How it works
First steps
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The main window of the Taskfit client application is the Task Centre, which can be considered a common task list in a very simple approximation. The Task Centre (depending on the settings) starts immediately when you log in to the operating system, or you can start it from the Start menu. By default, the Task Centre is minimised and can be displayed by clicking the Taskfit icon on the taskbar.
The Task Picker appears at the top of the then active window, in the middle, as a narrow coloured bar, and plays a key role in the operation of Taskfit. It allows you to assign the active item (application, file, web page, etc.) to a task.
The Task Picker has three states, indicated by colours.
By clicking on the coloured bar, the Task Picker drops down and you can see which task the active window is currently assigned to.
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The active item can be assigned to a task by clicking on the task name, then the task is added to the Assigned Tasks list and Taskfit starts measuring the time for this task.
The active item can also be assigned to a task with the chain icon on the right. In this case, the task is added to the Assigned Tasks list, but the measurement continues for the previously selected task, as indicated by the blue clock icon before the task name. In this way, an item can be assigned to more than one task at a time, but time is always measured for only one task. Multiple assignments play a role in supporting Taskfit’s automatic assignment feature.
You can cancel an assignment by clicking the X appearing on the right side of the task.
Clicking the datasheet button that appears on each task opens the task details in the Task Centre.
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To keep manual assignments to a minimum, Taskfit often tries to automatically determine which task a newly opened item belongs to. One of the best examples of the utility of automatic assignment is scrolling through the subpages of a site, when it would be very difficult to assign each subpage one by one to your task. In this case, by manually assigning a page, Taskfit automatically assigns similar pages on the website to the same task.
The automatic assignment function also takes into account several aspects (e.g. name similarity, URL similarity, previous assignments, etc.) when defining the assigned task, but only decides on the assignment with a sufficiently high probability of a hit.
When an automatic assignment occurs, the Task Picker automatically drops down for a few seconds, showing the user to which task the currently active item has been assigned. If the user considers the assignment to be correct, they have no further action to take, the measurement continues. However, if you do not agree with the task selected by Taskfit, you can override the automatic assignment at any time as described above.
Show lessIf you have assigned your windows and files used for work to tasks, then you can continue the work in the usual way, you have nothing else to do to automatically record the working hours. Based on the assignments, it is clear for Taskfit which task you are dealing with at a point in time, so it measures time.
When switching between items assigned to different tasks, Taskfit detects the task change, which is indicated by dropping down the Task Picker for a few seconds. (No such signal is given when switching between two items assigned to the same task.)
Clicking from one window to another does not change the task immediately to avoid unnecessary switching when the user is clicking through the open windows looking for something. Taskfit only switches time measurement to the newly activated item after 3 seconds. (This time is not lost, since in the meantime the measurement takes place continuously for the previously active element.)
By assigning the item to a task, it is not necessary to rush, you do not lose the measured working time, if you only assign one of your documents to a task after, say, typing half a page. The assignment made in the Task Picker assigns the total time elapsed since the item became active to the selected task, and it is also possible to change the assignments subsequently in the Task Centre.
Show lessTaskfit’s default time measurement based on active computer use is not appropriate for certain situations. Such a situation can be a meeting, when you want to measure the total duration of the meeting for a specific task, regardless of the files and websites opened in the meantime. A similar case may be performing an urgent task when there is no time to pay attention to the correctness of the assignments.
Focus modes are used to handle such situations, which can be switched on with the buttons in the yellow bar that appears under the assigned task.
The operation of the two focus modes is similar, both of which affect the assignments of the Taskfit task, but with different strengths:
The operation of Taskfit is based on the tasks to be solved, so all time measurements can be linked to tasks in the software. Tasks can be organised into lists as described later; by default, each task belongs to the ‘My Tasks’ list. In contrast to the Task Picker, which only serves to manage the task assignment of the currently active item, it is possible to review and manage all your tasks, to view the measured times, and to modify the assignments in the Task Centre.
Task categories have a key role in ensuring that the working time measured by Taskfit is properly presented in reports, so users need to pay special attention to categorising their tasks correctly. The category system is necessary to implement a report segmentation that fits the needs of the company; the categories used to classify tasks appear as dimensions in the working time reports.
Categories and category elements can be freely defined in Taskfit. The most commonly used categories are Customer, Project and Cost Centre, but many other classifications are conceivable, such as the type of task.
In the Taskfit Enterprise subscription package, the corporate Administrator and Editors with appropriate authorisations are responsible for creating and managing the task categories available to users. Users can only select category items for certain tasks.
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Tasks managed in Taskfit can optionally be organised into lists. On the left side of the Task Centre, you can see the list view where the to-do lists you created (‘Taskfit’ drop-down list) and the to-do lists shared with us by others (‘Shared with me’ drop-down list) appear. In addition to the task lists, the number of tasks that have not yet been closed is displayed.
The weekly overview feature allows you to quickly review the working time data recorded by Taskfit. The feature is also available via a quick link from the Taskfit client menu.
Reports are able to display the logged times of tasks in a more detailed breakdown than the Weekly Overview. Fixed working hours can be filtered and grouped by available categories. On the My Time tab of the Reports page, each user can create reports about their own working hours. Users who have access rights to other users’ working time data can compile reports on the working time of others on the Everyone’s Time tab.
TaskFit can compile personalised performance indicators for the user from the times measured for the task. Performance indicators are available on a weekly summary basis. These indicators are also only available to all portal users for their own work.
This tutorial is only for the desktop version of Taskfit!
You have probably noticed the thin orange line that appeared on the top of your current window: this is the Task Picker. (On macOS, you will need to give permission.) Orange means that your file or webpage has not been assigned to any task.
Now point at the Task Picker with your mouse then click to fully open it. Type ‘My first task’ into the input field and hit the return key.
You just assigned your first resource to a task, nice job! The Task Picker is now bright blue and time is being measured to the task you’ve just created. From now on, any time you spend on this webpage will be added to your total task time.
Next step: open National Geographic in a new browser tab. Create and assign another task called ‘Brain food’.
When you switch between the 2 tabs assigned to different to-dos, the Task Picker always shows you which task the app is tracking time for. Now, if you open an article page on NatGeo, Taskfit will find it similar to your previously assigned webpage (based on the url or title) and auto-assigns it to your existing task. The dark blue Task Picker colour means that Taskfit has automatically done the assignment, so you don’t need to. If you are not happy with Taskfit’s decision, you can always override it.
It’s time to visit your Taskfit main window, aka Task Center. This is where you can manage your tasks and lists, maintain categories, check measured resources per task, set your hourly rate, view the Timeline etc.
Click on the Timeline icon in the top right corner (next to menu) in Task Center window to check your daily progress. You can modify any items in case you forgot something to assign or assigned to a wrong task. Just click on the Edit button and fine-tune your modification in the popup dialog.
Let’s see the results of your time measurements. Some of the features, like Weekly overview, Productivity charts, Timesheet report, Account and Subscription settings are placed on our Portal site. These can be reached quickly from the app’s menu.