--- title: How to Use Performance Notes description: Performance Notes let administrators record and track observations about an employee's performance directly on their profile. Use them to document feedback, assign follow-ups, attach supporting files, and build an ongoing performance history. --- [Skip to content](https://help.jointimecloud.com/how-to-use-performance-notes#main-content) [Contact us](https://help.jointimecloud.com/kb-tickets/new?hsLang=en) [![Timecloud-Logo-600-2](https://help.jointimecloud.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Timecloud-Logo-600-2.png?width=200&height=40&name=Timecloud-Logo-600-2.png)](https://help.jointimecloud.com/?hsLang=en) Open main navigation Close main navigation - [Contact us](https://help.jointimecloud.com/kb-tickets/new) - [Go to app.jointimecloud.com](https://app.jointimecloud.com/) [Go to app.jointimecloud.com](https://app.jointimecloud.com/) Got questions? Ask away - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. 1. [Service Portal](https://help.jointimecloud.com/?hsLang=en) 2. [Human Resources](https://help.jointimecloud.com/human-resources?hsLang=en) # How to Use Performance Notes ## Performance Notes let administrators record and track observations about an employee's performance directly on their profile. Use them to document feedback, assign follow-ups, attach supporting files, and build an ongoing performance history. **Who Can Access Performance Notes** - **Admins only** — employees cannot see performance notes recorded about them. - The **Performance Notes** tab appears on employee profiles when: - The **Performance Management** module is enabled for your company, **and** - Your role has the **HR - Employee Profile - Performance Notes** permission enabled under **Feature Access**. - **Company Admins** can view, create, edit, and delete any note. - **Sub-Admins** can view and create notes, but can only edit or delete notes they authored themselves. --- **Finding the Performance Notes Tab** - Go to **Employees** from the main menu. - Select an employee from the list. - Click the **Performance Notes** tab in the profile tab bar. --- **Creating a Performance Note** - Click the **New Entry** button in the top-right corner of the tab. - Fill in the form: - **Title** — a short summary of the note (up to 200 characters). - **Note** — the full details of the observation (up to 5,000 characters). - **Category** — choose a category to classify the note: **General** (default), **Coaching**, **Warning**, **Achievement**, or **Review**. - **Status** — set the current status of the note: **Open** (default), **In Progress**, **Resolved**, or **Archived**. - **Assign admin(s)** — optionally pick one or more admins to follow up on this note. Only admins who have Performance Notes access and can view this employee will appear in the list. - **Confidential** toggle — when turned on, the note is only visible to you, assigned admins, and Company Admins. Other Sub-Admins will not see it, even if they have Performance Notes access. - **Allow Comments** toggle — on by default. Turn off to hide the comment thread on this note. Existing comments are kept and reappear when turned back on. - **Allow Reactions** toggle — on by default. Turn off to hide the like button on this note. Existing likes are kept and reappear when turned back on. - **Reminder date** — optionally set a date for a follow-up reminder. Past dates show as overdue immediately. The system sends an email reminder to the author and assignees when the date arrives. - **Attachments** — attach supporting documents by clicking the upload area or dragging files onto it. Up to 10 files per note, 25 MB each, using standard HR document types (e.g. PDF, Word, images). - **Title** and **Note** are required. A character counter appears below each field. - Click **Create** to save. Files are uploaded automatically before the note is saved. The new note appears at the top of the list. --- **Viewing Performance Notes** - Notes are listed newest first by default, displayed as expandable cards. - Each card shows: - **Lock icon** — appears on confidential notes. - **Title** — the note headline. - **Category chip** — a coloured chip showing the note's category (e.g. General, Coaching, Warning). - **Status chip** — shows the current status. **Resolved** is highlighted in green. - **Follow-up badge** — if a reminder date is set, shows the follow-up state: **Overdue** (red), **Due today** (red), **Upcoming**, or **Complete** (green). - **Author name** — the admin who created the note. - **Date** — when the note was created. - **Comment badge** — shows the number of comments (if comments are enabled and any exist). - **Edited label** — appears if the note title or body has been modified after creation. - **Reminder date** — displayed below the note body when set. - **Mark follow-up complete** — a button that appears for overdue, due today, or upcoming follow-ups. Available to the note author, assignees, and company admins. - **Reactions** — a heart button to like/unlike the note (when reactions are enabled). Shows the total like count. - **Assignee chips** — names of any admins assigned to this note. - **Attachments** — listed below the note body, each with a **Download** button. Files being scanned show a "Scanning" label; files that failed scanning show "Unavailable". - Click a card to expand it and see the full note body, assignees, attachments, and comment thread. - Only one card can be expanded at a time. --- **Filtering Performance Notes** A filter bar appears above the notes list with several options to narrow down the view. ### **Category Filter** - Use the **Category** multi-select dropdown to show notes with specific categories. - Select one or more categories (e.g. Warning, Achievement). - When nothing is selected, all categories are shown. ### **Status Filter** - Use the **Status** multi-select dropdown to show notes with specific statuses. - Select one or more statuses (e.g. Open, In Progress). - When nothing is selected, all statuses are shown. ### **Author Filter** - Use the **Author** dropdown to show only notes created by a specific admin. - The list includes all admins who have authored notes for this employee. ### **Created Date Range** - Use the **Created** date range picker to show notes created within a specific period. - Set a **Start** date, **End** date, or both to define the range. ### **Follow-up Filter** - Use the **Follow-up** dropdown to filter by follow-up state: - **All follow-ups** — no filtering (default). - **Due** — shows notes with reminders that are due today or upcoming. - **Overdue** — shows only overdue notes. ### **Sort** - Use the **Sort** dropdown to change the list order: - **Newest** — most recently created first (default). - **Oldest** — earliest created first. - **Reminder date** — sorts by reminder date. ### **Search** - Use the **Search Performance Notes** field to filter notes by title. - Results update automatically as you type. ### **Assigned to Me** - Toggle **Assigned to me** to show only notes where you are listed as an assignee. ### **Clear Filters** - When any filter is active, a **Clear filters** button appears. Click it to reset all filters back to their defaults. - If no notes match the active filters, the empty state shows "No notes match your filters" with a **Clear filters** button. --- **Editing a Performance Note** - Expand the note you want to edit. - Click the **three-dot menu** on the note card. - Select **Edit**. - You can update: - **Title** and **Note** content. - **Category** and **Status**. - **Assignees** — add or remove assigned admins. - **Confidential** toggle — turn confidentiality on or off. - **Allow Comments** and **Allow Reactions** toggles — turn engagement features on or off. When turning off a toggle on a note that already has comments or likes, a confirmation dialog explains that the existing content is kept but hidden. - **Reminder date** — set, change, or clear the reminder date using the date picker. Click the **X** button next to the date to clear it. - **Attachments** — add new files or remove existing ones by clicking the **X** next to a file. - Click **Save** to apply changes. An "edited" label appears if the title or note body was changed. - If you close the form with unsaved changes, you will be asked to confirm. **Note:** Sub-Admins can only edit notes they created. Company Admins can edit any note. --- **Deleting a Performance Note** - Click the **three-dot menu** on the note card. - Select **Delete**. - Confirm the deletion in the dialog. This action cannot be undone. - Any attachments on the note are also removed. **Note:** Sub-Admins can only delete notes they created. Company Admins can delete any note. --- **Using Comments** Each performance note has its own comment thread, visible when the card is expanded and **Allow Comments** is on. ### **Adding a Comment** - Expand the note to reveal the **Comments** section. - Type your comment in the text box at the top of the thread. - Press **Submit** (or the send button) to post. - Your comment appears at the top of the thread. The comment badge on the card updates automatically. ### **Deleting a Comment** - Find your comment in the thread. - Click the **delete icon** next to your comment. - The comment is removed and the badge count updates. - You can only delete comments you authored. ### **Loading More Comments** - If there are more comments than fit on the page, a **Load more comments** button appears at the bottom of the thread. - Click it to load the next batch. --- **Reactions (Likes)** - When **Allow Reactions** is on for a note, a **heart icon** appears below the note body. - Click the heart to **like** the note. Click it again to **unlike**. - The like count displays next to the heart. The heart fills in red when you have liked the note. - Reactions are not available on notes for archived employees. --- **Follow-up Reminders** - Set a **Reminder date** when creating or editing a note to schedule a follow-up. - Once a reminder is set, a follow-up badge appears on the note card: - **Overdue** (red) — the reminder date has passed. - **Due today** (red) — the reminder is due today. - **Upcoming** — the reminder date is in the future. - **Complete** (green) — the follow-up has been marked complete. - A **Mark follow-up complete** button appears on notes with active follow-ups (overdue, due today, or upcoming). The note author, any assigned admin, or a Company Admin can click it to mark it complete. - The system sends an email reminder to the note author and assignees when the reminder date arrives (subject to notification settings). - Clear the reminder date to remove the follow-up entirely. --- **Email Notifications** Timecloud can send email notifications for performance note activity. Emails are sent when: - A **new note is created** — notifies assignees and relevant admins. - An **admin is assigned** to a note. - A **comment is added** to a note. - A **follow-up reminder** is due. Emails include a link to open the note directly on the employee's profile. ### **Company-Level Setting** - Go to **Settings \> Notifications**. - Under the notifications list, find **Performance Note Emails**. - Toggle it on or off. The description reads: "Email admins when a performance note is created, assigned, or commented on." - This setting is on by default. ### **Per-Employee Setting** - On an employee's profile, go to the **Operations** tab (or **User Access** tab on the restructured profile). - Expand the notifications panel. - Find **Performance Note Emails** and toggle it on or off. - This setting is on by default. Turning it off stops performance note emails for that individual admin. --- **Confidential Notes** - Mark a note as **Confidential** using the toggle in the create or edit form. - Confidential notes are visible only to: - The **author** of the note. - Any **assigned admins** on the note. - **Company Admins**. - Other Sub-Admins with Performance Notes access will not see confidential notes in the list. - A **lock icon** appears next to the title on confidential note cards. - You can change the confidential setting at any time by editing the note. --- **Attachments** - Add files when creating or editing a note using the upload area at the bottom of the form. - **Click to select files** or **drag and drop** them onto the upload area. - Up to **10 files** per note, each up to **25 MB**. Accepted file types follow standard HR document formats (PDF, Word, Excel, images, etc.). - Uploaded files are automatically scanned for security. While scanning is in progress, the file shows a **Scanning** label and cannot be downloaded. - Once scanning completes, click the **Download** button next to any attachment to save it. - To remove an attachment, edit the note and click the **X** next to the file you want to remove, then save. --- **Archived Employees** - When viewing the profile of an **archived employee**, performance notes become **read-only**. - The **New Entry** button is hidden. - Existing notes can still be viewed and expanded, but cannot be edited, deleted, commented on, or reacted to. --- **Pagination** - When an employee has many notes, a paginator appears below the list. - Choose how many notes to display per page: **10**, **20**, or **50**. - Use the navigation arrows to move between pages. --- **Good to Know** - Performance Notes are **not visible to employees** — only administrators with the correct permission can see them. - Each note records who created it, so there is a clear audit trail. - **Categories** help you organise notes by type (General, Coaching, Warning, Achievement, Review), and **Statuses** help you track their progress (Open, In Progress, Resolved, Archived). - Use the **filter bar** to quickly narrow the list by category, status, author, date range, follow-up state, or sort order. - The comment thread on each note lets multiple admins collaborate on feedback. - Use the **Assigned to me** toggle to quickly find notes you need to follow up on. - **Confidential** notes help you keep sensitive observations private, shared only with the people who need to see them. - Set a **Reminder date** to make sure follow-ups are not forgotten. The system sends an email when the date arrives. - **Reactions** let admins acknowledge a note with a like without needing to add a comment. - Attachments are scanned for security before they become available for download. - If the Performance Management module or the Performance Notes permission is not enabled, the tab will not appear on employee profiles. - Notes are tied to individual employees — navigate to the employee's profile to see their notes. - Email notification links open the note directly on the employee's profile. - [Account & Security](https://help.jointimecloud.com/account-security?hsLang=en) - [Attendance & Timesheets](https://help.jointimecloud.com/attendance-timesheets?hsLang=en) - [Award Interpretation](https://help.jointimecloud.com/award-interpretation?hsLang=en) - [Biometric Scanners](https://help.jointimecloud.com/biometric-scanners?hsLang=en) - [Employees](https://help.jointimecloud.com/employees?hsLang=en) - [Forms & Checklists](https://help.jointimecloud.com/forms-checklists?hsLang=en) - [Geofencing](https://help.jointimecloud.com/geofencing?hsLang=en) - [Human Resources](https://help.jointimecloud.com/human-resources?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Organisation View](https://help.jointimecloud.com/human-resources?hsLang=en#organisation-view) - [Integrations](https://help.jointimecloud.com/integrations?hsLang=en) - [Job Tracking](https://help.jointimecloud.com/job-tracking?hsLang=en) - [Leave Management](https://help.jointimecloud.com/leave-management?hsLang=en) - [Mobile App](https://help.jointimecloud.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Kiosk](https://help.jointimecloud.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en#kiosk) - [Mobile App](https://help.jointimecloud.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en#mobile-app) - [Payroll](https://help.jointimecloud.com/payroll?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Xero](https://help.jointimecloud.com/payroll?hsLang=en#xero) - [iPayroll](https://help.jointimecloud.com/payroll?hsLang=en#ipayroll) - [MYOB](https://help.jointimecloud.com/payroll?hsLang=en#myob) - [Smartly](https://help.jointimecloud.com/payroll?hsLang=en#smartly) - [Reporting](https://help.jointimecloud.com/reporting?hsLang=en) - [Roster](https://help.jointimecloud.com/roster?hsLang=en) - [Settings](https://help.jointimecloud.com/settings?hsLang=en) - [Shifts](https://help.jointimecloud.com/shifts?hsLang=en) - [Time Clock](https://help.jointimecloud.com/time-clock?hsLang=en) - [Dashboard](https://help.jointimecloud.com/dashboard?hsLang=en) Service Desk Copyright © 2025, Timecloud Ltd