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Can anyone recommend free, accurate and safe software for time tracking?
Thread poster: Mahmoud Rayyan
Mahmoud Rayyan
Mahmoud Rayyan  Identity Verified
Egypt
Local time: 02:03
English to Arabic
Dec 17, 2008

Peace be upon you all,
I just want your help recommending a good tool or software that enables me to count the time duration for proofreading tasks.
Can you share your experiences in this regard.
Thanks

[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2008-12-17 13:59 GMT]


 
Uldis Liepkalns
Uldis Liepkalns  Identity Verified
Latvia
Local time: 02:03
Member (2003)
English to Latvian
+ ...
Time Stamp Dec 17, 2008

http://www.syntap.com/products_timestamp.htm

Uldis


 
Estefanía González
Estefanía González  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:03
English to Spanish
+ ...
ExactSpent Dec 17, 2008

Hi there,

Maybe you can have a look at ExactSpent.

http://www.exactspent.com/

I hope it helps!

Kind regards,

Estefanía


 
Lia Fail (X)
Lia Fail (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 01:03
Spanish to English
+ ...
Time Stamp versus ExactSpent Dec 17, 2008

Mahmoud Rayyan wrote:

Peace be upon you all,
I just want your help recommending a good tool or software that enables me to count the time duration for proofreading tasks.
Can you share your experiences in this regard.
Thanks

[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2008-12-17 13:59 GMT]


I've used both and I prefer TimeStamp, becuase you can add notes, whereas you can't with ExactSpent, which is a major drawback. That way I can note other details about a job, and note that, for example, I sepnt x hours editing on paper.


 
Christel Zipfel
Christel Zipfel  Identity Verified
Local time: 01:03
Member (2004)
Italian to German
+ ...
I prefer ExactSpent Dec 17, 2008

(although it isn't free)

It allows to customize and to register the time when there isn't any cursor activity. I often go away from my PC and am never aware how long I have been at the phone, or watering my plants, talking to my cat or whatever. It's amazing! When I come back, it tells me that there hasn't been any activity for xxx minutes and asks me whether the job has been finished or interrupted. Timestamp doesn't, or at least I didn't find this feature. If I were always sittin
... See more
(although it isn't free)

It allows to customize and to register the time when there isn't any cursor activity. I often go away from my PC and am never aware how long I have been at the phone, or watering my plants, talking to my cat or whatever. It's amazing! When I come back, it tells me that there hasn't been any activity for xxx minutes and asks me whether the job has been finished or interrupted. Timestamp doesn't, or at least I didn't find this feature. If I were always sitting in front of my PC, probably I wouldn't need any software to count the time I spend for a job, I could just write it down:-)
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Lia Fail (X)
Lia Fail (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 01:03
Spanish to English
+ ...
Yes that's a good feature but .... Dec 17, 2008

Christel Zipfel wrote:

(although it isn't free)

It allows to customize and to register the time when there isn't any cursor activity. I often go away from my PC and am never aware how long I have been at the phone, or watering my plants, talking to my cat or whatever. It's amazing! When I come back, it tells me that there hasn't been any activity for xxx minutes and asks me whether the job has been finished or interrupted. Timestamp doesn't, or at least I didn't find this feature. If I were always sitting in front of my PC, probably I wouldn't need any software to count the time I spend for a job, I could just write it down:-)



In the end, using time tracking software is simply a substitute for noting stuff using pen and paper, and who's to say that you're not browsing the web anyway (registering cursor activity) with a job open:-)


 
Christel Zipfel
Christel Zipfel  Identity Verified
Local time: 01:03
Member (2004)
Italian to German
+ ...
Ok Dec 17, 2008

Lia Fail wrote:

In the end, using time tracking software is simply a substitute for noting stuff using pen and paper, and who's to say that you're not browsing the web anyway (registering cursor activity) with a job open:-)




But as long I am sitting in front of my computer, I know what I have done (i. e. I don't normally browse for other stuff not related to the job whiile working on a job paid per hour), and anyway, I use time tracking software for my own purposes only. I find it's interesting and sometimes astonishing to see how much (or little) time you have spent for your jobs. I very rarely am paid by hour and if I am, I establish it in advance, so I use this software mostly to check whether my price was ok or not.


 
Mahmoud Rayyan
Mahmoud Rayyan  Identity Verified
Egypt
Local time: 02:03
English to Arabic
TOPIC STARTER
I have downloaded both Dec 18, 2008

Thanks to you all, I have downloaded both Time stamp and Exact spent, but I believe I am goint to use Time stamp first, may be because it is a freeware,
and as Lia said, I just want to use this software in order to enable me to calculate the exact time spent in a job paid by hourly rate.
Actually I used to open a notepad file and start logging
Start:000
end:000

Start:000
end:000

and after I finish I try to count the overall time spent and t
... See more
Thanks to you all, I have downloaded both Time stamp and Exact spent, but I believe I am goint to use Time stamp first, may be because it is a freeware,
and as Lia said, I just want to use this software in order to enable me to calculate the exact time spent in a job paid by hourly rate.
Actually I used to open a notepad file and start logging
Start:000
end:000

Start:000
end:000

and after I finish I try to count the overall time spent and this was many times confusing.
I will now start TimeStamp and see the result.
Thanks to all of you.
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Mahmoud Rayyan
Mahmoud Rayyan  Identity Verified
Egypt
Local time: 02:03
English to Arabic
TOPIC STARTER
Perfect Dec 18, 2008

Good news, I installed time stamp and it is perfect.
That is exactly what I was looking for.
Many thanks to you all and to this wonderfull site.


 
Lia Fail (X)
Lia Fail (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 01:03
Spanish to English
+ ...
30 days free trial of EcatSpent Dec 18, 2008

Mahmoud Rayyan wrote:

Good news, I installed time stamp and it is perfect.
That is exactly what I was looking for.
Many thanks to you all and to this wonderfull site.


Mahmoud, you can try ES for free anyway, you get 30 days free trial:-)


 
Mahmoud Rayyan
Mahmoud Rayyan  Identity Verified
Egypt
Local time: 02:03
English to Arabic
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks Lia Dec 19, 2008

Lia Fail wrote:
In the end, using time tracking software is simply a substitute for noting stuff using pen and paper, and who's to say that you're not browsing the web anyway (registering cursor activity) with a job open:-)


Thanks Lia for your advice, I will do so, but as you said earlier it is a substitute for noting, and I don't think I will pay for such a software as long as it there is a free version that achieves my needs.
Many thanks again


 
Anmol
Anmol
Local time: 05:33
Time Tracker Dec 19, 2008

Simply the best time tracking software I have found out there.

Other packages, including ExactSpent, count time only when you explicitly activate the timer, and stop counting when you explicitly deactivate it, or warn if there has been no activity for a long time (Exact Spent).

This free package automatically counts time spent in certain windows ONLY. So, for example, if you switch to reading the news on a browser, it automatically deactivates, and automatically re
... See more
Simply the best time tracking software I have found out there.

Other packages, including ExactSpent, count time only when you explicitly activate the timer, and stop counting when you explicitly deactivate it, or warn if there has been no activity for a long time (Exact Spent).

This free package automatically counts time spent in certain windows ONLY. So, for example, if you switch to reading the news on a browser, it automatically deactivates, and automatically re-activates when you switch back to Word or to your translation in Déjà Vu or any other product. You can define which windows constitute a part of your translation activity. I define Word, my dictionaries, Trados and Translation Office as my working windows (and Tag Editor, Win Align, or Multiterm as need be). Since I use a separate browser (Netscape) for translation-related research (on-line dictionaries, Google-based research), I also add these browser windows to my working windows. No more manual activation and de-activation!

But that's not all. The program produces great graphs of your activity, helping cut down time spent in unaffordable browsing. You can also export data to Excel for later analysis or for billing purposes if related to proof-reading or revisions.

All in all, a wonderful little product. It doesn't deserve to be free. That's why I'm sending in a cheque to the developer. After all, few things are as important to a translator's revenues as time spent on translation.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ttracker




[Edited at 2008-12-19 05:39 GMT]
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Kristina Kolic
Kristina Kolic  Identity Verified
Croatia
Local time: 01:03
English to Croatian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Thank you, Anil, for Time Tracker Dec 19, 2008

Anil Gidwani wrote:
This free package automatically counts time spent in certain windows ONLY. So, for example, if you switch to reading the news on a browser, it automatically deactivates, and automatically re-activates when you switch back to Word or to your translation in Déjà Vu or any other product. You can define which windows constitute a part of your translation activity.

[Edited at 2008-12-19 05:39 GMT]


I downloaded it and it just seems to be perfect. I can't wait to see the graph at the end of the day...

Thank you so much, Anil, for the tip


 
Christel Zipfel
Christel Zipfel  Identity Verified
Local time: 01:03
Member (2004)
Italian to German
+ ...
Time Tracker ist indeed very smart! Dec 20, 2008

Thank you, Anil, for this one.

I downloaded it on my new computer where I didn't yet have any time tracking software. It's really amazing to see in detail how you spent your time:-)


 
Vito Smolej
Vito Smolej
Germany
Local time: 01:03
Member (2004)
English to Slovenian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Timetracker - what time do you want to track? Dec 20, 2008

The program is elegant and useful, however for me it tracks only indirectly: what I need to know is the time to do a certain job, say, do one file of X words with TagEditor. The fact, I have spent X seconds in the tagEditor window, does not tell the time from the start of the translation to the end of it - I jump around, to MultiTerm, into the browser. Adding all those times up is not necessarily the real time I am after. Should I add the time in the Mail window or not? How much of the firefox ... See more
The program is elegant and useful, however for me it tracks only indirectly: what I need to know is the time to do a certain job, say, do one file of X words with TagEditor. The fact, I have spent X seconds in the tagEditor window, does not tell the time from the start of the translation to the end of it - I jump around, to MultiTerm, into the browser. Adding all those times up is not necessarily the real time I am after. Should I add the time in the Mail window or not? How much of the firefox browser should I take - I checked few latest movies on YouTube and visited Jon Stewart ...

Starting and stopping a certain task, as done in TimeStamp, may make more sense´, as it includes the total time, dead or active or thrown away. After all, it is our tasks, our own acitivity, that we want to clock, and that does not necessarily match the time clocked on specified OS tasks.

I have used TimeStamo so far and it has proved to be a dependable gauge for pricing my work - i.e. money per hour of my time. What do Timetracker users do in this regard?

[EDIT] the reserved task "TASK", that one can activate, is probably the answer to my question.

[Edited at 2008-12-20 13:59 GMT]
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Can anyone recommend free, accurate and safe software for time tracking?






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