# Frequently Asked Questions

## What does Timing do?

Timing automatically tracks which applications, documents and domains you spend time with. This way, you can quickly figure out how much time you spent on different projects and which activities (like games, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) have the worst impact on your productivity.

## How does it work?

Timing can track your activities by placing a tiny utility (called the menu item) into your menu bar that automatically tracks your activities. As long as the menu item isn't running, Timing won't be able to record the time you spend using your computer.

## Timing only shows "No Activities" rather than any data. What can I do about this?

This screen appears when no activities match the selected criteria. To resolve the issue, please make sure that you have already been using Timing for some time to ensure some activities have been tracked and some data are available. Then check the filter settings:

- Ensure that the date filter is set to a period for which Timing has collected data.
- Make sure that you selected a project that does contain data in the selected period.
- Check the duration slider on the bottom right of the window to avoid short activities being filtered out. If in doubt, simply move the slider to the very left in order to show all activities.

## Does Timing slow down my computer?

No. Timing has been designed to use very few resources. Although it tracks your activity every second, the menu items' average CPU usage is less than 0.5%. In addition to that, the menu item uses a maximum of 30 megabytes of system memory. Regularly memory consumption will be much less. The activity storage is also very small, growing by less than a megabyte per month.

## How about privacy? Can I disable tracking for some activities?

Timing will never send any of the activity data it collects to anyone without your permission. All activity data is stored locally on your Mac, and you have full control over it.

Timing makes it easy to protect your privacy. The Timing menu item has an option to switch to 'Private Mode', where no activities will be tracked. In addition, websites you visit will not be tracked while Safari is in private mode* or if your current Chrome window is an incognito window. You can also delete any activities retroactively or proactively add them to the blacklist, so they won't get tracked in the future.
* Please note that it takes up to 30 seconds for Timing to detect when you enable or disable private mode.

## Is there a way to export my activities?

Basic CSV export funcionality is available as of version 1.1. See Exporting Data as CSV for details. If you are interested in exporting to a specific service or website, please let us know.

## Will Timing track the time I don't spend at my Mac?

Timing will automatically suspend tracking after 150 seconds of inactivity. It will resume as soon as you return to the computer. This setting can be changed in the preferences.

## Some application (e.g. Photoshop) is behaving weirdly while Timing is tracking. How can I fix this?

Some applications exhibit erratic behavior when information is retrieved from them via AppleScript. For this reason, you can disable AppleScript tracking for specific applications in the 'Troubleshooting' section of the Timing preferences. Just uncheck the corresponding app in the list, restart it and it should behave normally again.

## Which applications is Timing compatible with?

Please consult the compatibility list on our home page for an up-to-date list of supported applications.

## My question has not been answered here. How can I contact you?

If you have any further questions, you can email us or contact us via Twitter as @TimingApp.

### Related Topics

Filtering Activities

Using the Menu Item

Deleting Activities

Using The Blacklist

Exporting Data as CSV

General Preferences