Time Tracking
Web timer
Track time from the dashboard when you cannot install the desktop app: at a shared computer, on a locked-down machine, or anywhere a browser is all you have. The web timer records time only, and your organization decides who may use it.
Using the timer
Step 1
Open the timer
The Timer button sits in the dashboard header on every page. It opens a small window you can drag anywhere and minimize back into the header, where the running clock stays visible.
Step 2
Pick a project and a task
Only the projects you belong to and the tasks assigned to you are offered. Time is always recorded against a task, as it is in the desktop app.
Step 3
Press Start
The timer turns on and shows the session clock and today's total. Pick another task and press Switch to move to it; the first session ends where the second begins.
Step 4
Press Stop when you finish
The server keeps the timer, so closing the tab, the browser or the laptop lid does not stop it. The time is on your timesheet under Timesheets → View & Edit the moment you stop, and every few minutes while it runs.
What it records
Time only. A browser cannot take screenshots or count keyboard and mouse input across the computer, so the web timer does not claim to.
| Recorded | Desktop app | Web timer |
|---|---|---|
| Time on a task | Yes | Yes |
| Screenshots | Yes | No |
| Activity level | Yes | No |
| Apps and URLs | Yes | No |
| Idle detection | Yes | No |
| Runs when the computer is off | No | Yes, until Stop or the cap |
What stops it
Closing the browser never does. These do, and the timer window says which one happened.
You press Stop, or switch task
The usual way. Switching starts a new session on the other task.
You start tracking in the desktop app
One timer runs at a time. Whichever you started last wins: starting the desktop app stops the web timer, and starting the web timer stops the desktop app within a minute. A desktop app that restarts on its own, after sleep or at midnight, never stops a web timer you started meanwhile.
The session reaches the cap
A forgotten timer does not run for days. Your organization sets the longest a session may run (12 hours unless changed, at most 24). The session stops at the cap and the timer tells you; start it again if you are still working.
A manager turns the web timer off
For the organization, or for you. Running sessions stop at that moment, and the timer explains why.
The task goes away, or its deadline passes
If the task is deleted, you are unassigned from it, or its deadline day ends, the session stops there. Time after a task's deadline cannot be logged, as with the desktop app.
Turning it on
- For everyone: Users page → Web timer. The switch is off for every organization until a manager turns it on, so nothing changes unless you decide it does. The same dialog sets Stop a forgotten timer after. Organization managers only; every change is recorded in the audit log.
- For one member: open their row on the Users page and set Web timer to Always allowed or Never allowed, or leave it on Follow organization. Use it to allow the web timer only for the people who cannot install the desktop app, or to keep one member on the desktop app while it is on for the rest.
- Members see the rule: the timer window tells a member who may not use it to ask a manager, instead of letting them start and failing later.
On the timesheet
Web timer time is never hidden inside tracked time.
- Web timer mark: each entry tracked from the browser carries a Web timer mark, and its Activity cell shows a dash, because no activity was measured.
- Filters → Time type → Web timer: shows only entries from the web timer. Exports carry a Web timer column.
- Screenshots page: a web timer slot says Web timer used instead of No screenshot, so nobody looks for a missing upload.
- Activity averages: reports and the daily rollups leave web timer time out of activity percentages. It still counts in every total.
Questions
Does closing the browser stop the timer?
No. The server keeps the session, so closing the tab, the browser or the laptop does not stop it. Press Stop when you finish, or the session ends at your organization's cap. The timer window always shows what is running when you come back.
What does the web timer record?
Time only: when you started, when you stopped, and the task. No screenshots, no activity level, no apps or URLs. A browser cannot see those, so Colabio does not pretend to. Timesheets, reports and the screenshots page mark that time as Web timer.
Does web timer time count in totals, pay and invoices?
Yes. It is tracked time: it counts in totals, utilization, pay and billable hours like any minute from the desktop app. It is left out of activity averages, because there is no activity to average.
What happens if the desktop app and the web timer run at once?
They do not for long. The one you started last wins and the other stops within a minute, with a notice saying why. If both did record the same minute, for example while a laptop was offline, that minute is counted once and the second copy is marked as an overlap on the timesheet.
What if my connection drops while the timer runs?
The timer keeps running on the server. The window tells you it cannot reach Colabio; press Stop once you are back online, and the time up to then is kept.
Why can't I start the web timer?
Your organization allows time tracking from the desktop app only, or a manager set that for you. Ask an organization manager to turn on the web timer on the Users page, for everyone or for your account. Other reasons the timer names itself: you are not assigned to the task, or the task's deadline has passed.
What happens during a Colabio update or outage?
Nothing is lost. The session is kept in Colabio's database, not in memory, with a marker for how far its time has been written. While Colabio is unreachable the timer window says so and keeps counting; when Colabio is back, the time since the marker is added in one go, never twice. If you reload or come back later and the session had ended meanwhile, the timer tells you why until you dismiss it.
Can I edit web timer time afterwards?
Yes, the same way as any entry: with self-service edits when your organization allows them, or a correction request a reviewer decides. Every change stays in the entry's history.
Still have a question about the web timer? Email support@colabio.org.