You can create a draft time entry using the timer, Quick Add, My Time, or a task, and fill in the missing details whenever it suits you.
👉 New to drafts? Start with Draft Time Entries: Overview.
Creating a Draft Using the Timer
Starting the timer no longer requires picking a service first, and it's the fastest way into a draft.
Click the timer icon and start it without selecting a service. The entry becomes a draft the moment you start the timer, not only once you stop it.
When you stop the timer, the tracked duration is saved to that same draft.
Add the service, note, and task afterward, whenever you're ready.
👉 For the general timer flow, see Using the Timer to Track Time.
Creating a Draft Manually
You can start a manual draft two ways:
Quick Add: click the + icon in the top navigation bar, then select Time entry. This opens the New time entry panel from anywhere in Productive, without navigating to My Time first.
My Time: go to Time > My Time and expand the entry window at the top of the Day view (or click anywhere in the Timesheet and Calendar views). You can skip selecting a service and expand it straight away.
Add whatever you have. A duration and a note, just a duration, or nothing at all, it's up to you. Nothing here is required to save. Click Save as draft.
The entry saves as a draft, marked visually so you can find it again later.
📌 A service on its own doesn't always finish the entry. If the budget or deal has a required note and/or task, the entry stays a draft until those are filled in too, even with a service selected.
If the budget or deal has no extra requirements, selecting the service is enough, and you'll see Save instead of Save as draft.
📌 The same rule applies to the Pinned, Scheduled, and Recently Tracked suggestions on the left. Clicking one pre-fills the budget or deal and service, but if a note or task is required and still missing, the entry saves as a draft too, not a confirmed entry. You'll just need to add that note or task yourself afterward, the same as with any other draft.
Creating a Draft From a Task
Open a task and go to its Time tab. You can log time there the same way as in My Time, manually or with Start timer.
If the task has no service linked to it, the Service field is empty and the button reads Save as draft whenever a required field is missing.
If the task has a service linked to it, the field is pre-filled. If that's all the budget or deal requires, the button reads Save entry and the entry saves as a confirmed time entry right away, not a draft.
👉 See Assigning a Service to a Task (Beta, On Demand) for how that link works.
How Drafts Turn Into Time Entries
The same rule applies everywhere you create a time entry, whether that's Quick Add, My Time, the timer, or a task: an entry stays a draft for as long as anything the budget or deal requires is still missing, and the button reads Save as draft to reflect that.
If the budget or deal has no required fields beyond a service, picking that service is enough. The button switches to Save, and saving creates a confirmed entry immediately.
If the budget or deal has a required note and/or task, set via Required Time Entry Fields, the button stays on Save as draft until those are filled in too:
Leave a required field blank and click Save as draft: the entry stays a draft.
Fill everything required in and click Save: the entry saves as a confirmed, submitted time entry.
📌 A missing required field is marked inline, for example, Can't be blank under an empty Note field or Assign to task (required), so you can see exactly what's holding the entry in Draft status.
The entry's time range also can't overlap with another entry. If it does, saving is blocked the same way a missing required field would block it.
Time Entry Approval
Once an entry is out of Draft status, it enters the regular approval flow, if time entry approvals are enabled for the budget or deal. The entry shows a status indicator reading Awaiting Approval until your approver reviews it.
👉 See Approving Time: Overview for how review and approval work.
📌 If an entry is rejected, it moves to the Rejected tab in the Review Time panel (open it from the For review badge next to the date navigation in My Time).
Hovering over the entry shows who requested changes, when, and their note on what needs fixing. Edit the entry to address their note, then save it to send it back through the approval flow.
👉 See Managing and Deleting Draft Time Entries for more information.
Timesheet Submission
Some organizations require you to formally submit your timesheet for a period before it can be approved. This is a separate, optional feature, not something every account uses.
📌 Submitting a timesheet permanently deletes any unfinished drafts in that period. Before you submit, the Submit Timesheet window shows exactly how many drafts and how many hours will be deleted, for example, "By submitting you will permanently delete 1 draft time entry (02:00 h)."
This isn't a soft delete: drafts removed this way don't go to the Recycle Bin and can't be restored. Finish or manually delete any draft you still want to keep before you submit.
👉 See Setting Up Time Entry Submissions for how the feature works.
