In older versions of OfficeTime you may have been importing team data to do cross team reports. The new team sync makes it much easier to see your team’s time but you need to choose which projects to share first.

To start syncing, we need to remove other people’s data from your file. Don’t worry. You can still get see everyone else’s time in your copy of OfficeTime. We just need to do it through the new cloud sync instead.

Once you start syncing, everyone else’s time will be removed from your OfficeTime.  However that time still exists in the other people’s copy.  You’ll simply invite them to your projects and their time will sync from their copy to you.

Step 1) Login to your account. Go to the Help->Sync Menu. Click on Sync, Cloud. Click through until you can enter your email and password. If you don’t already have an account, you can create one. If you’ve already purchased OfficeTime, create your account with the same email used to buy it so that your account can be linked.

Step 2) When asked, confirm it’s OK to remove others from your file.  Don’t worry, OfficeTime automatically makes an extra backup first in case you want to go back.

Step 3) Go to Edit->Projects, edit the project you wish to see others time in and enter their email. An invite will be sent to them to create their own account.  Once they sign into OfficeTime, all of their existing time for this project will appear in your OfficeTime.  And as a bonus, any new time they record in this project will be instantly shared to you as well.  If you don’t want them to see your or the rest of the team’s time, uncheck the See Team’s Time option. You can also choose to hide hourly rates and who the client is.

You can save time and share multiple projects at once to the team. Choose Edit->Projects, use the shift click or command/control click to select multiple projects. (Don’t use the tick boxes.) Now click Sharing and enter the emails addresses of the team. Team members will be invited to all selected projects.

Why can’t I just keep the data?

We’d love if it were that easy.  Unfortunately the old style import doesn’t bring in enough information to accurately match it up with the correct team account and even then if those session were then shared with you via team sync, there’s the possibility for duplicates or conflicts.

How can I keep my edits to other people’s time?

There’s two ways to do this

a) (Recommended). Import your edits back into their copy before you sync.  Send your data file to them. On their machine use File->Import and select the file.  This will update their sessions with your edits.  However if both of you made changes to the same session, whomever made the change most recently will win.  Then go to Edit-Employees and delete anyone other than them from the file. Now go back to your machine and sign in and share per the three steps above.

b) Re-assign sessions to you before sync.  Find the sessions in a report. Choose Edit->Select All or select them manually. (Don’t click on the checkboxes. You want to select one and then shift click to select another to select a range.)  Then click on the initials of any session and change it to you. This will change all sessions to belong to you. You can then safely sign into cloud sync and all of the data will be kept and synced to your other devices.  However if the other person signs in and tries to sync the same session OfficeTime will complain that he is trying to sync to a project that hasn’t been shared with him.  This will prevent the other person from syncing at all. This is because the same session can’t belong to two people.  The other person will need to delete all those sessions from their OfficeTime before they sync.  Once you share a project, you can select the sessions again and re-assign them back to the other person.

How do I share categories?

Any categories already used in sessions in a project will be automatically shared.  And any new categories used in the project by anyone will also be shared.  In the sharing screen, there is a button to share additional categories that may not already be in the project. You don’t have to share categories for every project. Once they are shared for one, they are available for any project.

Should I or the team login first?

You should login first and share projects with the team.  You can of course share to existing accounts but when converting from existing team sync, it works smoother for one person to login first and share out invites.

What happens if my team members have imported projects?

If previously your team members imported projects from you, you’ll need to share those projects with them before they are able to sign in. Otherwise OfficeTime notices they have “your” project even though they don’t have permission for it and will refuse to continue.

If other team members simply created projects with the same name (as opposed to using the import feature), then it will allow them to sign in. Once you share the project, you’ll start seeing their time

Questions?  Contact us at support@officetime.net