Log billable time on PracticePanther activities: 5 steps

Step 1: Open the matter and go to the Activities tab

Every activity lives on a matter, so start there. Find the matter you worked on and open it. Then click into the "Activities" tab.

Take a moment to read the list before you change anything. It shows the notes, events, tasks, and calls attached to this matter. Some will be pure administration, such as a reminder to call the court clerk or a note that a document arrived by email. Others will be the work you bill for, such as a client call, a review of a contract, or a meeting you prepared for. Your job at this stage is to separate the second group from the first.

If you work on several matters in one day, go through them one at a time. Finish one matter, log what needs logging, and then move on. Jumping back and forth is how entries end up on the wrong file, and it is also how an activity gets skipped because your attention moved elsewhere.

It helps to write down, even on paper, the matters you touched that day before you open PracticePanther. A short list gives you a checklist, so you can confirm that every matter got a pass at the end of the session.

Step 2: Turn on the Time Logged column

To see at a glance what has been logged, add that information to the view. Click "Choose Columns," which the help article places "on the top right of the list," then make sure "Time Logged" is checked.

Once it is showing, the list becomes a checklist. In the help article's words: "Here you can easily tell which activities already have time logged and which activities still need a time entry." Use that as your main scanning tool. Run your eye down the column looking for blanks next to activities that represent billable work.

A blank cell is a question, not a verdict. It means no time has been entered, and nothing more. It does not tell you whether the work was billable, whether you forgot, or whether the activity was never meant to carry time at all. When you are unsure, open the activity and read it before deciding. The point of the column is to prompt a decision, not to make one for you.

Pay attention to how the column looks after a busy day. A long run of blanks usually means you were focused on the work and not on the record, which is normal. The fix is a short catch-up session, not a guilt spiral. The column tells you where the gaps are so you can close them quickly.

Step 3: Log time from the list with "Log Time"

When you already know which activity to bill, log time straight from the list. The help article explains: "If you want to log time for any activity, hover over the item on the list and click "Log Time"." You do not need to open the activity first, which saves a click on each item you are catching up on. For a matter with a dozen activities to review, that adds up.

Hovering is the key motion. Move your pointer over the row you want, click "Log Time," and the time entry form opens. Because the entry is attached to that activity, the form already knows the context. You are not starting from a blank slate or searching your memory for the matter.

Notice what fills in for you. The help article says: "You'll notice, the description will automatically populate with the subject of the linked activity." That is useful, but treat it as a starting point rather than the finished description. An activity subject such as "Call with client" or "Follow up" tells a reader very little. A time description should say what you did and, where it helps, what it moved forward. Instead of leaving "Call with client," you might write a line that names the topic and the outcome, such as a call to go over the settlement terms and agree on the next filing date.

Enter the hours you actually worked, read the description once more, and save. Then look back at the Time Logged column and confirm the row now shows an entry. This small check takes seconds, and it catches any entry that did not save the way you expected.

Step 4: Log time as you create the activity

Sometimes the easiest moment to record time is when you are writing the note, scheduling the event, creating the task, or filing the call. The help article covers this with a shortcut: "Click the arrow next to the "Save" button, and select "Save and add time entry" just before saving the new note / event / task / call."

Use it when the work is fresh. If you have just finished a meeting and you are writing the note, the details are still clear in your head, and a good description is easiest to write right now. Saving the activity and the time entry in one motion means you do not have to promise yourself you will come back later. Later is when hours tend to go missing.

Before you pick the shortcut, decide whether the work is billable. Not every note needs time. A note that records a document was emailed to a client may take almost no effort, and whether you bill for it is a decision to make deliberately, based on the written fee terms you agreed with that client. Making the decision at the moment of creation is far better than deciding in a rush at the end of the month, when you are looking at a long list and trying to be fair to both yourself and the client.

If you are not sure yet, save the activity without time and come back to it. The Time Logged column will keep showing it as unlogged until you decide, which is exactly what you want. An open question stays visible, rather than quietly disappearing from your record.

Step 5: Review the Time Entries tab before you bill

The final step is checking what you logged. Open any activity that already has time logged, and you will see a "Time Entries" tab within the activity. The help article describes it this way: "If you open any activity that already has time logged, you will see a "Time Entries" tab within the activity."

Use that tab as a review point, not just a record. Read each entry in turn. Does the description say what you did? Do the hours look like what you remember? If something is wrong, correct it now while the context is still clear to you. Waiting until an invoice is in front of you makes every fix slower, and it makes it harder to explain a change if someone asks about it later.

After the activity-level check, go back to the Activities list with the Time Logged column visible and make one pass across the whole matter. Look for three things. First, billable activities that are still blank. Second, entries whose descriptions are too vague to stand on their own. Third, any entry that seems to belong to a different matter, which is easy to miss when the file names look alike.

Build this review into your routine rather than treating it as a special event. A short session at the end of each day works well for most people who bill by the hour, and a longer sweep at the end of each week catches whatever the daily pass missed. For related reading, see Track multiple time entries: 5 legal software tools.

Writing descriptions that hold up

A time description is a small piece of evidence. It may be read by a client, a supervisor, or yourself a year from now when you are trying to remember why a file took so long. Writing it well takes a few seconds and saves a lot of later confusion.

Start with the verb. "Reviewed," "drafted," "researched," "called," and "met with" tell the reader what kind of work happened. A description that begins with a noun, such as "Matter review," leaves the reader guessing whether you read anything at all.

Name the subject without writing an essay. "Drafted the amended lease rider" is specific enough to recognize. "Worked on the lease" is not. You do not need to include privileged detail in a time description, and you should be thoughtful about what you put in a line that a client may see. Keep it accurate, brief, and useful to the person reading it.

Say what changed. If the work moved the matter forward, a short phrase about the result helps: "sent comments to opposing counsel," "agreed next filing date," "collected three signed declarations." Results make the entry read as work that produced something, rather than a block of hours with no obvious purpose.

Keep the style consistent across your entries. Some people use full sentences, others use short phrases. Either works. Pick one, and you will find your review pass goes faster because every line reads the same way.

When you forgot to log time

Everyone misses some time. The question is what you do next. Be honest in the description about what you can recall, and avoid inventing detail to make the entry look neater.

If the gap is larger, such as several days of activities with no entries, go through them one at a time. Start with the most recent matter you remember working on, then move backward. Each activity's subject line is a cue, and it usually jogs your memory enough to write a reasonable description.

Do not try to fix a large gap by putting all the missing hours on one activity. That makes the record harder to read and harder to defend, because the time no longer lines up with the work that produced it. Log each piece of work against the activity it belongs to, even if that takes more clicks.

Finally, learn from the gap. If you missed a week, ask what caused it. Was there no routine? Was the work spread across too many matters? Did the shortcut at creation feel like one more step? A small adjustment, such as a fixed end-of-day check, usually prevents the next gap.

Common mistakes to avoid

Several problems come up again and again among people who bill by the hour and keep their work in PracticePanther. Watching for them is cheaper than fixing them later.

Relying on memory for the whole week. Hours logged on Friday for a Monday call are often rounded up, rounded down, or guessed. Log close to the work, while the details are still clear.

Logging to the wrong matter. Check the matter you are on before you save, especially when you are moving quickly between files. A time entry on the wrong matter is harder to spot than a blank cell, because it looks like work was done.

Skipping the final pass. The daily check catches most problems, but the end-of-week sweep catches the rest. If you skip it, the errors you missed will surface when you are least able to fix them, usually during invoicing.

A simple routine

A routine is what turns five steps into a habit. The one below fits most freelancers and bookkeepers who bill by the hour, and you can adjust the timing to suit your own schedule.

Each day, open every matter you touched. Scan the Time Logged column for blanks next to billable work. Log time from the list using "Log Time" for activities that already exist. For new activities you know you will bill, use "Save and add time entry" when you create them. Finally, skim the Time Entries tab on any activity you changed, and read the descriptions aloud in your head to check they make sense.

Each week, go through every matter that had activity during the week. Look for blank billable entries, vague descriptions, and entries on the wrong file. Fix them while the details are still recoverable, and note any patterns, such as a type of task that always gets missed.

Before you prepare invoices, run the weekly check once more. Confirm that the period you are billing includes every activity you intend to charge, and that each entry has a clear description and accurate hours. Doing this before you send anything is far easier than correcting a bill after the client has already read it.

Closing thoughts

The purpose of these five steps is not perfection. It is a record that shows the work and the time behind it, written while you still remember it clearly. In PracticePanther, the matter, the activity, and the time entry can sit in one place. The routine is what makes that record reliable.

Start small. Pick one matter this week, turn on the Time Logged column, and work through its activities using the list. Once that feels natural, add the shortcut for new activities and the Time Entries check. Within a few weeks, the habit will feel ordinary, and the hours you used to lose will be on the record where they belong.