Resources for Getting Started

Getting Started Video (31:51)

What's covered in the video: how to capture my time (from 00:19), how to make sense of time entries (from 07:24), how to make use of my data for billing (from 17:40)

Quick Start Guide

Part I: Starting up Chrometa for the first time

1.1 Launching Chrometa and showing/hiding the Chrometa interface
1.2 The main Chrometa interface
1.3 Timestamps
1.4 Application options

Part II: Recording and making sense of your time

2.1 Tracking Time
        2.1.1 Tracking PC-based (Active) time
        2.1.2 Tracking Non-PC (Away) time
        2.1.3 Splitting Non-PC (Away) time
2.2 Creating categories
2.3 Categorizing entries
        2.3.1 Categorizing multiple entries at once
2.4 Removing entries
2.5 Tagging applications
2.6 Blocking applications
2.7 Protecting your privacy
2.8 Exporting your data

Part I: Starting up Chrometa for the first time

Once you complete the installation process, Chrometa will launch automatically. The very first time Chrometa launches after installation, the main window will appear.

1.1 Launching Chrometa and showing/hiding the Chrometa interface

Chrometa stays hidden on launch by default. You can change this setting by going to Options -> General, and then unchecking the checkbox next to "Start minimized".

To open the application interface, click on the Chrometa icon (the orange analog clock) in your system tray.

To hide the Chrometa window, click on the "X" at the top-right corner of your window. Note: clicking the "X" will only hide the window, it does NOT exit the program.

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1.2 The main Chrometa interface

The main Chrometa window consists of 4 modules: Calendar, My Categories, Active Time, and Away Time.

Calendar, located at the top-left, is for selecting dates for which to display your records. Today's date is the date in red. The selected date is highlighted in a blue background.

To select a date, click on the date inside the calendar. To select a date range within a month, click and drag your mouse cursor over these dates. You can also select all days in a week or month by clicking on the "Week" or "Month" buttons directly below the calendar.

My Categories, located at the bottom-left, is for creating and editing categories, which may represent clients, projects, matters. In Section II, we will show you how you can create categories and then associate entries to these.

Active Time, located at the top-right, displays all computer activity entries for the selected day/date-range. This is where you will see how long you spent on a Word document, browsing a website, or within an application.

Away Time, located at the bottom-right, displays all away time entries for the selected day/date-range. Away time entries are created when your mouse/keyboard stay idle for more than a specified period (under Options -> General) or when tracking was paused manually (the Pause button is situated above the calendar).

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1.3 Timestamps

Chrometa features a Timestamps View. To display Timestamps for any given day, click on the Timestamps button in the main view.

The Timestamps View gives you a complete chronological record of your daily activities, making it easy to reconstruct your hours after the fact.

Timestamp entries are grouped by hour blocks, with the current hour's entries expanded by default. To view the contents of any hour block, click on the triangle next to the hour to expand it.

You cannot categorize or remove entries from Timestamps View. If you wish to categorize or remove an entry you see in Timestamps, find the corresponding entry in the Main View and perform the action from there.

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1.4 Application options

You can access Chrometa's options by clicking on the Options button or by going to Tools -> Options in the menu bar.

General Options is where you can control whether Chrometa launches at startup, stays hidden when launched, how long Chrometa waits before capturing away time, and if you want to be reminded to add notes to your away time.

Tagging Options is where you can see and make changes to your application tagging preferences. When an application is tagged to a category, all entries related to that application will appear under that category automatically.

Blocking Options is where you can see and make changes to your application blocking preferences. When an application is blocked, none of its entries will appear in Active Time or Timestamps.

License Options is where you can check the status of your trial (days until expiration) and also enter a purchased license key to activate the full version of Chrometa.

Privacy Options is where you can clear your private data and set a password to protect against unauthorized access to your Chrometa data.

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Part II: Recording and making sense of your time

2.1 Tracking Time

When you're working on the PC, Chrometa tracks the time you spend in each Window as "active time". When you are away from the PC, Chrometa tracks that time as "away time".

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2.1.1 Tracking PC-based (Active) time

Chrometa tracks PC time automatically as long as it’s running. If you see the orange clock system tray icon, then Chrometa is tracking your PC activity.

If the system tray icon looks grayed-out, it means that your keyboard and mouse have been idle for more than 5 minutes, and that Chrometa is now tracking your time as Away Time.

Note: if you want to customize the period that needs to pass before Chrometa starts tracking Away Time, go to Options > General.

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2.1.2 Tracking Non-PC (Away) time

Chrometa tracks Non-PC time in two modes: automatic and manual.

The automatic away timer is triggered when you don’t touch your keyboard or mouse for more than a preset amount of time (5 minutes by default). When your PC detects keyboard or mouse input after the away timer starts, you will see a popup prompting you to enter a description for this time.

The manual away timer requires you to pause and then resume Chrometa. When you click pause, the away timer starts ticking and will not stop until you click resume.

All away time entries are shown under the away time section of the main window. A gray dot next to an entry indicates that the entry does not have a description. A green dot indicates that the entry has a valid description. Only entries with a valid description can be categorized.

To add/edit a description, right click on the away time entry, and select “Log Away Time.”

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2.1.3 Splitting Non-PC (Away) time

To split an away time entry into 2 pieces, right click on the entry within the Away Time panel and select "Split Away Time."

A popup window will appear. Drag the slider to adjust how you would like to split the entry. The amount of time allocated to each segment is shown below. Once set, click OK. You may split an entry as many time as you wish.

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2.2 Creating categories

Categories work like folders in Outlook -- they make it easy to group together entries belonging to a client, project, or matter. Click on the "+" in My Categories to create a new category. To delete a category, click on the "-". To rename a category, right click on a category and select "Rename".

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2.3 Categorizing entries

To associate an entry with a category, 1) click once to select the Active Time/Away Time entry you'd like to categorize (the row will become highlighted in light blue) then 2) click on that row again and drag it to a category you've created in My Categories.

2.3.1 Categorizing multiple entries at once

You can drag and drop multiple items by 1) selecting multiple rows in Active Time/Away Time by using Shift and Ctrl keys 2) hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard, click on one of the selected rows and drag into a category.

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2.4 Removing entries

To remove an individual entry within your Active Time or Away Time, 1) click once to select the row of the entry 2) right click on the row and choose "Remove Activity".

Note: if you remove a given entry today, you will not be able to produce another entry by the same name today. i.e. if you remove an entry created today named "Contract.doc - Microsoft Word", opening this document again later today will not create a new "Contract.doc - Microsoft Word" entry. Think of it as blocking the entry for one day.

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2.5 Tagging applications

You may want to tag all entries relating to an application (i.e. Firefox) to a category. In Chrometa, you can automatically assign all entries from an application by selecting an entry belonging to the application you wish to tag, right clicking, then choosing "Tag Application".

To untag and application from a category, go to Options -> Tagging, select the application you wish to untag, then click "Untag Selected".

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2.6 Blocking applications

If you don't want Chrometa to display any entries related to a specific application, you'd want to block that application. To block an application, select an entry in Active Time belonging to that application, right click, then choose "Block Application".

To unblock an application, go to Options -> Blocking, select the application you wish to unblock, then click "Unblock Selected".

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2.7 Protecting your privacy

Chrometa offers 3 security features to protect your data: 1) your private data stays on your local hard drive, 2) your private data may be cleared, 3) you can password protect application access

Local Data Storage

Chrometa stores your data locally within your user folder (C:\Documents and Settings\user\ChrometaV2\), so other users sharing the same workstation cannot view or edit your data

Clear Private Data

You can permanently clear all of your private data with one click under Options -> Privacy.

Note: this clears all of your data, not just for selected dates. This action cannot be undone!

Password Protection

You can password protect access to Chrometa's interface, so unauthorized persons cannot view your data when your computer is already logged in.

Once you've set a password, you will see a prompt to enter it each time you try to open the Chrometa interface.

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2.8 Exporting your data

Chrometa offers WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) export functionality into Microsoft Excel format (XLS).

In other words, the exported file reflects your category and date selections, as well as filter settings within the application.

When you're ready to export, go to File > Export to Excel.

Here's what your export might look like in Excel 2007:

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