Welcome to the DeskTime Glossary!
Whether you are a new user or an experienced time-tracking enthusiast, understanding our core metrics is the first step toward mastering your productivity. This guide can help you understand the terminology used in Desktime. Please use the right-hand slider to navigate this page.
A
Absence calendar
The Absence calendar will help you keep track of when your employees have sick days, business trips, or vacations. It is an efficient tool to see how many days each user has spent away from the office.
Affiliate program
The DeskTime affiliate program allows you to earn a commission by recommending DeskTime to others. It’s free to join and open to both DeskTime users and non-users.
API
API stands for Application Programming Interface. With the DeskTime API, you can create custom tools and applications that access DeskTime data.
Apps
All of the tracked apps in DeskTime are divided into three Productivity levels: Productive apps (green), Unproductive apps (orange), and Neutral apps (grey).
Arrival time
The moment you log into the desktop app or start manual tracking. You can also set DeskTime to start automatically with your computer.
Automatic tracking
Once you install the DeskTime desktop app, it tracks your time and productivity in the background without any manual input.
B
Beta program
The Beta Program is a testing phase, pilot or limited preview for new features and improvements of Services, which DeskTime may provide to Clients from time to time. The purpose of the Beta Program is to provide a pre-release version of all or part of our Services, helping us analyze, identify issues and gather feedback prior to releasing the new feature publicly.
Billing cycle
The recurring time interval between your subscription invoices. If you are on a monthly DeskTime plan, DeskTime will bill you on the first day of each month. DeskTime bases your plan price on the number of user seats currently on your pricing plan. The annual plan is billed once a year on the starting date of your subscription and offers one free month of subscription compared to the monthly plan. If you apply to the beta program terms, you can sign up from your Account Settings.
Billing details
The specific information used to process your payments and generate invoices. Accessible by Company Administrators or Company Owners.
Break timer
A feature (often linked to the Pomodoro technique) that reminds users to take regular breaks to prevent burnout and maintain focus.
C
Categories
A bar chart categorizing your usage by type, such as Email, Social Media, Office Apps, or Entertainment. This includes both default and custom categories.
Calendar event time
Time sent from synchronized Google/Outlook Calendar, such as meetings, conferences, etc. You can read about the synchronization options here.
Colleagues
In the Colleagues section, you can see all of the employees in your company, their teams, and their contact information for easier communication.
D
Dashboard
The Dashboard is an overview section for how the company is doing for the selected day. It's available to Company Owner, Company Administrator, User Administrator, and User Manager roles.
DeskTime Time
The total active time spent across all productivity levels (Productive, Neutral, and Unproductive). It does not include time when the computer was switched off or locked, but does include manually tracked time (Offline time and Calendar time).
E
Effectiveness
Your Productive time divided by the minimum hours defined in your settings. This metric becomes more accurate as the day progresses and you get closer to your hourly goals. The Minimum hours field indicates the amount of time each employee must spend working. This includes both productive and unproductive time. Minimum hours can be set either in work schedules or at the working day settings.
Exports
Exports are downloadable files that allow you to take your tracking data out of the app for external use. In the Exports section, you can either use one of the six ready-made export types or create your own custom export.
F
Flexible work hours
A setting that allows employees to have a flexible schedule so they don't appear Late as long as they meet their hourly goals.
H
Hourly rates
A setting within the Project section that allows Company Administrators to assign a monetary value to an employee's time for cost calculation and billing.
I
Idle time
A time gap between two fractions of tracked time, which appears when there haven't been any actions on the computer for more than 3 minutes. This time period can be increased in the account settings. (These settings are only accessible by user roles that have access to account settings)
Integrations
DeskTime integrations allow you to bring your time and project management applications together to track time efficiently. There are two types of integrations available - Calendar integrations and Project app integrations.
L
Left time
The time of your last recorded activity. To stop the clock, log out of the desktop app or shut down your computer. If using manual tracking, you must stop the Web/Mobile timer manually. Left Time also reflects the end of a Calendar event or Offline time. This window turns red if you log out before your shift ends.
M
Manual tracking
Manual tracking is best for work done away from the computer or when the desktop app isn't active.
Minimum hours
The daily work-hours goal which is set for an employee or a team.
Mobile app
The DeskTime mobile app is available for download on Google Play (Android) and the Apple App Store (iOS).
O
Offline time
To make your time tracking even more accurate, you can log the time that you've spent away from the computer on activities DeskTime can not track. When you return to your computer after being away for a while, you'll see on your Productivity bar that there's a gap of time that hasn't been tracked.
P
Pomodoro Timer
A productivity tool integrated into DeskTime that helps you take breaks.
Private time
Private Time is a privacy feature that allows you to temporarily pause all DeskTime tracking. When activated, the app stops recording your application usage, URLs, and screenshots, ensuring your or your employee's personal activities remain completely off the record.
Productive Time
The total duration spent actively using applications, websites, and programs categorized as Productive. Read more information on this below.
Productivity
The ratio of Productive time compared to total DeskTime. This is defined as productive time, divided by total DeskTime and expressed as a percentage. A lower percentage doesn't always mean slacking - it is often a sign that your Neutral or Unproductive app categories need adjusting.
Productivity Bar
A visual timeline of your day divided into 5-minute segments. It is color-coded (green/gray/orange) by productivity level and displays specific apps, URLs, manual time, Private/Deleted time, and Idle periods.
Projects Bar
If you use Project Tracking, this bar displays the specific projects and tasks you worked on, including their exact duration and timing.
Project Manager
In the context of DeskTime, the Project Manager - Start/Stop/Create is a feature that is found by right-clicking the DeskTime icon in your system tray.
Projects time
Your total time spent on projects.
R
Reports
Company Administrators and Company Owners see statistics for the entire company, but User Administrators and User Managers see the statistics for the team/department they manage. In the Reports section, you can choose to see a report for any day, week, or month.
Reseller program
Software resellers of DeskTime have the flexibility to start from scratch to resell the SaaS productivity software or to build their current business on top of our reseller partner program.
S
Settings
DeskTime offers a variety of settings that you can use to customize the experience for you and your team. Please browse the settings and accounts category of our Help Center for more.
Screenshots
If enabled, your screenshots appear at the bottom of this page. Each thumbnail includes the program name, productivity level, and a timestamp. Company Administrators / Company Owner can also download or delete screenshots from this view.
Shifts
A detailed breakdown of your Work Schedule. This includes your assigned shift times vs. your actual Arrival/Left times, total time at work, and your productivity metrics specifically during those shift hours.
SSO
Single Sign-On (SSO) is a session management service that allows you to use one set of login credentials—one username and one password—to access multiple applications.
Subscription
A recurring payment plan that grants your team ongoing access to DeskTime features and support.
T
Tasks
Tasks allow you to further break down your tracked time, not only by projects but also by adding specific tasks that are part of a larger project.
Team members
It is advisable to divide employees into teams. Team members are a part of a user-defined team. This can be done by DeskTime users with appropriate user roles.
Time at work
The total span from Arrival to Left Time. This includes all tracked time plus any Idle, Deleted, or Private time.
Tracked time
Time spent using your computer while your actions are being tracked by the DeskTime app. (Which needs to be turned on and active)
Two-factor authentication
Two-factor authentication (2FA) is an extra layer of protection for your account. Instead of just relying on a password, which can be stolen, it requires a second identity check.
U
URL tracking
The ability of the software to record the specific website addresses visited during work hours.
User seats
A paid license or slot within your subscription that allows one person to use DeskTime. The per-user pricing model allows you to create and easily calculate your subscription price based on the number of user seats on your account.
User Roles
DeskTime users are divided into roles. These roles, in a descending order of permissions, are Company Owner, Company Administrator, User Administrator, User Manager, and Employee.
W
Web timer
The Web Timer is a flexible manual tracking tool that lets you record your time, productivity, and projects directly from your browser—no installation required.
Window title tracking
A feature that records the specific name of the document or file being worked on to provide more context than just the application name.
Work Schedule
A management tool used to define the expected working hours for individual employees or entire teams. It acts as the benchmark that your real-time tracking data is measured against.