Time Tracking
FlowLance's time tracking helps you log billable and non-billable hours, track where your time goes, set goals, use templates for structured days, and sync with Google Calendar.
Time Page Overview
The time page has a period selector at the top — Today, Week, Month, Quarter — with navigation arrows to move between periods.
Stats Cards
Four cards at the top show:
| Card | Description |
|---|---|
| Today | Hours logged today and entry count |
| This Week | Total hours and entry count for the week |
| Billable | Billable percentage this week and total billable hours |
| Top Activity | Your most-logged activity type and its hours |
Time Nudges
If FlowLance detects you could improve your time tracking habits, nudge banners appear: - "You haven't logged time today" if no entries exist - "Your billable percentage is low" if most time is non-billable - Suggestions based on your patterns
Logging Time
Quick Log Form
The fastest way to log time. Available on the Today tab:
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Project | Yes (or Category) | Select a project to log time against |
| Category | Yes (or Project) | Select a time category. At least one of Project or Category is required |
| Duration | Yes | Hours as a decimal (e.g., 1.5 for 90 minutes) |
| Description | No | What you worked on |
| Billable | No | Toggle on/off (defaults based on project settings) |
| Date | No | Defaults to today |
Timer
For real-time tracking, start the timer from the time page:
- Click the timer icon or Start Timer
- Select a project and optionally a category
- The timer runs in the background — you can navigate to other pages
- When you're done, stop the timer and it creates a time entry with the elapsed duration
- You can pause and resume the timer
Edit & Delete
Click any time entry to open the edit dialog. You can change the project, category, duration, description, billable status, and date. Delete entries from the same dialog.
Unbilling Time
If time was incorrectly marked as billed (included on an invoice), you can use the Mark Unbilled action to reverse it. This removes the entry from the invoice's line items.
Day Templates
Templates let you plan structured workdays in advance.
Creating a Template
Go to the Settings tab on the time page (or Settings > Time Templates) and click New Template. A template consists of:
- Template name (e.g., "Development Day", "Client Day")
- Time blocks — Each block has:
- Activity name (e.g., "Deep work", "Meetings")
- Duration in hours
- Project (optional — link a block to a specific project)
- Category (optional — loaded dynamically based on the selected project)
A workday hours warning appears in amber if your blocks exceed your configured default day hours.
Applying a Template
From the Today tab, click Apply Template to pre-populate your day with time blocks based on a template. This doesn't create time entries yet — it sets up a guided structure for the day.
Managing Templates
From the Settings tab on the time page: - View all your templates - Edit any template (blocks, names, durations) - Delete templates with confirmation
Guided Sessions
When a template is applied to your day, the Template Guide appears. This is a countdown timer UI that walks you through each block:
- The current block shows with a countdown timer
- Block chips at the top let you see and navigate between blocks
- When a block's time is up, a toast notification alerts you and auto-advances to the next block
- You can pause, resume, skip, or go back to previous blocks
- At the end, a collapsible plan vs. reality summary shows how your actual time compared to the template
The guide persists across page navigations (stored in localStorage).
Categories
Time categories help you classify work by type. Categories can be:
- Global — Available across all projects
- Project-specific — Only available when logging time to a particular project
Create categories from: - The Categories tab on a project detail page - The Quick Log form's category dropdown
When you select a project in the time entry form, the category dropdown updates to show that project's categories.
Goals
Set time tracking targets to stay on track:
- Daily goal — Target hours per day
- Weekly goal — Target hours per week
- Monthly goal — Target hours per month
Progress towards goals is shown on the time page. Goals help you maintain consistent time tracking habits and ensure you're billing enough hours.
Google Calendar Sync
Connect your Google Calendar to automatically import calendar events as time entries:
- Go to Settings > Connected Accounts
- Click Connect Google Calendar
- Authorise FlowLance to read your calendar
- Calendar events with matching keywords or project names appear as suggested time entries
This is a one-way sync — FlowLance reads your calendar to suggest entries, but doesn't modify your calendar.
Time Insights
AI-powered suggestions about your time allocation patterns: - Which projects are consuming the most time - Billable vs. non-billable trends - Suggestions for improving time allocation - Comparison with previous periods
Period Views
| View | Shows |
|---|---|
| Today | Today's entries, quick log, timer, template guide |
| Week | Week calendar with daily totals and breakdowns |
| Month | Monthly calendar with daily totals and insights |
| Quarter | Quarter overview with trends |