The Message Center is your in-app inbox for everything the system used to tell you only by email: an absence is waiting for approval, a shift schedule has been published, a time-entry change has been requested, a confirmation that someone accepted your shift assignment, and much more.
You can filter, search, manage in groups, and act on all messages from one place. You’ll find it in the left navigation, marked with a bell icon and a bubble showing the number of unread messages.
What lands in your inbox
The Message Center contains two types of items:
- Automatic messages from Timebutler when something happens in your account — a shift schedule is published, an absence needs your approval, an employee requests a change to a time entry.
- Manual messages, written by an admin or manager. These correspond to the former Messages feature and always reach the addressed people.
Every message card shows you at a glance:
- An icon for the topic (shifts, absence, time recording, general).
- Subject and a short preview with the relevant dates and names.
- An action area:
- Green Accept / red Reject buttons when a decision is required from you.
- A green Accepted or red Rejected marker when the decision has already been made — by you, by another approver, or elsewhere in the product.
- A silent marker when the request no longer applies (it was withdrawn, the shift schedule was deleted, or the feature it depended on was disabled).