Tracking the Amount of Time Spent on a Project

QUESTION

I would like to track the amount of time I dedicate to a particular project or assignment. How can I do this?

ANSWER

The Time Tracker tool enables you to accurately track the amount of time spent on a particular plan or layout file.

To use the Time Tracker

1. From the menu, select Tools> Time Tracker .
   
   
   
2. Notice that the Start Time Logging option is likely grayed out. This is because the Time Tracker automatically begins logging time the moment you open a new or existing file, unless the Preference setting has been disabled. 
   
   

   You can specify Time Tracker options on the Time Tracker panel within the Preferences dialog. You can access Preferences using the Edit menu on a Windows PC, the Chief Architect menu on a Mac, or by selecting the Preferences toolbar button.

   
   
3. To stop tracking the time spent on the current file, select Tools> Time Tracker> Stop Time Logging .
   
   

   The Time Tracker will continue to track time on all open files while the program is active and being used. 
   
   The Time Tracker will only stop logging time for a particular file if you click on the "Stop Time Logging" option or when the "Stop timer if idle for [NUMBER] minutes" option is enabled in Preferences and the specified criteria is met (i.e. program is idle for 5 minutes). 

   
   
4. To view or edit the amount of time recorded for this specific file, select Tools> Time Tracker> View Time Log .
   
   

   Note: The Time Tracker logs times for each plan and layout file separately, even if they have the same project name or are saved in the same directory.

    
   
   
   
   
5. In the Time Log dialog, click on an entry to select it, then edit its properties, as needed.
   
   Entries that are "In Progress" cannot be edited, exported, or printed. To stop logging an entry, see Step 3 above. 
   
   
   • The User that created each entry, or worked on the project at the given time, can be specified.
     
     
   • The Start and End times can be edited by typing new values in these fields. You can use the drop-down list and select a date from the calendar. The Start time must predate the End time.
     
     
   • Notes about the selected entry can be typed into the text field on the right.
     
     
   • The Export Selected button allows you to save the selected time entries as either a text (.txt) or Comma Separated Values (.csv) file.
     
     
   • The Print Selected button allows you to print the selected entries.
     
   
   
   
6. Click the Add button to add a new entry below the currently selected entry, which will use the current time as the Start Time.
   
   
   
7. Click the Delete button to delete selected entries.
   
   
   
8. Use the Select All and Clear All buttons to select or deselect all of the entries in the table for the purposes of exporting, printing or deleting.