Time tracking

Track time by pressing play on a task, or start a blank timer and say what it was for afterwards. Those hours then flow into review, your team's pay and the client's invoice, without anybody typing them twice.

Start tracking#

Track your first hours#

1. Open a task you are about to work on and press its play button. The Timer button on the side rail now reads Timer running.
2. When you finish, click the red stop badge on the rail's Timer button, or press the red square on the timer in the Timers panel.
3. In the Timers panel, write a line in the timer's notes saying what you did. That line is what your team reads when the time is checked.

An admin then reviews the time, and it goes on to be paid and invoiced.

Where can I start a timer?#

• Press play beside a task or inside an open task. A task that had not been started moves to in progress.
• In the Timers panel, Start New Timer starts a blank timer straight away.
• In the mobile app, start one from a task's detail screen.

Do I need a task or a project?#

No task is ever needed: a timer can sit on a project alone. A project is optional too, so a blank timer can run before you know what it is for. Give it a project before it is reviewed, though, because time with no project cannot be billed.

Tips for faster tracking#

• Track without switching windows. With the desktop app, start and stop timers from the Mac menu bar or the Windows system tray. See The desktop app.
• Start from anywhere. Press Cmd+Shift+Enter on a Mac or Ctrl+Shift+Enter on Windows to start a blank timer, and fill in what it was for later.
• Assign the project as you type. In a timer's notes, type :web to pick from matching projects. See Project shortcuts for more.
• Switch tasks without stopping first. Starting another timer pauses the one that was running and keeps its time.
• Fix a forgotten timer from its history. The Histories tab in Edit Timer shows when the timer was last saved while work was going on; see I left a timer running overnight.
• Carry on where you left off. The play button on a task you already timed today resumes that timer instead of starting a new one.

Add or correct time#

How do I add time I forgot to track?#

In the Timers panel press +, fill in the duration, the project and a note, and save. It is logged for you, for today, and this quick form is the one place a project is required. More options opens the full form, where you can also choose the task, another day, whether it is billable, and, if you are an admin, another person.

How do I change a timer's time, day or project?#

• On a stopped timer's card, double-click the time to type a new duration, or press play to resume the same entry and keep adding to it.
• Click any timer, in the panel or in a report, to open Edit Timer. There you can change the duration, the day it counts on, the project, the task, the contract and the notes.
• Only an admin can give a timer to another person.

The Histories tab in Edit Timer lists every saved version of the timer, so you can see how an entry changed; it is read only. The Chat tab is a conversation about that one timer, for questions like "what was this hour?".

Who sees whose time?#

Everybody tracks their own time and sees their own timers and Daily Report. Admins see everybody's time in the company on the Finances screens. Only admins see client rates; a person who is not an admin sees their own pay rate and nobody else's.

How do I delete a timer?#

Press Delete in Edit Timer and confirm. A reviewed, invoiced or paid timer cannot be deleted, and neither can one whose copy another company has already reviewed or invoiced. See When can a timer no longer be changed?

I left a timer running overnight#

Stop it, then open it and check the Histories tab before you fix the time. It lists every save of the timer, newest first, with its status, its duration at that moment, and when it happened. A save made while you were still working, such as a note you edited or the pause when you started another timer, shows the last moment you know the work was going on. Work out from it how long you really worked, and type that into Duration. If nothing was saved between starting and stopping, the history cannot tell you more than when it started.

Prepare time for billing#

Worked time and billed time#

Every timer has two durations. The worked time (Duration) is what the person actually spent, and it is what they are paid for. The billed time (Invoice Duration) is what the client is charged for. It stays empty until you press Set Invoice Duration, and while it is empty the worked time is billed. Set it to bill less or more than was worked without touching what the person earns.

Sam works six hours on a client's project, and five of them are billed. Sam's pay rate is $40 an hour and the client's rate is $100 an hour.

Result	Calculation	Amount
Sam earns	6 hours × $40	$240
Client is billed	5 hours × $100	$500
Margin	$500 − $240	$260

Billable or not#

Every timer is billable unless somebody unticks Is billable. The switch decides whether the client pays for those hours, never whether the person is paid for them. Non-billable time is still paid and still counts as a cost; it adds nothing to an invoice and does not use up a contract's budget. Deciding what should be billable is a question about scope rather than software, covered in our guide to calculating billable hours.

Notes the client sees, and notes they do not#

• Notes are the worker's own account of the work. Inside your company only your team reads them.
• Invoice Notes are what the client reads on the invoice. When they are empty, the invoice the client opens shows the task's title instead, never the worker's notes.
• Admin Notes are for your own team and never leave your company.

One exception: when you work for another company on a shared project, the copy of your time in their books carries your Invoice Notes, or your ordinary notes when Invoice Notes are empty. See Linked companies.

Rates, briefly#

Each timer has a client rate, what an hour is billed at, and a user rate, what it costs you, which is the person's pay rate. Both are filled in for you from the contract, the client and the person's own rates. How each is found, how to override one, and how multipliers work are in Rates.

Review your team's time#

Reviewing is the check an admin makes before time is paid. It is done on Review Timers, under Finances, and only an admin can review a timer or undo a review.

How do I review time?#

The page shows the time still to check, grouped by client and then by contract, with each contract's budget beside its timers. Narrow it to a client, project, person or period. Click a row to correct the timer in Edit Timer, or tick several and move them to another contract. When a timer looks right, press Review on its row.

Budgets: when time is logged against a contract that is already over its budget, the person logging it is warned first and can choose to continue, and the project's admins are told. How budgets are counted is in Contracts.

After review, paying and invoicing are independent: either can come first. Only reviewed time can be paid; invoicing time that has not been reviewed is allowed, but you are asked to confirm first.

When can a timer no longer be changed?#

Status	What it prevents	How to change it
Reviewed	Editing and deleting	An admin undoes the review on Review Timers
Invoiced	Editing and deleting	Take it off an invoice that is still unlocked
Paid	Deleting	Mark it unpaid on Payable

The rules hold everywhere a timer can be changed: the web app, the desktop and mobile apps, and the API. They apply to admins too. There is no locking by date.

Several can apply at once, so removing one may not be enough. Paid time was reviewed before it could be paid, and stays reviewed unless an admin undoes it. So to correct a paid timer, an admin undoes the review, which leaves it paid, makes the change and reviews it again; to delete it, it also has to be marked unpaid.

View and use tracked time#

• Reports. The Daily Report shows your own entries, and admins have reports on hours by person and by day and on profitability, including how much each hour of an owner's time earns. See Reports.
• Invoicing the client. Invoiceable, under Finances, turns tracked time into invoices. See Invoicing.
• Paying your team. Projectous records the payments you make elsewhere, on Payable. See Paying your team.
• Working for another company. Time on a project you share with another company is copied to their books, so they can bill their client. See Linked companies.
• Importing past hours. Press Import on Invoiceable. See Importing.
• Exporting. Invoiceable, Payable and the Daily Report each download the rows you tick as CSV or XLS. An admin can download the whole company's data, timers included, under Settings, Security.
• Time worked by AI agents. See AI time tracking.