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Closing a period locks every approved time entry on or before a date. After that, nothing in that range can be edited, deleted, or added to. Corrections go through an adjustment.

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Closing vs approving

They sound similar and they do very different jobs. Approving is a per-person judgement. Closing is a month-end financial act.
Closing only locks approved entries. Draft and submitted entries in the range are not locked, so make sure everything is approved before you close – otherwise you close a month with hours still floating.

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What closing prevents

Inside the closed range, for every locked entry:
  • No edits – project, task, description, times, billable flag, all frozen.
  • No deletions.
  • No new entries for that date range.
  • No reopening the approval. That is refused with “That period is closed.”
The only way to correct locked time is an adjustment – a separate, linked entry carrying a signed correction. See /approvals/adjustments.

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How to close a period

1

Make sure everything is approved

Check Approvals → Timesheets → Awaiting approval and Not submitted. Anything left unapproved will not be locked.
2

Open Settings → Time policies

Scroll to the Period locking card. It reads “Locks all approved time on or before a date. Locked entries can’t be edited, deleted or added to – corrections go through adjustment entries.”
3

Pick a Close through date

Use the date picker. Everything dated on or before this date is in scope.
4

Click Close period…

The button is only enabled once a date is chosen.
5

Read the confirmation

“This will lock every approved time entry dated on or before <date>. Locked entries can’t be edited or deleted, and no new entries can be added for that range. This can’t be undone from this screen.”
6

Type the confirmation string

You have to type or paste <workspace> / through <date> to enable the button. There is a copy control next to it.
7

Confirm

Click Close period. You get Period closed through <date>. N entries locked.
The close runs in batches, so a large backlog is handled without timing out. The number in the toast is the real count of entries locked.

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Why the typed confirmation

Closing a period is irreversible from that screen and affects every person in the workspace. A single misplaced click on the wrong date would freeze weeks of work that nobody expected to be frozen. So the confirmation is a ready-to-copy string you have to match – the workspace name and the date together. Copy it, paste it, and the button enables.

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Example

It is the first working day of the month at Northwind Studio. Tom Whitfield checks Approvals → Timesheets. The Awaiting approval tab is empty and Not submitted reads “All caught up”. Every week of last month has been approved. He opens Settings → Time policies → Period locking, picks the last day of last month as the Close through date, and clicks Close period…. The modal asks him to type northwind / through 2026-06-30. He copies it, pastes it, and confirms. Period closed through 2026-06-30. 412 entries locked. Every approved entry in June is now locked. Sarah Lin, Jonas Bergman and Ana Ferreira each get a notification that their period was closed. Two days later a client queries 2 hours on Bluebird Coffee’s Website Redesign. Priya cannot reopen it – the period is closed. Daniel Okafor posts an adjustment of -2 hours instead, with a reason. The original entry stays untouched and the corrected total nets out.

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Options and settings

The Period locking card lives on Settings → Time policies, alongside two related settings. If you cannot close periods, the card reads “Only an owner or admin can lock periods in this workspace.”

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Permissions

period.close is Owner and Admin only by default. It sits at the same tier as reopening an approval – both change records that have already been settled. Your workspace can build a custom role that includes period.close. The only capability that can never be given to a non-owner is deleting the workspace.

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Plan and app gating

Closing a period is free on every plan. It is not a resolution action being sold – it is a safety mechanism for your own records. Approving, however, is Pro. So on the Free plan there is usually nothing approved to lock. The Timesheets app must be switched on.

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What happens next

  • Every approved entry on or before the date becomes locked.
  • Each affected person is notified that their period closed.
  • Reopening any period inside the range is refused.
  • Locked billable time can go onto an invoice, which moves it to invoiced.
  • Corrections happen through adjustments only.

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Common questions

Not from the Period locking screen. Locked time is corrected with an adjustment, which keeps the original record intact and the audit trail honest.
No. Only approved entries lock. Approve everything first, or those hours stay editable.
Entries dated on or before that date are locked. Correct anything wrong with adjustments. Closing again through a later date locks more; it never unlocks.
No. It only affects the closed range. New time on later dates is unaffected.
No. “That day’s timesheet is locked, so time can’t be added or changed.” An adjustment is the route.
Most teams close monthly, once every week in the month is approved and invoices are ready to go out.

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Troubleshooting

  • “You can’t close a period.” You do not hold period.close. Ask an owner or admin.
  • The Close period button is disabled. Pick a Close through date first.
  • The confirm button will not enable. The typed string has to match exactly. Use the copy control.
  • “Couldn’t close the period. Please try again.” Retry – the close runs in batches and is safe to re-run.
  • Fewer entries locked than expected. Some entries were not approved. Approve them, then close again.

Adjustments

The only way to correct locked time.

Reopen an approval

The route that closing takes away.

Time policies

Where period locking lives, and what sits beside it.

Timesheet statuses

Where locked sits in the state machine.

Month-end close

A full month-end routine, step by step.

Approve a timesheet

Get everything approved before you close.