Record work that happens away from the keyboard
Add justified offline work without reconstructing activity from guesses.
Record offline work from the contributor’s account and the agreed process. Keep its origin visible; do not fill every automatic-tracking gap with an invented duration.
Distinguish a missing signal from missing work
A call, a paper review or a workshop can happen without keyboard activity. Equally, an empty interval does not prove that work happened. Ask the contributor for the task, period and basis of the entry. Record the uncertainty if the exact duration cannot be established. The purpose is an understandable work record, not an inferred judgment about someone’s effort.
Keep the source of the entry visible
Separate automatically captured, timer-based and manually entered time in the record where the product supports it, or in the controlled correction log. DeskTime documents manual/offline additions and configurable administrator approval. Verify the actual account settings before relying on that behavior. A manually added entry should not be presented downstream as if it were an untouched device observation.
Use a concrete correction request
A fictional request might identify record W-308, 14:00–14:35, project PR-04, “off-device planning call,” and contributor confirmation. The reviewer checks whether another entry already covers the interval and whether the selected project is correct. The reviewer records approval, rejection or a request for more information. Do not automatically add both a calendar event and a manual entry for the same call.
Handle uncertain recollection explicitly
If someone remembers a meeting but not its exact start, keep that uncertainty visible and follow the organization’s approved process. Do not choose a duration merely to make the day total match a schedule. If the recipient cannot accept a provisional record, hold that record for resolution. This guide does not decide compensation, overtime, attendance or legal requirements.
Continue this work-record check
Use the linked guide for the next decision in this workflow. Keep your original records separate from experiments and record any unresolved requirement before changing a live process.
Sources and boundaries
Primary documentation supports the dated product facts. Proposed checks and fictional examples are our editorial method, not observed product results.
- DeskTime — manual · checked September 23, 2026