Tracking interval

The tracking interval controls how often NowDoing automatically asks: “What did you just work on?”

Default: 45 minutes

On first launch the interval is 45 minutes — a balance between precision and quiet. You set it directly in the welcome wizard.

Change the interval

Right-click the menu bar icon → Settings → General → Tracking interval.

Available values: 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 45, 60 minutes.

Interval	Effect
5–10 min	Very fine-grained, frequent interruption
15–20 min	Fine-grained capture for tactical days
30–45 min	Recommended — default, less interrupting
60 min	Hourly overview, more of a background check-in

How is each entry calculated?

When you confirm an activity, NowDoing writes the entry from the previous entry (or app start) up to now into the database.

Example with a 45-minute interval:

09:00  App start → no entry yet
09:45  Prompt → you pick "Coding" → entry 09:00 – 09:45 (Coding)
10:30  Prompt → "Coding" again → block is extended to 09:00 – 10:30
11:15  Prompt → you pick "Calls" → new entry 10:30 – 11:15 (Calls)

Confirming the same activity keeps the menu bar live counter going — the existing block stretches, a new one is not created.

Pause

For longer breaks (lunch, off-site meetings), you can pause tracking:

• Right-click → “Pause”

During pause the live counter stops and no new entries are created. When you resume, the next confirmation takes things from there.

Debug interval

For developers and curious testers, the Debug tab in Settings exposes an additional short interval (5–30 seconds) to exercise tracking behaviour without long waits. Leave it off in daily use — it gets annoying fast.