**Freelancers & Contracts

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The contracts page includes:

Sorting capabilities: by Start date, End date, Team, Contract name
The ability to send messages to clients from individual contracts To do this, freelancer clicks the three dots on the right and selects “Send Message”
A popup will appear that will direct the freelancer into Messages
Rate Changes - they no longer display as 2 separate contracts, but instead will roll up into 1 contract for freelancers
Pending Offers - these will appear on the contracts page

Contracts Room

The contract room will provide a contract-specific view of the following activities and tools once the freelancer clicks the contract link under My Jobs:

Messages, files, video/audio chat
Time tracking and earnings (for hourly jobs)
Milestones and earnings (for fixed-price jobs)
Work Diary (for hourly jobs) Terms and Settings

Hourly Contracts:

Fixed-Price Contracts:

Work Diary

Help Center articles we can share with users:

Use Your Work Diary

Troubleshoot Work Diary

Review Your Freelancer’s Work Diary

The Work Diary is a visual record of your freelancer's activity. You can view work-in-progress snapshots in hourly rows, each representing a 10-minute billing segment. Every hourly contract has its own Work Diary.

Rolled out on November 1, 2021, the following changes have been made to modernize the Work Diary:

Logged time is displayed in groups based on the continuous session

This differs slightly from the previous design in which logged time populated in rows segmented in one-hour increments.

New colors to differentiate logged time

Improved mobile app experience

Quickly edit individual billing/time segments, or remove an entire group of time

Time zone is now found via the clock icon

New Work Diary colors and layout help differentiate between tracked and manual time.

Together with more details of how to use the Work Diary, which can be found through the Help Center articles provided at the top of this KB, here are helpful tips we can share with our users:

Remove or edit segments of logged time, or remove an entire group of time.

FAQs

What’s the difference between an activity label and memo?

A memo is the note you create to describe what you are working on during a session. These are important to add so your client knows what you were working on, and to make sure you qualify for Upwork Payment Protection. If your client is an Enterprise client or on a Plus plan, they can also create activity labels for you to use. Clients sometimes use activity labels to track their spending on certain types of work, especially if they are working with multiple freelancers on a variety of projects. It’s important to choose the correct activity label to help your clients keep accurate accounting records, but they can also edit the label you selected, if needed.

Why is there an Activity heading with just a dash underneath it?

If your client uses activity labels, you will see a dropdown with choices under the Activity heading when you are adding memos. If there is just a dash there, your client is not using activity labels, and you don’t have to choose one.

How do I delete part of the time I worked without deleting the whole session?

Go to My Jobs › Work Diary and select the contract

Find the block of time you want to remove

Hover over the time’s screenshots to see checkboxes, then check the boxes for the time increments you want to remove

Once you check a box, Edit and Remove options will appear near the top of the page, next to total tracked time — choose Remove.

Why do I see two different versions of my Work Diary depending on how I get to the diary?

We are in the process of updating all the Work Diary views. For a few months, you may see different versions depending on how you access your diary. For now, you can use either version, but we recommend becoming familiar with the updated version.

Reactive questions (for agents only)

SENTIMENT OF I DON’T LIKE THESE CHANGES: Why did you make changes to the Work Diary? Why did you change the way screenshots are grouped, with groups by sessions instead of by rows of 6 segments? It’s harder for me to understand at a glance how much time was tracked and when there are breaks. I don’t like the changes.

We are working to modernize the diary and optimize it so that it can be used from any type of device, including mobile devices. Right now, using the diary on mobile devices isn’t as simple as we’d like. We are also updating some things to match our overall new look so that the Work Diary is consistent with the rest of Upwork’s pages.

Why did you change the color coding for tracked and manual time?

We are updating things to match our overall new look so that the Work Diary is consistent with the rest of Upwork’s pages.

How do I see hours that are already tracked when adding manual time?

The recent update to Work Diary does not yet allow you to see the time you already tracked when adding manual time. We hope to add this feature back in the future.

Are there changes to how manual or online tracked hours are logged?

No, we have not changed the way you log time in the Time Tracker or enter manual time. You will still open the desktop app, choose a contract, and toggle the on/off switch to track time. You will still need to choose “Add manual time” in the Time Tracker or your Work Diary to add manual time.

Why is the client’s local time option missing from the time zone drop-down menu?

As we optimize the Work Diary page, we are streamlining and eliminating some functions that weren’t used very often. Most users work in either the default UTC time or their own local time.

Freelancer-Initiated Milestones

Freelancers and agencies can propose milestones in-product when submitting proposals for fixed-price projects over $100.

This functionality can be found in the “Terms” section:

Freelancers can only add or edit milestones on proposals when they:

Respond to an invite to interview
Apply to a job
Edit a submitted proposal

Frequently Asked Questions

Freelancer:

How can I edit milestones after I’ve submitted my proposal?

In your submitted proposals, click into the specific proposal you’d like to edit. From there, you’ll see an “Edit milestones” button in the Milestones section of the proposal. Once you edit them, you’ll be prompted to resubmit your proposal.

Why are you only offering this on fixed-price jobs over $100?

We’ve found that jobs where the total amount is $100 and above usually benefit from being broken down into smaller milestones. On jobs like these, milestones help freelancers and clients better define timing and deliverables. Jobs are also more likely to end with higher satisfaction rates as clients check in, approve, and pay for work on a more regular basis.

I often don’t talk to a client before I submit a proposal. How should I know what milestones to create?

Clients often expect freelancers to explain the process by which they’d get the job done, as freelancers are being hired as subject matter experts. You should propose milestones based on your experience of how the job would be best completed, while taking into account the value you can provide at different stages.

Client:

I received a proposal with milestones. How do I let the freelancer know I want to modify them?

We recommend that you discuss milestones during the interview or via the messaging tool directly on the Proposal Details page. Additionally, you can edit the freelancer’s milestones on the Contract Details page before sending an offer.

Propose New Contracts

Freelancers can directly propose new contracts (fixed-price and hourly) to their clients.

Freelancers may:

Only propose contracts to clients from whom they have received at least one payment
Submit only one new contract proposal per client at a time
Withdraw the proposed contract or withdraw, and create a new contract to propose

Clients will receive notification via email, in Messages, and will also see “Review Proposed Contract” listed under their Pending Contracts.

Clients can:

Approve the proposal, which sends an offer to the freelancer for review
Edit the freelancer’s proposal and generate an offer to the freelancer
Send a message to the freelancer
Decline the proposal

Helpful KB Links

Propose Another Contract (EXTERNAL)

Freelancer Questions

My client hasn’t responded after I proposed a new contract.

Thanks for reaching out. Anytime you propose a new contract we automatically notify your client by both emailing them and sending a note via Upwork Messages. They will also see “Review Proposed Contract” listed under their “Pending Contracts.” Your client then has several options: they can approve the proposal, make a counteroffer, decline the proposal, or simply ignore it. Please know we cannot guarantee that your client will respond.

Can I withdraw a proposed contract after I’ve sent it?

Yes, you can withdraw a proposal from the “Proposed Contracts” section of your “My Proposals” page. When you click on a proposed contract, you’ll see a “Withdraw” button to delete the proposal.

The client and I discussed two future projects. Can I submit a proposed contract for each?

You can only submit one proposal per client at a time. Once the client has approved a proposal (or declined or made you a counteroffer) you can propose another. Or if you wish to propose a different contract for a different project, you can withdraw your current proposed contract from the “Pending Contracts” section on your “My Jobs” page. When you click on a proposed contract, there will be a “Withdraw” button available.

The client asked me to edit the proposal. How do I do that?

You will need to withdraw your current proposal and resubmit a new one with your changes. You can withdraw a proposal from the “Pending Contracts” section of your “My Jobs” page. When you click on the proposed contract, there will be a “Withdraw” button available.

Client Questions

I received a proposal from a random freelancer that I don’t want to contact me. What do I do?

When you click on the “Review Proposed Contract” page from your Contracts (Pending Contracts), email or Messages, there will be an option to decline the proposal. When you click “Decline,” you’ll also see a checkbox option that allows you to block the freelancer from proposing contracts to you again.

Can I edit the proposal before I approve it?

Yes, when you click on the “Review Proposed Contract” page from your Contracts (Pending Contracts), email or Messages, you’ll see an option to edit your proposal below the “Approve” and “Decline” buttons.

Linking Third Party Accounts

Third party accounts can be linked to your Upwork profile. The available accounts are as follows: Facebook, Twitter, GitHub, StackOverFlow, Google, Dribbble and DeviantART

Conditions

Only 1 account per website can be added. They will not be displayed publicly. It can be removed at any time.

Procedure

Click on your Settings and go to 'Profile Settings' to find this option.

FAQ

When I add Twitter what am I agreeing to? There’s a long list!

Thanks for your question. When you agree to add Twitter we will only be able to see your profile information and tweets. We may use this information to help verify your identity or expertise. We will NOT:

Follow or unfollow accounts for you
Update your account settings or profile
Post or delete tweets for you, or engage with other people’s tweets on your behalf
Create, manage, or delete any lists/collection
Mute, block, or report accounts