Jira log time for another user: what Jira allows

A manager wants to enter the hours a contractor did not log, or a lead the time of someone who is away. Jira Cloud has no way to log work as someone else: a worklog belongs to the person who logged it. This page shows what Atlassian says, the workarounds that do exist and what each costs, then what Logline shows.

What Jira allows

• Logging time takes the Work on work items permission, which “allows users to log time using the time tracking field in a space” (Atlassian, time tracking permissions). The time is recorded against the person who logs it.
• Edit all worklogs “allows users to edit anyone’s work log entries”, and Delete all worklogs “allows users to delete anyone’s work log entries” (same page). Both change a worklog that exists; neither adds one in someone else’s name.
• The suggestion is closed. JRACLOUD-1676, “Allow logging work for someone else”, was opened in May 2003 and is closed as Won’t Fix (read 6 November 2026; 119 votes).
• The REST API does not change it. Adding a worklog takes the same Work on permission as the screen, and the worklog’s author is read-only in Atlassian’s API definition. A person who tried says so: “No matter what format I use for author name it ignores the element and posts as me” (Community, April 2022).

The workarounds, and what each costs

1. The person logs it themselves, for a past day if need be: Date started in the Log work dialog. It is the only way the worklog carries their name.
2. Someone with Edit all worklogs fixes a worklog that already exists: its time, its day, its description. The person has to have logged something first.
3. Log it under your own name with a note, such as “for Anna, Tuesday”. The hours are in Jira, and every report counts them as yours, not Anna’s. A search of the worklog comments finds them again, but a person’s total is wrong until someone moves the time by hand.
4. An app built for it. Community answers point to Marketplace apps that log for others, or to a private app of your own; Jira itself has none. Check what such an app writes as the author before you rely on it.

With Logline

Logline is our app. It cannot log time for anyone, and it changes nothing in Jira: it reads the worklogs Jira holds, as the person viewing, so nobody sees a worklog Jira hides from them. What it adds is a clear view of who logged what:

1. Open Apps › Logline and pick the period in Period.
2. Open the Worklogs tab. Every worklog is a row: date and time, Author, work item, hours and comment, newest first.
3. Sort by Author, or Filter by a word in the comment, such as the name in a “for Anna” note, to find time logged on someone’s behalf.
4. In the Timesheet tab, put Rows on Person to see each person’s total for the period.

Who hasn’t logged time in Jira this week shows how the gaps show up, so you know whose time to ask for. The Worklogs view is described in The Worklogs view, and logging itself in Log time on a work item. More on the Logline home page.