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Every report covers a date window. You set it in the Period section of the builder, and it decides which records the report counts.

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Two kinds of period

A relative period is the one to reach for. A report set to This month always shows the current month – in July it shows July, in August it shows August, with nobody editing it. A fixed range shows the same dates forever.

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The nine relative periods

All nine windows are inclusive at both ends. Last 7 days on a Wednesday runs from last Thursday’s midnight to the last moment of today – seven days, not eight.

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Which timezone decides

Every relative period is a calendar claim, and a calendar claim only means something once you say whose midnight. TimeTracker uses your workspace timezone. That matters most for scheduled reports. A daily email fires from a server clock, but the window it covers is still your workspace’s day – not the server’s. See /concepts/dates-times-and-timezones. Weeks follow your workspace’s week-start day, the same one timesheets use, so a “week” means the same thing on a report as it does on a timesheet.

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Fixed ranges

Choose Fixed range and two date fields appear: a Start date and an End date. Both use the standard date picker. Both ends are inclusive. A range of 1 July to 31 July includes everything logged on 31 July. Use a fixed range for:
  • A closed quarter you are reporting to a client
  • An audit window that must never move
  • A one-off comparison against a specific past period
A fixed range freezes. Six months later it still shows the same dates. If someone opens an old fixed-range report expecting current numbers, they will read stale ones. Name fixed-range reports so the dates are obvious, such as Q2 close – Bluebird Coffee.

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Which date the period filters on

Each source has its own idea of “the date”. The date basis is the field the window applies to. This changes the answer. An expenses report on Expense date counts money by when it was spent. The same report on Date submitted counts by when the claim came in. Both are valid; they answer different questions.
For a receivables aging report, use the Due date basis on the Invoices source. Aging is measured from the due date, so windowing on the issue date will not line up with what you are reading.

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Records with no date

If a record has no value for the chosen basis – a task with no due date, an expense never submitted – it falls outside a windowed report rather than being dropped onto some other date. Projects and tasks are still included as a zero row when the report groups by them, so they never vanish from a project-grouped report.

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How to set a period

1

Open Period

In the report builder, open the Period section. The header chip shows the current window at a glance.
2

Pick the type

Choose Relative or Fixed range in the Period type dropdown.
3

Pick the window

For Relative, choose one of the nine ranges. For Fixed range, pick a start and an end date.
4

Check the preview

The preview reruns immediately, so you can see the effect before saving.

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Changing the period without changing the report

On a saved report you are only reading, the Period control at the top is a temporary override. Change it and the report reruns – the saved report is untouched. A banner confirms it:
Temporary preview You’re previewing with temporary filters. They won’t change this saved report.
Reset puts it back. Save as new report keeps the change as a new report, if you can create reports. The read-only viewer also shows a context strip above the table with Date range, Grouped by, Sorted by and Filters, so you can always see which window the numbers cover.

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Example

Northwind Studio runs the same question over three windows. Daniel Okafor builds a receivables report on the Invoices source, sets the date basis to Due date, and the period to This month. He now sees everything falling due this month, split into the aging buckets.

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Permissions

Setting a period needs no capability of its own. The rules that apply:
  • Changing the period on a saved report needs edit rights on that report – report.edit plus ownership, or report.manage.
  • A temporary period override in the viewer needs nothing beyond report.view, because nothing is saved.
See /reports/report-permissions.

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What happens next

The period travels with the report. An export covers the report’s period. A scheduled email runs its saved period – so a weekly email on Last 7 days always sends the last seven days, not the seven days from when it was created.

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Common questions

No. The window is worked out at the moment the report runs, never frozen when it was saved.
Yes. It covers today plus the six days before it.
On your workspace’s week-start day – the same day timesheets use.
Not in one report. Build the report twice with different periods, or pivot on a date bucket such as Month to see several periods as columns. See /reports/grouping-and-pivots.
They may fall outside the chosen date basis. An expense with no submission date is excluded from a report windowed on Date submitted. Switch the basis to Expense date.
Yes. The email runs the report’s saved period against the day it fires, so a Last 7 days report is always the previous seven days.

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Troubleshooting

Build a report

The Period section inside the whole builder.

Report sources

Which date fields each source allows.

Grouping and pivots

Date buckets inside the window.

Schedule a report

How the period behaves on a recurring email.

Dates, times and timezones

Which clock a calendar day follows.