One of the powerful features of UserTime is the ability to create stopwatches. Each new stopwatch is a stand-alone stopwatch that you can use to time anything. You can start and stop stopwatches as required.
When you open a new stopwatch it will be assigned a default name like "Stopwatch 1". If you are using the stopwatch to time a specific project it is a good idea to give the stopwatch a more friendly name that you can recognise. You can change the stopwatch name by typing a new name in the "stopwatch name" box. You can only change the name while the stopwatch is not running.
Remember, if you change the name of a stopwatch after it has been running then you are effectively creating a new stopwatch. Any history or stopwatch values that are saved for the stopwatch are stored under the new stopwatch name.
Basic stopwatch operation is reasonably self explanatory. 'Start' and 'Pause' buttons start and stop the stopwatch while the 'Reset' button returns the stopwatch to zero.
There are two counters on each stopwatch. The 'total time' shows the total time the stopwatch has been running and the 'active time' shows the time that you have been active on the computer while the stopwatch was running. Pausing the stopwatch pauses both counters.
If you click the "'Show advanced' button on any stopwatch you will be able to access the advanced features of the stopwatch. These features allow you to save and restore stopwatch values and keep a history of stopwatch activity.
Saving the stopwatchYou can save the values on your stopwatch at any time by clicking the 'Save' button. When a stopwatch is saved, both the total and the active counters are saved.
Once you have saved a stopwatch's values you can load the last values saved for the stopwatch by clicking the 'Load last saved' button. This button will be enabled when there are stopwatch values saved that are different from the current stopwatch values. Note: You can only load saved values from a stopwatch that matches your current stopwatch's name. If you rename your stopwatch it will be treated as a new stopwatch so you will not be able to load previous values from the stopwatch that had a different name.
As you type a new name for your stopwatch the 'Load last saved' button will become enabled if there are saved values for the new name. To find out what the saved values are hover the mouse over the 'Load last saved' button, a yellow tip will display the values that have been saved
If you want to automatically save the stopwatch values, check the 'Auto save' tick box. The stopwatch will be saved at a regular interval. The interval is determined by the setting you have specified for 'save counters every' in the timing options screen.
If you check the 'show notification icon' checkbox then the stopwatch will show an icon in the notification area (system tray) at the right of your taskbar. When you minimize the stopwatch you will only see the tray icon. Right clicking the tray icon shows a menu which allows you to control the stopwatch. This menu allows you to start, pause, reset, hide, show or close the stopwatch.
When you hover your mouse over the system tray icon for a stopwatch it will display the time on the stopwatch and whether it is running or paused. The default is to show the total running time, but if you want to see the active time in this tip you will need to check the 'Show active time in tip' check box.
If you check this checkbox, a running history of stopwatch activity will be saved to your database. This history is an ongoing record of the running time and active time for the stopwatch regardless of whether it has been reset or new values have been loaded. This can be used as a type of audit or journal on stopwatch usage.