non-Billable. You can learn more in our article about understanding the three project types.

   • Depending on which project type you choose, you’ll have the option to set a budget, billable rates, or project fees.
   • For any project with a budget, make sure you enter your budget amount. You can also choose to send email alerts to your team if your budget reaches a certain percentage of completion. People who manage the project will always receive budget emails. Administrators on the project only receive budget emails if no one is designated as a manager of the project.

9. Add tasks to the project. Don’t forget to mark them as billable (and enter rates) or non-billable.

   • You can create a general task list under Manage > Tasks, where you can also assign default settings to tasks.
   • Only Managers with permission to edit tasks will be able to create new tasks within a project.

10. Add people to the project.

    • People must be added to the Harvest account before you can assign them to projects. Add people to your account from the Team section of Harvest or, if you’re still in the trial period, by clicking the invite more people link below the Team list on the create/edit project form.
    • Use the checkboxes in the Manages this project column to indicate whether the people you assign can manage the project or not. If you check the box next to a person with Member permissions, a notification will appear letting you know that this will raise their permissions level to Manager in the account. You’ll need to confirm or cancel that change to move forward. Learn more about team permissions. 

11. Save your project, and you’ll see it in your Projects section.

Duplicating a project

Duplicating active projects

If you need to create a project that has settings similar to one of your other projects, you can duplicate it to save time. If it’s active:

1. Go to Projects and make sure the filter is set to view active projects.
2. Click the Actions menu that appears to the right of a project listing.
3. Select Duplicate. 
   

Duplicating archived projects

You can duplicate an archived project, too. Here's how:

1. Go to Projects and filter to archived projects using the dropdown to the top left. 
2. Click on a project’s name, and you’ll be dropped into the project analysis page.
3. Click the Duplicate button in the top right.