Install and set up the TimeLog Tracker for Outlook

Introduction

Outlook integration installation and user guide

This guide will show you how to activate and use the TimeLog for Outlook integration.
You will need to purchase a license for each user who wants to use the integration.

Description

Preparation for enabling the Outlook integration

It is simple a simple process to activate and get started with the Outlook integration, but it will require you to prepare a bit first.

You will need…

• A system administrator with Global Administrator rights to your Microsoft Entra
• Your organization’s tenant ID

Why do we need the Global Administrator
TimeLog for Outlook connects to the user’s calendar to synchronize changes that affect the time registration automatically. This requires approval in your organization’s security setup.
If you do not have these rights yourself, make sure to align with your system administrator before starting the activation process.

How to get the tenant ID
To do so, go to https://appsource.microsoft.com
In the top right corner, click your profile picture to open the “My account” panel.
(If you are not already signed in, you must first do so by clicking the sign-in button).
In the panel under “Current tenant” click the “View tenant" link.

 

Now the tenant ID will be visible, which is a long complex string.
Click the copy icon to the right of the tenant ID, to be sure to get a correct copy for the activation usage.
Now you are ready to move to the activation.

 

Activating the integration

With a Global Administrator and the tenant ID at hand, you are ready to activate the integration.

Log into your TimeLog web application: https://login.timelog.com

In the TimeLog web application, open the system administration found by clicking you profile picture in the top right corner, and navigate to the “Integration” page under the menu “Integrations and API” section.

Locate the Outlook integration in the list of available integrations.
Click the “Add Outlook calendar” button to add the integration to your TimeLog account.

TimeLog will redirect you to the configuration page to set up the integration.
Add the tenant ID that you collected in the preparation to the “Exchange tenant ID” field and click Connect.

The integration will now be set up in the background. This can take up to 10 seconds, so please wait until you get a successful response. With the connection established click “Activate” The configuration should look like this when successfully activated.

Approving TimeLog for Outlook in Microsoft Entra

After activating the TimeLog for Outlook integration in TimeLog web you are ready to grant the necessary permissions for the integration.
To approve the integration log into your Azure Portal and locate Microsoft Entra (you might need to search for Entra). In the left menu select the Enterprise applications and locate TimeLog for Outlook in the list and click the name in the list.
In the left menu under TimeLog for Outlook, select permissions. In the content window click the Grant admin consent for {your organization name}

A new window will open. Log in as Global administrator and accept the permissions requested.

Installing the Outlook add-in

Close Outlook on your machine and navigate to https://outlook.office.com/ and click the “More apps” icon in the action bar (last icon). In the panel that opens click the “Add apps” button.

In the Apps panel search, write TimeLog. Click the “TimeLog for Outlook” add-in the Apps search result window. In the modal that opens, click the “Add” button to install and activate “TimeLog for Outlook” add-in in your Outlook calendar.

Using the TimeLog for Outlook add-in for the first time

After installing the add-in, you are ready to start using the Outlook integration. Go to the calendar and open a meeting. If you are using the simplified ribbon, you find TimeLog for Outlook by clicking the three dots. If you are using the classic ribbon, you will find the TimeLog for Outlook directly in your ribbon.

Click the “TimeLog for Outlook button. As it is the first time you use the add-in, you will have to sign into TimeLog to connect your Outlook calendar account with your TimeLog user account. Click the “Next” button.

Click the Allow button to open a new window which will start the login flow.

Follow the login flow that is the same as when signing into your other TimeLog apps. After successful login, TimeLog will prompt you to allow the Outlook add-in to connect with your
TimeLog account. Click the “Allow the app to access my data” button.

Now your Outlook calendar is connected to your TimeLog account, and you are set to use the integration.

In the next section you will learn how the integration works.

Turning your calendar into time registrations or absence registrations

After connecting Outlook and TimeLog, you can start connecting the meetings in your calendar to tasks to create time registration or to an absence code to plan your absence directly from Outlook.

Connecting a meeting to a task

Open a meeting and click “Add time registration”. Depending on you ribbon setup this action might hide in the “…” in your toolbar. Changing from “Simplified ribbon” to “Classic ribbon” should make the action visible directly in the toolbar.
TimeLog for Outlook will now show a search panel for you to find the right task to connect the meeting to.

You can choose to search after customers, projects, or directly in the tasks.

Selecting a customer will bring you to a search in the list of projects under the selected customer. Selecting a project will bring you to a search in the list of tasks under the selected project.

When you have located the right task and you want to connect it to the meeting, click the plus on the task card in the list which will open the time registration panel.

All information on the time registration is pre-filled from the meeting, but you are free to correct the information as needed e.g., if a meeting was shorter or longer than planned or you want the comment to differ from the meeting title.

Adjust any information that is not correct and click save to add the time registration.

Plan vacation and other absence from Outlook

Adding your vacation or other absence such as attending courses or conferences to your calendar is a good idea, ensuring that you don’t appear available for meetings during the period you are away.

Create a meeting in your calendar spanning the full working day or the time span you are away for partial absence. Open the TimeLog time registration panel and click the search category “Absence”.

Now your absence codes are listed in the search result. Click on the plus icon of the correct absence card which will open the absence registration panel.

Adjust any information that is not correct and click save button to save the absence registration.

IMPORTANT! Adding a time registration to a meeting in the future will not create a time registration in your timesheet as is a plan for future work. Instead TimeLog will create the time registration at midnight when the day arrives. Absence registrations will be created no matter the date of the meeting. Absence might need approval and is an active part of resource planner.

How changes to meetings affect the time registration and vice versa

After connecting a time registration to a meeting, specific changes to the meeting will also affect the time registration.
Changing the date, start time or end time will change the same for the connected time registration. This will happen no matter if you make the change yourself or others make changes to the meeting e.g., if the organizer moves the meeting.

Deleting a meeting connected to a time registration will also delete the connected time registration.

Updating a time registration in any other TimeLog time registration app, will not change the meeting in the calendar, but the registration in the calendar view will reflect the changes to the time registration.