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The Time Clock records presence. People clock in when they start the day and clock out when they finish. It answers “were you at work?”, not “what were you working on?”.

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Time Clock versus time tracking

These are two separate systems. Do not mix them up.
Clocking in never creates a time entry. Clocking out never creates one either. If your workspace bills clients, people still track time separately.
Many teams run both: the clock for attendance and payroll, time tracking for client work.

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What you get

A break is not a thing you create. It is the gap between two sessions. Clock out to start a break, clock in again to end it.

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Turning it on

The Time Clock app is off by default. A workspace opts into it deliberately.
1

Turn on Work schedules first

Go to Settings → Apps and make sure Work schedules is on. The Time Clock cannot be switched on without it.
2

Turn on Time Clock

In the same panel, switch Time Clock on.
3

Give people a schedule

Expected hours and absence come from a person’s work schedule. Without one, every worked day reads Unscheduled. See Assign a schedule.
Time Clock requires Work schedules. Expected minutes and absence detection are resolved from the schedule. Turning Work schedules off would take Time Clock with it.
Switching the app off later hides the clock and the timecards. Recorded sessions are kept, and missing clock-out reminders stop.

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The plan

Clocking in and out is part of the attendance feature, which is on the Free plan. Anyone can record their hours. Approving a timecard is Pro. A Free workspace can clock in, build timecards, and submit them – the submissions wait until the workspace upgrades. See Plans and features.

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How a day is built

  1. You clock in. A session opens, stamped with the server’s clock.
  2. You clock out for lunch. That session closes. The gap becomes a break.
  3. You clock in again. A second session opens.
  4. You clock out at the end of the day.
  5. TimeTracker compares the day’s worked minutes with the minutes your schedule expected, and gives the day a status.
The day a session belongs to is the calendar date it started, in your workspace timezone. An overnight shift from 23:00 to 02:00 belongs to the earlier day.

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Example

Northwind Studio turns the Time Clock on for its studio staff. Sarah Lin is scheduled 09:00–17:00, eight hours. Her timecard for that day shows:
  • In 09:04, Out 17:10
  • Worked 7h 21m
  • Break 45m
  • Scheduled 8h
  • Variance −39m
  • Status Present
She was four minutes late, but the five-minute grace window covers it, so the day is Present rather than Late.

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Permissions

Owner, Admin, Project Manager, Finance, Member and Contractor can all clock in. Client contacts never clock. Full table: Time Clock permissions.

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Common questions

Yes, if you bill clients. The clock records attendance; time entries record what you worked on and what it is worth.
Yes. TimeTracker asks “Clock in on a day off?” and lets you carry on. The day is marked Worked on day off.
That is your workspace’s habit, not a rule. Clocking out and back in creates a break, so the worked total excludes it.
No. A session belongs to one person. This documentation covers clocking in from the app only.
A daily sweep flags the open session and tells you. It never invents a clock-out time. See Missing clock-out.

Clock in and out

Using the clock button day to day.

Timecards

Reading and correcting your timecard.

Absence and expected hours

Where scheduled hours come from.

Work schedules

The schedules the clock is measured against.