---
title: "Features — Clock Clerk user guide"
description: "The Features tab under Settings in Clock Clerk: where an administrator turns Expenses, Boards and Messages off for the whole organization, and back on, without deleting anything."
url: "https://clockclerk.com/guide/screens/admin-features"
---

Screens

# Features

Where an administrator turns Expenses, Boards and Messages off for everybody in the organization, and back on. An organization that only tracks time can keep the menu to what it uses. Turning a feature off deletes nothing. The steps for setting up the rest of an organization are in [Set up your organization](https://clockclerk.com/guide/workflows/set-up-your-organization.md).

## Who sees it

Administrators only, on every plan: it is **Features** under **Settings** in the menu, at [/admin/features](https://app.clockclerk.com/admin/features). Anyone who is not an administrator is told *You don't have access to this area*. A switch changes the app for everybody in the organization, which is why only an administrator has it.

## The three switches

Each feature has a row with its name, what it does, what turning it off hides, and a checkbox. Every feature is on until an administrator turns it off.

- **Expenses**: people claim what they spent, with receipts, reviewed with their week and then paid back or billed. See [My Expenses](https://clockclerk.com/guide/screens/expenses.md).
- **Boards**: each project gets a board, with its tasks as cards moved from column to column and talked about on the card. See [Boards](https://clockclerk.com/guide/screens/boards.md).
- **Messages**: people talk in each project's thread and in direct messages. Threads shared with a client's guests go with it. Sharing comes with the Starter plan and up, on a paid plan only, not during the trial. See [Messages](https://clockclerk.com/guide/screens/messages.md).

A change is saved the moment you tick or untick the box, and a message confirms it, for example *Boards is off for everybody. Nothing in it was deleted.* The checkbox moves once the change is saved. If it can't be saved, the box stays as it was and the screen says *Couldn't change that setting. Please try again.*

## What turning a feature off does

Its link disappears from the menu, from **Jump to** and from Home for everybody, you included, as soon as the change is saved. Everyone else sees it gone on their next screen. Its screens send anyone who opens them home. Nothing in it is deleted, and turning it back on brings everything back as it was.

- **Expenses** off hides **My Expenses** and **Settings → Expense categories**. Claims already submitted can still be approved, paid back, invoiced and exported, so **Reimbursements** stays for Finance and administrators. A claim still in draft is filed as it stands when its owner submits the week.
- **Boards** off hides every project's board and a card's comments. Tasks are not affected: the timesheet and the project page go on using them, and each card comes back in its column when Boards is on again.
- **Messages** off hides **Messages** and pauses its threads: they can still be read, but nobody can post in them, guests included. A card's comments go with Boards, not Messages.

## When it asks first

Turning a feature off asks **Turn … off?** before saving when something is waiting in it:

- **Expenses**, when any claim is still being drafted, that is, dated in a week its owner has not submitted. Its owner can't see or change it while Expenses is off.
- **Messages**, when any thread is shared with a client's guests. They can read it but not post in it until Messages is on again.

The question says how many. **Turn off** saves the change, and **Cancel** leaves the feature on. Boards never asks, because nothing waits on a board. Turning a feature on never asks.

## What is always on

A note under the switches says what has no switch: time tracking, approvals, reports and rates, and, on the plans that include them, invoicing, contractors and reminders. They are either the core of Clock Clerk or already shown only to the people who use them, so only your plan decides them. See [Plans and your trial](https://clockclerk.com/guide/screens/trial.md).

## Buttons and when they appear

| Button | What it does | When you have it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The checkbox beside Expenses, Boards or Messages | Turns the feature on or off for everybody, asking first where something is waiting in it. | Always, but disabled while your organization is read-only, and on the live demo, which everybody shares, so its features stay as they are. |
| Turn off | Turns the feature off after **Turn … off?** has said what will be hidden. | In the question only. |
| Cancel | Closes the question and leaves the feature on. | In the question only. |

Each change is checked again when you make it: only an administrator can turn a feature on or off (see [Roles](https://clockclerk.com/guide/roles.md)). While a feature is off, anything that would start new work in it is refused with [a message saying an administrator has turned it off](https://clockclerk.com/guide/troubleshooting/messages.md).