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In my view, useless for anybody who does not have the resources to hire additional people who look over the actual worker's shoulder and click on "Start Tracking Project" and "Stop Tracking Project" buttons all day long according to what the actual workers are currently doing.

Sorry about that.

[automatically tracks hours based on activity in the respective windows]

Sorry, but unless this solution reads application window titles and automatically tracks hours based on activity in the respective windows (which I suppose it doesn't) -- it is only one of the many (sorry again) USELESS "solutions" for time tracking and billing which instead only puts another layer of complexity on top of one's projects.

> ArsClip bloated?  When its .exe is under 4 MB?

While this probably is good programming, it has tons of features and settings that I don't need, and OTOH it is not able to simply show a no frills popup next to its own tray icon, but instead puts its window all over the place on my triple monitors 

Scott, the OuterTech Clipboard History tool looks very promising with just the right feature set!

And it shows a standard system menu when clicking the tray icon, no fancy runtime-powered slowish round-cornered skinnable full-blown GUI with blinkenlights and tiny custom fonts like so many applications nowadays.

Thank your for this cool find!

Cheers David.P

Thanks guys, I'll have a look at these.

I might change it if you're not ears but mouth for a light weight clipboard software.

Hi forum,

since ArsClip has evolved into a piece of bloatware of unimaginable proportions, and Ditto inexplicably seems to be unable to select list entries on a single click   -- are there any other Multi Clipboard tools that simply can do the following:

- provide a history of clipboard entries after clicking on the tray icon
- put the respective entry on the clipboard on SINGLE click
- provides a custom hotkey for "Paste as Unformatted Text"
- is compatible with mulitple monitors (i.e. don't pop up on the first monitor when the tray is on the second)

Thanks heaps already

Cheers David.P

Thanks Target, for the information about your tool.

True. I might end up and code such a tool myself in AHK at some stage...

On the other hand, at the moment I am quite happy with my combination of ProjectTimers and Anuran.

Anuran actually is like "magically useful" for me.

All true, however honestly, I trust you guys around here more than an (all purpose-) programmer hired on a platform -- all the more since this tool possibly could be coded by someone who actually uses the tool himself afterwards, which probably will make it three times as good as if someone who is not so much involved in that time tracking stuff would code it.

What's more, this should be doable in AHK, and while I am not so proficient to build this from scratch (without taking weeks for it), I think I should be able to maintain, and gradually improve the code around the edges, over time afterwards.

For example, I once hired a programmer to write a small app for me.

First, it took weeks to find one who seemed to be able to code what I needed, although I made a proper invitation of tenders on a professional platform. Second, although the tool in the end worked out ok with regard to the "right half of a three digit range" that I spent there, very soon I discovered that I needed different bits and pieces to be changed, features added and so on.

In the end I stopped using that (static) made-to-order tool, and wrote my own in AHK which I have been using for many years now. Still, almost every day however I fix and improve bits and pieces in the code. This way and evolutionary, that tool has become like 20 times as useful as the original one, in the meantime.

I see, thank you. This tool by Anand seems to be for taking notes that can be fixed to document and program windows. However, it doesn't seem to have the ability to nag, and to take time stamps.

This is btw the titlebar time tracker that I have been using for many years now, Rayflectar Project Timers



The program's output is very basic and looks like this.

[copy or print]
Timer Name = 123456, My Project
Total time = 022:01:06 <hhh:mm:ss>
Keywords used = 123456, Google Books, Archive.org
Timer Creation Date = 2014.05.27 09:05 AM
Last Updated = 2014.08.10 09:50 AM

Timer History (max depth = 100 active days)
Format (comma separated): Date, Running Total <hhh:mm:ss>, Day Total <hh:mm:ss>
2014.05.27, 000:00:04, 00:00:04
2014.05.30, 000:25:26, 00:25:22
2014.06.10, 001:04:48, 00:39:22
2014.08.09, 022:00:28, 03:32:04
2014.08.10, 022:01:06, 00:00:38

As a result from the discussion, the perfect time tracking program in my view would be a tool like Project Timers that additionally can be set to  bring up a text box at certain intervals where you can write down what you have done in the last half hour or so -- the latter of course exactly as Anuran does:

Of course, both parts of the information, the time tracked with regard to the current project (based on window titles) as well as the notes you have taken, should be presented and saved together in an easy to handle format, in order to be able to track, view and export what you have done at what time in which project, and how long everything has taken.

For a working tool like described above, and with prospects for further development, I would easily donate in the three digits range, because this would enable me to bill so much more and better that it would probably pay for itself in like a week's time.

Could you supply a link, Tao?

[combines]

or is anyone aware of a tool that combines the features of Anuran ("nag me for descriptive text regularly") and a Titlebar tracker ("record the time spent in your projects' files") into ONE application?

this would be very nice - wonder would Skwire be interested...

I've been thinking about doing that... if he's not interested, and is willing to let me build on top of what he's done...

Yess please

[combines]

Ouch tomos, you're correct! I don't understand why I have overlooked that you have already mentioned my present solution (combine Anuran with a title tracker) very early in this thread!

Probably it was due to the fact that initially, I was too focussed on my original idea of having that "intelligent" time tracker which only asks you what you did if it detects that something "special" is going on between the windows you use.

So I suppose this is the solution for the time being -- or is anyone aware of a tool that combines the features of Anuran ("nag me for descriptive text regularly") and a Titlebar tracker ("record the time spent in your projects' files") into ONE application?

Since a tool like THAT would be the most amazing and useful time tracker and billing helper on the market by far!

YESS! Anuran most probably is THE tool I am after. Thank you wraith!

Well after having additionally installed Whatcha Doing,


...I more and more realize that what I mostly need is a "Nag Application" that comes up in a certain interval and presents me with a text entry box where I can quickly describe what exactly I have been doing in the last hour.

Whatcha Doing is great, but you can't really input text there, since it is limited to the tracking of categories only.

Any hint to other "nag applications" is welcome!

OK for a first step, I installed this:
https://addons.mozilla.or...name-in-titlebar/reviews/

This addon puts the entire current url into the Firefox Titlebar -- in order to then be automatically tracked by titlebar-aware time trackers (the only ones that make sense in my view).

Now at least I can track the considerable amount of time that I spend on my like 5 research websites. Since I am normally only working on one project every given day, this web research time also can be assigned to the respective project manually afterwards.

Actually, if I think about it some more, what I need is exactly a tool that monitors the documents that I am in, and if it detects that since like half an hour, I have started to spend more than, say, 2/3rd of the time in a certain project number related document collection, it should start to ask me regularly what I have been doing there for the last hour.

There was one tool that at least does the "ask me regularly" part but now I can't seem to find it anymore.

Ah, I think it was this one:

http://www.fish-bytes.com...whatchadoing/manager.html

This is also a very good approach:

http://www.businessrunner...et/timesheet/Screenshots/

[A)]

Yes, I will give TimeSprite a try because this seems closest to what I am after. However I don't even really need this kind of (manual) grouping of all kinds of document windows, since ALL of my projects files' names contain the project ID anyway and should (must) be grouped automatically, otherwise the tool would be a step backwards from what I already have.

What I'd need is A) "intelligent" browsing recognition like "assign all time that is spent on Archive.org in between Project A related windows automatically to Project A" (or ask me if this shall be done), and B) ask me at certain useful intervals if I'd like to write a short billable task description about the last 2 hours or so (for example if you recognize that I have started to procrastinate away on Facebook or Youtube).

I have looked now at about three dozen project time trackers, but I've come to the impression that I seem to be about the only person who simply includes unique project numbers into the NAMES of ALL files of any given project, in order to easily and automatically track my time spent in those projects with a simple titlebar-aware tracker 

Almost ALL tools and suites I found are not project-based but application-based 

"It is so great to be able see how much time you spent on Facebook or in Outlook..."

Can't believe it...

Anyway, thanks for any additional ideas and tips you guys might have.

[and intelligently groups similar titles]

Thanks for the tip with TimeSprite. This

TimeSprite records the titles of the active window as you work, and intelligently groups similar titles to report how you spent your time

...sounds good since it probably would detect web research based on the browser's window titles.

True, however

I like the idea of being prompted when leaving a window

is not exactly it. I can "leave a window" about two times a minute...

I'd really need a prompt only every so often, and typically only if the time tracking tool would recognize un-typical activity like for example after I have changed a lot between windows that HAVE the project ID and windows that DON'T have the project ID in their titlebar -- which in my case would indicate that I was researching something (project-related) on the web.

That is an old tool called Rayflectar Project Timers that only tracks windows titles (which works great, so far).

Hello forum,

I am looking for a very basic time tracking software that tracks time based on application windows title names.

I am usually only working on one or two projects at a time. Every project has its unique project number which turns up in the filename of each and every file assigned to the project.

Therefore, the software basically only should keep track how much time is spent in application windows that contain a project's number in their titlebar.

I already use a time tracking software like that which works really good. The only problem is, my current time tracking tool is working so silent in the background that I actually forget to write short descriptive texts that after like three weeks of working on Project A can be used for billing purposes.

Additionally, the software should be somewhat intelligent in the sense of noticing for example that if I have been working in a Word document related to Project A for one hour, and then spend like half an hour in the browser researching stuff (which actually might be saved in the project folder, again getting assigned filenames containing the project number), the software should ask me quickly whether this browser time was Project A related or not, including the possibility to assign a short descriptive text regarding what I have done in that last half-hour.

What I do not need is a full fledged procrastination suite with lots of analysis tools, or a large project time management software. I'd only like to track just that little bit better how much, and especially "what" actually I have been doing today in my projects A and B.

If I think about it, basically I would need the tool to do two things, additionally to just tracking window titles.

It would need to ask me questions like:

This afternoon, you have spent 4.7 hours in your project A's documents. Do you want to write a short descriptive text what you have been doing?

and

The last two hours, you have been working in your project A's documents, but you also have spent 50 minutes in the browser, mainly on the website "Archive.org". Do you want to write a short descriptive text what you have been doing?

Thanks very much already for any suggestions
Regards David.P

Winstep Nexus.