Help & documentation.

Getting started

Developer Briefcase is a native, local-first Windows workspace. Clients and projects form the center; tasks, environments, launch items, renewals, maintenance, resources, notes, invoices, and payments connect around them.

Recommended setup order

1. Set your identity. In Settings, enter your display name, workspace name, default project folder, preferred tools, currency, theme, and accent.
2. Add clients. Store only contact and business details you are authorized to manage.
3. Create projects. Link each project to a client when appropriate and add status, priority, technology, dates, and local folder.
4. Add operational records. Create tasks, environments, launch checklists, renewals, maintenance entries, and useful resource references.
5. Configure billing. Record invoices and payments only when you need commercial tracking.
6. Create a backup routine. Keep more than one verified copy in a protected location.

Sidebar, Search, and New

Core navigation

Home, Projects, Tasks, Clients, Billing, and Calendar remain directly available. Advanced tools expands to Launches, Renewals, and Maintenance without hiding the toggle that controls the expanded workspace.

Global Search

Use Search in the title area to find records across the local workspace. A Back action returns to the previous page, including Home.

New menu

Create a project, task, client, invoice, or received-payment record from the global New menu. Contextual pages also expose relevant creation actions.

Home dashboard

Home combines immediate actions with the broader state of the workspace.

• Start here provides the most common creation actions.
• At a glance summarizes active projects, due work, and items needing attention.
• Continue working returns to recently active projects.
• Next tasks shows upcoming actionable work.
• Billing overview summarizes received, outstanding, and overdue values in the selected currency.

Dashboard values are calculated from local records. They depend on complete and accurate user-entered data.

Clients

A client can be an individual or company and may include display name, company, primary contact, email, phone, website, country, timezone, preferred communication, notes, and tags.

• Open Billing from a client to see only that client’s invoices and payments.
• Archive records you want hidden from normal work without immediately erasing history.
• Use permanent deletion carefully; related historical records may be preserved without their original link or removed according to their dependency.

Projects and project workspaces

Projects can include type, description, status, priority, dates, technology stack, tags, color, local folder, default editor, and notes. A project workspace groups the following:

• Overview: core status, dates, client, notes, and practical next steps.
• Environments: local, development, staging, test, production, or custom URLs and references.
• Tasks: project work with status, priority, due dates, reminders, categories, and tags.
• Launch: checklists, required items, blockers, and readiness progress.
• Renewals: domains, hosting, SSL, licenses, contracts, warranties, and other obligations.
• Maintenance: performed work, hours, outcomes, and follow-up dates.
• Resources: references to URLs, folders, files, repositories, documentation, designs, hosting, and support.
• Notes & activity: contextual notes and meaningful workspace history.
• Billing: invoices and received-payment records filtered to the project.

Tasks and calendar

Tasks may be general, client-linked, or project-linked. Use Today, Upcoming, Overdue, and Completed views to separate immediate work from history. Calendar presents dated tasks and obligations in agenda context.

Dates, priorities, reminders, and due states are organizational aids. Keep contractually significant deadlines in your authoritative calendar or project system as well.

Launches, renewals, and maintenance

Launch checklists

Mark required items and blockers before a release. Progress is derived from checklist completion; it does not inspect a website, server, repository, security posture, accessibility, compliance, backups, or production environment automatically.

Renewals

Track renewal date, cost, currency, provider, reference, auto-renew status, reminder lead time, and notes. Verify every obligation with the provider and original agreement.

Maintenance

Record work performed, date, hours, outcome, and follow-up. Entries are internal records, not automatically generated invoices or contractual timesheets.

Billing and received-payment tracking

Billing adds professional financial visibility without acting as a payment service.

Create an invoice record

1. Select a client and optionally a project.
2. Confirm the invoice number, description, issue date, and due date.
3. Enter the base amount, tax, discount, and three-letter currency code.
4. Review the calculated total before saving.

Record a payment

1. Select an unpaid or partially paid invoice.
2. Enter the amount actually received, date, method, and optional non-sensitive reference.
3. Confirm currency and amount. The app prevents a recorded total above the invoice total.

Status calculation

• Unpaid: no active payment is recorded.
• Partially paid: active payments are greater than zero and below the invoice total.
• Paid: active payments meet the invoice total.
• Overdue: an unpaid balance remains after the due date.
• Archived: the record is retained outside normal active work.

Search and archive visibility

Search matches relevant text in supported local records. “Show archived” includes archived records when On and limits the list to active records when Off. Search does not send terms to Elevoire.

Windows notifications

Current notifications rely on Windows and the running app process. They can be delayed, duplicated, suppressed, or missed because of Focus Assist / Do Not Disturb, app permissions, lock-screen settings, power state, system time, timezone, updates, storage, security software, crashes, or incorrect data.

If a reminder does not appear

• Confirm the app is open or running.
• Confirm notifications are enabled in Developer Briefcase and Windows.
• Review Focus Assist / Do Not Disturb and lock-screen settings.
• Verify date, time, timezone, due date, and reminder status.

Do not rely on the app as the only reminder for launches, renewals, payments, warranties, contracts, client obligations, security events, or other important deadlines.

Settings

Settings controls workspace and display names, default folders and tools, default currency, six appearance options, accent, notifications, reduced motion, and density. Theme choices apply immediately and are persisted locally after save.

Tool paths and defaults determine what may be launched from project context. Only configure software and paths you trust.

Backup, restore, export, and deletion

Create a database backup

1. Open Settings and choose Create backup.
2. Select an access-controlled destination.
3. Keep several dated copies and periodically test that they validate.

A .dbcase backup contains the SQLite database and an integrity manifest. It does not automatically copy external project files, referenced resources, repositories, credential stores, or SSH key material.

Restore

Version 1 supports replacement restore, not merge. The app validates the archive and creates a safety backup before replacing the active database. Review the result before deleting older copies.

JSON export

JSON exports contain readable workspace records—including clients, projects, tasks, renewals, invoices, payments, maintenance, resources, and notes—and should be treated as confidential.

Delete local data

Use archive, delete, clear-workspace, or Windows uninstall options as appropriate. Backups, exports, synchronized-folder copies, system backups, and files opened in other apps remain separate and must be deleted independently.

Troubleshooting

A record appears missing

Clear search text, context filters, currency filters, and archive filters. Open the related client or project directly.

A URL, folder, editor, or terminal does not open

Confirm the target still exists, uses a supported HTTP/HTTPS address where applicable, and points to a trusted installed executable. Review default tool settings.

The theme appears incorrect

Select the desired appearance tile, save Settings, and reopen the page. System mode follows the Windows color preference.

A restore fails

Keep the original archive. Confirm that it was created by a compatible app version, is complete, and has not been modified. Do not rename files inside the archive.

Need more help?

Visit the Support page and do not send confidential workspace records in the first message.