Cancellation: who reads the reason – and who hears about it
Robert Reiz | September 29, 2026 | 08:37 UTC In ZEIT.IO, timesheets and expense submissions that have already been approved can be cancelled. The approval is reversed, and associated outgoing invoices and credit notes are cancelled as well. Whoever cancels has to give a reason.
This release changes two things: the cancellation page now states clearly who gets to see the reason. And everyone involved is informed about the cancellation via email – reason included.
The reason is not a private channel
Until now, the text field on the cancellation page was labelled "Message to Jane Doe". That sounded like a personal message to the freelancer or employee. In fact, the reason was also saved as a comment on the timesheet or expense submission – visible to everybody allowed to read it, in particular the organisation admins and the approvers of the project.
That is exactly why one customer wrote a confidential message, assuming only the freelancer would read it. We want to make sure this does not happen again.
The field is now called "Reason for cancellation". Right above it, a notice states the visibility openly:
The reason will be sent via email to Jane Doe, to the person who submitted the timesheet and to all approvers. In addition it will be published as a comment on this timesheet. The comment is visible to everybody with read access to the timesheet, especially the organisation admins and the approvers of the project. Please do not write any confidential information here.
A dedicated email for the cancellation
Until now, only the submitter received an email after a cancellation – and it was the same one as for a regular rejection: "The status of your timesheet was changed to 'declined'." No mention of the cancellation, no reason. The approvers were not informed at all.
Now there is a dedicated cancellation email. It goes to:
- the freelancer or employee the timesheet or expense submission belongs to,
- the person who submitted the timesheet, if that was someone else – an assistant or a project manager, for example,
- all approvers of the timesheet or expense submission.
The email names the cancelled item, explains the consequences and contains the reason word for word. A link takes each recipient straight to the right view. Approvers who approve via link without a user account receive the email as well – just without the link, since the reason is in the email anyway.
Each person receives the email only once, even if they are submitter and approver at the same time. Every email sent is recorded in the audit log.
Fixed along the way: the notification address for rejected expenses
In an organisation's settings, under Notifications, you can store separate email addresses for approved and for rejected expenses. The notification about a rejected (or cancelled) expense submission used to go to the address for approved expenses by mistake. If only the address for rejected expenses was set, no email arrived at all. This is fixed: rejections now go to the address intended for them.
Questions or feedback? Write to us at support@zeit.io – we are happy to help.