Help / My ActiveCollab

Getting Started

Getting Started with ActiveCollab

Welcome to ActiveCollab—your all-in-one project management and team collaboration platform. Whether you're managing client work, internal projects, or a growing team, ActiveCollab helps you stay organized, meet deadlines, and work more efficiently.
This guide will walk you through the essential features and help you get started quickly and confidently

How to create an account in ActiveCollab?

To begin using ActiveCollab, you can either:
Create a free trial:
  • Step 1: Go to https://activecollab.com/try
  • Step 2: Click the “Try for Free” button
  • Step 3: Choose one of the following options:
    • Sign in via Email (enter your email address and click Continue).
    • Sign in via your Google account (select the account and click Continue).
  • Step 4: Enter your personal and organization information by filling out the form with the following information:
    • Full Name
    • Password
    • Organization Name
    • Industry
    • Organization Size
    • Website
    • Choose the language
  • Step 5: Continue to your account
Accept an invitation from another user, which will allow you to set up your account and log in
Access your personal account settings anytime at: https://activecollab.com/profile. Here, you will see a list of all company accounts you're a part of.
In the top-right corner of the screen, click on your name to access the following personal account options:
  • Change Password – Update your login credentials
  • Security – Enable or manage Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
  • Log Out – Securely sign out of your ActiveCollab account
Once you've opened your company account, click your name in the upper-right corner of the screen to access the following settings:
  • Personal Settings – Manage your profile information, including your photo, name, and email address. You can also configure personal preferences such as time zone, date and time formats, start of the week, interface color scheme, and notification settings (email, browser, unread message alerts, daily reports, and update notifications). Additionally, you can set your preferred default screen upon login and customize if you wish to show week numbers on Calendar.
  • Change My Password – Update your account password.
  • System Settings – Access and modify global workspace configurations, including settings for General, Workday, Project, Calendar, Time and Expenses, and Invoicing.
  • Billing – Review and manage subscription and payment details.
  • Log Out – Safely sign out of your ActiveCollab account.

Projects

A Project is where all work happens—organized, tracked, and delivered.
Each project includes:
  • Tasks – Assign work, set deadlines, and group tasks into lists
  • Discussions – Share ideas and feedback in a collaborative space
  • Files – Access attachments linked to tasks, comments, or notes
  • Notes – Use text documents for collaborative writing or documentation
  • Time – Log hours worked on tasks for tracking or billing
  • Expenses – Monitor fixed project costs
  • Activity – View a timeline of all updates and changes in the project

What are Sample Projects?

Sample Projects are interactive templates that demonstrate how different industries can use ActiveCollab.
They don't count against your plan limits or active user count
They function like regular projects
You can delete or reset them at any time
To re-import, go to the Add-Ons section

My Work

The My Work section gives you a centralized view of everything assigned to you:
  • Tasks
  • Logged time
  • Availability
  • Daily activity and updates

Activity

The Activity page shows a chronological feed of updates across all projects—perfect for staying up to date or reviewing progress after time away.

Calendar

The calendar provides a visual overview of deadlines and schedules:
  • Tasks with due dates or timelines automatically appear
  • Create custom calendars with color coding and sharing options
  • Drag-and-drop to reschedule events
  • Export to Google, Outlook, or any app supporting iCalendar feeds (read-only access)
  • Import from Google, Outlook, or any app supporting iCalendar feeds
To create a custom calendar:
  • Open the Calendars dropdown
  • Click +New Calendar, choose a name, color, and visibility settings
  • Add events, notify people, and manage visibility with filters

People

Manage internal and external collaborators from the People section:
  • Click +New Company to add clients or subcontractors
  • Click +Invite People to add users, assign roles, and grant project access
  • Roles include: Owner, Member, Member+, Client+, Client
  • Adjust team member capacity to reflect their availability
  • Remove users by moving them to Trash (their work remains accessible)

Invoices

Issue professional invoices directly from your account:
  • Click +New Invoice
  • Choose a client and either:
  • Add line items manually
  • Generate from time records, expenses, or fixed-price budgets
  • Customize the invoice design and send the PDF by email

Estimates

Use Estimates to propose services and pricing:
  • Click +New Estimate
  • Add line items and send the PDF to your client
  • Once approved, mark it as Won and start a project from it

Reports

Gain insights and keep projects on track with powerful reports:
  • Projects – Advanced project search
  • Tasks – Filter tasks by multiple criteria
  • Time Report – Filter time records by client, project, job type, who tracked it, when, and whether it’s billable, while also grouping and summarizing data for clear insights. You can export the report as a CSV file for further analysis in spreadsheet apps.
  • Time Dashboard – Time Dashboard highlights key metrics and enables quick insights through interactive charts and filters. Click on links in widgets to access all time records that make up the numbers for further analysis and manipulation.
  • Estimated vs. Tracked Time – Compare planned vs. actual hours
  • Expenses – View fixed project costs
  • Budget vs. Cost – Ensure financial control
  • Payments – Overview of received payments
  • Uninvoiced – Time and expenses not yet billed
  • Invoices – Search and filter invoice records

Trash

  • Deleted items (projects, tasks, invoices, etc.) are stored in Trash for 30 days:
  • Click Restore to recover accidentally deleted items
  • Click Delete Forever to remove them permanently

System Settings

This is where you can adjust regional settings, labels, invoicing, and security settings.

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