Accepting, editing, splitting, merging, and managing your ZeroTime™ entries

You can create entries within ZeroTimeTM by recording notes, or submitting notes via a chatbot. Or, entries can be created for you by the cloud collectors. You can use these entries to help you populate your timesheet.

But, before you can add entries to timesheets, you’ll need to first accept them.

And, before you accept entries, you may need to edit their details, split an entry into two or more individual entries, or merge two or more entries.

You can also choose how entries display, search for entries, make entries private, and delete entries.

Refer to the sections below for more details on working with entries.

Accepting entries

When you accept an entry, you are indicating that it is correct and ready to be applied to your timesheet. Accepted entries will display on the Smart Timesheet tab; from there, you can add them to your timesheet.

When an entry is created based on collector data, it appears automatically in your ZeroTime inbox. When you add a note, you select the folder it’s saved under when you create it, meaning you can accept notes as you create them.

If you accept an entry, any suggestions it includes will be accepted automatically, so be sure to edit suggestions that aren’t correct before accepting an entry.

To accept an entry:

  1. Go to the My Work tab, and find the entry you want to accept.

The Search field can help you find entries.

  1. In List View, hover your cursor over the entry, and choose the icon.

In Timeline View, click the entry, then click the icon.

To accept multiple entries at once:

  1. Ensure you’re using List View mode.
  2. On the My Work tab, enable the check box beside each entry.

  1. Choose the icon that appears.

Editing entries

You may need to edit details of entries listed on the My Work page.

For example, you’ll sometimes need to edit the automatically-generated suggestions in collector entries, or update durations or timesheet labels in notes you previously added.

To edit an entry:

  1. Go to the My Work tab, and find the entry you want to accept.
  2. In List View, click the entry, and it will open.

In Timeline View, click the entry, then click the icon.

Splitting an entry

Sometimes, especially when dealing with an automatically generated entry, you might want to split the entry.

For example, if you had a meeting that covered multiple projects, you might want to split it, so there’s one entry for each project. You can split a single entry into as many entries as you want.

To split an entry:

  1. Click the icon, available on the My Work tab when you hover over the entry in List View, or when you click an entry in Timeline View.

A Splitting Entry page displays, with the entry split into two, with each entry given half the time duration, if applicable.

  1. Click the icons to view and update details of each entry, including the name, date, time, labels, and comments.
  2. You can further split either entry by clicking its icon. Or, you can delete an entry by clicking . Note that any hours included in a removed entry will be lost.
  3. Once you’re happy with all new entries, click Split to… and choose a folder where all entries will be saved.

Merging entries

You can merge two or more entries that occur on the same day; they don't have to use the same project labels. The merged entry will default to using the labels and name of the earliest entry, though you can updates these.

The merged entry defaults to starting at the start time of the first entry, and ending at the end time of the last entry. For example, if you merge two notes, one for 9-10:10am and the second for 10:30-11:30am, the new merged entry will default to having a duration of 2.5 hours, not 2 hours and 10 minutes.

To merge entries:

  1. Select the check box beside the two entries you want to merge. Note that they must occur on the same day.
  2. Click the icon that displays near the top of the page.

A merged entry displays.

  1. Modify the duration, labels, or name, as desired.
  2. Click Merge To... and choose to save it to either the Accepted, Private, or Inbox folder.

Choosing how entries display on the My Work tab

You can switch between a List View () and a Timeline View () of entries by clicking the appropriate icon.

List View

This view shows entries from multiple days with check boxes in a list.

This view is useful for managing multiple entries at once. It also allows you to quickly view each entry’s timesheet labels.

Timeline View

This view shows all hours of a day on the left, with one column per day.

This view is useful if you prefer seeing a day’s entries in isolation, in an agenda-type context, without as many details visible.

With Timeline View, you can choose to view a single day, or a whole week’s worth of entries, in separate columns.

 

Searching for entries

You can use the Search field on the My Work page to help find entries to edit or accept.

You can simply enter a term in the field and click Search or type Enter.

ZeroTime will hide any entries on that page that don’t include the term.

Or, you can enter search criteria in multiple fields by clicking the on the right-hand side of the field.

This will open a set of search filters. You can use one or more of these to limit your search results.

ZeroTime will only search entries that have loaded. Scroll down to load more entries.

You may sometimes need to enable All in the My Work side menu to find the entries you’re looking for; selecting this option shows all entries that are accepted, in your inbox, and in the trash all on one page.

Making entries private

Instead of accepting or deleting an entry, you can make it private. Private entries cannot be added to timesheets; they can only be viewed by you.

You should make private any entries that you don’t plan to add to your timesheet, but want to retain for reference for up to 90 days.

To make entries private, follow the directions under Accepting entries, but choose the icon instead of the icon.

Deleting entries

To delete an entry, follow the directions under Accepting entries, but choose the icon instead of the icon.

Entries added to the trash are deleted automatically after 30 days. If you want to delete entries sooner:

  1. Select My Work > Trash, and find the entry or entries you want to delete.
  2. To delete a single entry, hover over its row and select the icon.

To delete multiple entries, in List View mode, enable their check boxes and click .

FAQs

If I edit or delete an entry that I’ve applied to a timesheet, will the corresponding values in the timesheet update to match?

You can edit data as much as you like in the ZeroTime interface; changes will only be updated in your timesheet if you accept and apply the entry again from the Not Applied tab.

If I edit suggestions, will my changes impact machine learning?

Yes. ZeroTime’s machine learning system will learn from your updated selections.

If I accept an entry, am I accepting its suggestions, too?

Yes, when you accept an entry, you are accepting its current timesheet label suggestions and selections.

Why do some timesheet labels automatically update when I am editing other labels?

When you select a label, ZeroTime may make suggestions for some of its dependent labels, if a machine learning threshold has been reached.

For example, if you select the project Admin, ZeroTime may suggest its task Reports, if Reports is your most probable choice, based on the system’s learning.

If only one option is possible, that option will display as the selected option. For example, if the only task under Admin is Reports, it would show as selected automatically when you select Admin.

What do the different timesheet label colors mean?

Solid blue labels are accepted, labels with a blue hash line border are suggestions, and labels with a red border are just category names, with no suggestion or selection made.

Why do some entries include a More section?

Collector-generated entries include a More section, that shows raw data related to the entry that was collected from the app.

Related links

Using ZeroTime to fill in your timesheet
Introducing ZeroTime
Applying accepted ZeroTime entries to your timesheet
Understanding ZeroTime data collectors
Managing your ZeroTime data collectors