Timers

Active timers let your team track time in real time while they work. When a team member starts a timer, it runs in the background until they stop it, at which point it automatically converts into a time entry. Timers pair naturally with jobs and appointments so time is captured against the right context.

Starting a timer

To start a timer:

1. Navigate to a job, appointment, or the Time Tracking section and click Start Timer.
2. Select the team member who is performing the work.
3. Optionally link the timer to a job, appointment, or task. If you start from an appointment, the linked job is associated automatically.
4. Add an optional description of the work being done.

Each team member can only have one active timer at a time. If a timer is already running, you must stop or discard it before starting a new one.

Stopping a timer

When work is complete, click Stop Timer. The following happens automatically:

1. The duration is calculated from the start time to the current time.
2. If time rounding is enabled in your workspace settings, the duration is rounded according to the configured increment and mode.
3. A minimum duration of 1 minute is enforced -- durations shorter than 60 seconds are rounded up.
4. A new time entry is created in Draft status with the timer's start time, end time, and calculated duration.
5. You can optionally add work notes when stopping the timer.
6. The active timer is deleted.

The resulting time entry behaves exactly like a manually created entry -- it can be edited, submitted for approval, and allocated to line items.

Discarding a timer

If a timer was started by mistake, click Discard to delete it without creating a time entry. This action cannot be undone.

Viewing active timers

Check the current timer for any team member from Time Tracking > Active Timer. Managers can view all active timers across the workspace to monitor field activity in real time.

Time rounding

Rounding adjusts timer durations to clean increments, which simplifies billing and payroll. Configure rounding from Settings > Time Tracking > Approval Settings:

When rounding is applied, the time entry records both the original duration and the rounded duration for transparency.

Rounding examples (15-minute increment)

Approval workflow

Time entries created from timers follow the same approval workflow as manual entries. The workflow is configured in Settings > Time Tracking > Approval Settings.

Approval settings

Approval process

1. Submit -- the team member submits their draft entry for review. Entries must have a positive duration. If allocation is required before submission, the entry must be fully allocated first.
2. Approve -- a manager reviews the entry and approves it. Self-approval is not allowed. If allocation is required before approval, the entry must be fully allocated.
3. Reject -- a manager rejects the entry with a reason. The entry returns to the owner who can edit and resubmit.
4. Withdraw -- before a manager acts, the owner can withdraw a submitted entry back to draft for changes.
5. Unapprove -- a manager can revert an approved entry back to submitted status.

Locking entries

After approval, entries can be locked for payroll processing. Locked entries cannot be modified. Only managers can lock and unlock entries.

1. Select one or more approved entries and click Lock for Payroll.
2. To make corrections, Unlock the entry first, which returns it to Approved status.

Bulk actions

Managers can perform actions on multiple entries at once:

• Bulk submit -- submit all selected draft entries.
• Bulk approve -- approve all selected submitted entries.
• Bulk lock -- lock all selected approved entries.
• Bulk unapprove -- revert all selected approved entries to submitted.

For each bulk action, entries that are not in the correct status are skipped. The response includes a count of successful and failed operations.

Approval modes

The workspace approval mode determines who can approve entries:

What's next

• Create manual time entries for retroactive time logging.
• View job costing reports to see time allocated to each job.
• Export time for payroll to generate payroll-ready data.