Learn how to use, add, and manage activity tags on Upwork to track time by project or task, edit them in work diaries, and understand how they differ from memos.
In this article
- What are activity tags and how do they work?
- What can I track using activities on Upwork?
- How do I add activity tags?
- How do I edit or delete activity tags?
- How do I edit an activity tag in a freelancer's work diary?
- What is the difference between an activity tag and a memo?
What are activity tags and how do they work?
Activity tags are labels you can use to tie your freelancer's time to different types of work, projects, or other trackable items within a single hourly contract.
Freelancers can select from these tags when tracking time so all time is properly billed. You can also edit activities in your freelancer's work diaries if you prefer to handle it yourself.
What can I track using activities on Upwork?
- Track time on multiple activities for a single freelancer
- Track time on a single activity across multiple freelancers
- Track time on multiple activities across multiple freelancers
How do I add activity tags?
- Go to Reports > Spending by activity
- Choose Manage activity codes
- Select Add activities to create new activities. If you use Jira, you can also connect to it to create activities from your Jira tasks
- Add your activity info and assign it to a contract (optional)
How do I edit or delete activity tags?
You can't delete activity tags, but you can archive them, and you can unarchive them later to be used again.
To edit or archive your activity tags:
- Go to Reports > Spending by activity
- Choose Manage activity codes
- Click on the options menu (...) beside the activity you want to manage
- Select Edit or Archive
You can also manage activity codes from your contract workroom if you have an active contract with activities assigned to it:
- Go to Manage work > Your contracts
- Choose the contract to open the contract workroom
- Select Contract details
- Scroll to activity codes, and select Edit activity codes or Manage all activity codes
How do I edit an activity tag in a freelancer's work diary?
- Go to Manage work > Work diaries
- Pick the diary you want to review. The activity will be displayed above the screenshots with the memo in the form "[Activity]:[Memo]"
- Click on the activity to edit it
What is the difference between an activity tag and a memo?
- Activities are client-defined categories tags. Contracts can be set up so your freelancer selects from these tags when tracking time to help you organize invoicing. Clients can edit activities in the work diary.
- Memos are written by freelancers to describe what they are working on while they log time. Clients can't edit freelancers' memos.
Activities and memos may be used together to complement each other, improve the accuracy of billing, and enhance transparency.