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

| Scenario | Before | After | |----------|--------|-------| | 500 merchants | 3-5 seconds | <200ms | | 1000 categories | 5+ seconds | <200ms | | Memory usage | Increases over time | Stable |

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?

• The extension should improve performance. If you experience issues:
  • Disable other extensions to rule out conflicts
  • Clear browser cache and reload
  • Check Chrome DevTools Memory profiler for memory leaks (shouldn't happen with v1.1+)

Version History

v1.1 (Current)

• Fixed memory leaks (DOM element references, event listeners)
• Extended support to all FreshBooks dropdowns (not just merchants)
• Improved filtering detection for all dropdown types
• Added proper cleanup when dropdowns close
• Event delegation for better performance

v1.0 (Initial Release)

• Initial release with merchant dropdown pagination
• Basic pagination controls (Next/Previous)
• Page indicator
• Search/filter compatibility

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here's how you can help:

Reporting Issues

Found a bug or have a feature request? Please open an issue with:

• Browser version
• Steps to reproduce
• Expected vs actual behavior
• Console errors (if any)

Development Setup

1. Clone this repository
2. Load extension in Chrome (see Installation)
3. Make changes to content.js
4. Reload extension at chrome://extensions/
5. Test on FreshBooks

Code Guidelines

• Follow existing code style (vanilla JS, ES6+)
• Add comments for complex logic
• Test with varying dropdown sizes (10, 50, 100, 500+ items)
• Ensure memory cleanup works (check with Chrome DevTools)
• See CLAUDE.md for development guidelines

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details

Copyright (c) 2026 Jared P. Lander

Disclaimer

This extension is provided "as is" without warranty. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected with FreshBooks Inc. Use at your own risk.

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Built with ❤️ for the FreshBooks community

Having issues or questions? Open an issue on GitHub or check the Troubleshooting section above.