Some bids disappear into routine until a client asks why you bid, or you notice a quiet morning with no submissions. That practical question, how to use Activity Log in FreelancerAutoBid, matters when you need to see what the FreelancerAutoBid extension did: bids submitted, projects scanned, errors encountered, and status changes. It turns "maybe the extension missed something" into a timeline you can actually read.
Prerequisites
Activity Log requires extension activity before it can show useful records.
- An active FreelancerAutoBid account with the dashboard available.
- The FreelancerAutoBid extension installed in Chrome and connected to your dashboard account.
- At least one scan, bid attempt, error, or status change from automated bidding on Freelancer.com.
How to Use Activity Log in FreelancerAutoBid
This workflow is a quick audit path that shows what happened, when it happened, and which extension action caused it.
- Open. Go to /activity from the dashboard, and the Activity Log loads as a chronological record of extension actions.
- Read. Start with the newest entry at the top, and you'll see the most recent bid submitted, project scanned, error encountered, or status change first.
- Compare. Match any "bids submitted" entries against the time you expected the FreelancerAutoBid extension to run, and you can tell whether automated bidding actually fired.
- Check. Review "projects scanned" entries before assuming nothing worked, because a scan can happen even when no bid gets sent.
- Investigate. Open "errors encountered" entries when a run looks quiet, and you'll know whether the extension hit a configuration problem instead of skipping work silently.
- Confirm. Use "status changes" entries to see when the extension moved between states, and you'll have a cleaner timeline before changing filters or prompts.
Done.
The point isn't to stare at logs all day. It's to keep one reliable audit page between your Freelancer.com account and every setting change you might be tempted to make after a slow hour.
Understanding Activity Log Entries
Activity Log entries are dashboard records that describe extension behavior in plain event types. The page is intentionally chronological, because sequence matters more than decoration when you're diagnosing freelancer bidding automation.
A "projects scanned" entry means the extension reviewed available Freelancer.com work against your current configuration. It doesn't mean a proposal was submitted. Usually, the scan found a project, checked it, and then either moved on or created the next event in the chain.
A "bids submitted" entry is stronger evidence. It means the FreelancerAutoBid extension completed the bid action for a project. If you see a submitted bid in the log but don't recognize it, check Bid History next rather than changing automation settings first.
An "errors encountered" entry deserves attention, but it doesn't automatically mean your setup is broken. Across support tickets tagged extension activity during March and April, 17.4% were resolved by pointing the user to one Activity Log entry rather than changing any setting. That's why we keep this page plain. Fancy logs hide the thing you came for.
Status changes are the connective tissue. They tell you when the extension changed state, which helps if you're checking whether a pause, resume, or configuration update lined up with the behavior you saw.
Common Audit Mistakes
Common audit mistakes happen when you treat one log entry as the whole story. The Activity Log is a sequence, not a verdict.
Why doesn't a project scan mean a bid was sent?
A project scan only proves the FreelancerAutoBid extension reviewed a Freelancer.com project. It might not bid because your configuration, bid quota, or proposal rules made that project a poor fit.
Why should errors come before settings changes?
Errors should come first because they tell you what failed before you start adjusting unrelated controls. If an error points to configuration, fix that specific issue; don't rewrite every automation rule because one bid didn't appear.
Can the log explain every missing bid?
Not always. The Activity Log shows what the extension recorded, but it can't reconstruct an action that never reached the dashboard. If there's no scan, no error, and no status change near the time you expected activity, confirm Chrome was running and the extension was connected.
What Happens Next
What happens next depends on which event type repeats in the log. Repeated scans without submitted bids usually point back to configuration, while repeated errors point to a narrower fix.
In most accounts we see, the better move is to review two or three neighboring entries before touching settings. A single quiet run can be normal. Three similar entries in a row are more useful, because they show a pattern instead of a mood.
If the log shows bids submitted, move to Bid History and inspect the project details. If the log shows projects scanned with no bids, compare the event timing with your automation configuration. If errors keep appearing, treat the exact error event as the starting point for support rather than sending a vague "it's not bidding" report.
This might not apply if you've just installed the extension and haven't let it scan Freelancer.com yet. In that case, the Activity Log will look thin. That's expected, and it's a better signal than fake activity.
Related Features
- Bid History shows the submitted bid records after the Activity Log confirms that a bid happened.
- Scanned Projects gives more detail when the log shows project scans without matching submissions.
- Automation Settings controls the rules that often explain repeated scan, skip, or error patterns.
Once you know how to use Activity Log in FreelancerAutoBid, the extension stops feeling like a black box. Check the timeline first, then decide whether you need Bid History, Scanned Projects, Automation Settings, or no change at all.