How to Create Daily Logs on the Mobile App

With Daily Logs on your mobile device, you and your team, including subcontractors with Houzz Pro accounts, can add progress updates right from the job site, so everyone is on the same page.

To Create a Daily Log on the Houzz Pro mobile app, you can either use the Create New section on the app's homepage, the Create menu at the bottom of the app, or from multiple places within a project. You have the option of creating a daily log from scratch, or using our AI feature that will use your video and voice to fill in the log for you. Let's look at both options:

Create a Daily Log From Scratch

If you want to manually fill in the details of a daily log, tap the Create from Scratch option in the daily log menu. This is great for small updates with minimal details, or when you don't want to record video for the recipients. You will still be able to upload images and videos from your device.

First, select a project to associate the daily log with, then start inputting the day's details into the log. To save you time, the date will automatically populate, but you can easily adjust it by tapping the calendar icon to the right. Add text to the daily log and format it to your needs — bold, bullet points, and more.

Pro Tip: Use talk-to-text (the microphone button on your keyboard) for longer updates, then refine with AI (the purple icon in the formatting options).

Refine with AutoMate AI will take your written daily log summary, analyse the text, and provide suggestions to improve clarity and formatting. It will even fix spelling, grammar and punctuation issues so all your company communication is polished and professional.

To use this feature, type your text into the Overview section of the relevant daily log, then tap the purple AutoMate icon in the formatting options (as shown above). Select Refine to see the suggestions.

Review the text to see the improvements. For next steps, you can tap the arrow at the bottom of the window to select Insert or Replace:

• Insert: Insert the suggested text below your existing text in the editor. This allows you to compare and make specific changes as needed.
• Replace: Completely replace the existing text with the suggested text in the editor.

You can tap the X at the top of the box to keep your existing text and ignore the suggestions.

You can also attach a photo or video from the job site to the log, either with your camera, from your devices photos or files, from your project files, or by scanning. Any attachments you add to the daily log will also be saved to the project's files for future reference.

Note: You can access the AI Walkthrough feature at anytime by tapping Camera > Walkthrough then tapping the microphone to record your voice. Learn more in the Create with AI section below.

Underneath the Attachments section, you can see weather details, your project schedule, team member time entries, and a to-do list of tasks or issues to address. You can quickly create a new time entry or task directly from a daily log by tapping the + icon in the relevant section.

Tap the Settings wheel icon toward the top to turn on/off certain sections if needed. Select Apply as Default if you would like to keep these settings for all your daily logs.

Create with AI

To create a daily log in the app with the help of AI, tap Camera Walkthrough with AI. This option allows you to naturally talk about the progress or issues while taking pictures or video, then transcribes the daily log for you using AI. You will be able to add and edit details before sharing with the relevant party(s).

If you haven't already, you will have to allow Houzz Pro access to your camera, microphone and speech recognition, in order for our AI to properly transcribe your voice into text.

You have the option of recording a video, taking photos, or doing a Walkthrough (more details below) while you "think out loud" and dictate the progress on the project. You can always upload more videos, photos, or walkthroughs to your daily log later.

Walkthrough mode captures both your face and the content you're filming, for a personal touch. Check out the video example below to see what the Walkthrough mode looks like.

Once you have captured your content, tap Upload and our AI will work its magic, transcribing your voice into text for the Overview section of your daily log. Any video, photos or walkthrough will be included as an attachment in the log.

Pro Tip: Use Refine with AI to analyse the text and provide suggestions to improve clarity and formatting. It will even fix spelling, grammar and punctuation issues so your daily log is polished and professional. Find this option by tapping into the Overview text, then tapping the purple AI icon in the formatting bar. You'll be able to review the suggestions before accepting any changes.

You can continue to review and fill out the rest of your daily log as needed, including time entries and tasks. You can quickly create a new time entry or task by tapping the + icon in the relevant section. Once you're done adding details, you're ready to share the log.

Share a Daily Log

To share a daily log, tap on the Share icon at the top of your log.

From here, you can adjust the accessibility for both clients and subcontractors. Team members assigned to the project will have access by default.

Client Access

If you give your client access to a daily log, they will be able to view the documentation within the client dashboard.

Clients will receive an email when a daily log is shared (you must share the client dashboard first). Read Preview and Share the Client Dashboard to learn more about the client dashboard.

Subcontractor Access

For subcontractors, you can grant access to view a daily log on an individual basis. To set individual access, select Subcontractor Access in the Share modal. You will see the subs currently invited to the project listed, and can set Access/No Access on each one individually.

Subcontractors will receive an email when a daily log is shared. Read more about subcontractor access in this article: How to Invite and Collaborate with Subcontractors

Add Comments on Daily Logs

With the commenting feature on daily logs you can communicate with the client, team members and subcontractors about any details specific to the log. To add a comment to a daily log, tap the Comment icon in the top right of the log.

The comment panel will open and you can select if you want to communicate with the client or your team members with the tabs at the top. Type your message in the text field and tap the Send icon. Note that the daily log must be shared to the client dashboard in order for the client to be able to view it.

Once submitted, the intended recipient will be notified of the comment with the ability to view and respond. If sent to a client, they will be able to see the comment on their client dashboard in the daily log section.

View All Daily Logs on the App

To view all of your daily logs on the app, tap on the title of the Daily Logs section in the homepage (you may have to scroll down to find this).

From here you can see the daily logs across all projects. Tap any daily log to view, edit or delete the entry.

Use the filter at the top left to narrow down the logs by project. To sort the daily logs by date, tap the sort icon in the top right to view them by log date, last updated or first updated.