Zoho Projects lets administrators control who can log time, against what, when, and from where. All of these settings sit in one place: Portal Configuration, then Task & Timesheet, then the Time Log Settings tab. Each setting below is saved with Update where the page asks for it. The four newest restrictions are by task progress, project status, IP address, and user profile, and they are covered first.
Switch on Time Log Restriction Based on Task Work Hours and users cannot log more hours against a task than were allotted to it. If a task has 6 hours of work set, entries that add up to more than 6 hours are blocked. Switch on Consider Task Completion Percentage as well to restrict by progress. If a task has 8 work hours and is 25% complete, users cannot add more than 2 hours (25% of 8). This option needs the work hours restriction switched on first.
Enable Restrict Based on Project Status, then choose the project status or statuses for which time logs and timers are not allowed.
Enable IP Based Restriction to stop users logging time from IP addresses that are not approved. Under Allowed IPs, choose one of:
Under Profile Based Timer Restriction, select the profiles that must not add time logs or use timers.
Decide whose tasks and issues a user can log time against:
In the Log hours for closed tasks and issues section, choose Allow or Don't allow.
Enable or disable Allow Multiple Timers to control whether a user can run more than one timer at once.
Toggle Restriction Based on Task/Issue Dates to keep time logs and timers between the start and end dates of the task or issue.
In Restrict Time Log(s), select Holiday, Weekend, or Leave to block logs on those days. Leave can be enabled only if your portal has the Zoho People integration.
Choose how users can record time, and for which entities (tasks, issues, or general logs): All (add logs for every module and start the timer), Manual (add logs by hand only), or Timer (timers for tasks and issues).
Decide what happens when a new log overlaps an existing one on the same day:
Timers behave slightly differently under Restrict. If both the start and end of the latest entry overlap existing entries, the timer logs nothing. If the overlap is partial, the overlapping portion is ignored and only the rest is logged. For example, with an existing log from 9 AM to 12:00 PM, a timer entry from 11 AM to 12:00 PM is rejected, while a timer entry from 11 AM to 1 PM is logged as 12:00 PM to 1 PM.
In Time Log Period Settings, set Log past time and Log future time to Allow, Don't Allow, or Customize. Customize accepts a span of up to 3 years from the current date, and weekends and configured holidays are not counted in the span. Users selected under Exclude Users are exempt from the past-time restriction and can log all past time. Tick Apply this restriction when editing time logs if you want the same limit applied to edits (this applies to Don't Allow and Customize only).
| Option | Past time | Future time |
|---|---|---|
| Allow | Log all past time | Log all future time |
| Don't Allow | No past time | No future time |
| Customize | A set span back. Five days lets you log today and the past 5 days. Five weeks lets you log past days of this week and the past 4 weeks. Five months lets you log past weeks of this month and the past 4 months. | A set span forward, counted the same way. |
These settings are reflected in the date pickers across Issues, Task Details, Timesheet (Log Time and Weekly Log Time), Calendar, and Update Log Hours. For example, to allow all past days but only two weeks ahead, set past time to Allow and future time to Customize with 2 weeks from the current week. If today is 17 February 2025, users can log all past days, the rest of the current week, and the next two weeks up to 2 March 2025, provided weekends are not restricted.
Toggle Time Log Restriction on, and the Daily log hour limit and Weekly log hour limit default to your business hours. You can edit them, but the daily limit cannot exceed 24 hours and the weekly limit cannot exceed 168 hours.