This guide shows you how to use Programa's time tracking tools — the smart timer, manual entries, and Pulse — so you can capture billable hours accurately and review your time at a glance.
Before you start: Owners and Admins see the full Studio's time entries.
Editors see their own entries only.
Using the smart timer
The smart timer lives in the top bar on every screen. Start it once and work across as many projects as your day demands — as you navigate between projects, the timer follows you.
When you stop, Programa shows you a breakdown of time spent on each project so you can review, adjust, and save in one go.
Click the timer chip in the top bar to start the timer.
Work normally and move between projects as you usually would. The timer tracks which projects you're in as you go.
To take a break, click the timer chip to pause. Click it again to resume. Only active (non-paused) time is counted.
When you're done, click Stop. A review modal shows your time split across each project you worked on.
Adjust any entries, assign to a phase and/or task of the project if needed.
Then Save, separate time entries are created for each project automatically.
Note: If you started the timer outside a project and never navigated into one, the review modal will ask you to assign a project before you can save.
Starting the timer from a task card
Start the timer directly from a task card in Project Management to automatically pre-fill the project, phase, and task details.
Open the project and navigate to Project Management.
Open the task card you want to track time against.
Click the timer icon on the right side of the task card.
Click Start timer. The timer begins and is visible in the timer chip in the top navigation bar.
When you're done, click the timer chip in the top bar and click Stop.
Tip: Starting the timer from a task card pre-fills the project, phase, and task automatically. The same single timer runs across all surfaces — top bar, task card, and kanban card all reflect the same active timer.
Adding time entries manually
You can log time at any point — no phase or task required. Log against a project alone, a project and phase, or a project, phase, and task.
Navigate to Time Tracking under Studio in the left-hand toolbar.
Click New Entry at the top right.
Enter the Hours and Minutes.
Choose the Date.
Select a Project. Optionally add a Phase and/or Task.
Add a Note for context if needed (optional).
Click Save.
Tip: If the task you need doesn't exist yet, you can create it inline from the Phase + Task dropdown without leaving the form.
Logging Time in Pulse
Pulse surfaces a daily reminder to log your time — no need to navigate to your time tracking manually. Each day, simply click Log Yesterday's Time in your Pulse list to add time entries against your projects.
How to Log Your Time
Click Log Time in your Pulse list.
Select the project you want to add a time entry against.
Click Add Time Entry.
Select a task to log time against, or create a new task if one doesn't exist.
Enter the time against the task.
Select Done to save your entries.
Note: Pulse only prompts you to log the previous day's time. If you've missed a day or need to log time for an earlier date, you can do this directly through your Time Tracking dashboard.
Viewing time entries
Open Time Tracking under Studio to see all entries for your chosen filter range. Use the Group By control to organise entries three ways:
By Date — most recent first, with a daily total
By Project — total per project, highest first
By Team Member — total per person, highest first (Owners and Admins only)
Filter by Project, Date Range, or Team Member to narrow the view. Each group header shows a running total for the current filter range.
Editing time entries
Go to Time Tracking dashboard.
Click the entry you want to change. A side drawer opens.
Update any fields — task, duration, date, phase, or notes.
Click out of the field. Changes save automatically on blur; the row pulses to confirm.
To delete an entry, open it in the side drawer and select Delete.
Tip: If you forgot to stop your timer and an entry has an inflated duration, just open it, correct the hours and minutes, and click out. It saves immediately.
Filter & export time entries
Apply filters before exporting to create targeted reports for specific projects, team members, or date ranges.
Go to Time Tracking under Studio.
Click Filter and select a project if needed.
Choose your time period: This Week, Last 30 Days, or Custom.
Select All Team Entries or a specific team member.
Click Export to download an Excel spreadsheet.
Your exported file includes:
Date and time
Project and task name
Project phase
Project tags/labels
Team member name
Notes
Duration
Tip: Apply filters before exporting to create custom reports for specific projects, team members, or date ranges.
Need more help with time tracking? Contact our support team via live chat for personalised assistance.