Edit your profile
Everyone- Open Profile from the account menu (bottom of the sidebar).
- Change your display name, then Save changes.
- Upload a photo if receipt/photo storage is connected, or paste an image URL. Remove clears it back to initials.
- To change email, enter the new address and your current password. The new address is marked unverified until you confirm it elsewhere.
- To change password, enter your current password and a new one (at least 8 characters). That signs out other devices.
Install the Mac menu bar app
Everyone- Profile → Mac menu bar, or Help → Mac menu bar. Download RealTime-macos.dmg (Apple Silicon).
- Open the disk image and drag RealTime into Applications. Open the app. If macOS blocks it, System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.
- Click Log in in the menu bar. Your browser opens RealTime — sign in there. The app waits, then shows the week.
- The app checks for updates on start. You can install now or on next start from Preferences → Updates.
- You cannot use it signed out. Sign out from the settings gear to switch accounts.
Track time with the timer
Everyone- Click the timer button above Timesheet in the sidebar (or in the top bar on a phone).
- Pick a project (only projects you're assigned to appear) and a task.
- Elapsed time counts in your browser — no need to keep the tab focused.
- Click Stop when you're done. If you forget, the timer is flagged as left running once it passes 10 hours so you can stop and fix it.
- By default you also get a “still running” email after 10 hours (Profile → Remind me after). It never auto-stops. The email’s Stop and fix timer button opens the timer-left-running hint under the timer, or focuses the running timer.
- Only one timer runs at a time — starting a new one stops whatever was running.
Edit your week on the Timesheet
Everyone- The week calendar shows days as columns and hours as rows. Click an empty hour to add time (project, task, notes, start and end), or drag down an empty range first. On a phone, pick a day from the week strip (or previous/next day) so only that day is on screen — no sideways scrolling.
- Switch to List to see the week as day tables — same layout as a team member page. Group by sits under the date range. Label, Task, Project, or Client collapses each day into summaries.
- Each entry shows start and end, client and project, task, and notes — notes open the ticket url when one is stored. Start begins a new timer; Edit opens the form. Copy ref lives in that form. Drag a week-calendar entry to move it; drag the top or bottom edge to change start or end. Exact start and stop are stored — the timesheet does not round.
- Locked entries (after a Xero push) cannot be moved or edited. A running timer appears as a live entry from the time it started.
- Anyone can open another person's week. Only admins can create or change someone else's entries.
Set up a client and project
Everyone- Clients → New client. Set their default invoice line grouping and whether hours round when invoiced.
- Projects → New project. Pick the client, a colour, and optionally a budget (hours or $).
- Open the project homepage for monthly hours, this month vs all time, and task, team, and invoice breakdowns. Edit project to change details, budget, tasks, team, and budget alerts.
- Tasks belong to that project only. People pick from those tasks when they track time.
- Only assigned people can track time against a project.
Read a report and open entries
Everyone- Go to Reports. Pick a date range on the calendar, or step previous/next by the same period.
- Choose a breakdown: client, project, person, task, billable, or entries. An entry is one recorded block of time. Admins can switch on Uninvoiced at the far right to limit the same report to billable time not yet invoiced.
- Click a summary row to filter to that project, client, person, task, or billable status. Filters are a combo (task is X and project is Y), not a within trail. That dimension leaves the filter-by tabs until you remove its pill.
- Click a pill to choose all of, any of, or none of, and tick more than one value. The X removes that pill only. Clear drops every pill.
- Click the hours number on any summary row — or open the Entries tab — to list the matching entries.
- Members see hours only. Admins also see revenue. Rates and invoice amounts never appear for members.
Draft and push an invoice
Admin only- Invoices → New invoice. Pick the client and a line grouping (project, task, person, or every time entry).
- Review the unbilled time and expenses that come up — you can deselect anything you don't want on this invoice.
- Create draft. That attaches the selected entries so they leave the unbilled pool, but they stay editable until you push to Xero.
- Push to Xero from the invoice list once you're ready. That locks the time and expenses. Status (draft / awaiting payment / paid / voided) syncs back via webhook, then shows on GET.
- If a Xero invoice is voided or deleted, its RealTime entries unlock automatically. If Xero isn't configured, drafts never lock — the lock path stays honest.
Connect Harvest
Admin only- Settings → Integrations → Connect Harvest, then approve access in the Harvest login. That stores tokens for this organisation only.
- If Connect Harvest is missing, Harvest isn't available to connect yet.
- Once connected, Import from Harvest. Status is idle, queued, running, failed, or succeeded — it survives a reload.
- Imports people, clients, projects, tasks, assignments, rates, time entries, expenses, and invoice history one page at a time (Harvest's 100 req / 15s limit, 429 retries). Running timers are skipped.
- Safe to re-run — Harvest IDs are kept as external references so nothing gets duplicated. A dead leftover 'running' job is marked failed so you can retry. Only one job at a time.