> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.timetracker.in/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Create and manage groups

> Add, rename, reorder, archive and delete groups in workspace settings, and find where a person is actually put into a group.

The **Groups** screen is where you keep the list of standing teams in your
workspace – Design, Development, Client Services. Groups are how you bundle
people for reporting and for deciding who a manager can see.

Open it at **Settings → Team Members → Groups**, or go to
`/{workspaceSlug}/settings/groups`.

## Who can open this screen

You need the `group.manage` capability. By default only **Owner** and **Admin**
hold it.

<Note>
  Without `group.manage`, the **Groups** item does not appear in the settings menu.
  Hiding the link is a convenience. Every create, rename, reorder and delete is
  checked again on the server.
</Note>

## Group vs project membership

These two get mixed up often, so hold them apart.

|                        | What it is                                                                                                          | Where you set it                  |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| **Group**              | A standing team of people that lasts across projects. Sarah Lin is in Design whatever she is working on this month. | Here, and on each person's record |
| **Project membership** | Who works on one project. It changes when the project changes.                                                      | On the project                    |

A person keeps their group when a project ends. A person leaves a project without
leaving their group.

## What a group is used for

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Reporting" icon="chart-bar">
    Reports can group hours and money by group. The order you set on this screen
    is the order groups appear in reports.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Supervision scope" icon="eye">
    A role can be scoped to "their projects, and people in their group", so group
    membership decides whose timesheets and leave that role reaches.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Group pickers" icon="list">
    The **Groups** field on a person's record and on the add-member form offers
    the active groups from this list.
  </Card>

  <Card title="The roster" icon="users">
    The **Groups** column on the team members roster shows each person's groups
    as badges.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

<Note>
  A group is not a permission. Being in Design grants nothing on its own. What a
  person may do comes from their role, and how far they can see comes from
  supervision scope.
</Note>

## The groups list

The screen shows one card, **All groups**, with a table of every group.

| Column  | What it shows                                                                                      |
| ------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Group   | The group's name. An **Archived** or **In Trash** badge sits next to it when the group is retired. |
| Created | The date the group was added, in your workspace's date format.                                     |

Above the table is an **Add group** row. At the top right of the card is the
state filter. Use the **Search groups…** box to filter by name, and click a
column header to sort.

When there are no groups the table reads "No groups yet – add one above to group
members for reporting."

### The state filter

The dropdown chooses which groups are listed: **Active**, **Archived**, **Trash**
or **All**. It opens on **Active**.

## Create a group

<Steps>
  <Step title="Type a name in the Add group row">
    The box at the top of the card reads "New group name…".
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click Add group, or press Enter">
    The button is greyed out until the box has a name in it.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check the confirmation">
    A "Group created." message appears and the new group joins the bottom of the
    list.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Names have to be filled in and unique in the workspace. A name already used by an
active or archived group is refused – an archived group can come back, and a
restore must never bring a duplicate name with it.

New groups are added at the end of the list. Move them with the arrow buttons.

## Rename a group

<Steps>
  <Step title="Click the pencil on the group's row">
    A **Rename group** dialog opens with the current name in the **Name** field.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Type the new name">
    Press **Enter**, or click **Save**. **Save** stays disabled until the name
    actually changes.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check the confirmation">
    A "Group renamed." message appears.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Renaming does not move anybody. Everyone in the group stays in it, and reports
pick up the new name.

## Reorder groups

Each row has an up arrow and a down arrow. Click them to move a group one place
at a time. The up arrow is disabled on the first row and the down arrow on the
last.

The order you set here is the order groups appear in reports, so put the ones you
read most at the top.

## Archive or delete a group

The three-dot menu at the end of each row holds the retirement actions.

| Action             | What happens                                                                       |
| ------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Archive            | The group leaves the group pickers. Its members keep the group. Reversible.        |
| Restore            | The group comes back as active, with exactly the same people in it.                |
| Delete             | The group moves to Trash. Reversible from the **Trash** filter.                    |
| Delete permanently | The group is destroyed. The people are kept, but they no longer belong to a group. |

<Warning>
  **Delete permanently** is the only action that unfiles people. Everyone in the
  group stays in the workspace with their role, rates and logged time untouched,
  but they come out of the group and drop out of any report grouped by group.
</Warning>

Archiving is the safe way to retire a team that is no longer forming. The group
stops being offered when someone is filed, but the history it explains stays
readable.

## Where you put people into a group

You do not add people to a group on this screen. Group membership is a fact about
the person, so it is set on the person.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the roster">
    Go to **Settings → Team Members** and click the person's name.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Open the Employment section">
    Look for the **Reporting** card.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pick their groups">
    The **Groups** field is a multi-select of every active group.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    An "Employment details saved." message confirms it.
  </Step>
</Steps>

You can also set groups when you add someone, in the **Groups** field of the
**Add a team member** form.

The **Employment** section needs the `member.changeRole` capability. Removing a
person from a group is the same field – clear the group from the multi-select and
save.

### A person can be in several groups

Somebody can belong to more than one group at a time. A senior developer might be
in Development and in Client Services.

The **first** group in the list is their **primary group**. That is the one their
schedule resolves from and the one their report totals roll up to, so a person's
hours are never counted twice in a report grouped by group.

<Tip>
  If a person's hours land in the wrong bucket on a report, check the order of
  their groups. The first one wins.
</Tip>

## Example

Northwind Studio is a 12-person agency with three standing teams.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Tom Whitfield creates the groups">
    Tom (Admin) opens **Settings → Team Members → Groups** and adds `Design`,
    `Development` and `Client Services`.
  </Step>

  <Step title="He orders them">
    He uses the arrows to put Design first, then Development, then Client
    Services. Reports now list them in that order.
  </Step>

  <Step title="He files the team">
    On each person's record he sets their groups. Sarah Lin goes in Design, Jonas
    Bergman in Development, Priya Raman in Client Services and Development, with
    Client Services first.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Priya's scope starts working">
    Priya's role is scoped to "their projects, and people in their group", so she
    can now see the timesheets of everyone in Client Services as well as everyone
    on her projects.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Priya's hours report under Client Services, because that is her primary group,
even though she is in Development too.

## Common questions

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Does putting someone in a group give them access to anything?">
    Not on its own. A group is a label. Access comes from their role, and reach
    comes from supervision scope. A role scoped to "their group" is the one case
    where group membership changes what a person sees.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does a group give someone a project?">
    No. Being in a group never adds a project. Project access follows project
    membership.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What happens to a person when I archive their group?">
    Nothing. They stay in the workspace and they stay in the group. The group only
    stops appearing in the pickers.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can two groups have the same name?">
    No. Names have to be unique across active and archived groups. A group in
    Trash does not hold its name, so you can reuse it.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How do I find a group I archived?">
    Switch the filter at the top right from **Active** to **Archived** or
    **All**, then use **Restore** in its three-dot menu.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can a person be in no group at all?">
    Yes. The **Groups** column on the roster shows a dash for them. They still
    appear in reports, they are grouped under no group.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Related guides

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Groups" icon="users" href="/team/groups">
    What groups are for, and how to plan them for your business.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Team members" icon="user" href="/settings/team-members">
    The roster where you file a person into a group.
  </Card>

  <Card title="The member record" icon="id-card" href="/team/member-record">
    Every section on one person's page, including Employment.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Supervision scope" icon="eye" href="/concepts/supervision-scope">
    How "their group" decides who a role can see.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Roles" icon="key" href="/settings/roles">
    Where scope is set, next to the permissions it governs.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Reports" icon="chart-bar" href="/reports/overview">
    Group hours and money by group.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>