FreshBooks Speed Boost

A Chrome extension that supercharges FreshBooks dropdowns for blazing-fast data entry.

The Problem

If you use FreshBooks with hundreds of merchants or categories, you know the pain:

• Opening dropdowns can take 2-5 seconds to render
• Pages freeze while loading hundreds of items
• Data entry becomes frustratingly slow
• Your productivity suffers

FreshBooks renders all dropdown items at once, causing performance issues when you have large datasets.

The Solution

FreshBooks Speed Boost adds client-side pagination to dropdowns, showing only 50 items at a time:

• Dropdowns open in under 200ms (10-25x faster)
• Smooth, responsive interface
• No more freezing or waiting
• Your search/filter functionality still works perfectly

Performance Improvement

Features

✅ Automatic pagination - Dropdowns with >50 items get paginated automatically ✅ Next/Previous navigation - Easy-to-use pagination controls ✅ Page indicator - Always know where you are (e.g., "Page 1 of 10") ✅ Search/filter compatible - Type to filter, pagination hides automatically ✅ Memory efficient - Proper cleanup prevents memory leaks ✅ Works with all dropdowns - Merchant, category, and any other FreshBooks dropdown ✅ No dependencies - Lightweight, vanilla JavaScript

Installation

Option A: Manual Installation (Recommended for Now)

1. Download the extension files from this repository

2. Open Chrome Extensions

   • Navigate to chrome://extensions/
   • Or click the puzzle icon → "Manage Extensions"

3. Enable Developer Mode

   • Toggle the "Developer mode" switch in the top right corner

4. Load the extension

   • Click "Load unpacked"
   • Select the freshbooks-speed-boost directory
   • The extension icon should appear in your toolbar

5. Done! - The extension is now active on all FreshBooks pages

Option B: Chrome Web Store

Chrome Web Store listing coming soon

Usage

Using the extension is automatic once installed:

1. Navigate to FreshBooks (https://my.freshbooks.com/)

2. Open any dropdown (merchant, category, etc.)

3. Pagination appears automatically if there are more than 50 items:

   [← Previous]  Page 1 of 10 (500 total)  [Next →]
   

4. Click Next/Previous to navigate between pages

5. Type to filter - Pagination disappears, showing all matching results

6. Close dropdown - Memory is automatically cleaned up

Example Scenarios

Scenario 1: Browsing merchants

• Open merchant dropdown
• See first 50 merchants
• Click "Next" to see merchants 51-100
• Continue browsing with fast, responsive UI

Scenario 2: Searching for a specific merchant

• Open merchant dropdown
• Type "Acme" to filter
• Pagination disappears, all "Acme" merchants shown
• Clear search, pagination returns

Scenario 3: Working with categories

• Works identically with category dropdowns
• Or any other FreshBooks dropdown with many items

Technical Details

• Platform: Chrome Extension (Manifest V3)
• Compatibility: Chrome, Edge, Brave, and other Chromium-based browsers
• Technology: Vanilla JavaScript (no dependencies)
• Injection: Content script runs on https://my.freshbooks.com/*
• Selectors: Uses semantic HTML attributes (role="listbox", etc.) for stability
• Memory Management: Proper cleanup prevents memory leaks
• Page Size: 50 items per page (configurable in source)

How It Works

1. Extension monitors for FreshBooks dropdowns using MutationObserver
2. When a dropdown with >50 items opens, pagination is applied
3. DOM elements outside the current page are hidden (not removed)
4. User interactions (Next/Previous) show/hide appropriate items
5. When dropdown closes, all references are cleaned up to prevent memory leaks

Requirements

• Browser: Chrome, Edge, Brave, or any Chromium-based browser
• FreshBooks Account: Active account with access to https://my.freshbooks.com/*
• Permissions: Extension only accesses FreshBooks pages (see manifest.json)

Troubleshooting

Extension not working?

1. Check if enabled: Go to chrome://extensions/ and ensure the extension is enabled
2. Reload FreshBooks: Refresh your FreshBooks page after installing
3. Check console: Open DevTools (F12) → Console, look for "[FreshBooks Speed Boost]" messages
4. Verify page URL: Extension only works on https://my.freshbooks.com/* pages

Pagination not appearing?

• Check item count: Pagination only appears for dropdowns with >50 items
• Disable filter: If you're filtering, pagination hides automatically (this is expected)
• Ember selectors changed: FreshBooks may have updated their UI. Check CLAUDE.md for selector updates

Performance issues

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