Projects in Studio Manager help you organize your active client work in one place. Connect related documents, sessions, payments, Client Gallery collections, conversations, and notes, then use the visual board to track each project as it moves through your workflow.

To learn more about projects, see our blog post and video tutorial.

On this page:

• How do projects work?
• Creating a project
• Primary and additional contacts
• Assigning work to a project
• Archiving a project
• Customizing the project board

How do projects work?

When you begin a new job, you can create a project to keep all of its related work together. From the project, you can create or manage documents and sessions, review payments and conversations, connect Client Gallery collections, and keep track of important details.

With a project, you can:

• Keep related work connected: Organize documents, sessions, invoice payments, and galleries within the same project, and message any contact through one-on-one conversations. 
• Keep track of important details: Add short, written notes to the project card for information you want to keep close at hand.
• Review statuses at a glance: Use the project card to quickly check the status of documents and sessions and identify what may need your attention.
• Track your workflow: Drag and drop projects through different stages on the project board as your work progresses.

Creating a project

To create a new project for your board:

1. Go to Studio Manager > Projects.
2. Click New Project.
3. Select the primary contact associated with the project.
4. Enter a project name and select a project type.
5. Click Create Project.

You can also create a project while setting up an invoice, questionnaire, quote, or contract. New client bookings can automatically create a project when this option is enabled in the relevant session type’s settings.

Note: The contact selected when you create a project becomes its primary contact. Additional contacts will appear automatically when documents, sessions, or conversations assigned to them are linked to the project.

Primary vs. additional contacts

A project has one primary contact and may show additional contacts based on the documents, sessions, and conversations linked to it.

• Primary contact: The contact selected when the project is created. The primary contact always remains associated with the project even if their items are deleted or unlinked. You cannot replace the project’s primary contact with another contact.
• Additional contacts: Other contacts assigned to documents, sessions, or conversations linked to the project. Additional contacts appear automatically and remain until their last linked item is removed from the project.

Note: Adding an additional contact to a project through a linked item does not automatically link their other existing documents, sessions, or conversations to the project.

Assigning work to a project

When creating a document, session or conversation, you can assign it to a project during setup. The contact does not need to match the project’s primary contact.

If you need to assign existing work to a new project:

• For a document or session, open it and click Actions > Link to Project, then select an active project.
• For a collection, open the project and click the + icon beside Client Gallery Collections. Select the collection, then click Save.
• For an Inbox conversation, open it and click ••• > Link to Project.

Note: Documents, sessions, and conversations can only be assigned to one project at a time.

Archiving a project

When you no longer need a project on your board, you can archive it:

1. Go to Studio Manager > Projects.
2. Hover over the project card.
3. Click ••• > Archive.

Archived projects are removed from the project board but remain available in the archive view. From there, you can view an archived project or restore it to your board.

Note: Deleting a project’s primary contact also automatically archives the project.

Customizing the project board

A project type categorizes the work, while a project stage represents its current point in your workflow. Studio Manager includes commonly used project types and stages to help you get started.

You can customize the project area to better reflect how you work:

• Create custom stages and project types in the project board settings.
• Add, remove, or rearrange stages directly from the project board.
• Switch between board or list views.