Salesforce does not include a built-in time tracking feature. It is a CRM — it tracks deals, contacts, activities, and pipeline. What it does not track natively is how long your team spends on the work associated with those deals: the client calls, the proposal drafts, the implementation hours, the support conversations.
For teams that bill by time, need to attribute hours to accounts or opportunities, or want to understand where their team’s time is actually going relative to the Salesforce pipeline, time tracking needs to be added — either through an AppExchange app, a custom configuration, or a separate tool that integrates with Salesforce.
This guide covers the options, what each one actually does, and why teams using both Salesforce and Slack often find that a Slack-native time tracker works better for their day-to-day workflow than a Salesforce-native one.
Does Salesforce have built-in time tracking?
Not in any meaningful sense. Salesforce includes activity logging — calls, emails, meetings, and tasks can be logged against records — and it has basic fields that can be configured to capture duration. But this is activity history, not time tracking. There is no timer, no real-time logging, no reporting on hours worked, and no way to generate invoices from logged time without significant custom development.
Salesforce also has a concept called “time-based workflows” — but these are automation triggers that fire after a certain amount of time has elapsed on a record, not tools for tracking how long people are working.
The practical result is that Salesforce teams who need genuine time tracking — billable hours, project hours, hours per account or opportunity — need to either install an AppExchange app or use a separate time tracking tool and decide whether and how to connect it to Salesforce.
Salesforce time tracking options
There are three approaches teams take when adding time tracking to a Salesforce environment.
AppExchange apps — time tracking within Salesforce
The AppExchange has a number of time tracking apps that embed directly in the Salesforce interface. The advantage is that time entries live alongside CRM records — log hours directly against an opportunity, an account, or a case, and the data is in Salesforce alongside everything else. The disadvantage is that tracking time requires being in Salesforce, which is not where most teams spend the majority of their working day.
Standalone time tracking tools with Salesforce integration
Tools like Harvest, Toggl, and Clockify have Salesforce integrations that sync time entries to Salesforce records. The team tracks time in the standalone tool and the data flows to Salesforce for reporting or billing. The advantage is that the time tracking tool can be better designed for the purpose than an AppExchange add-on. The disadvantage is maintaining two separate systems and ensuring the sync stays accurate.
Slack-native time tracking — for teams using both Salesforce and Slack
Since Salesforce acquired Slack in 2021, many Salesforce-heavy organisations use Slack as their primary team communication tool alongside Salesforce as their CRM. For these teams, a time tracking tool that lives natively in Slack captures time where work actually happens — in the client channel, in the deal discussion thread, in the conversation that is already happening — rather than requiring a separate login to either Salesforce or a standalone tracker.
AppExchange time tracking apps
If keeping time data inside Salesforce is the priority — for reporting, billing, or compliance purposes — these are the most established options.
Taskfeed / Mission Control
A project management and time tracking tool built natively for Salesforce. Teams log time against projects and tasks that live in Salesforce records. Useful for professional services organisations that run their entire project workflow inside Salesforce and want time data in the same system.
Time Tracker by Exsellerate
A simpler AppExchange option focused on tracking time against opportunities and accounts. Less feature-rich than Mission Control but easier to implement for teams that just need basic billable hour tracking tied to CRM records.
FinancialForce (now Certinia)
An enterprise professional services automation platform built on Salesforce that includes time and expense management as part of a broader PSA suite. Used by larger professional services organisations that need project management, resource planning, and financial reporting all in one Salesforce-native environment. Significant implementation overhead.
Custom fields and workflow automation
Some Salesforce admins build basic time tracking into Salesforce using custom fields (time-in, time-out, duration) on activity records or custom objects, combined with reports and dashboards. This works for simple use cases and keeps everything in Salesforce, but it requires admin effort to build and maintain, and it is not a real-time tracking experience — someone still has to manually enter the times.
Why Slack-native time tracking often works better for Salesforce teams
The core problem with Salesforce-native time tracking is that most of the work it is meant to capture does not happen in Salesforce. A sales representative might spend 30 minutes preparing for a discovery call, 45 minutes on the call itself, 20 minutes writing a follow-up email, and another hour drafting a proposal. Almost none of this happens inside Salesforce — it happens in Slack, in email, in documents, in video calls. Logging the time requires going to Salesforce afterward and reconstructing it from memory.
End-of-day or end-of-week time reconstruction in Salesforce consistently underestimates actual time spent on client work — the same problem that affects every manual time logging system. The further the logging interface is from where the work actually happens, the more inaccurate the data.
For teams using Slack as their primary communication tool, a Slack-native time tracker solves this by placing the logging exactly where the work is happening. A sales representative on a client deal has a Slack channel for that deal. When they start working on the client, they type a command in that channel. When they switch to something else, they type another command. The time is logged in real time, in context, without leaving the conversation. The data is accurate because it was captured when the work happened, not reconstructed afterward.
The Salesforce connection then becomes a reporting question rather than a workflow question. The time data lives in the time tracking tool, is accessible via CSV export or API, and can be imported into Salesforce for billing or reporting purposes — rather than requiring all time logging to happen within Salesforce itself.
This separation is often more practical than it sounds. Most teams that need Salesforce to have time data need it for invoicing or project reporting — a monthly or weekly sync of time data into Salesforce records is sufficient for those purposes. The daily tracking workflow does not need to happen in Salesforce to produce data that ends up there.
How Time Bot works for Salesforce teams using Slack
Time Bot is a time tracking tool built for Slack. All tracking happens via commands in Slack channels — no separate app to open, no interface to navigate. For a team using both Salesforce and Slack, this means:
The client work happens in Slack. The deal discussion, the preparation, the debrief after the call — all in the client’s Slack channel. /t client call — Acme renewal starts the timer when the call begins. /t follow-up email — Acme switches the timer when the call ends and the follow-up starts. /t finish closes out the day. The time data is created in real time, in the channel where the work is already happening.
The daily email report arrives in the manager’s inbox every morning showing each team member’s tasks, time per task, and total hours — without anyone compiling it. For a sales manager running pipeline in Salesforce, this report gives visibility into where the team’s time is actually going relative to the deals in the CRM.
For client billing, Time Bot generates PDF invoices directly from the logged time. Select the client (the Slack channel where their work was tracked), set the hourly rate, choose the date range, and the invoice generates with each task as a line item. For professional services teams billing clients, this eliminates the step of exporting time data into an invoicing tool.
For Salesforce reporting, the CSV export from Time Bot can be imported into Salesforce against the relevant account or opportunity records — connecting the time data to the CRM without requiring the time to be logged in Salesforce in the first place.
Time Bot also includes leave management — requests, approvals, and balances handled in Slack — and standup automation that sends daily questions to each team member at their local start time. For distributed Salesforce-using teams, this means time tracking, leave, and standups all happen in Slack without additional tools.
Pricing is $1 per active user per month on annual billing, minimum five users, with a seven-day free trial.
Add Time Bot to Slack — 7-day free trial →
FAQ
Does Salesforce have a time tracking feature? Salesforce does not have a built-in time tracking feature in the traditional sense. It includes activity logging — calls, emails, and meetings can be logged against CRM records — but there is no timer, no real-time tracking, and no way to generate invoices from logged hours without additional tools. Teams that need time tracking within Salesforce typically use AppExchange apps or a separate time tracking tool with a Salesforce integration.
What is the best time tracking app for Salesforce? The best option depends on whether time data needs to live inside Salesforce or just connect to it. For teams that need all data inside Salesforce — professional services organisations running their entire workflow in the CRM — Mission Control or FinancialForce (Certinia) are the most established options. For teams using both Salesforce and Slack who want time tracking to happen where work actually occurs, a Slack-native tool like Time Bot produces more accurate data with less friction and exports to Salesforce for reporting.
How do you track time in Salesforce? Time can be tracked in Salesforce through AppExchange apps that embed a time tracking interface in the CRM, through custom fields on activity records built by a Salesforce admin, or through standalone time tracking tools that sync data to Salesforce via integration. For teams using Slack alongside Salesforce, tracking time in Slack and syncing to Salesforce is often more accurate because the logging happens where work actually occurs rather than requiring a separate login to Salesforce.
Does Salesforce own Slack? Yes. Salesforce acquired Slack in 2021. Many Salesforce-using organisations now use Slack as their primary team communication tool alongside Salesforce as their CRM, which makes Slack-native time tracking a natural fit — the team works in Slack, tracks time in Slack, and the time data can be exported to Salesforce for reporting and billing purposes.
Can Time Bot sync with Salesforce? Time Bot does not have a native real-time Salesforce integration, but the CSV export from Time Bot’s reporting dashboard can be imported into Salesforce against the relevant account, opportunity, or project records. For most teams, a weekly or monthly sync of time data into Salesforce is sufficient for billing and reporting purposes. Time Bot’s PDF invoice generation also means many teams can complete their billing workflow within Time Bot without needing to move the data into Salesforce at all.
