Track time with a timer

A time entry is a block of minutes for one client, with an optional hourly rate. You can run a timer or type the time in. Entries stay unbilled until you bill them onto a draft invoice. The rate lives on the entry, so an entry without a rate has no amount and is not billed.

Note: Time tracking is a plan feature. Owners, admins and staff can add and change entries. If your plan does not include it, a new entry is refused. On the web the message may only say you do not have permission.

Run a timer on the web

1. Open Time in the Capture group of the sidebar.
2. Under Timer client, choose the client. Start timer stays off until you do.
3. Optionally choose a project, or type a name.
4. Select Start timer. The page shows when it started and for whom.
5. Select Stop and log when you finish.

The entry is saved as billable, with the description "Timer". It is rounded to the nearest whole minute, never under one minute and never more than one day.

The web timer is kept in this browser only. Another browser, another computer or your phone will not show it, and clearing your browser data loses a running timer. The entry takes its date from the clock in UTC, so a timer stopped late in the evening can land on the next day. Edit the date if it does.

Log time by hand

1. Select Log time.
2. Choose the Client and the Date.
3. Enter Minutes as a whole number from 1 to 1440.
4. Enter an Hourly rate if you want it billed. The dialog shows the line amount as you type.
5. Add a project and a description if you like. Untick Billable for time you will not charge.
6. Select Save.

On your phone you type hours instead, such as 1:30 or 1.5. See Time and mileage on your phone. A phone timer is kept on our servers, not in the phone, and the entry it saves has no rate.

How minutes become money

The amount is the minutes times the rate, divided by 60, rounded to the nearest cent (or the smallest unit of your currency). There is no setting that rounds time up to a quarter hour or sets a minimum. The rate is stored on the entry, so changing your prices later does not reprice old entries. BillingMart has no default hourly rate. Add the rate to each entry, including the ones a timer saved.

An entry with no client cannot be billed. This can happen with a phone timer started without a client, which is also saved as not billable. Open the entry, choose a client, tick Billable and add an hourly rate.

Edit and delete

Any owner, admin or staff member can edit or delete an entry that is not billed yet, not only its author. Deleting asks you to confirm. Once an entry is billed to an invoice, the buttons disappear and the phone opens it read-only. If you remove that line from the draft, or void the invoice, the entry becomes unbilled again and you can edit it.

Find entries

Filter by Client, From, To or Unbilled only. Each row shows Billed or Unbilled, and "non-billable" if you unticked Billable. The page loads a limited batch of entries, so use the date filters if you keep a long history.

To turn entries into an invoice, see Bill time, mileage and expenses.