---
title: "Time Tracking Settings: Manual Entry & Hour-Based Time Tracking"
url: "https://help.ontraccr.com/en/article/time-tracking-settings-manual-entry-hour-based-time-tracking"
language: "en"
last_updated: "2025-05-26T22:58:42.412Z"
---

# Time Tracking Settings: Manual Entry & Hour-Based Time Tracking

## 🕒 **Time Tracking Settings: Manual Entry & Hour-Based Time Tracking**

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### ✅ **What This Covers**

This article explains how to enable **manual time entries** and **hour-based time input** in Ontraccr, giving your team flexibility beyond live punch-in/punch-out tracking.

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### 🧭 **Where to Find These Settings**

1.  Go to the **Web App**
2.  Navigate to **Settings > Time Tracking > Clock Settings**
3.  Scroll to the **“Enable Manual Entry”** and **“Enable Hour-Based Time Tracking”** options

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## 🔧 **Setting #1: Enable Manual Entry**

**What it does:**

Lets users add or edit time manually — useful when they forget to clock in/out or need to log time for past days.

**How it works:**

-   Global toggle that allows manual entries across the company
-   Must be combined with **role permissions** to control who can actually use it
-   Users with permission will see a **Manual Entry** button on the time tracking screen

**Real Use Case:**

A foreman finishes a job late on Friday and forgets to clock out. With manual entry enabled, they can fix it Monday morning without admin help (if they have permission).

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### 🎛️ **Role-Based Control**

Even if manual entry is **enabled globally**, you can restrict it per role:

-   Go to **Settings > Roles & Permissions**
-   Open any role
-   Toggle the **Manual Entry** permission to allow or restrict it

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## 🔧 **Setting #2: Enable Hour-Based Time Tracking**

**What it does:**

Allows users to enter the total number of hours worked (e.g. “7.5 hours”) instead of selecting a start and end time.

**How it works:**

-   Only applies when users are entering time **manually**
-   Adds a toggle to the time entry form that lets them choose between:
    -   **Start Time / End Time**
    -   **Total Hours Worked**

**Why it's useful:**

-   Speeds up data entry
-   Helpful when users don’t remember exact times
-   Especially handy for **foremen** or **admins** logging time on behalf of a crew

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### 💡 **Pro Tips & Edge Cases**

-   🧑‍💼 Ideal for teams using paper timesheets or end-of-day reporting
-   ⚠️ Hour-based entry is *not available* during live clock-ins — only when entering time manually
-   🔒 You can mix-and-match: Enable hour-based entries but only for select roles (via permissions)