Using the Time Tracker

While we’ve talked about downloading the tracker including the updates we have been making on it, we have never specifically posted the process you would use to actually install and use the application so I’m going to do it now.

Get Adobe Air

The Time Tracker is built in Adobe AIR so you’ll need to install that on your computer before you can install the Time Tracker.

You can grab Adobe AIR from the Adobe website here - http://get.adobe.com/air/ – Just click the big “Download now” button, it should automatically detect your operating system, if it hasn’t correctly then just click the “Different operating system?” link.

The Adobe Air Download Link

Double click the downloaded file file then agree to the terms of use and it will install.

Get the Time Tracker

You can download our time tracker on the time tracker page of our website here - http://www.proworkflow.com/PWF_PLUG_time_tracker.cfm – simply download the time tracker file in “Step 2″ on the right-hand side of the page, once you’ve downloaded the file double-click it to install.

Open and configure the Time Tracker

After installing the time tracker it will place a shortcut on your desktop, double-click the shortcut to open it, if this is the first time you’ve installed the time tracker it will automatically switch over to the settings page, you can access settings using the “i” link top right of the time tracker if it doesn’t open for you.

Configure the Time Tracker

On the settings page enter your proworkflow account url and the username/password you use to log in, optionally you can change the sort order of the projects drop-down list in addition to the start view and whether you want to round time to 15 minute increments.

Configure the Time Tracker

When you click “Done” if you’ve change the username/password/url you will need to close the time tracker and then re-open it, click the X icon to close the time tracker.

Using the Time Tracker

When you first open the time tracker it will load your projects, once you select a project using the drop-down list it will load in the tasks for that project, you start tracking time by clicking the big play button. Once you stop the time tracker the tray will slide down and you can enter a note or change any of the time record details before submitting it to the server.

You can also manually submit time this way by expanding the tray, selecting a project and then task and manually entering an amount of time (instead of having the time tracker work out the time for you).

Auto-Updating

Whenever we release a new version you’ll see an “update” icon appear that you can click to have the time tracker automatically update for you.

Online-Only

You’ll need to be online so the time tracker can load in your projects & tasks as well as submit time records, the time tracker won’t work if you don’t have internet access.

Project Tasks Only

Currently the time tracker lets you select a project and then task, this means you can only track time on Project Tasks, not general tasks (because they aren’t in a project), this is a change we will make in the future.

Tags: adobe, Adobe Air, application, desktop, proworkflow, time tracking