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Projects

Projects are the main workspace for client jobs. A project pulls together the client, the service, the date, the email thread, payment and contract status, tasks, and notes, so the whole story lives in one place.

Use a project for an inquiry you are handling personally, a form lead, or work created from a booking flow. A manually added or inquiry-form project starts as a new lead; a service-booking project may arrive already booked. Either way, the same record stays with the job through the shoot, editing, and delivery.

LYGHTBOX provides the project stages for you. Contract and payment progress stay visible alongside booking and delivery, so you can see what needs attention without designing your own pipeline.

Create a project

Use the + menu in the top bar and choose Add New Project. Enter:

  • Name: a useful job name, such as “Chen Family Fall Session” or “Morgan & Lee Wedding.”
  • Service Type: required. Create services in Settings -> Services if the list is empty.
  • Contact: optional at creation. Search by the client’s name or email.
  • Date: optional. Add it when the shoot date is known.
  • Notes: optional context for your team.

The new project begins as New Lead. Open it to add the time, location, package, amount, contract, invoice, and questionnaire.

Projects can also be created for you. A published inquiry form creates a contact and project from the submitted details. A completed service-booking event creates its project from the checkout choices; a mini-session event creates a booking instead. Check what is already filled before editing either record.

Tip: use one project per client job, not one per email, invoice, or deliverable. The related conversation, documents, and tasks belong inside the project.

Find the work that needs attention

Go to Projects from the main sidebar. You can review your work in different views:

  • Table shows the project name, event date, service, location, amount, and the status most relevant to your current filter. Select rows here when you need a bulk action.
  • Kanban groups cards into Inquiries, Booked, In Fulfillment, and Completed. Drag a card to a valid next column or use the action on the card. LYGHTBOX asks for confirmation when a move needs an exception.
  • Calendar places projects on their event dates and tasks on their due dates. Select a day to create a project or task with that date already chosen.

The Table view has broad groups for All Active, Inquiries, Booked, In Fulfillment, and Completed. Use the smaller filters to narrow the list to New, Needs Follow-up, Contract Needed, Payment Needed, or Awaiting Project Date. You can also filter by service.

These filters describe the next action, not just the last action. For example, a booked project can appear under both contract and payment needs until each is complete.

To review older work, switch to Table view, open Filter settings, and turn on Show archived. Archived projects are hidden from the active views by default.

Work from the project page

Select a project name or row to open it. The header shows its date, time, service, archive state, and sales status. The main button changes as the job moves forward: Mark Booked, Start Fulfillment, then Mark Delivered.

The rest of the page keeps the client and production work together:

  • Email: read and reply in the project’s conversation. Assign a contact before sending if the project does not have one.
  • Contact: open the linked contact’s full record. If the project has no contact, search for an existing one and confirm the assignment.
  • Contracts: see the current requirement and status, open the contracts sheet, create an agreement, publish or send it, and track the signature. Use the card menu only when a contract truly is not required.
  • Payments: set the project amount, choose a package, see tax, paid and remaining amounts, record an offline payment, create invoices, or refund eligible checkout payments. Add an amount before using Record Payment or Invoices.
  • Fulfillment Tasks: see editing or delivery tasks created when fulfillment began, including their board and due date.
  • Details: edit notes, event date, time, location, and service. These fields save when you choose a value or leave the field.
  • Questionnaire: send a questionnaire template and review request history and responses.
  • Form: review the inquiry answers that created the project. Manually created projects show no form data.
  • Project Activity: review who or what changed sales, contract, payment, or fulfillment status. Contract and payment entries can take you back to the related records.

Move an inquiry to delivery

1. Qualify and book the work

Keep the conversation and inquiry details on the project while the client decides. When they commit, choose Mark Booked and confirm the action.

Booking the project does not claim that the contract is signed or the balance is paid. Those requirements stay visible separately so you can finish them in either order.

If the work does not go ahead, use the menu in the project header. Archiving an open lead first marks it Closed Lost and asks for a loss reason. A booked project requires a direct archive confirmation.

2. Finish the agreement and payment steps

Create and send the contract from Contracts, or turn the requirement off when no agreement is needed. Set the amount and use Invoices for money the client still needs to pay; use Record Payment for money received outside online checkout.

The project status updates as signatures and payments arrive. Avoid manually marking a requirement complete unless it happened outside LYGHTBOX—the confirmation explains when an override is appropriate.

3. Start the editing work

Start Fulfillment becomes available when the project is booked and its contract is signed or marked not required. If the payment is incomplete or the project date is in the future, LYGHTBOX warns you and lets you decide whether to start early.

Depending on the service settings, starting fulfillment will either:

  • Move the project into fulfillment without a task.
  • Ask whether to create a linked editing task.
  • Create the linked task automatically on the service’s task board.

If task creation fails after the project moves forward, the project remains in fulfillment. Create the missing task manually from the + menu and link it to the project.

4. Mark the work delivered

Only a project in the editing queue can be marked delivered. Choose Mark Delivered when the finished work has been delivered. On the project page, LYGHTBOX then offers to complete and archive any linked fulfillment tasks.

Delivered work remains under Completed until you archive the project.

Bulk actions

In Table view, select one or more rows. The action bar only shows actions that apply to at least one selected active project, such as Mark Booked, Start Fulfillment, Mark Delivered, or Archive Projects.

Review a mixed selection before confirming. LYGHTBOX skips projects that are not eligible for the chosen action. When starting fulfillment, it asks before continuing with incomplete payments or future project dates; when archiving active leads, it asks for a shared loss reason. Bulk fulfillment can also create linked tasks according to each service’s setup.

Safe recovery and useful habits

  • A project disappeared: switch to Table view and check Filter settings -> Show archived. Archived work is retained, but the current project screen does not offer a restore action, so read the archive confirmation carefully.
  • A project was marked Closed Lost: lost work cannot be moved back to Booked. Use the loss action only when the job is genuinely over.
  • Start Fulfillment is missing: confirm the project is booked and the contract is signed or not required. Payment and date issues produce a confirmation; contract issues block the action.
  • Invoices is disabled: enter a project amount first. Selecting a package can fill the amount from the package price, and you can adjust the project amount afterward.
  • A status looks wrong after an external payment or signature: open the related invoice, payment, or contract first. Use a manual override only for activity that happened outside LYGHTBOX.
  • An update fails: keep the project open, refresh, and check the Activity card before trying again so you do not repeat an action that already succeeded.