What is Timesheet Lock?

Timesheet Lock lets administrators prevent changes to time and expense entries before a certain date. Once a lock is in place, no one can add, edit, or delete time or expense entries on or before the lock date. This helps ensure that historical records stay accurate — especially after payroll runs, invoicing deadlines, or financial close periods.

There are two ways to lock timesheets:

• Auto-lock: A recurring lock that automatically triggers on a schedule (e.g., every Monday at 5:00 PM), locking all entries up to a certain cutoff date.
• Manual lock: A one-time lock that an administrator applies from the Approval page, locking all entries up to a chosen date.

There is always one lock active at a time. Both auto-lock and manual lock set the same company-wide lock date. A newer lock simply moves the lock date forward or backward depending on the date chosen.

Requires the Approvals module. Timesheet Lock — including auto-lock — is only available on accounts where the Timesheet approval module is enabled. See Submitting and approving timesheets to enable approvals first.

Disabling the Approvals module after the fact will turn off auto-lock and auto-submit for you, but it will not unlock any entries that are already locked — those stay protected until an administrator clears the lock manually.

Where to access it

Timesheet Lock is managed from two places:

• Settings > Preferences — to configure (or disable) the recurring auto-lock schedule and the optional auto-submit setting.

• Approval page — to view the current lock status and apply or edit a one-time manual lock.

   

The Lock Status Banner in Approval

At the top of the Approval page, a status banner shows the current state of the lock.

The banner shows information about the current lock status and, if auto-lock is enabled, on what date the next auto-lock will take effect and what dates will be locked. It allows to:

• Add auto-lock in Settings / Edit auto-lock in Settings. This link in the lock status banner takes you to Settings > Preferences, where you can configure a recurring auto-lock.
• Apply one-time manual lock / Edit one-time manual lock. This button on the lock status banner opens a dialog to set a one-time manual lock. The dialog contains:
  • Lock until: A date picker. You can select any date up to and including today (in your company's timezone). Future dates are not allowed.
  • Automatically submit time and expenses upon locking: An optional checkbox. When checked, all unsubmitted time and expenses up to the lock date will be automatically submitted for approval.
  • Remove: Clears the lock date entirely. After removal, no entries are locked and all dates become editable again — until the next auto-lock triggers (if auto-lock is enabled).

Auto-lock

Auto-lock is a recurring lock that automatically triggers on a schedule and locks all entries up to a certain cutoff date. It will never bring a lock date earlier than the current lock date.

Modes

Auto-lock always locks everything up to and including a chosen cutoff day — never just a single isolated period. Which cutoff it picks, and how often it fires, depends on the mode an administrator chooses under What should auto-lock do? in Settings > Preferences:

• Lock through the deadline. Tied to the company's timesheet deadline. Fires a configurable number of days after each deadline at a chosen time, and locks every entry dated on or before the deadline day. Only available when a timesheet deadline is set for the company.
• Custom period. Fires on its own schedule, independent of the deadline. Choose what to lock:
  • the previous week — fires weekly on a chosen weekday at a chosen time. Locks every entry dated on or before the last day of the previous week.
  • the previous month — fires monthly on a chosen day of the month at a chosen time. Locks every entry dated on or before the last day of the previous month.
  • entries older than N days — fires daily at a chosen time, with a rolling window of 1–90 days. Locks every entry older than that window.

Each mode carries its own scheduling controls and is summarised in the card below it, so admins can see the exact date and time the next lock will run and which entries it will catch.

Auto-submit

Below the mode controls, an optional toggle — Automatically submit time and expenses — submits any unsubmitted time and expenses on the team's behalf at the moment auto-lock fires, so submission and locking stay in step. Auto-submit is only available when auto-lock is enabled.

Disabling auto-lock

Unchecking Automatically lock time and expenses while a lock date is currently in effect opens a Disable auto-lock? dialog, where you can either:

• Disable only — turns auto-lock off but keeps the existing lock date in place (already-locked entries stay read-only).
• Disable and unlock — turns auto-lock off and clears the company-wide lock date in a single save, so all dates become editable again.

Lock indicators in the timesheet

• Auto-lock schedule banner: When an auto-lock is enabled or updated, the timesheet and expense views (calendar, week, day, and expenses) will show a dismissible banner informing everyone of the new locking schedule.
• Auto-lock reminder: If auto-lock is enabled, the timesheet and expense views (calendar, week, day, and expenses) show a reminder counting down to the next scheduled lock, like Auto-lock in 3 days. Hovering over the reminder will show a tooltip with the exact date and time of the next auto-lock.

Important notes

• One lock at a time. Both auto-lock and manual lock set the same company-wide lock date. There is no concept of stacking or layering locks.
• A manual lock overrides a previously triggered auto-lock. If the auto-lock has already set the lock date to January 15 and you apply a manual lock to January 10, the lock date moves back to January 10 — unlocking January 11–15.
• A manual lock does not cancel future auto-locks. The auto-lock schedule continues as normal. When the next auto-lock triggers, it will update the lock date again.
• The lock date never moves backward automatically. If the auto-lock would set a date earlier than the current lock date, the current lock date is preserved. For example, if a manual lock is set to January 20 and the next auto-lock would lock until January 15, the lock stays at January 20.
• A manual lock can only be set up to today. You cannot lock future dates.
• The lock applies to the entire company. All team members are affected. There is no per-user or per-project lock.
• Running timers are stopped. When a lock is applied, any running timers on entries that fall on or before the lock date are automatically stopped.