# Attendance Tracker: Keep leave and present marks current in the Google Sheet you already run, without editing cell by cell.

Source: https://zentor.ai/use-cases/google-sheets-attendance-tracker

Attendance tracker for Google Sheets: keep your attendance sheet current in plain English, verify the summary, schedule weekly updates.

## Prompt

```text
Record 2 days of leave for Jordan Lee in April on the Attendance Tracker sheet. Mark everyone else Present for those days.
```

Variations:

- **Whole-team week**: Update this week's attendance for the whole team on the Attendance Tracker sheet. Use P for present, L for leave, and A for absent, matching the notes I paste next.
- **WFH codes**: On the Attendance Tracker sheet, mark Sam Ortiz as WFH for Monday through Wednesday this week, and keep the rest of the row Present.
- **Monthly leave summary**: Read the Attendance Tracker sheet for April, list every leave day by employee, and save a leave-summary.csv next to the sheet.

## How it works

1. **Say who is off, and for how long**: Tell Zentor the person, the dates, and the status code you use. Plain English is enough; you do not point at cells.
2. **Zentor finds the cells and writes the statuses**: It opens your Attendance Tracker sheet, reads the layout you already have, and writes Present, Leave, or your own codes into the right places.
3. **Get a change summary checked against the sheet**: After the write, Zentor reads the sheet back and lists what changed, so you can spot a miss before payroll sees it.

## What you can track

- Leave days by person: Name the person and the dates; the sheet gets L where it should.
- Present marks for the rest of the team: Fill the other cells for those dates so the week does not stay blank.
- Custom status codes: P, L, A, WFH, HD, or whatever codes your sheet already uses.
- A whole week in one pass: Paste a short note list and get the grid updated instead of editing cell by cell.
- Monthly leave rollups: Pull every leave day into a summary file for payroll or managers.
- Odd patterns worth a look: Scheduled scans for missing cells or people over a leave threshold.

## Comparison

| Feature | Manual Sheet | HR attendance app | Zentor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where the roster lives | Your Sheet, edited by hand | Vendor app or separate portal | Your Google Sheet, updated for you |
| Recording leave | Find the cell, type, repeat | Click through each employee in the UI | One sentence covers the people and dates |
| Setup | Build formulas as the team grows | Days of onboarding and data import | Point at the sheet you already use |
| Cost shape | Free tools, expensive time | Often per employee per month | Automation on the sheet you keep |

## FAQ

### What is an attendance tracker in Zentor?

It is your existing Google Sheet for present and leave marks, updated from plain English instead of cell-by-cell edits. Zentor reads the layout you already use, writes the statuses you ask for, and returns a verified change summary.

### Do I need a new attendance tracker template?

No. Keep the sheet you already run. Zentor adapts to employee rows with date columns, or the reverse, and can add a missing date column when the month needs it.

### Can I use my own status codes?

Yes. P, L, A, WFH, HD, or any codes already in the sheet. Say which codes to use in the request and Zentor applies them consistently.

### How is this different from HR attendance software?

HR tools want your team inside their product, often at a few dollars per employee per month. This attendance tracker stays in Google Sheets, so there is no migration and no per-seat roster fee for the sheet itself.

### Can the attendance tracker run on a schedule?

Yes. Common setups are a Monday morning pass over last week's leave notes, or an end-of-day fill. You can still send a one-off update any time.

### What do I get back after an update?

A short change summary: who moved to Leave, who was marked Present, and which sheet was touched, after Zentor re-reads the file.