Create a location rule

A location rule says what counts as being at work, what needs it, and who it applies to. This page walks the whole thing end to end. Go to Settings → Location rules.

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Before you start

You need the location.manage capability – Owner or Admin only. Have this ready:

• The public address range of your office network, from whoever runs your network. Not the address of a single computer.
• Or the address of the place, if you are fencing a site rather than a network.
• A clear answer to which actions actually need this.

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Step 1 – Create the rule

The dialog tells you what happens: “Name it after the place it describes. It starts out watching, so it won’t stop anyone until you say what it limits and switch it on.”

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Step 2 – Say what counts as being at work

Open the rule. In The rule card set Someone counts as here when they are: Add a Description if it helps – “Optional – what this rule is for”.

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Step 3 – Add your networks or places

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Office networks

“Anyone connecting from one of these counts as being at work.” The You’re connecting from card shows your own current address, with an Add this address button. That is the quickest way to add the office you are sitting in. Otherwise click Add address range and fill in: Up to 50 ranges per rule. Full detail in IP restrictions.

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Places

“Named locations someone can be standing in.” Click Add a place: Use my current location fills it from your own device. Check this place tells you how far you are from it right now. Up to 50 places per rule. Full detail in GPS restrictions.

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Step 4 – Choose what the rule limits

In What this rule limits: “Only these need someone to be at work. Everything else carries on as normal.” There are 13 actions, grouped: The header shows “Nothing is limited yet.” or “N of 13 limited”. Settings, billing, roles and member management can never be limited. That is what stops a rule locking you out of your own workspace.

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Step 5 – Set how often to check

In How often we check: “A check stays good for this long, so people are not interrupted constantly.” A check stays good for: 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes or 1 hour. The page explains the trade-off: “Someone who leaves right after a check can keep working for up to this long, plus a short allowance for patchy Wi-Fi. Shorter is stricter but checks more often.”

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Step 6 – Save

A bar appears at the bottom of the page when you have unsaved changes: Unsaved changes · Discard · Save changes. One save covers the whole page. You get Saved.

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Step 7 – Assign it to people

A rule does nothing until an assignment points at it.

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Who wins when several assignments match

Most specific wins: Person → Group → Role → Everyone Within the same level, an exemption beats a restriction. Across levels the more specific level wins outright – so a rule applied to one person survives a workspace-wide exemption. Someone in several groups follows their first group.

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Step 8 – Watch before you enforce

Leave the rule in Watching for about a week. Read Recent checks each day – see Activity log. You are looking for people who would have been stopped but should not have been. Every one of those is a range you forgot or a place drawn too tightly.

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Step 9 – Switch it on

Open the rule and click Start enforcing in the Enforcement card. The confirmation tells you the truth about what you are about to do:

Start enforcing Head office? N people will only be able to track time, clock in and out from work. In the last 7 days, N of them would have been stopped at least once. You can switch back to watching at any time, and you will always be able to reach these settings – location rules never limit settings, billing or roles.

Confirming also saves any unsaved edits on the page.

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When TimeTracker refuses to enforce

A rule that would stop everyone cannot be switched on. You see one of:

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Example

Northwind Studio wants contractors to clock in from the studio only. Sarah Lin and Jonas Bergman are Members, not Contractors, so nothing changes for them.

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Switching a rule back off

Open the rule and click Switch back to watching. It stops stopping people immediately. To lift every rule at once, turn the Location rules app off under Settings → Apps. The rule page mentions this: “Turning the Location rules app off in Settings → Apps lifts every rule at once, if you need to undo this in a hurry.”

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Deleting a rule

In the Rules table, click the delete icon on the row. The confirmation reads “Delete ?” – “The rule and everything it limits will be removed. This cannot be undone.” You cannot delete a rule that is still assigned: ”'' is still assigned to N targets. Remove those assignments first.”

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Permissions

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Common questions

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Troubleshooting

Start enforcing is refused. The rule has an empty signal or limits nothing. The message names the exact problem. The person count looks wrong. Read the Who this affects table on the settings page. It shows exactly who is covered today, with the level each rule was applied at. I cannot add my office address. It must be a public address range, not an internal one such as 192.168.x.x. Ask whoever runs your network for the public range.

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