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Another project timer

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Joe Hone:
After searching for months (a couple of years off and on is more accurate) and not finding what I need I’m posting it here - a simple project timer that tracks project times, does time computations and stores the data as text files. It would be stand-alone and have the capability to run in multiple applications at once. The data stored would include the project, subtask for that project, date, start/stop times, total time for task, with a column for total time for project to date.

Generating a report would be a nice option, but to keep it simple it would not need to generate one. It could save data to an excel spread sheet that can be printed and attached to an invoice or client billing statement, but for my personal use, I send a letter to the client with the billing included in a subparagraph, so I would want the info available as copy/paste text.

A necessary option would be that the text fields can be edited – for instance, if I took a bathroom break and forgot to stop the timer, that could be corrected by changing the start/stop times and the elapsed time gets corrected accordingly. If I ended up combining tasks for that project, the task description field can be edited.

I have tried out about 20 project timers from all over the web, but most are overly complicated to use or don’t create text files or don’t run in multiple applications or only generate reports or only export to google calendar, etc.  Anuran and TaskClerk are useful for telling me what I did, but I need something I trigger to track my work hours. Any thoughts?

mouser:
I'd love to hear more about what makes the existing timers not quite good enough, and some idea of what were the main minimal features you are interested in.  As someone who has evaluated that many tools, I think it would be useful to hear what you think would be the ideal one.

Joe Hone:
My issue with the available project timers is that for the most part they do too much and are difficult to implement if you aren't already well versed in how to configure software. For someone like me, setting up a program to generate reports is a pain, and with some of the programs I've tried, not only can I not find where the data is stored, but it isn't saved as text and I don't want or need xml or other formats. Spending more time to learn the programs isn't the answer when my needs are simple - open the program, select the client, enter the task, start timing, stop timing, data stored, retrieve as needed. I'm probably the typical consumer, not totally computer challenged - I've been invited to beta test through two development cycles one of Adobe's flagship products - but I'm also not very comfortable, or successful, setting up software that has 50 different perimeters, filters or destination folders. Other timers I've tried are simple to use, but don't preserve data as text files, or generate text but don't save it, or don't let me adjust the times/task data, etc. Is this useful info? I can comment on specific programs if that would help.

Joe Hone:
I've been thinking about what I can best use and here are my thoughts:

Clock/timer that shows time running

Functions:
User entry window for project title or ability to open existing title (i.e. “Wilson”)
User entry window for task (i.e. “meeting with client”)
Start button
Pause button
Resume button (or hit start again)
Stop/save button (data automatically saved if computer shut down without hitting stop button)

Data stored:
Project title
Task
Date
Start/stop times
Total elapsed time for task in hours/minutes
Total elapsed time for project in hours/minutes
 
Data retrieval:
Copy paste or printable screen or excel spread sheet or export project summary or?

tomos:
Have you looked at NANY 2013 PLEDGE - Contractor's Work Log ?
Dont think it fits all your requirements, but might still be of interest.

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