⚙️ Setting Up Custom Job Statuses in Client Hub

Last Updated: July 2026

Tailor your job workflow stages to match the way your firm actually works.

Custom Job Statuses let you define the stages a job moves through — from start to finish — using names and colors that reflect your firm's process. Instead of being limited to fixed labels, you can rename statuses, add new ones for active work stages, and even change their colors to make your Jobs Dashboard easier to read at a glance.

🗂️ Understanding the Four Status Categories

Job statuses are organized into four fixed categories. Each category has its own rules for how many statuses you can have and what you can change.

1. 🔘 Not Started

This is the default starting point for every new job created in Client Hub.

You can rename this status and change its color
You cannot delete it or add additional statuses to this category
New jobs automatically default to the first status in your list, which falls in this category

2. 🔵 Active

This is where most of your workflow customization happens. Active statuses represent the stages a job moves through while work is in progress.

You can add multiple custom statuses to this category
You can rename any status and change its color
Examples: In Progress, Waiting on Client, In Review, Partner Review, Needs Correction

3. ⏸️ Paused

Use this category for jobs that are on hold or temporarily stopped.

You can add one additional custom status to this category
You can rename it and change its color
Example: Blocked

4. ✅ Complete

This marks a job as finished.

You can rename this status and change its color
You cannot delete it or add additional statuses to this category
Completing a job works the same way it always has, including the Draft Client Task check described below

🛠️ How to Set Up Your Job Statuses

📝 Note: This setting is available to firm owners and admins only.

Go to Settings in the left-hand navigation.
Click Job Statuses.
From here you can: a. Rename any existing status by clicking its name and typing a new one b. Change the color by clicking the color swatch next to the status name c. Add a new Active status by clicking the + Add Status button within the Active category d. Add a Paused status by clicking the + Add Status button within the Paused category
Your changes save automatically.

[Screenshot: The Job Statuses settings page showing all four categories with rename and color options visible]

🖼️ How Statuses Appear in the Jobs Dashboard

Once you've configured your statuses, they show up across the Jobs Dashboard in both views:

Card View (Kanban): Each status appears as its own column. Jobs move between columns as work progresses.
List View: You can filter jobs by any status to create a focused view of where work stands across your client base.

You can always move a job manually the same way you always have — drag and drop in Card View, or use the status selector inside the job. Jobs with multiple task groups can also move between statuses automatically as work is completed — see below.

🔄 How Job Status Updates Automatically Across Task Groups

If a job has multiple task groups, you can assign each group its own status — and the job's status will then update on its own as work moves through the job, without anyone having to change it manually.

Two things need to be in place:

Custom statuses must exist in the Active category (Settings → Job Statuses) — for example, In Progress and In Review.
Each task group is assigned one of those statuses when the job is set up. See 👥 Assigning a Job to Multiple Users with Task Groups for how to assign a status to each group.

Once both are in place:

While the first group's tasks are being worked, the job displays that group's assigned status.
As soon as the last task in that group is completed, the job status automatically switches to the status assigned to the next group.
This continues group by group until the final group's tasks are complete, at which point you're prompted to mark the whole job Completed — see Draft Client Tasks and the Completion Check below for what that prompt actually checks.

A note on working out of order: if you check off tasks in a later group before an earlier group is finished, the job status stays on the earliest incomplete group's status — it won't jump ahead. Checking any task in a group you haven't started yet does move the job status to that group's status immediately, but it will fall back to reflecting the earliest incomplete group once you look at it again.

📝 Note: If every group in a job is assigned the same status (for example, if In Progress is the only Active status your firm has set up), the job status won't appear to change as groups are completed — there's simply nothing else in the list to move to. Add more Active statuses and assign them to your task groups to see status advance automatically from group to group.

✅ Draft Client Tasks and the Completion Check

Before a job's status advances — either automatically between groups, or when marking the whole job Completed (manually or by finishing the last group) — Client Hub checks whether any Client Task in that group is still sitting in Draft.

If a Draft Client Task is found, you'll be prompted to confirm before the status moves forward, so you have a chance to publish it first instead of it getting missed.
Only Draft status triggers this. Once a Client Task has been published — Open, Answered, or Closed — it's treated as "done enough" to move on, since the accountant only controls whether the task was sent, not whether the client has responded yet.
If you confirm, the status advances anyway with the Draft task left as-is. If you'd rather publish it first, see ✏️ How to Move Client Tasks in a Job Out of Draft.

📌 For more detail on this behavior and why it was added, see How Job Status Changes Automatically (and How Draft Client Tasks Affect It).

💡 Tips

Use Active statuses to mirror your firm's real handoff points — for example, Preparer Done, In Review, Sent to Client
Keep status names short and specific so they're easy to scan on the Kanban board
Use colors intentionally — for example, red or orange for statuses that signal a job needs attention
Assign different statuses to each task group so the job status keeps you updated automatically as work moves forward
If a team member is unsure which status to use, fewer, well-named statuses are easier to follow than a long list
If you use a final Client Task to prompt the client (e.g., "schedule a review meeting"), keep it in mind that the Draft check is what protects that step from being skipped on completion