Whether you’re just getting started with Hubstaff, or want to learn more about our features, this frequently asked questions list will help you use Hubstaff like a seasoned pro! You can browse through the topics below to find what you are looking for:
What is Hubstaff?
How do I invite team members into Hubstaff?
What are user Roles? And what data can each role access?
How do users start tracking their time, screenshots, and other activities?
Where can I see the recorded time, screenshots, and other activities?
Why am I seeing Browser Time, Mobile time, Idle Time, or Resumed Time instead of screenshots?
What is Hubstaff?
Hubstaff is an employee time tracking software with screenshots and activity monitoring, reporting, and automated payments.
To begin tracking, employees need to install our time tracking application on their machines (except for customers running the corporate app) to track time, activity levels, record URLs and applications, as well as take screenshots. The app can also record locations (mobile) depending on your plan type.
Workers can select a project, and Hubstaff will then track time and activity to that specific project, which becomes viewable in the web application. When a user is running Hubstaff, randomized screenshots (on paid plans, applications, URLs, and locations (mobile only or with Enterprise/locations add-on)) will be taken about every 10 minutes. Hubstaff also calculates activity percentages to show how active your team is. Here’s how the activity levels are calculated: Each second we label the user as active or inactive. A mouse movement or keyboard stroke = active. No keyboard and no mouse = inactive.
We add these numbers up and give a total % of activity for each 10-minute segment.
We track if the user went idle. Five minutes of inactivity triggers an inactive status (or a specific duration set in the idle timeout setting. When the contractor becomes active again the desktop client gives the option of removing that time from their log because they were idle.
How do I invite team members into Hubstaff?
To invite team members, simply navigate to People > Members > Invite Member then enter their email addresses (you can add multiple addresses to invite multiple users). You can also select which projects the new team members belong to and set their role in the organization. For a detailed guide, click here.
You can also send this Quick Start Guide for New Users to your team members:
Quick Start Guide for New Users
What are user Roles? And what data can each role access?
Roles will indicate what level of access allowed for each team member. Hubstaff has the following access levels: Organization Owner, Organization Manager, Project Manager, Users, and Project Viewer. You can view our Roles and Permissions guide to learn more.
How do users start tracking their time, screenshots, and other activities?
Users can track time by downloading the Hubstaff app for desktop (Windows, Mac, and Linux), mobile (iOS and Android), and Chrome (Chrome browser extension and Chromebook application) or add time manually if you prefer.
Installation guides:
Mac
Linux
iOS
Android
Chrome extension
Chromebook application
Where can I see the recorded time, screenshots, and other activities?
To view the time recorded by each team member, first, navigate to Timesheets > View & edit > Daily then select the date and the team member’s name from the drop-down. Furthermore, to view screenshots, application data, URLs, and locations, you can navigate to the Activity page on the sidebar.
Why am I seeing Browser Time, Mobile time, Idle Time, or Resumed Time instead of screenshots?
Mobile time means the user is tracking time on a mobile app, Browser time means that the user is tracking time using the Chrome App or Chrome Extension and the Screenshare feature is not enabled and Web Timer Time means the user recorded time using the web timer on the web dashboard.
Idle time is the time where no activity was recorded. You can set up the app to automatically discard idle time by clicking here. Resumed Time is time kept by the user after the app or system crashed or the PC was opened after sleep.
The Dashboard page can be accessed via the sidebar on the left-hand side of the page.
The Dashboard will show you an overview of key metrics in your organization including the following:
- Weekly Activity – shows you the weekly activity percentages for your whole organization
- Worked this week – total hours tracked per week
- Spent this week – total running costs based on user pay rates for the week
- Members – shows which users are online/offline, which projects they’re tracking time to and total weekly/daily hours tracked
- Low activity – shows users with low activity levels
- Recent activity – shows the latest activity from logged users
- Projects – shows the total tracked time for projects
- To–dos – shows total tracked time for to-dos
You can filter the view for either yourself (Me) or your team (All) on the top-left corner of your dashboard page:
You can also customize which widgets you’d like to see on your dashboard by clicking on the Manage Widgets button.
I want to see which users are working now and what projects they’re working on. Is this possible?
Yes. You can navigate to the People > Members widget which will show you which users are currently tracking time, what projects and to-dos they’re tracking time on, and how much time they’ve tracked for the day as well as for the week.
If the widget is unavailable, simply click on Manage widgets on the upper right-hand side of the page then select Members.
Why am I seeing different daily totals on the dashboard (Users)?
The dashboard data will always follow your organization’s timezone. If your timezone is different from your organization, you will see different daily totals. To view them in your local timezone, first, go to Timesheets > View & edit > Weekly, after that, select your local timezone from the timezone drop-down menu.
The Organizations menu can be accessed by clicking on the organization name located at the top-right corner of the screen.
How do I add a new organization?
Can I create more than one organization?
My organization is suspended, how do I reactivate it?
How do I edit organization settings?
Can I transfer organizations from one account to another?
How do I add a new organization?
Simply click on the organization name on the top right corner of the screen, click on the Organizations menu then click on Add Organization.
Can I create more than one organization?
Yes. Do note that each organization requires its own subscription plan.
My organization is suspended, how do I reactivate it?
Organizations are suspended when either your 14-day trial has expired, or there is a payment failure on the account. If your trial has expired, you can simply click on Choose Plan then enter your payment details and the organization will be reactivated. For payment errors, you can either wait 2 business days until the system automatically charges your card or can contact us at support@hubstaff.com to reactivate your account.
How do I edit organization settings?
Simply click on Actions on the right side of each organization’s name then click on Edit (This option is only available to organization owners). Then you can:
- Rename your organization
- Add your organization’s address
- Add an organization logo
- Input your Tax ID
- Currency
- Week Start Day
- Change your organization’s timezone
Can I transfer organizations from one account to another?
No. Organizations cannot be transferred from one account to another.
The Projects page can be accessed via the sidebar (Project management > Projects) on the left-hand side of the page.
How do I create a new project?
I can’t track my time, the app shows “No projects selected”
How do I remove projects?
How do I restore an archived project?
How do I edit projects?
Can I set budgets per project?
Can I set different Pay/Bill rates per project?
Can I transfer a project from one organization to another?
Can I set a user as a manager on a specific project and not the entire organization?
How do I create a new project?
Simply navigate to Project management > Projects > Add Project then add team members to your project. Optional – you can also add clients to projects.
I can’t track my time, the app shows “No projects selected”
You’ll have to contact either your organization owner or manager to assign you to a project to be able to start tracking time. You may aslo ask them to ensure that your tracking is enabled. You may find more on this guide here: No projects message on my app..
How do I remove projects?
You may Archive a project so that it is not visible on the projects list. To archive a project, click on Actions on the far right side of the project name then select the Archive project option.
How do I restore an archived project?
Simply navigate to Project Management > Projects > click on the Archived tab on the top-left corner > next to the project name, click on Actions > Restore.
How do I edit projects?
You may edit a project by clicking on Actions on the far right side of the project name then select Edit project. You can then modify the name, team members, clients assigned to a project.
Can I set budgets per project?
Yes. To set project budgets, navigate to Project Management > Projects on your sidebar, then click on the project name. Under the Budget column, click on Edit budget. You may also follow this guide on setting project-level budgets.
Can I set different Pay/Bill rates per project?
You can set different pay/bill rates per user on each project. This setting overrides the organization’s pay/bill rate set for each user. To do this, simply go to Project Management > Projects > click on the project name > on the Payment column, click on Edit then set different Pay/Bill rates for each user.
Can I transfer a project from one organization to another?
Yes. You can move a project to another organization under the same account. To do this, simply navigate to Project Management > Projects > click on the project name > click on Actions > Transfer. You can also follow this guide.
Can I set a user as a manager on a specific project and not the entire organization?
Yes. Simply navigate to Projects, and click on the project name. Under the Role column, select Manager from the dropdown menu. Then, click on People > Members under the role column. Select User so that the team member only has admin privileges on a specific project and not the entire organization.
The To-dos page can be accessed via the sidebar (Project management > To-dos) on the left-hand side of the page.
How do I add a new To-do?
I’m unable to add a To-do/Task for a certain project. How do I add a To-do/task?
I am assigned a to-do/task but there is nothing showing on the app?
I can’t see my completed tasks, how do I view them?
How do I filter tasks for each project?
How do I add a new To-do?
Simply navigate to Project management > To-dos then click on Add a To-Do. Then you can add the name of the to-do and assign it to a user under the project where you’re adding a to-do/task.
You can also add tasks via the desktop app as shown below:
I’m unable to add a To-do/Task for a certain project. How do I add a To-do/task?
When a project is connected to an integration, you will only be able to add tasks from the integration’s website. For example, if the project you’re trying to add a to-dos/tasks on is connected to Trello, you will have to create a new task/card on Trello then, assign it to a user for it to sync back to the Hubstaff app, where your team can track time to them.
I am assigned a to-do/task but there is nothing showing on the app?
If the task was created in Hubstaff, you can simply click on the refresh button (circle icon with an arrow) on the bottom left side of the app. If after refreshing, the task still hasn’t appeared, please check with your manager/owner to make sure that you are assigned to the project and the task they created.
When the task was added on an integration page (Asana, Trello, Jira, etc.), the organization owner/manager needs to make sure that:
1. They have linked projects and users on the integration page.
2. You have been connected to the integration (once added, users will receive a confirmation email to connect your account to the integration).
3. The task is assigned to you on the integration page (Asana, Trello, Jira, etc.)
I can’t see my completed tasks, how do I view them?
To view completed tasks, click on the “Show completed to-dos” button under the task selection drop-down.
How do I filter tasks for each project?
You can filter tasks assigned to each user by selecting the name of the user on the “Assignee” drop-down next to the project name as shown here:
The Members page can be accessed via the sidebar (People > Members) on the left-hand side of the page.
How do I invite team members into Hubstaff?
How do I change user organization roles?
How do I edit project memberships from the Members page?
How do I edit Pay/Bill Rates and Pay Periods for each employee?
Can I set fixed rates instead of hourly rates?
Can I create weekly time limits for each team member?
How do I resend or modify invites?
If I remove a user, will it delete all their data?
When I change the Pay/Bill rates, will it only affect future-dated hours?
How do I invite team members into Hubstaff?
To invite team members, first navigate to People > Members > Invite Member then, enter their email addresses (you can add multiple addresses to invite multiple users). You can also select which projects the new team members belong to and set their role within the organization. For a detailed guide, click here. You can also send this Quick Start Guide for New Users to your team members:
How do I change user organization roles?
To change user roles, navigate to People > Members > then on the Role column, click on the drop-down menu to assign a role for your team member. You can assign each team member as a User, Manager, or Owner within your organization. For more information about roles, click here.
How do I edit project memberships from the Members page?
You can manage project memberships for each team member by clicking on Edit under the Projects column of the Members page. After clicking, you will be presented with options to assign users to specific projects and assign different roles for each project. For more information, click here.
How do I edit Pay/Bill Rates and Pay Periods for each employee?
To add a Pay Rate, as well as Pay Periods for each employee, click Pay Rate under the Pay/Bill tab on the Members page. Pay rates are the rates you would pay your employee. Here you can also set up the pay period for users and enable timesheet approvals.
To add a Bill Rate, click on Bill Rate under the Pay/Bill tab on the Members page. Bill Rates are the rates you can charge your client for the hours worked.
When pay periods are set, the system would automatically mark those hours as paid based on your selected pay period.
Can I set fixed rates instead of hourly rates?
Certainly. To set a fixed-rate pay, simply click on Edit under the Payments column, then set the Pay Type to Fixed amount.
Can I create weekly time limits for each team member?
Yes. Simply click Edit under the Weekly Limit column of the Members page, next to the member’s name. You can also click here to find out more about our weekly limits feature.
How do I resend or modify invites?
Simply go to People > Members > Invites then on the far right side of the user’s email address, click on Actions. Then you will be presented with options to edit role and membership, edit payment details, edit weekly limits, resend, and delete invites.
If I remove a user, will it delete all their data?
When you remove a user, the tracked time will still be available on reports, however, activity data (screenshots, apps, URLs, locations) will be archived and can only be reactivated once the user is re-invited into the organization. You may read more here on What data will be available after removal and how to access it .
When I change the Pay/Bill rates, will it only affect future hours that are tracked?
The unpaid hours will change from the effective date when the new pay rate or bill rate takes effect.
Where can I view Screenshots/Apps/URLs?
Who can view Screenshots, Apps, and URLs data?
How are activity levels calculated?
Why am I seeing Browser Time, Mobile time, Idle Time, or Resumed Time instead of screenshots?
I’m seeing lower activity levels than expected for my employees. Why is this??
How to delete screenshots?
Can I filter screenshots by project?
I’m not seeing any screenshots on the activity page, only “No screenshots”?
I’m seeing the same screenshots and/or the same or very high activity levels for a user. How is this possible?
Can idle time be automatically discarded?
Does Hubstaff record multiple monitors?
Can I change what thumbnail appears on the activity screen when using 2 monitors?
Where can I view Screenshots/Apps/URLs?
Simply navigate to the Activity page on the sidebar then choose between Screenshots, Apps, and URLs, to view recorded activities from your team members.
Who can view Screenshots, Apps,and URLs data?
Organization owners and managers (on the organization level) will be able to view screenshots and all activity data (if a manager is assigned as a manager on the project level, they will only be able to view screenshots on that specific project). For more information on what various user roles can view within your organization, click here.
How are activity levels calculated?
Basically, the equation for activity percentages is the aggregate duration of keyboard and mouse activity over the total time tracked. Based on the image below, it says the activity levels are at 87% over 10 minutes, which means the user is active 8.7 minutes or 522 seconds over 10 minutes or 600 seconds.
For more information on how we calculate activity levels, please click here.
Why am I seeing Browser Time, Mobile time, Idle Time, or Resumed Time instead of screenshots?
Mobile time means the user is tracking time on a mobile app, Browser time means that the user is tracking time using the Chrome App or Chrome Extension and the Screenshare feature is not enabled and Web Timer Time means the user recorded time using the web timer on the web dashboard.
Idle time is the time where no activity was recorded. You can set up the app to automatically discard idle time by clicking here. Resumed Time is time kept by the user after the app or system crashed or the PC was opened after sleep.
I’m seeing lower activity levels than expected for my employees. Why is this?
There can be a few reasons that you are seeing low activity levels and percentages:
- Workers being hit with inactivity warnings and then keeping the time – Details here.
- Small blocks of time recorded – so for instance, if the person logs in at 12:59 PM and work for 30 seconds, they could be not very active but since our server communicates every 10 minutes, this 30 seconds may not be very indicative of overall performance.
For more information, click here.
How to delete screenshots?
When enabled on your organization’s settings, you can delete screenshots by following this guide.
Can I filter screenshots by project?
Certainly, you can. First, you’ll need to navigate to the Activity page, then click on Screenshots. After that, select the name of the team member from the Member drop-down menu, then click filter and filter the screenshots by Project/Work order on the drop-down menu.
I’m not seeing any screenshots on the activity page, only “No screenshots”?
This happens when the screenshots take longer than usual to upload to our servers and are still trying to upload. This usually relies on the user’s internet connection/bandwidth, firewall software, or a VPN/proxy connection of some sort that could be blocking the connection to our servers. As soon as Hubstaff finds a good/stable internet connection all the queued data will get uploaded. This could also mean the screenshots were manually deleted by the user when enabled.
Note: Screenshots are not lost, they will get uploaded since we store the data locally on the user’s computer.
Please see the example below:
You can also contact us via support@hubstaff.com if you have further questions.
I’m seeing the same screenshots and/or the same or very high activity levels for a user. How is this possible?
You may contact support@hubstaff.com and we’ll be glad to verify if the activity is valid or from false input.
Can idle time be automatically discarded?
Yes. You need to set the Keep Idle Time setting to Never on the settings page. This feature is only available on our Team plan.
Does Hubstaff record multiple monitors?
Hubstaff will capture all active displays connected to a computer when the user is tracking time. You can see all the screenshots by clicking on the thumbnail on the activity page. You will also see multiple image icons underneath the thumbnail to indicate that all the screens were captured. For more information, click here.
Can I change what thumbnail appears on the activity screen when using 2 monitors?
To change what display is used for the thumbnail image, please follow these steps: Under your control panel display settings, select Show Desktop Only on 2 (or whichever monitor you are using for your main work)
Why aren’t locations not being tracked?
The locations tracked are different from where the user traveled. How often are GPS points made?
Why aren’t locations being tracked?
First off, Location Tracking is only available as an add-on with the Team plan or as a bundle with the Enterprise plan. If you already subscribed to the lower plans and aren’t seeing locations being tracked, you’ll need to make sure that you upgrade to the Team plan. Additionally, location tracking is enabled in Settings. To do this, go to Settings & Policies > Features > Map > Tracked locations. Set your preference Off, Tracking time, Always. Depending on each user’s internet connectivity, the app uploads data to our servers every ~10 minutes or so. If you’re still unable to view locations after performing these steps, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
The locations tracked are different from where the user traveled. How often are GPS points made?
We rely on the OS giving us the location points. Since we use 500 meters resolution, we don’t get the locations of the user continuously. Instead, the OS will give to us when it notices a significant amount of movement. We filter out the ones that are closer than 500m unless there hasn’t been a reading accepted in the last 5 minutes. This explains why there are instances where it may appear that you are missing locations for long periods of time (inside a building that blocks GPS, etc.) or why you may see a pin drop on the map that is not accurate (in a city, inside a building, etc). For more information about how Hubstaff records location data, click here.
How do I add/edit/delete time manually?
I can only see 7 days maximum worth of data on the Timesheets > Daily page. Can I view the data for more than 7 days?
The time on my timesheets is marked as locked and we can no longer add or edit time. How can I avoid this in the future?
Why am I seeing different daily totals (Users)?
How do timesheet approvals work? How do I set it up?
How do I submit my timesheets?
Can I remove time from my employees’ timesheets?
How do I add/edit/delete time manually?
You can add/edit/delete time by following this guide.
I can only see 7 days maximum worth of data on the Timesheets > Daily page. Can I view the data for more than 7 days?
Yes. Detailed timesheets are designed to show a maximum of a month’s worth of detailed daily activity. For daily totals over an extended period, you can go to the Reports > Time and Activities section.
The time on my timesheets is marked as locked and we can no longer add or edit time. How can I avoid this in the future?
Locked time refers to the time that cannot be edited or deleted normally to preserve data integrity between your integrations and/or payments. For more information about locked time, click here.
To avoid this (on the integrations side), you can delay or disable the Time logging feature of your integration. To do this, go to Settings & Policies > Integrations > click on the integration name, click on settings and set Time logging to:
Daily – The time gets synced once per day. (The data gets sent back at midnight UTC.)
Hourly – The time gets synced once an hour.
Delayed – Delays your syncing time by a day, to allow for time manual edits. (Delayed sync is currently not supported for Quickbooks.)
Complete – The time will be pushed back to the integration tool once the task is marked as Complete, please note that not all integrations support task completion. (See the bottom of this page for a list.)
Off – Will disable synchronizing task time for customers who really do not want it synced. (For customers who do not want the comments added to their tasks with the time information).
Why am I seeing different daily totals (Users)?
The dashboard data will always follow your organization’s timezone. If your timezone is different from your organization, you will see different daily totals. To view them on your local timezone, simply go to Timesheets > View & edit > Weekly (or Daily), then select your local timezone on the timezone drop-down.
How do timesheet approvals work? How do I set it up?
Timesheet approvals allow you to approve team member’s hours before they are paid. To enable timesheet approvals, click on Timesheets > View & edit > Approvals > Set it up. Once enabled, you will see your team members’ timesheets displayed on that same page. You can click on Actions on the right side of each timesheet where you can Approve or Deny each timesheet. Once timesheets are approved, and you have automatic payments enabled, the approved timesheets will be paid.
How do I submit my timesheets?
To submit your timesheets, click on Timesheets > View & edit > Approvals, then on the far right side of each timesheet, click on Actions and then select Submit.
Can I remove time from my employees’ timesheets?
If you need to remove hours from an employee’s timesheet, first, you’ll need to deny their timesheet (Timesheets > View & edit > Approvals, then click on Actions > Deny), then remove the hours either from the activity page or the Timesheets > Daily page. After that, the user will have to resubmit their timesheet.
The Reports page can be accessed via the sidebar on the left-hand side of the page.
How do I view total hours tracked for a specific time period?
Can I save the filters I’ve applied so that I can run the same reports every month?
How do I view weekly reports?
Can I download reports?
Where can I see a report on my team’s attendance?
How do I view App and URL reports?
Can I view reports on my own timezone? (Users)
Is there a report for the time that was manually edited by my team?
How do I display a report for unpaid amounts?
Can I view a report of all payments made?
I have a certain limit of hours per week. Where can I view how much I’ve spent?
Where can I see a report of all running project budgets?
Where can I see a report of my client’s running budgets?
How do I check how much Time Off credits I have?
Where do I see all the time off transactions taken by my team?
How do I view total hours tracked for a specific time period?
To view the hours for a specific time period, click on the Reports tab on the left sidebar. From there, click on the Time & activity report (also on the left sidebar). Here is the direct link for that: https://app.hubstaff.com/reports/team/time_and_activities
At that point, you can select any custom range of days you want to see by selecting the coverage on the calendar. Once you’ve done that, it will show the hours for the time period you’ve selected, but there are a couple of optional steps you can take to organize things better if you’d like.
Click on Group by towards the top left corner and select Member – this will separate the hours by team member first rather than by day first.
You can then click on the Filters tab and then check Sum date ranges – this will show the total hours overall for the period instead of breaking it down for each day.
Can I save the filters I’ve applied so that I can run the same reports every month?
Yes. After selecting your filters on the Filters tab when generating reports, you can click on Save Filter, then enter the filter name and description. When you want to run the same report next time, simply click on the Saved Filters tab on the Filters section to run the same report.
How do I view weekly reports?
To view weekly totals, click on Reports > Weekly then you will be able to see daily and weekly totals for the selected week.
Can I download reports?
You can download reports after extracting them by clicking on the Export button. Then you’ll be able to choose whether to download the report in CSV or PDF formats.
Where can I see a report on my team’s attendance?
The Shift attendance report aids the Hubstaff scheduling feature for better schedule management. It shows your Team members’ completed, late, abandoned, and missed shifts on the Team tab. You also have the ability to view your own schedule details by clicking on the Me tab.
To access the Shift attendance report, click on the Reports tab, and then click on View all reports. For organization owners/managers choose the Team tab to check your team details. For individual users (user role), it will default to the Me tab.
For more information click here.
How do I view App and URL reports?
You can view application and URL data reports by clicking on Reports > App and URLs. You can then select the date range on the calendar. You can also click on Filters to filter app and URL data for each team member or project. For more information, click here.
Can I view reports on my own timezone? (Users)
Reports will always follow the set organization’s timezone. If you wish to view your daily or weekly totals, you can go to Timesheets > View & edit > choose Daily, Weekly or Calendar view, then choose your timezone from the Timezone dropdown.
Is there a report for the time that was manually edited by my team?
You can view records of when you or other users have added, deleted or edited time by going to Reports > All Reports > Manual time edits. These reports will allow you to see whose time it is, who made the edit, when/why it was edited, what project/task was edited, and the amount of time edited. Click here for more information.
How do I display a report for unpaid amounts?
The Amounts Owed report will allow you to see how much members are owed over a given period, all in a single report. You can choose date ranges, projects, and members. The report will display the amount owed to each person and the total owed to everyone based on what options you chose. Simply go to Reports > Amounts owed to view the amounts owed for each team member. For more details, click here.
Can I view a report of all payments made?
Certainly. You can go to Reports > Payments (under the Payments section) to view all payments which were paid to you (as a user) or payments made for your team (owners). For more information, click here.
I have a certain limit of hours per week. Where can I view how much I’ve spent?
You can go to Reports > Weekly Limits (under the Budget and Limits section) to view the total hours you’ve logged against your weekly limit.
Where can I see a report of all running project or work order budgets?
To view all of your running project budgets, click on Reports > Project / Work order budgets. This report will show you all run rates for each project.
Where can I see a report on my client’s running budgets?
To see how much of the client budgets have been consumed, click on Reports > Client Budgets.
How do I check how much Time Off credits I have?
Simply click on Reports > Time off Balances (under the Time off section) to check your available time off credits. This report will show you how much you’ve consumed and how many Time off hours you have left.
Where do I see all the time off transactions taken by my team?
Click on Reports > Time off transactions to view all Time offs taken by your team.
settings & policies
The Settings & Policies page can be accessed via the sidebar on the left-hand side of the page with the following sections:
General
Features
Integrations
Billing
Settings explained:
General (organization settings)
- Rename your organization
- Add industry
- Add your organization’s address
- Add an organization logo
- Input your Tax ID
- Currency
- Week Start Day
- Change your organization’s timezone
Features
- Activity
- Track apps & URLs – enable/disable application and URL tracking.
- Track Locations (Mobile Only) – enable/disable location tracking on mobile.
- Screenshot frequency – change the frequency of screenshots taken in a 10-minute period. 1x on Free plans * and up to 3x on paid plans (or more with the screenshot add-on)
- Screenshot blur – enable/disable blurring of screenshots.
- Delete screenshots – enable users to delete screenshots. Can be applied to the organization or specific users.
- Data privacy – Turning this setting on will blur individual members apps and URLs info on dashboards. Apps & URLs reports and activity pages will be hidden.
- Record activity – enable/disable activity recording (keyboard/mouse).
- Insights
- App/URL Classification – Classify apps & URLs for different job roles across your organization. Default ratings can be overridden at the job title level.
- Timesheets
- Modify time – allow/disallow users from being able to add/edit/delete time.
- Lock time – Turning this setting on will prevent all team members from deleting their own time entries.
- Require reason – enable/disable asking for a reason when editing time.
- Invoices– add organization address, logo, tax ID, tax rate, and payment terms.
- Calendar
- Calendar type – Making the calendar private restricts users so they can only view their own shifts and time off. If the calendar is collaborative, everyone is able to view all shifts and time off for all members of the organization.
- Shift alerts – control who receives shift alerts/schedule deviations about a user.
- Grace period – Set a grace period for determining if a shift is considered late.
- Time off
- Time off policies – Set up automatic accrual policies for time off.
- Holidays – Set up holidays for time off.
- Time off balances – Set up time off balances for members.
- Map
- Track locations (mobile only) – Control whether location tracking is enabled in the mobile app.
- Job sites
- Restrict timer to job sites – enable/disable users to track time on job site only.
- Enter/exit notifications – Enable/ Disable notifications to management when a job site is entered or exited.
- Payments – choose whether you want to manually send payments or have them automatically processed.
- Achievements – control the goals for Efficiency pro, Productivity champ and Time hero.
- Work Breaks – set up automatic work break policies and control notifications.
- Overtime – Set up automatic overtime policies.
Integrations
- Add or edit 3rd party integration settings.
Billing
- Choose Plan – upgrade/downgrade your plan.
- Add Card
- View Billing History – where you can download, view or modify Hubstaff subscription receipts.
- Buy add-ons
The Financials page can be accessed via the sidebar on the left-hand side of the page.
How do I setup automatic payments for my team?
What payment/payroll schedules are available?
How do users add their payment accounts?
Why were hours only marked paid and no actual payments were sent?
When I change the Pay/Bill rates, will it only affect future hours that are tracked?
How do I mark the hours as paid (no actual payments)?
I am receiving errors when paying users. What do I do?
I want to pay users for expenses and not times tracked. Is this possible?
How do I setup automatic payments for my team?
First, you’ll have to add a payroll payment account via Financials > Payroll then add and configure team members to your payroll. For a complete step-by-step guide, click here.
What payment/payroll schedules are available?
- Weekly: Every org week start date
- Bi-Weekly: Every other org week start date
- Twice per month: 16th and 31st of the month
- Monthly: 31st of the month
These can be set in two ways:
- On the Members page, under the Payment column, click “Edit” then set the pay period for each team member.
- While adding payment accounts for each team member.
How do users add their payment accounts?
You can send users this link: https://support.hubstaff.com/default-payment-account/ to set up their default payment accounts. After they’ve added their default payment accounts, you can add them to your payroll (Financials > Payroll > Add member to payroll).
Why were hours only marked paid and no actual payments were sent?
In order for a payment to be sent, the following criteria that must be met:
- A payroll account must be set-up properly.
- Automatic payments should be enabled for all users you’re trying to pay.
If this criteria is not met, hours can only be marked as paid and no actual funds can be sent to users.
When I change the Pay/Bill rates, will it only affect future dated hours?
All unpaid hours will be affected by a change in Pay/Bill rates starting from the effective pay rate date that has been set.
How do I mark the hours as paid (no actual payments)?
You can mark the hours as paid manually or automatically. To mark hours as paid, click here.
I am receiving errors when paying users. What do I do?
Most payment errors are a result of payment gateway setup instructions not being completed fully. Make sure that all the steps are completed to avoid payroll errors.
To check if your payment account is completely set up, navigate to Financials > Payroll > Manage Payment Accounts. Then under the payment account you have added, click on “Actions” then select “Setup Instructions.” You can also see the error the payment encountered on the Financials > Past payments page by clicking on “Actions” then “View.” The error will be noted at the bottom of the page.
I want to pay users for expenses and not times tracked. Is this possible?
Certainly. To do this, you can go to Financials > Send payments > One-Time amount then enter the member, the amount and the reason you are sending the payment (e.g. Advertising budget)
The Schedules page can be accessed via the sidebar on the left-hand side of the page.To do so, click on Calendar > Schedules.
How do I create schedules for my team?
My employee has a broken schedule. Is it possible to create two schedules in one day?
Can employees create their own schedules?
My team members are being marked as “Abandoned shift.” What does this mean?
What is the threshold for being marked as “Late”?
Can I create recurring schedules?
Can I create schedules in the user’s timezone?
What does “minimum hours” mean?
How do I create schedules for my team?
To create a schedule for your team, simply navigate to Calendar > Schedule > Actions > Create Shifts. For a detailed step-by-step guide, click here.
My employee has a broken schedule. Is it possible to create two schedules in one day?
Yes. You can create two separate schedules in one day. Simply create two shifts for the user for that same day.
Can employees create their own schedules?
Only organization owners and users configured as Managers can create schedules for your team. You can configure roles on the Members page.
My team members are being marked as “Abandoned shift.” What does this mean?
When a team member hasn’t met the minimum hours you’ve set for a user’s schedule, they will be marked as abandoned and both you and the user will receive an Abandoned shift notification. For example, if you’ve set a user’s shift to run from 8am-5pm, then set a minimum of 8 hours for their shift, and they only logged 7 hours, they will receive this notification.
What is the threshold for being marked as “Late”?
Employees will be marked as late if they are late for 5 minutes for their prescribed shift. However this can be adjusted by chnaging the Grace period settings navigate to Settings & Policies > Features > Schedules > Grace Period.
Can I create recurring schedules?
You certainly can! When adding a new schedule, under the recurring shift options, select weekly, then click on the days you need the schedules to repeat.
Can I create schedules in the user’s timezone?
Yes. When creating a schedule, you can click on the Timezone dropdown menu to assign a shift on your team member’s timezone to avoid confusion.
What does “minimum hours” mean?
If, for example, you’ve set an 8 am-5 pm shift for each user (9 hours) and they have 1 hour for lunch, and two 15 minute breaks in between, they won’t need to track time for 1.5 hours, and you can set a minimum of 7.5 hours for this shift schedule.
The Time Off page can be accessed via the sidebar (Schedules > Time off request) on the left-hand side of the page.
menu schedules time off requests
How do I create a Time Off policy?
How do I add a Holiday policy?
How do I request time off?
How do I check how much Time Off credits I have?
Where do I see all the time off transactions taken by my team?
How do I create a Time Off policy?
To add a Time off policy, navigate to Settings & Policies > Time off. You’ll be taken to the Time off page. Click on Add Policy. For detailed instructions click here.
The Time Off window will pop up where you can configure the following:
- Policy name
- Assign members (optional: place a checkmark on “automatically add new members to this policy” to automatically add new team members to that policy)
- Schedule of accrual
- Annual – balance is added every year
- Hours worked – balance is based on x number of hours worked
- None
- Amount accrued
- For annual – set a number of hours each member gets at the beginning of each year.
- Hours worked- x number of hours accrued every x number of hours worked. For example, 1 hour for every 8 hours worked.
- Allow negative balances – enabled users to file for time offs even without time off credits.
- Balance rolls over annually
- Requires approval
- Paid
How do I add a Holiday policy?
To add a Holiday policy, navigate to Time Off on the sidebar, then click on Time off settings. You’ll be taken to the Time Off page. Click on Holidays on the left-hand side of the page then click on Add Policy. The Add Holiday window will popup where you can enter the following:
- Holiday name
- Members
- Holiday date
- Paid hours
For detailed instructions click here.
How do I request time off?
To put in your time off request, navigate to Time Off on the sidebar, then click on request time off. A window will appear where you can select which Time Off policy is available to you then you can place a checkmark on All day if you’re taking the whole day off or place a value on the Hours requested field. You can also provide the reason for the time off request.
How do I check how much Time off credits I have?
Simply click on Reports > Time Off Balances to check your available time off credits. This report will show you how much you’ve consumed and how many Time off hours you have left.
Where do I see all the time off transactions taken by my team?
Click on Reports > Time off transactions to view all Time offs taken by your team.
The Integrations page can be accessed via the sidebar (Settings & Policies > Integrations) on the left-hand side of the page.
menu settings policies integrations
What apps integrate with Hubstaff?
How do I add an integration?
I’ve assigned a task to a user on my integration page but they are unable to see it on the Hubstaff app. What can I do to make sure they can track time to their assigned tasks?
Why do our integrated projects keep getting disabled?
Projects and users are connected but tasks haven’t appeared yet. What can I do?
How do I make sure users can only track time to tasks and not projects?
The time on my timesheets are marked as locked and we can no longer edit them. How can I avoid this in the future?
What apps integrate with Hubstaff?
For a full list of supported apps that Hubstaff integrates with, click here: https://hubstaff.com/integrations
How do I add an integration?
To add an integration, simply click on Integrations, on the left-hand sidebar, then click on “Add Integration.” Then select the integration you’d like to connect to Hubstaff.
You can click on here for step-by-step instructions on how to connect each integration to Hubstaff.
I’ve assigned a task to a user on my integration page but they are unable to see it on the Hubstaff app. What can I do to make sure they can track time to their assigned tasks?
Make sure you link projects and users by following this guide. Additionally, make sure that each task is assigned to that specific user on your integration page (i.e. Asana, Trello, Jira, etc.).
Tasks might not sync right away. It can take approximately 5 minutes after linking your team. Also, please keep in mind that each time you add a new project or user to your project management tool, the integration needs be refreshed in Hubstaff for those changes to take effect.
Why do our integrated projects keep getting disabled?
When integrations are connected to Hubstaff, they should be connected by the owner/admin of that integration. When users without sufficient privileges re-authenticate the integration, the projects they don’t have access to will be disabled. For more information, click here.
Projects and users are connected but tasks haven’t appeared yet. What can I do?
You can click on Integrations > click on the integration name, then click on Refresh to force the integration to sync. You can also choose to re-authenticate your integration.
How do I make sure users can only track time to tasks and not projects?
You can go to your integrations page, click on the name of your integration, then under “Allow Project Tracking,” change the setting to “No,” that way, users can only track time to specific tasks assigned to them on your integration.
The time on my timesheets are marked as locked and we can no longer edit them. How can I avoid this in the future?
Locked time refers to time that cannot be edited or deleted to preserve data integrity between your integrations and/or payments. For more information about locked time, click here.
To avoid this (on the integrations side), you can delay or disable the Time logging feature of your integration. To do this, go to Integrations > click on the integration name > set Time logging to:
Daily – The time gets synced once per day. (The data gets sent back at midnight UTC.)
Hourly – The time gets synced once an hour.
Delayed – Delays your syncing time by a day, to allow for time manual edits. (Delayed sync is currently not supported for Quickbooks.)
Complete – The time will be pushed back to the integration tool once the task is marked as Complete, please note that not all integrations support task completion. (See the bottom of this page for a list.)
Off – Will disable synchronizing task time for customers who really do not want it synced. (For customers who do not want the comments added to their tasks with the time information).
The Clients page can be accessed via the sidebar (Project management > Clients) on the left-hand side of the page.
menu project management clients
How do I add clients to Hubstaff?
How do I invoice clients? Can they pay within the platform?
Can I add budgets to clients?
How do I add clients to Hubstaff?
To add clients, simply navigate to Project management > Clients on the sidebar then click on Add Client. From there you can enter the following information: client name, e-mail address, address, assign projects, add net terms, and add notes. For more information, click here.
How do I invoice clients? Can they pay within the platform?
You can invoice clients by following this guide. Currently, you can add a PayPal button on your invoices to make payments.
Can I add budgets to clients?
You can set client budgets so that you can closely monitor your expenses on a client’s project. To set client budgets, simply follow this in-depth guide.
The Invoices page can be accessed via the sidebar (Financials > Invoices) on the left-hand side of the page.
How do I invoice my employer?
How do I invoice clients? Can they pay within the platform?
Can I download, resend, close, or delete invoices?
Can I view invoice reports?
How do I mark invoices as paid?
Can I invoice on behalf of my employees?
How do I invoice my employer?
You can send your employer or organization owner an invoice to get paid for your work hours. To do this, simply click on Financials > Invoices (available on our Starter plans and up) on the sidebar, then click on New Invoice. You can manually enter line items or generate them automatically. For a step-by-step guide on creating invoices, click here.
How do I invoice clients? Can they pay within the platform?
You can invoice clients by following this guide. Currently, you can add a PayPal button on your invoices to make payments.
Can I download, resend, close, or delete invoices?
You can download your invoices in PDF or CSV format. Simply navigate to Financials > Invoices on your sidebar, then on the far right side of the invoice, click on View. The invoice will be opened and you can then click on More actions where you can either resend the invoice, download as PDF, close, or delete the invoice.
Can I view invoice reports?
Our reports will give you information about both your clients’ and your own invoices. Users will only be able to see information relating to their own invoices. The purpose of these reports is to keep track of or to export your invoices, your teams’ invoice totals, paid, and due amounts, and outstanding or past due invoices. Click here to view a guide on how to invoice your employer and click here for how to invoice a client.
You can access any of these reports by clicking on Reports on the left sidebar, which will open the reports overview dashboard. For more instructions, click here.
How do I mark invoices as paid?
To mark invoices as paid, you can navigate to Invoices > open the invoice by clicking on the invoice code, then click on the Record Payment button.
Can I invoice on behalf of my employees?
Only employees can create invoices for submission to their employers.
What payment methods can I use to pay for my subscription?
Can I upgrade/downgrade my plan anytime?
Why am I seeing higher/lower charges than the plan I’ve subscribed to?
How do I cancel my account?
What payment methods can I use to pay for my subscription?
You can pay for your subscription by signing up with a credit or debit card.
Can I upgrade/downgrade my plan anytime?
Yes. You can upgrade or downgrade your plan by going to Settings & Policies > Billing > Change Plan > choose the plan you need. Note that when you upgrade/downgrade in the middle of your billing period, the charges will be pro-rated.
Why am I seeing higher/lower charges than the plan I’ve subscribed to?
Hubstaff allows you to change your plans any time (or mid year for annual plans) and calculates pro-rated charges for the unused time on your previous plan and the remaining time on your current plan, then the resulting charges will be billed on your next billing date.
How do I cancel my account?
Click here to view instructions on how to cancel your subscription.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us at support@hubstaff.com