Invoiced & locked time
Understand independent client-invoice and approved-payout locks on time, and what must be released before editing.
Once time has been billed, Hoursmith protects it. An entry that's on an invoice is locked so your invoices and your timesheet can never drift apart.
What "locked" means
When an entry is added to an invoice, it becomes locked. From then on:
- You can't edit it (project, task, date, duration, note, or billable status).
- You can't delete it.
- Trying either returns the error "Invoiced time entries are locked".
This keeps a sent invoice and the time behind it perfectly in sync.
Locking is automatic and applies to everyone, including Owners and Admins. It's not a permission — it's a safeguard on time that's already been billed.
Approved payout locks
Time claimed by an approved team bill also cannot be edited, moved, bulk-changed, deleted, or removed through import undo. This lock is independent of client invoicing: paying the team does not mark time invoiced, and canceling a client invoice does not release a payout lock.
Only an Owner/Admin can manage the private bill. A bill with no net payments can be voided to release its payout claims; reversing a payment alone does not release them. Members see a safe lock notice, not compensation details. Ask an Owner/Admin to review a payout-locked correction.
How to release invoice-locked time
To change a locked entry, you first have to take it off its invoice. Cancelling or deleting the invoice releases its claim on the entries. They become editable only when no approved payout claim or other lock remains, and may be invoiced again independently of payout status.
Open the invoice
Find the invoice the entry is on and open it.
Cancel or delete it
Cancel the invoice, or delete it. Its time entries are released.
Edit the entry
Back on the timesheet, check for any remaining lock. Make your change, then re-invoice if you need to.
What happens next
Released entries return to your pool of billable, un-invoiced time, ready to be corrected and pulled into a new or rebuilt invoice.
Troubleshooting
- "Invoiced time entries are locked". The entry is on an invoice. Cancel or delete that invoice to unlock it.
- I cancelled the invoice but still can't edit. Make sure you're editing the released entry on the timesheet, and that it isn't on a different invoice or claimed by an approved team bill.
Billable vs non-billable
Hourly project time can be billable; fixed-fee and non-billable project time is always delivery effort and never becomes an invoice line.
Mobile & offline
Track time on mobile with a docked timer bar, or queue timer actions during a brief connection loss in the web app and Chrome extension.