Guides / Smart tracking

Smart tracking

Smart tracking is HourSlip's name for a few features that catch time you would otherwise lose or bill by mistake. They rest on one small record, kept only on your computer: when you were at the keyboard and which app was in front.

What HourSlip notes, and what it doesn't

Twice a minute, HourSlip checks how long ago you last touched the keyboard or mouse and which app is frontmost. From that it keeps the start and end of each stretch of activity and the app's name.

It doesn't record your screen, what you type or window titles. It needs no special system permission.

The record stays on the computer for 30 days and is then removed. It's never sent anywhere, and it isn't included in backups, CSV exports or invoices.

Settings › Permissions has the controls. Record keyboard and app activity turns the whole thing off, and with it everything in this guide apart from the sleep question. Delete Activity History… erases what's stored, and your time entries aren't touched.

The idle question (free)

You start a timer, a colleague calls you over, and you come back forty minutes later. When you touch the keyboard again, HourSlip asks whether to keep that time. Keep leaves it in, and Discard cuts it out and carries on from your return. Tracking time describes both choices.

Settings › Tracking › Ask about idle time after sets how long counts as away: 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes, or Off. The default is 10. Nothing is removed unless you choose Discard.

Turning it off silences only the idle question. HourSlip still asks about time the computer spent asleep.

A reminder when you forgot to start (Pro)

After five minutes of activity with no timer running, the menu bar or tray icon gets a small mark and the timer panel shows a banner: "Working since 9:12, not tracked".

Start from the banner and the entry begins at 9:12, when the work began, so those minutes aren't lost. You can pick a different project there, or dismiss the banner if it wasn't work. Dismissing keeps it quiet until your next break.

It's a quiet nudge inside HourSlip. No system notification is sent.

The Untracked card (Pro)

When you were active but no entry covers the time, the Timesheet shows an Untracked card with the total. Open it to see each stretch of five minutes or more, with the apps you were using.

For each one, choose a project and press Add, and it becomes a normal entry for exactly that stretch. If it wasn't work, hide it with the ✕ and it stays hidden.

This makes a good end-of-week habit: open the Timesheet, set the period to this week, and clear the card before you invoice.

Project suggestions (Pro)

HourSlip learns which apps you tend to use on which project from your own past entries. When the pattern is clear enough, it puts a project forward:

• In the timer panel, the likely project moves to the top with a Suggested chip.
• In the Untracked card, the project picker is filled in for you.

It only suggests. You always confirm with a click. When the apps don't point clearly at one project, it suggests nothing. Deleting the activity history also resets what it has learned.

Calendar meetings (Pro, Mac)

Turn on Show meetings in Untracked in Settings › Tracking and allow calendar access. Meetings of ten minutes or more that no entry covers then appear in the Untracked card, and adding one uses the meeting's title as the note. All-day events and meetings you declined are left out.

You can choose which calendars count. Events are read on your Mac and go nowhere. This is off until you turn it on.

It also improves the idle question: if you were away during a meeting, HourSlip names the meeting when it asks whether to keep the time.

The end-of-day check (Pro)

On weekdays, if at least ten minutes of today went untracked, HourSlip sends one notification with the day's tracked and untracked totals. On a Mac, clicking it opens today's Timesheet with the Untracked card open.

It arrives at 18:00 unless you change Check at in Settings › Tracking, and a little earlier if you've clearly stopped for the day. It's the only notification HourSlip ever sends, and you can turn it off in the same place.

On Linux

Under Wayland, the desktop doesn't tell apps which app is in front. Idle questions, reminders and untracked time still work there, but project suggestions and app names aren't available. On X11, everything works. Windows needs no setup.