Time Tracking Software That's Automatic

Find Unbilled Time Report

Our Find Unbilled Time report shows you which days you still have uncategorized time for.  Click directly on a bar to access the day itself – so that you can assign the remaining unbilled time for that day to your Timesheet.

Click a bar to access the day directly – so that you can assign the remaining uncategorized time entries.

You can access this report by going to Time – Graphs – Time By Day.  The calendar in the upper-left corner will allow you to change the date range, and select multiple days for viewing.

Total Time Spent by Project

You can view your time breakdown by project by selecting the Time By Project button, which is located just to the right of the Time By Day button.  This report will also update according to the date range you have selected in the upper-right.

Total time spent by project.

Exporting Time Entries to Excel

Our Excel exports are formatted to be pivot table and data manipulation friendly.  To export all of your time entries to Excel, use the Export All Time To Excel button located on top of the Unbilled Time line in the Time – Summary view.  This will export all time for the date range that you have selected.

Export all time entries to Excel (far-right).

You will find two worksheets in the export.  The first worksheet will have all time totaled by activity over the date range selected, while the second worksheet will have this information split by day.

Exporting Timesheets to Excel

To export your entire Timesheet to Excel, click the Export to Excel button located to the right of the Timesheet label:

Export your entire Timesheet to Excel.

To export just one project to Excel, mouse over the settings menu to the right of the project name, and select Export to Excel.

Export a project from your Timesheet to Excel.

If you don’t have an existing billing or invoicing system, we have good news – you can now create and issue invoices directly from Chrometa.

Sending Your Timesheet to an Invoice

The quickest way to get an invoice started is directly from the Timesheet view.

To bulk create invoices for ALL clients and projects in your Timesheet, click the Create Invoices (All Projects)button displayed to the right of the Timesheet header:

To create an invoice for a particular project, mouse over the settings menu to the right of the project name, and select

You’ll be taken directly to the New Invoice screen with your invoice already started (and perhaps nearly completed!) for you.  This screen is fully editable, and the table that contains your time entries behaves like a spreadsheet, so that you can conveniently make any final modifications needed to the invoice.

Add a new row by clicking the + button on the right:

Delete a row by selecting the row via the checkbox on the left of it, then click the Delete button:

Remove all rows by selecting the X on the far right:

You can click directly on any cell to edit it directly.  And you can rearrange the order of the rows by clicking on the left-hand side of one and dragging it up or down.

When you’re finished editing, click the Save button.  Or, use the drop down button next to the Save button (”Save and…“) to perform another action as you save the invoice (ie. Export to FreshBooks, Email invoice to client).

Use “Save And…” to save the invoice and export to a third-party system, or email the invoice directly to your client.

After you save your invoice, you’ll be taken back to your main Invoices List, where you can:

• Manage the state of your invoices
• Download an invoice to Excel or PDF
• Email an invoice directly to a client
• Export an invoice to another billing or accounting system (FreshBooks, QuickBooks, QuickBooks Online, Xero)

Creating a New Invoice From Scratch

You can create a new invoice from scratch by clicking the Invoices tab at the top of your screen and selecting New Invoice.

New invoice setup header.

First, complete the following fields in the New Invoice header:

• Project
• Start date
• End date
• Issued date (defaults to today)
• Due date (defaults to 30 days from today)

Then, click the blue Get Time button on the right side of your screen to pull in the annotations for this project and time frame.  The entries will be grouped by annotation, and split by day.

The table that contains your time entries is again completely editable.

Managing Invoices

You can manage existing invoices from the Invoices List, which can be accessed by clicking the Invoices tab at the very top of your screen.

Mouse over the invoice you wish to edit, manage, and/or export for the list of options.

List of invoice options available from the Invoices List screen.

My list here is a bit long because I have many integrations enabled – yours will likely be shorter!

Exporting Invoices to Integrated Third-Party Systems

As you can see from the invoice options, we can directly export an invoice to FreshBooks, QuickBooks, QuickBooks Online, Xero, or other billing systems that have an invoice integration with Chrometa.  To export, select the option above.

To enable your integration for the first time, select the Enable Integrations option at the very end of this list.

You can also export an invoice directly from the New Invoice screen by using the Save And… option highlighted above.

Use “Save And…” to save the invoice and export to a third-party system.

Sample PDF Invoice

Here is a sample PDF invoice download, created via the Download As PDF option.

Now that you have your computer, phone, and meeting time entries captured, you can move them to your Timesheet.  The Timesheet is located beneath the Unbilled Time section on the Time – Summary screen.

Like the Unbilled Time section, the Timesheet date range can be modified using the date selector in the upper-left portion of your screen.

Moving Unbilled Time Entries to Your Timesheet

You can move time entries to your Timesheet by assigning them to a Project.

As you categorize and annotate time entries, your Timesheet will be automatically populated.

Categorizing Entries From the Summary

To categorize a time entry:

1. Check the box to the left of the entry in the Unbilled Time section
2. Select the Move To Project dropdown
3. Select the appropriate project for categorization.

Tip: Select multiple consecutive entries at once by selecting the first entry, holding down the Shift key, and selecting the last entry you want. Each entry in between the two will also be selected.

First, check the box to the left of the entry.

Then click the Move To Project dropdown to select the project for this time entry.

Use the auto-complete field to filter your client/project list – just start typing, and it will pare down your list.

You can also setup a Keyword-Based Rule to perform this action automatically for you.  Please see: Setting Up Keyword-Based Rules for Automatic Categorization

This rule will automatically categorize entries with the keyword “SMUD” to your Timesheet.

Categorizing From the Timeline

You can also categorize time entries directly from the Timeline (Time – Timeline) by checking the box to the left of the entry, selecting the Move To Project dropdown, and then selecting the appropriate project for categorization to your Timesheet.  The Project column, located on the far-right side of the table, will update accordingly.

Use the Move To Project dropdown to categorize entries from the Timeline to your Timesheet.

Multiple consecutive entries categorized to the same Project.

Annotations on Your Timesheet

The Timesheet combines time entries with “like” annotations.  If items are sent to the Timesheet with an Annotation, they will be nested within this Annotation.  If the entries were only categorized to the Timesheet, they will display under the Unannotated Time for that Project.

Here, two time entries are combined under the annotation “Preparing notes for panel discussion”.  The Client is “Public Speaking”, and the project is “Guerrilla PR for Startups”.

This annotated and categorized entry originally consisted of two unique, but obviously related, time entries.

Here is what Unannotated Time looks like on a Timesheet.  We do have a shortcut available for annotating all entries categorized to a given Project on a Timesheet.  Click the Annotate Time mouseover button located just to the right of the Unannotated Time label.

Click the Annotate Time button to give all subsequent unannotated entries the same annotation.

Adding Manual Entries to Your Timesheet

You can add a manual time entry directly to your Timesheet by using the Manual Entry mouseover button, located just to the right of your Client – Project name (when you move your mouse over it).  It’s the + button shown here just to the right of the Project name:

The “+” button allows you to add a manual entry directly to the Timesheet under a Project.

This will bring up the Create Time Entry popup, with the Project prepopulated for you.  Enter a Description, Duration, Start Time, Date, Device, and click Save.

Popup for adding a manual time entry to your Timesheet.

Exporting Your Timesheet to Printable Format and/or Excel

You can export your entire Timesheet to a printable format, or you can export one project at a time.

To export your entire Timesheet to printable format, click the Print button located to the right of the Timesheet label (second button from the far right).

To export just one project from the Timesheet to printable format, mouse over the settings menu to the right of the project name, and select Printable Version.

The same goes for Excel – to export your entire Timesheet to Excel, click the Export to Excel button located to the right of the Timesheet label:

To export just one project to Excel, mouse over the settings menu to the right of the project name, and select Export to Excel.

Exporting Your Timesheet to an Integrated Third-Party System

Once you have your Timesheet completed, you can export it to a third-party system with a single click.  For our current list of integration partners, please click here.

(And we do take requests, so let us know if your favorite accounting, billing, or project management system is not yet listed).

As a first step, you’ll want to setup the integration.  Please click here for specific instructions on how to integrate your system with Chrometa.

Once the integration is enabled, you will be able to export your Timesheet to this system via a new shortcut button displayed in the Timesheet header, and the Project settings.

To export your entire Timesheet, click the Export to… button located to the right of the Timesheet header:

To export one project at a time, mouse over the settings menu to the right of the project name, and select Export to…

For more details on your particular integration, please visit our Integration Tutorials here.

Sending Your Timesheet to an Invoice

You can also create invoices directly from the Timesheet view.  To bulk create invoices for ALL clients and projects in your Timesheet, click the Create Invoices (All Projects) button displayed to the right of the Timesheet header:

To create an invoice for a particular project, mouse over the settings menu to the right of the project name, and select

You’ll be taken directly to the New Invoice screen with your invoice already started (and perhaps nearly completed!) for you.  This screen is fully editable, and the table that contains your time entries behaves like a spreadsheet, so that you can conveniently make any final modifications needed to the invoice.

Please click here for a full guide to Invoices.

Default Annotation and Rounding Settings

You can set a default annotation (for unannotated entries) and a rounding setting by clicking the Annotation and Rounding Settings button, located to the far right of the Timesheet label.

Click here to set a default annotation and establish a rounding setting.

Configure your Unannotated Description and Rounding setting in this popup.

You can annotate a time entry – or a series of them – by using our annotation feature.  Annotations allow you to add more “human” descriptions to the time entries that were captured by Chrometa.  These descriptions can then be ported directly to your Timesheets, Invoices, and/or other Billing systems.

Another advantage of annotations is that we can combine “like” annotations into one larger entry.

How to Annotate a Time Entry From the Summary

There are two ways to annotate time entries from the Summary – one at a time, or in bulk.

Annotating Individual Time Entries

Mouse over the entry itself (from the Time – Summary view), and you’ll seen an Annotate button appear. Click this button to bring up the Add/Edit Annotation popup. Click Save to store your annotation.

When mousing over an individual time entry, you can click the Annotate button to add your own description.

This Add / Edit Annotation popup window will then appear.  Enter your description and click Save.

I entered “Preparing notes for panel discussion” as the annotation.  Here is what the annotated entry will look like.

Our new annotation will now appear at the front of the entry, with the details that were captured by Chrometa being moved afterwards and placed in parenthesis.

Had we annotated this entry from the Timesheet, rather than the Unbilled Time section, the original details would instead be moved underneath the annotation.

Annotating Time Entries in Bulk

Select the checkbox at the beginning of the time entry, or entries (on the left-side). Then click the Annotate button, located in the horizontal blue toolbar (just to the right of the Personal dropdown). This will also bring up the Add/Edit Description popup.

Annotate button – for annotating one or more time entries at once.

How to Annotate & Categorize; Timeline, Too

You can annotate time entries while you categorize them from the Summary or Timeline by checking the box to the left of the entry, selecting the Move To Project dropdown, and then selecting the appropriate project for categorization.

Use the & Annotate button in the Move To Project dropdown located to the right of the Project you are categorizing the entries to, to annotate and categorize at the same time.

Multiple consecutive entries categorized to the same Project.

The “& Annotate” button (lower-right) will allow you to annotate entries as you categorize them.

You can annotate entries from the Timeline without categorizing them by checking the box to the left of the entry, clicking the blue Annotate button (with pen icon), and entering an annotation in the resulting popup.

Annotate button.

Add / Edit Annotation popup window.

Annotations on Your Timesheet

As mentioned earlier, annotated entries on your Timesheet will combine all entries with “like” annotations that are assigned to the same Client and Project.  From our example earlier, had we given our two time entries the same annotation and category, they would appear as Timesheet entries like this:

This annotated and categorized entry originally consisted of two unique, but obviously related, time entries.

We have a shortcut available for annotating all entries categorized to a given Project on a Timesheet.  Click the Annotate Time mouseover button located just to the right of the Unannotated Time label.

Click the Annotate Time button to give all subsequent unannotated entries the same annotation.

How to Annotate Multiple Time Entries

Select the checkboxes at the beginning of the time entries you want to annotate. Then click the Annotate button to bring up the Add/Edit Description popup.

Tip: You can select multiple consecutive entries using our Shift + Left-Click keyboard shortcut. To do this, left-click on the checkbox of the first entry you want to select. Then hold down Shift while you left-click on the final entry in your sequence. All entries in between will then be selected.

How to Modify or Remove Annotations

To modify an annotation, follow the same steps you used to create an annotation. Your new annotation will overwrite the old one.

To remove an annotation, also follow these steps, and delete your previous annotation. After you click Save, your previous annotation will be removed, and you’ll be back to your starting point (which will display the time entry info that Chrometa captured automatically).

Ever find yourself checking your Calendar, Sent Emails, and/or Post-It Notes in an attempt to figure out exactly where your time went on a given day?

We created the Timeline view (located under Time – Timeline) for moments like these.  It’s the ultimate safety net that helps you piece together these holes in your time.

How the Timeline Works

The Timeline literally captures your time down to the minute.  From when you start work in the morning, until when you stop working in the evening or night, the Timeline will have everything in a play-by-play format.

The Timeline displays the Start Time, End Time, Duration, and Activity Details.  When you stop working on a given activity, the Timeline will start a new row to reflect your new activity.

The Summary view is actually a roll up of the Timeline – it combines similar entries from the Timeline and totals them up.

The Timeline – Summary Relationship

The Summary view totals up each individual instance from the Timeline into a single time entry.  Here is an Adobe PDF document that I spent 7 minutes reading (per the Summary view), entitled “The Economist – Billable Hour Not Dead.pdf”.

By mousing over the time entry, I can click the Timeline button to see exactly when I was reading this PDF.  We can see that the 7 minute total is actually composed of three different instances on the Timeline:

Categorizing & Annotating Directly From the Timeline

You can categorize time entries directly from the Timeline by checking the box to the left of the entry, selecting the Move To Project dropdown, and then selecting the appropriate project for categorization.  The Project column, located on the far-right side of the table, will update accordingly.

Use the Move To Project dropdown to categorize entries from the Timeline.

Tip: Select multiple consecutive entries at once by selecting the first entry, holding down the Shift key, and selecting the last entry you want. Each entry in between the two will also be selected.

Multiple consecutive entries categorized to the same Project.

Use the & Annotate button in the Move To Project dropdown located to the right of the Project you are categorizing the entries to, to annotate and categorize at the same time.

The “& Annotate” button (lower-right) will allow you to annotate entries as you categorize them.

You can annotate entries without categorizing them by checking the box to the left of the entry, clicking the blue Annotate button (with pen icon), and entering an annotation in the resulting popup.

Annotate button.

Add / Edit Annotation popup window.

Remember that you can also setup rules to categorize these entries automatically based on keywords.  Please see our Keyword-Based Rules tutorial for more details.

The quickest way to setup your Client & Project list within Chrometa is with our bulk import button(s), located under the Projects tab on the right-side of the header.

• Sync With – Available for select 3rd party integrations (please note this button is not visible if none are found)
• Import Clients – Bulk import from CSV (Excel)

Syncing Projects From Another System

To sync your Project list with a product you are integrating with Chrometa, please first go to Account – Integrations to enable your integration.  Here’s an example of our Sync With Clio button:

Click the Sync With button to sync your Chrometa project list with an enabled integration.

The Sync With button can be used to initially populate your Chrometa project list, and also to make sure that your Chrometa project list is kept up to date with your other billing or project management system.  You can use the other systems’ list as the master version, and click the Sync With button in Chrometa to update in our system.

This feature is currently available for Clio, Rocket Matter, Basecamp Next, and Xero.  Please click Account – Integrations for setup and details.

Importing a Project List From a CSV (Excel) File

Click the Import Clients button to import your client and project list from a CSV (Microsoft Excel) file.

The format of the CSV file should be lines consisting of Client Name, Project Name:

  John Smith, Marketing
  John Smith, Strategy
  Dillard Construction, Marketing

We have a sample import file available in the popup itself (Download CSV Template) for your convenience.

Bulk project import popup.

Be sure that there are no additional commas in your client names or project names, as this can cause issues on import.

Adding Clients & Projects Individually – Projects View

You can also add Clients and Projects individually from the Projects screen.

To add a client, click the New Client button located on the far right of the screen.

To add a project, click the New Project button next to the client you wish to nest the new project underneath.

“Quick Add” Clients and Projects – Time View

From the Time view, you can quickly add Clients and Projects while categorizing time entries by using the option located at the bottom of the Move To Project dropdown called Move To New Project.

You can create new Clients and Projects on the fly with our Move To New Project button (bottom).

Use this popup to create your new Client and/or Project and categorize your time at once.

When your computer is idle for a period of time (by default 5 minutes), Chrometa will stop recording active computer time, because you may be on the phone, or off to a meeting.

When you return to your computer, Chrometa will ask you if you’d like to log the time while you were away.

How to Log Away Time

When you get back to your PC after being away, you’ll see this popup:

To log your time, enter a description in the text box (the Phone Call, Meeting, Lunch buttons are there as clickable text shortcuts).  Then click Log It!

Or, you can defer annotation for later by clicking Not Now.  This time entry will still be captured, but it will not have a description – only a time, date, and duration.

Viewing Away Time

Your Away Time entries can be found at the bottom of the Unbilled Time section located on the Time – Summary screen.

They are also visible from the Time – Timeline screen, listed there in chronological order with your computer time entries.

Splitting Away Time Entries

To split an Away Time entry, mouse over the entry itself, and click the Split Time button that appears towards the right.

This popup will appear – move the slider to the left or right to allocate time to the first or second segment.

You can only split an entry into two parts – but you can split the subsequent entries again.

Categorizing Away Time to Your Timesheet

Away Time can be categorized in the same manner as Computer Time. Click the checkbox at the start of the entry, then select the Project you want to move the entry to from the Move To Project dropdown menu.

Away Time Settings

By default, Chrometa will start logging Away Time after 5 minutes of computer inactivity. You can modify this threshold by adjusting the the Tracking Settings, located under the Options menu (Preferences on Mac) on the time collector itself.

Chrometa Options – PC

Chrometa Preferences – Mac

Turning Off the Reminder Popups

Want to get rid of the Away Time reminder?  Go to Options/Preferences again, and uncheck the final checkbox, “Remind me to log away time when returning to my computer.”

Your Away Time will still be captured automatically – you just won’t be prompted to log it immediately upon returning to your computer. You can log it after the fact by annotating the entry from the main Time interface.

Adding a Manual Entry

You can add a manual entry by clicking the + button in the horizontal toolbar available from the top of the Time – Summary and Time – Timeline views.

Manual entries are ideal for time entries that are not reflected in your Computer or Away Time.  You can annotate, categorize, and add them to your timesheet in the same manner as an automatically captured entry.