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A timesheet bundles your time entries for one period. Submitting the period sends every draft entry in it for review at once.

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The period is the unit

You do not submit a day. You do not submit a single entry. You submit a period. Your workspace picks the period length once, in Settings → Time policies. The daily grid always shows 7 days. If the workspace uses biweekly or monthly, submitting the week you are looking at submits the whole period that contains it.
Period boundaries are read in the workspace timezone, not your browser’s. A period means the same dates for the person filling it in and the person approving it, wherever either of them is.

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Two layers of status

This is the part people mix up. There are two status layers, and they answer different questions. A week’s overall status follows its least advanced entry. If nine entries are approved and one is still draft, the week reads as draft. Full detail is on /timesheets/timesheet-statuses.

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The loop

1

Draft

You track time. Every new entry starts as a draft. You can edit, duplicate, or delete it freely.
2

Submitted

You click Submit timesheet. Every draft entry in the period flips to submitted, and the period locks from your edits.
3

Approved or sent back

A reviewer approves the period, or asks for changes. Asking for changes sends every entry back to draft with the reason attached.
4

Locked

An owner or admin closes a period through a date. Every approved entry on or before that date locks. Nothing can be edited, deleted, or added for that range.
5

Invoiced

Locked billable time can go onto an invoice.

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What locks, and when

This is the rule that surprises people most, so it is worth stating plainly.

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Who the submission goes to

When you open the submit dialog, TimeTracker tells you who can review it.
  • Goes to – one named reviewer.
  • Goes to any of – several reviewers, all of whom can act on it.
  • No approver is available for this timesheet yet – it goes to your workspace admins instead.
A reviewer is eligible when they hold time.approve and they supervise you. Naming a reviewer is a routing note, not a lock. Every reviewer who supervises you sees the submission in their queue, so nobody can quietly route around a manager.

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Example

Northwind Studio runs weekly periods. Sarah Lin tracks 32 hours between Sunday and Saturday. On Friday she submits. All 32 hours of entries flip from draft to submitted, and her week locks. Priya Raman spots that 3 hours on Bluebird Coffee’s Website Redesign were marked non-billable by mistake. She clicks Request changes and writes “3h on homepage wireframes should be billable.” Every entry in Sarah’s week goes back to draft. Sarah fixes the 3 hours, resubmits, and Priya approves. Those 3 hours at Sarah’s 100/hourrateadd∗∗100/hour rate add **300** of billable value to the project. At month end, Tom Whitfield closes the period through the last day of the month. Sarah’s approved hours lock.

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Options and settings

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Permissions

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Plan and app gating

Filling in and submitting a timesheet is free. Approving is Pro. A Free workspace still collects submissions. They queue, they keep their totals, and nothing is destroyed. Upgrading clears the whole backlog. The Timesheets app must be on in Settings → Apps, and it depends on the Time tracking app.

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Common questions

You always submit the whole period, never a single day. That is the unit approval works on.
You cannot add entries to a submitted period. Withdraw it, add the entry, and submit again.
The period reads Changes requested. The individual entries go back to draft and carry the reason, so they show as Rejected until you redo them.
Yes, if you hold time.approve. Your own submitted period appears in your queue like anyone else’s.
New submissions use the new length. Periods already submitted keep the boundaries they were submitted with.

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Troubleshooting

  • “That period has been submitted for approval, so it can’t be changed.” Withdraw the period, or ask your approver to send it back.
  • “That period is closed.” An owner or admin locked it. Corrections go through an adjustment – see /approvals/adjustments.
  • “That period doesn’t line up with your workspace’s timesheet weeks.” Navigate to a period with the arrows rather than typing a date range by hand.

Timesheet statuses

Every status and every legal move between them.

Fill in a timesheet

Enter hours in the list or the grouped grid.

Submit a timesheet

Send a period for approval.

Close a period

Lock approved time through a date.

Expected vs tracked hours

Where the target hours on your grid come from.

Roles and capabilities

The permission model behind every rule above.