Task Timer: Improvements to logging time

When using the Teamwork Web App you can start a timer for any task that you are currently working on. When the timer is complete you can log the time directly to the task and add a description to the new time log entry.

This month we've also extended this form to include the hours and minutes to be logged so you can adjust them to account for lunch breaks etc

We've also added a new keyboard shortcut so when you are looking at your list of tasks you can put the mouse over the task name and press "T" to bring up the Log Time dialog for that task. This shaves 2 mouse clicks off the effort to log time on a particular task - especially handy if you need to log time on multiple tasks in a list.

We didn't stop there though. When you log time on a task, we've added a new checkbox to also complete the task when the time is being logged. Again this shaves a few clicks off the process of logging time on a task and marking the task as complete.

Logging time is very important and a core feature of Teamwork. We have more great additions coming down the line to make logging time less of a chore and we'd love to gather more ideas so drop us a comment on this post with your thoughts.

PS: Don't forget to install the Teamwork Desktop Timer App to make time logging easier

New Version of Desktop Timer App released

We have just released Version 1.34 of the Teamwork PM Desktop Timer App.

This version brings the following updates:
  • Added in column for Task List
  • Added option to 'blink' the current timer if paused
  • Added option to show a total of all timers on screen
  • Added option to Pause/Resume current timer using the Space Bar
  • Added option to adjust the logged date time to when you started working on the timer
  • Masked the API key
  • Auto-saves timers and loads them at startup on update or reboot
  • Automatically select current running timer when app gets focus
  • Auto-select timer when new one is added
  • Selection is maintained when you edit or delete a timer
  • Cycle between timers using the Up and Down arrow keys
  • Double-click a task in Import now adds it as a timer
  • Allow resizing/re-ordering of columns in timer display
  • Mini-view now shows the current timer being timed
  • Minor bug fixes and glitches....
Thank you all for your comments and suggestions and helping us improve the application.

If you quit and restart the app it should prompt you to download the latest version or you can get it directly from http://www.teamworkpm.net/timerAppDownload


Be sure to let us know what you think by adding a comment to this post!

Dan.

Desktop Timer App on the way

For the last few weeks I've been busy working on our first Desktop app for Teamwork to make logging time faster and easier.

Using the web app, you can only have one active timer running at any one time. This was by design. We wanted an easy to use tool within the app to help people measure the time spent they spent working on a task or project.

As Teamwork is used by a multitude of different businesses and teams, we wanted to also offer a more advanced, flexible and feature rich add-on using the API that could benefit from technologies not available to a web app. Features such as minimizing to the System Tray (on Windows) or the Dock (on Mac), auto-pause when the computer is idle (and resume when user is active again), multiple account support (for people jumping between Teamwork accounts), multiple timers etc

In the first version due to be released in late December or early January the following will be available:

- Multiple timers and fast switching between them
- Select your Teamwork projects
- Optionally choose a task from the current project
- Auto-Pause and Resume when the computer is idle. You can decide how long the threshold is in the settings.
- Always on top of all other windows setting
- Minimize App to tray or dock
- Automatic saving/loading of timers when app loads or quits
- Edit/Add/Delete timers
- Pause/Resume timers
- Log time to your Teamwork account

I built the app using AIR and Flex so this is going to be a cross-platform app for Windows, Mac and Linux.

The API must be enabled for your user account in Teamwork to be able to log time.

Future plans include the ability to update your Teamwork status from within the app. We have some changes to make first to the way Status messages work in the main web app and this Desktop version will compliment the planned changes nicely.

Dan.