Location rules overview

Location rules let you say where work can happen. A person covered by a rule can only clock in, track time or submit from a network or a place you approved.

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What a location rule is

A rule has three parts:

1. What counts as being at work – an office network, a named place, or both.
2. What it limits – the actions that need you to be at work.
3. Who it applies to – everyone, a role, a group, or one person.

Everything you do not limit carries on as normal, from anywhere.

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Location blocks a state, not a permission

This is the most important idea on the page. A capability answers “may you do this at all?”. A location rule answers “can you do it right now, from here?”. Sarah Lin still holds time.track when she is at a coffee shop. The rule just refuses the action until she is back on the office network. Nothing she has already tracked is affected.

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Two ways to check where someone is

A laptop often reports a location that is a long way out, because it works the location out from nearby Wi-Fi rather than from GPS. Office networks are the reliable check on a computer. Places work best on a phone. Read IP restrictions and GPS restrictions for each in full.

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Watching before enforcing

Every new rule starts as Watching. Run a rule in Watching for about a week, read Recent checks, and only then switch it on. A rule that looks correct on paper can still stop half your team on day one.

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Three outcomes, not two

A check never returns a simple yes or no. It returns one of three: “Couldn’t check” never counts as a pass. A rule that requires an office network but has no networks listed returns “Couldn’t check”, not “At work”. This is why you cannot switch on an empty rule.

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What location rules can never limit

Settings, billing, roles and member management are permanently excluded. You cannot build a rule that locks you or anyone else out of the admin screens. That means a rule can never trap you. Even at your most restrictive, you can always reach Settings → Location rules and switch it back to Watching.

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What it looks like

Go to Settings → Location rules. There are three sections: A Recent checks link in the header opens the activity log.

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Example

Northwind Studio has a hybrid team. Maya Ellis wants contractors to clock in from the studio only, but wants staff to keep working from anywhere.

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Options and settings

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Permissions

Project Manager, Finance, Member, Contractor and Client do not hold location.manage. If you try without it you see: “You can’t change where people are allowed to work from. Ask a workspace admin if you need to.” Client-portal contacts are never subject to a location rule and never appear in any count.

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What happens next

Once a rule is Enforcing, a covered person who is away from work sees a banner at the top of the app and finds the limited controls disabled. Everything they have already tracked stays saved. They can carry on with everything the rule does not limit.

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Common questions

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Troubleshooting

Everyone is being stopped. Your rule almost certainly has an empty signal – a network requirement with no ranges, or a place requirement with no places. That returns “Couldn’t check”, which never passes. TimeTracker refuses to let you switch such a rule on, so check whether the ranges were removed after you enforced it. Nothing is ever stopped. Check three things: the rule is Enforcing, an assignment points at the people you meant, and the rule actually limits at least one action. A rule applies to the wrong people. The Who this affects table shows exactly who is covered today. Precedence is person, then group, then role, then everyone – the most specific wins.

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