Time Tracker Error

[dlacy]

Has anyone else recently experienced an error message when clocking out of Time Tracker for one client and immediately clocking into another? After some 8 years or so working here the same way, I'm now getting a delayed message that a 10 minute period is already billed to, and the Time Tracker doesn't start for the next client. I often don't see the message until I go to clock out, and find the clock never started. It's never worked like this before, and if I have to wait till the next 10 minute time period to start on a different client's project, I'll loose an hour or more each day, as I switch between jobs quite often in one day. I don't really care WHO gets billed for the 10 minutes, but I don't want to loose that many time chunks a day... wondering if anyone else is now having this problem?

[cylver1z]

Hello Daria,

I'm sorry to hear that. When you log your time from one contract and then switched to another contract, you'll need to wait until the next 10-minute time segment to start before logging your time to the said contract. If you are still getting this error after the 10-minute segment has passed, please let us know. Thank you!

[timsmith99]

Daria,

I am having this challenge as well. It turns out this is happening for other people, as can be seen in this post: https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/Time-Tracking-Disabled-Already-Logged-Time/m-p/460257#M2...

I often need to switch between contracts, as clients need my help for a few minutes here and a few minutes there.  Because of the new settings with the timer tracking tool, I have encountered this challenge 3 times for the same client, so my timer read '0' minutes logged, instead of at least 30 minutes. I waited long enough and was eventually able to log time, but it has decreased my productivity slightly.

[vladag]

Hi Timothy,

Please note that no changes were made to the way Desktop app tracks time and it was never possible to log the same time segment on more than one contract.

I understand the problem you're having and if you frequently need to switch between different contracts with the same client and log only a few minutes on each of them, you might want to consider setting up your contracts with them as Fixed-Price.

[timsmith99]

Thank you for your response Vladimir.

It's worth noting I did not have the challenge of not being able to quickly log time for different contracts in the past. I was always able to switch between contracts and log time smoothly.

Recently, something appears to have changed with the time tracker that prevents me from switching smoothly and makes me wait before I can log more time. If the change is to help prevent people from logging more time than should be allowed, I understand. I wonder if there is a way to allow freelancers who are not trying to beat the system to still log time on an hourly contract without having to wait 5-10 minutes each time they switch contracts.

[timsmith99]

It's worth noting the additional thread about this has been updated by an Upwork moderator to acknowledge there was a change. That thread can be found here.

On that thread, the moderator states Upwork recently made a change to prevent freelancers from billing multiple clients for the same 10-minute segment. They go on to state that Upwork's engineers are working on improvements in this area to ensure freelancers with multiple contracts have a smooth experience while switching between those contracts.