Table Of Contents
Legacy Timers vs. New Timers
Activating New Timers for Your Organization
Interactive Tutorial
A Few Rules On How Timers Work
Navigating To The Timer
Top Navigation Bar
From the Task Board
Starting A Timer
Deleting A Timer
Pausing Active Timers
Saving Time Entries
Editing Time Entries
Restarting A Previous Timer From The Same Day
Switching Between Timers
Midnight Roll-Over
Activity Indicator
Related Articles
Time Tracking in Mobile App
Legacy Timers vs. New Timers
Currently, in BigTime, you can use two types of timers. This is because, in Q4 2024, we launched the new timer experience to better meet our current users' needs. However, nothing is imposed—you and your organization can decide whether you prefer to move forward with the legacy timers or take advantage of the new timer experience.
To make the tool as user-friendly as possible, we refer to the previous timer design as "Legacy Timers," and when referencing the new timers, we call them "New Timers."
If you use Legacy Timers, please read the article: Using Legacy Timers in BigTime. If you utilize the legacy version but would like to try and test New Timers, stay in this article and navigate to the section: Activating New Timers for Your Organization to learn how to enable the new experience.
Activating New Timers for Your Organization
The new timer experience is now available to all users. Navigate to the current timer window to receive an in-app announcement, where you can sign up for activation. For additional assistance, please contact BigTime Support. This change can be applied to your entire organization or exclusively to your account, so it won’t affect other users.
Interactive Tutorial
Explore BigTime Timers below with an interactive demo. To begin, click Get Started to navigate seamlessly through the interface and discover a feature. You can restart the demo at any time.
A Few Rules On How Timers Work
| Using Timers In BigTime | |||
| Step 1 | Start a Timer and track working time | ||
| Step 2 | Assign the timer to a specific project, task, and any other required fields | ||
| Step 3 | Save the timer to create a timesheet entry | ||
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- Think of timers like a stopwatch—tracking your time minute-by-minute, second-by-second.
- Keep track of total working time. You can start and pause a timer as often as you need throughout the day, and your timer will show the total amount of time logged.
- Track work-in-progress easily with a timer. This is helpful when an unexpected meeting or phone call comes up. Start a timer, then fill in the details later.
- You can have only one active timer running at a time. Starting a new timer automatically pauses and saves the current timer record.
- Staffers can edit timers, save them to their timesheets, and submit the hours for approval. Once the time entry is submitted, the timer will be removed from their Timers list.
- Save Changes vs. Save to Timesheet - You have the option to choose whether to save your timer only to your Timers List, which can be resumed/edited later on, or save the timer directly to your timesheet as a time entry.
Navigating To The Timer
There are two ways to navigate to the timer in BigTime.
Top Navigation Bar
The primary way is to click the TIMER ICON on your navigation bar.
| Log in to your BigTime account ➡ Click the TIMER icon on the main navigation bar |
From the Task Board
Another option is to click Tasks/Workflow…Task Board to get to your task dashboard.
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Log in to your BigTime account ➡ Click the TASKS tab on the main navigation bar ➡ Select the TASK BOARD subtab from the ribbon ➡ Click the CLOCK icon in the LOG column |
Clicking the Timer Icon next to a task opens a Log Time pop-up window. Log time directly or click Start Timer to start a new timer with the pre-populated task details.
Starting A Timer
| Click the TIMER icon on the main navigation bar ➡ Click the START button |
If an active timer is present, a dialog prompts you to confirm starting a new one. This will pause the current timer, save it as a separate entry, and start a new one.
Deleting A Timer
| Click the Timer icon on the main navigation bar ➡ Click the trash icon located at the top right corner of an active timer or bottom right corner of a previous timer |
You can delete a running timer by clicking the trash icon on the top right corner of the active timer, or bottom right corner of a previous timer Deleting a timer from the Timer list will not delete the associated time entry if it has already been posted to your timesheet.
Pausing Active Timers
| Click the Timer icon on the main navigation bar ➡ Click the Start button ➡ Click the Pause button ➡ Click the Resume button to resume the timer |
You may need to step away from your computer for a while. In this situation, you can stop and resume the timer when you return.
Once a timer has been started, you can pause it by clicking Pause.
Click the Resume button to continue working.
Saving Time Entries
| Click the Timer icon on the main navigation bar ➡ Click the Start button ➡ Click the Finish button ➡ Complete all required fields ➡ Click the “Save to Timesheet” button to post the timer as a timesheet entry or “Save Changes” to capture updates to the timer in an unposted status |
To save the time entry, first press the FINISH button.
After pressing finish, the Time Entry details screen will appear automatically where you can fill in any details and required fields.
You can add information for each timer you create, such as project, category, and task. This will help you stay organized, and it will be saved to your timesheet
| Note: Depending on how your administrator customizes timesheet entry settings, the fields on your screen may differ from those shown above. |
Press Save to Timesheet to post the timer as a Time Entry on your Timesheet, or select Save Changes to save updates to the timer while keeping it in an unposted status on your Timers list.
Editing Time Entries
| Click the Timer icon on the main navigation bar ➡ Find the timer you need to edit ➡ Click Edit to open the form and edit any details |
You will be redirected to the Time Entry Details screen for editing.
Restarting A Previous Timer From The Same Day
| Click the Timers icon on the main navigation bar ➡ Find the project on the Unsubmitted Time list ➡ Click Play Icon to restart the timer |
To restart a timer from the same day, find it in the Timers list and click the Play Icon:
Switching Between Timers
| Pause Active Timer ➡ Start A New Timer / Restart A Previous Timer |
Create as many timers as you’d like and switch between them during your day.
Say you’re working on a project for MMM Media. But then John (Client B) calls unexpectedly. Sound familiar? If you need to switch between timers, here’s what you do:
Find the timer associated with the project you need to work on and click on it. In the example below, we’ll click on the Stage_test project since we’d like to stop working on another project and start working for Client B.
Then, click Play Icon to begin tracking time.
Midnight Roll-Over
To maintain accurate records of hours worked for a specific day, any timer running past midnight will automatically stop, and a new timer will start with the same details (project, task, etc.) for the following day.
For example, if you start a timer on Monday at 4 PM and run past midnight, it will stop with 8 hours logged for Monday. A new timer will then automatically start logging hours for Tuesday. To save these timers to your timesheet, simply find them in your Timer list and click Save to Timesheet.
Activity Indicator
If an active timer is running, the timer icon in the main navigation bar pulses. Hovering over the timer activity indicator presents a quick view of the time tracked so far.
Related Articles
Since timers are fundamental for accurately recording work hours, understanding these related workflows ensures better time tracking, productivity, and payroll integration. To learn more about the workflow, go to the links below.
Time Tracking in Mobile App
Did you know you can track time right from the mobile app?
To get started with the mobile app, search for "BigTime Mobile" in the Google Play or Apple App Store. You'll be prompted to log in once you download and open the app. Your login credentials on mobile will be the same ones you use to access BigTime on desktop.