Automatic Time Management Assistant

actiTIME’s browser extension – Time Management Assistant  lets you track time spent on various online activities in a fully automatic fashion and keeps a thorough record of the web-based platforms you visit throughout the day.

In addition, the extension features:

  • A one-click timer that provides more control over the time tracking process whenever you need it.
  • Visual reports and charts for simpler productivity analysis.
  • Seamless and flexible data synchronization with actiTIME Online.

System Requirements

Time Management Assistant is compatible with the latest versions of Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. Plus, you can integrate it with the online version of actiTIME.

Starting with Your Time Management Assistant

1.    Sign up / sign in

If you have actiTIME Self-Hosted, you cannot integrate Time Management Assistant with your account. However, you still may use it as a personal productivity tool.

Just sign up using an email address:

  • Click the corresponding sign-up button
  • Fill out the sign-up form
  • Verify your email using a one-time 6-digit code

After that, use the registered login data whenever you need to sign into the extension.

Sign in using email

2.    Choose tools to track time for

After registration, the extension will take you to the initial configuration page where you can choose what online tools you want to track time for:

Choose which tools to track time for, Time Management Assistant

There, you may select to track time either in all web-based platforms without exception or only in particular ones. It’s possible to pick the latter by using the templates given on the configuration page or adding tools and websites one by one after clicking on the + Add button in the column with an appropriate activity category (e.g., Communication & Email, Project Management, etc.):

Add tools to track time for, Time Management Assistant

Extension Settings

All the available system settings can be accessed by clicking on the cog icon in the upper right corner of the extension’s interface:

Time Management Assistant settings

These include:

  • Account Settings – A place where you can find your login information and log out of the extension.
  • Tools for Auto-tracking – Here, you may edit the selection of tools and activities you want to track time for.
  • General Settings – Here, you may indicate which period of inactivity should be considered idle time + the minimal data sync interval (in case you signed into the extension via actiTIME account).
  • Sync Settings – This interface is meant for managing the rules of data synchronization between the extension and actiTIME Online.

Time Tracking Modes (Activities Interface)

Automatic tracking of time you spend online is the primary feature of Time Management Assistant, and you can check on how it progresses in real time in the Activities interface:

Activities interface, Time Management Assistant

Whenever you want the extension to stop tracking time automatically in the background, you may use the On / Off toggle in the lower right corner of the interface. Plus, you have the option to make a time entry for any activity using a one-click timer that sits at the lower left corner of the interface.

To activate it:

  • Click on the Start timer
  • Enter the name of an activity you want to track time for by typing its name in the search line or locating the necessary item from the drop-down window.
  • The timer will go on until you stop it with a click on the Stop button, and when you want to activate the timer again, click the Play button instead.
One-click timer, Time Management Assistant

Here are some other things you can do in the Activities interface to manage your time tracking data:

  • You may sort the tracked activities by Chronology, Duration, and Title + filter the activity list by typing the name of a single activity (or group of thereof) in the search line.
  • You can view time tracking results for different dates + zoom in / out the time tracking timeline to get a closer / broader look at when you started and stopped working on the logged activities.
  • Those signed into the extension using actiTIME Online may view the total, synced, and unsynced time summaries at the upper left corner of the interface + export data to actiTIME by clicking on the icon with circular arrows.
Data management features, Activities interface

Built-in Reports

Time Management Assistant offers a bunch of handy visual reports that help to review the gathered productivity data in depth and analyze your website visits in order to improve time management.

All these reports are available via the Reports tab, and each of them can be configured to display data for a specific day or period using the date picker feature located at the upper right corner of the interface:

Select reporting period, Reports interface

Summary

Summary report, Time Management Assistant

The Summary interface features two charts that visualize data on the tools you used most frequently and the categories of activities you were engaged in.

Besides, it displays the following information:

  • Total time tracked
  • Total time synced / unsynced (for actiTIME Online users)
  • Time when you started to browse the logged tools
  • Time when you stopped working in them

Overall, this report provides a quick and well-organized snapshot of all the data collected by the extension for a specific date or period.

Tools Report

Tools Report, Time Management Assistant

The Tools Report provides more detailed information about the time tracked for specific tools. By clicking on any item in a hierarchical bar chart, you can see a thorough breakdown of the collected data, including the following:

  • Percentage of time spent using the tool during a day (as compared to total)
  • Average time spent using the tool by date

In sum, the Tools Report makes it convenient to analyze the use of versatile online platforms in contrast to one another and understand which of them you utilize most.

Categories Report

Categories Report, Time Management Assistant

As its name suggests, the Categories Report groups the logged tools by different types of activities and shows the percentage of time spent on each of them in a visual pie chart.

By clicking on any item in the list right beneath this chart, you can access a detailed summary of all the tools included in the activity category and see how much time you spent using each of them during the day.

Activity Log

Activity Log, Time Management Assistant

The Activity Log features a detailed list of all the websites and online platforms you visited within a selected day. Plus, it indicates the duration of a visit, as well as its start and end times.

View this report whenever you need to see the entire sequence of website visits in chronological order.

Still have questions? Let us help you.