TAGO guide

1. Getting started

On the Home screen, the Getting started card lists the five steps that make TAGO useful: fill in the company profile, add a client, create a first document, scan a first receipt, and set up a backup. Each step opens the right screen and checks itself off once done.

Put your name, logo and tax numbers on your invoices

⋮ › Company profile. What you enter here appears on every quote and invoice: name, contact details, address, GST, QST, NEQ and RBQ licence numbers, and logo.

Your payment instructions (Interac address, who cheques are payable to, direct deposit), the default due date, numbering and the PDF's look are set in ⋮ › Invoices and PDF.

2. Where to find things

Four tabs at the bottom of the screen: Home, Revenue, Expenses and Time tracking. Everything else is in the ⋮ menu, in three groups:

3. Invoices and payments

From a quote to the invoice

In Revenue, tap New document and create a quote. When the client accepts it, open it and tap Mark accepted: you can then create its invoice without retyping anything.

Send an invoice

Open the document, then More actions (the ⋮ at the bottom left): PDF preview shows what the client will receive, and Send by email goes through your phone's email app. To send straight from TAGO, connect your own Brevo account (free) in ⋮ › Invoices and PDF; a help screen explains how to get the key, and a Send directly button then appears.

Record a payment, even a partial one

Open the invoice and tap Record a payment. Each payment keeps its date, its method and its own PDF receipt; the balance due updates.

Remind a late client

An invoice past its due date becomes “overdue”. Open it and tap Send a reminder: the reminder goes out with the balance due.

Correct an invoice already sent

An issued invoice can no longer be edited: that's the rule that keeps your records reliable. Open it, tap More actions, then Issue a credit note. Taxes are adjusted for you.

Make the same invoice every month

Open last month's invoice, More actions › Duplicate, then adjust the date and the lines.

Income without an invoice (platform, cash)

In Revenue, open Income without an invoice and add the amount received. It counts in your totals and in the accountant's file like invoiced income.

Send a statement of account

⋮ › Clients, open the client's record: the statement shows what they owe you to date. You can also send statements to several clients at once.

Stop retyping your services

Save them once in ⋮ › Products and services, then pick them from the catalogue when filling in an invoice.

4. Receipts and expenses

Scan a receipt

On Home, tap Scan a receipt. TAGO reads the merchant, date and amounts on the device; check them before saving. If TAGO suspects a duplicate, it tells you first.

Add an invoice you received by email (PDF)

In your email or files app, use Share and pick TAGO. You can share several photos or PDFs at once.

You lost the receipt

In Expenses, tap Add without receipt and enter the expense by hand.

An expense that's partly personal

For a cell phone or vehicle you also use personally, enter the business-use share (in %) on the expense: only that share is counted.

5. Time tracking by zone

Create a work zone

In Time tracking, switch to the Zones view and add a zone: place it on the map and adjust its radius. You can then clock in with a tap in the Tracking view.

Clock in automatically on arrival

⋮ › Automatic time tracking. It's off by default; TAGO asks for your consent, then Android asks for location permission. Your location is processed on the phone and never sent.

Automatic tracking didn't trigger

The usual causes: location turned off, a battery saver putting TAGO to sleep, or a zone that's too small. Check that detection is turned on in ⋮ › Automatic time tracking, and that Android lets TAGO use your location all the time. A missed session can be fixed by hand in Tracking.

Bill your tracked hours

In Tracking, under “Recent history”, tap Bill on a finished session: its hours are added to a new document or to a draft you've already started, and you set the rate on the next screen. The session then shows Billed and can't be billed twice.

To bill all of a client's hours over a period at once, start from the invoice instead: choose the client, then tap Import hours for a period in the editor and tick the sessions to add.

6. Mileage

In Time tracking, the Trips view keeps a log per vehicle: business trips, and the odometer reading on January 1 and December 31 with a photo. It's free and unlimited.

TAGO suggests trips from your tracked zones. Nothing is added on its own: each trip waits for your confirmation.

Measure a trip by GPS (Pro)

Tap Measure a trip (GPS). TAGO can also offer it when the phone detects you're driving; without your tap, nothing is measured. Only the total kilometres are kept, never the route.

7. For the accountant

⋮ › For my accountant prepares what you're asked for at the end of the year or quarter:

• an Excel workbook (summary in formulas, revenue, expenses);
• the period's receipt photos and PDFs in one ZIP;
• the year's archive, readable without TAGO.

Taxes to remit and estimated deductions (income tax, QPP, QPIP) are calculated from Home. The year's rates can be checked and edited in ⋮ › Tax rates.

8. Backup and new phone

Back up your data

⋮ › Backup. First choose a passphrase and write it down elsewhere: it encrypts the file. Then, under Local backup, Choose a folder (ideally one synced off the phone), then Back up now. Automatic backup repeats it at regular intervals, and Cloud backup puts an encrypted copy in your own Google Drive.

Check a backup

Check a file confirms a backup is intact and would restore, without overwriting anything on the phone.

Switch phones

1. On the old phone, make an up-to-date backup.
2. Install TAGO on the new one, then ⋮ › Backup › Restore from a file (or See my online backups if it's on Google Drive) and enter your passphrase.
3. Then redo three things that don't travel in the file: your Pro purchase (Restore my purchases), your Brevo key, and the automatic backup folder.

You forgot the passphrase

No one can open a backup without its passphrase, not even us: that's what protects it. If the app is still installed, choose a new passphrase and make a new backup right away.

9. TAGO Pro

The free tier keeps up to 10 client records, 25 documents and 25 receipts. TAGO Pro, a one-time $34.99 purchase in ⋮ › TAGO Pro, removes these limits and adds GPS trip measuring, plus a trip offered when the phone detects you're driving. On a new phone, Restore my purchases brings it back with the same Google account.

10. Frequently asked questions