Q. How do I get started?
Click here
to see the video, or click here
to view the web page.
In Job Timer 3 there is a setup wizard. Click here
for more information.
This is a very simple program, But when you think of all the things
that it does, the main purpose of the program is to track your time
spent on a project and then print an invoice.
First of all you want to create your profile. You have to ask yourself,
"How much do I charge per hour?"
Fill in what you would like to call this service and then enter
in how much you want to charge per hour for this service. If you
have several services then you can fill in up to 8 of these per
project. Set Services are for those of us who charge per item, so
"Service Charge" or "Transportation charge"
these would be considered "Set Services" and are not adjusted
by the clock but adjusted by you. ("how many of these")
Once you have set up this profile then you can start adding your
customers, Customers are entered in separately, you can recall them
later when you set up your project.
Once this is all done then all you do is open up the customer information
window, open up a customer it will ask for a "invoice number"
(or you have it automatically done for you) Project Name then close
the window. Hit Start on the clock and go to work. Once you're done
with your work, stop the clock and save your project. I usually
save my projects in a folder called "Invoices" then I
save my file as my Invoice Number. That way I know what to look
for the next time I want to open this project.
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Q. What does Job Timer do?
Simple; it tracks the time you spend on a job. Prints an invoice.
Separate from that it has a Countdown timer for whatever you want
it to do.
It has a count up timer for whatever you want that to do.
Break alarms, to let you know that it's time for your break or
lunch.
It will track your computer usage and warn you if you use too much.
Lets you know how long you have been at the computer for any given
day.
Opens programs for you automatically.
With one click of a button it will open a specified program and
start the Job Timer clock automatically.
Keep track of your recent projects and open them up with one click
of a button while saving what you just did.
For more information on what Job Timer does then click here
for the list of Features that each Version. Pick and choose which
program will suit your needs.
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Q. I have been using Job Timer for
along time now and I have "Check for Updates" Checked.
Why doesn't it let me know that there is a new update?
Included in the program is a update reminder. After 240 hours of
operation this will remind you to update your software. Therefore
you may have not used it long enough.
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Q. How do I update my software?
Included in the program is the update feature. Click on "About"
then click on "Check for updates":
If you are having problems with this feature then click here.
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Q. This little window keeps popping
up that says "Resting Arms" How do I get rid of this thing?
This is a feature of Job Timer that is called "Ergonomics"
this will alert you to when you are using the computer too much
and remind you to take breaks. According to the government guidelines
for people using the computer no one shall be sitting in front of
the computer for more than 2 hours straight. (included in the ergonomics
window is a check box "Two hour reminder") this will remind
you that you have been sitting in front of the computer for two
hours and to get up and move around. (Take a break). This purpose
is when you sit for a long time you have a tendency to pool blood
up in your legs and you can get blood clots in your legs. DVT (deep
vein thrombosis) is a serious medical condition that can be easily
avoided if you just simply move around.
Also to combat fatigue in your arms and wrists I have implemented
a "Resting Arms" Feature to the Ergonomics function. This
will alert you to rest your arms and shake them out, need to get
blood to those parts of your hands that are being used a lot. (Repetitive
wrist injury and Carpal tunnel syndrome are major factors in the
work place with people that sit in front of the computer for a long
time.)
It has been determined that if you sit in front of a computer more
than 6 hours a day then you can stress out too much. So to combat
this I have added a "6 Hour Reminder" to the program,
now this will track how much time you have been sitting in front
of the computer, not necessarily how much time you have been standing
at the snake bar, up running around getting coffee for everyone,
but the actual time you have been sitting in front of that glow
that your computer screen puts off.
So now that you have read why the "Resting Arms" window
keeps show up then you can either decide to get rid of it or keep
it. Go to "Ergonomics" and under "Resting arms"
click on "OFF" then save your settings. If you don't wish
any of these features to work then click on"Disable" and
save your settings.
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Q. What happens if I walk away from
my computer and I forget to turn the clock off?
There is a feature that will turn off the clock for you, this is
called "Idle" if checked then when you walk away from
the computer the clock will automatically stop. When you resume
work on the computer then your clock will start automatically. If
you have a job that requires you to do other things on that job
that necessarily sitting in front of the computer then you can uncheck
this box and the program will keep adding time to the clock indefinitely.
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Q. What happens if I stop the clock,
walk away from the computer and I forget to start the clock back
up?
In this case if you check the checkbox "Project Reminder"
then your program will let you know that you have a opened project
and the clock has stopped, Do you want it on? This will remind you
in 5 minutes and if you have been working on your project for that
amount of time then you can just hit a button that will add that
5 minutes to your project. If you don't have a project loaded and
the total is "0" then Job Timer will be silent, it will
not remind you to turn on your clock.
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Q. What if I have a lot of customers
and I do different things for each customer?
Under "Customer Settings" you will find "Special
Settings". First of all you want to set up a price set for
that customer and save it in settings by clicking "Save As"
then save the project to a file name you will remember. In customer
settings click on the check box that says "Special Settings"
then click on "Choose Settings" open that file you created.
This will open up those special settings for that customer every
time you use that customer. More info can be found here.
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Q. I don't charge by the hour, I charge
per minute. What do I do then?
That's a very good question. Job Timer only charges by the hour,
so you will have to take what you charge per minute and times this
by 60. Example .72c a minute equals $43.20 an hour. (.72 X 60 =
$43.20) so you would put in 43.20 where your timed service will
be. Then when you start up Job Timer's clock you will notice that
every minute passes it will add .72 cents to the total. This also
would apply to those of you that charge by the quarter hour, If
you know what you charge per Quarter Hour then times this by 4 and
you will get what you charge per Hour.
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Q. What if I don't want to charge
by the minute, what if I want to charge per Quarter Hour?
Simple, go to "Timer Settings" and change the slider
bar over to "15" this will allow your project to be updated
every Quarter Hour. You can't make changes to this while a project
is in motion (Job Timer's clock turned on") but if you change
it while the clock has stopped and you're in the middle of a project
then it will reset the timers clock back to zero. Don't be alarmed
by this, your project time is still intact.
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Q. What Operating Systems does Job
Timer run on?
Job Timer runs on Windows 98se, ME, 2000, XP, Vista and now testing on Windows 7
Job Timer will not be coded for the Mac as of yet. I wanted to get it released for the Mac but I haven't had any time to get this issued. Since Mac can run windows programs and with the new CPU from Intel, some mac owners can run Windows on their machine so I will see how this plays out.
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Q. When I click on the "Close"
button, why does Job Timer open up a smaller window instead of closing?
By default job timer will open up the small control
panel or if the small control panel is disabled then Job Timer will
run in the task bar. To turn off Job Timer then you will have to
click on "Exit" on the main Job Timer window or you can
hit "File" then "Exit". Job Timer will not exit
unless your project has been saved or if the Countdown Timer is
running or if you have a pending Alarm. These features will warn
you first before closing out Job Timer altogether. So make sure
that you have your project saved and you have no pending timers
or alarms running and Job Timer will exit freely.
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Q. How can I find how long I have
been sitting in front of the computer?
Go to "Ergonomics" and at the bottom of
the window will be your two hour reminder time and your six hour
reminder time. The two hour time will tell you how long you have
been at your computer at any given time. The six hour time will
tell how long you have been sitting at the computer for the whole
day. If you walk away from the computer for more than 10 minutes
then both of these reminders will stop, but the two hour reminder
will go back to zero, because if you have been walking around for
10 minutes then the ergonomics feature believes that 10 minutes
is long enough away from the computer to start over again. If you
stay at your computer for more than 2 hours then the ergonomics
feature will let you know that it's time to get up and walk around.
If you hit the 6 hour mark then the ergonomics feature will warn
you that it's time to get off the computer for the day and revert
back to zero. If you go past the 6 hour mark then a !
will show up and start counting again from zero. So you can
see how many minutes or hours have past since the 6 hour mark has
been reached.
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Q. What does the "Job Timer Invoice"
program do? Isn't this Job Timer?
Think of the Job Timer Invoice program as a plug in,
it's not the actual Job Timer program and will not add any time
to any project. It may look similar to Job Timer but it's not. This
invoice program when installed will work in concert with Job Timer
2 and Job Timer 3. This new program will allow you to print a invoice
threw your Internet browser program. (ie: Internet Explorer) Hit
"Print Preview" and you can see what the invoice will
look like when it's printed. Also included with this program is
the ability to tax your services, you can tax each, all or none
of the services.
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Q. I clicked on "Special Settings"
and Job Timer didn't use them, Why?
Because you started Job Timer without adding your
customer settings first. If there is any time added to the clock
then Job Timer thinks you want the present settings already stored.
If you need to use these special settings then before you add any
time to your project set up your customer first then start adding
time to your project. There is no way of correcting this unless
you do it manually by changing all the affected fields. So it's
good practice to make sure that you have set up your customer first
before you start the clock. To make sure that you do this there
is a check box in the customer settings called "Chk" this
will remind you to add your customer info first before the clock
is started. Click on "Chk" and save your settings, this
will be stored as your program settings.
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Q. How come when I'm sitting at my
computer not doing a thing and the resting arms window appears?
This function is on a 2 minute timer, after two minutes
it will revert back to zero and wait until you start working on
your computer. If you happen to be just sitting there for a minute
or so it is possible that the resting arms feature just hasn't had
time to shut down. Therefore it may appear, but if you leave your
computer alone for a bit then this feature will have had enough
time to shut off.
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Q. Why can't I save my settings?
You may have "Special Settings" enabled.
This is to prevent you from saving your Special Settings to the
normal Program Settings. The "prices.hpp" (Program Settings)
would be considered the normal program settings that you normally
use, but for some customers you may charge them different services
and prices that you would for someone else, so therefore you
can create a special price set just for that customer, but you
don't want to save those settings to your normal price set, so
the save button disables. If you really want to save the settings
to any price set then you can hit "Save As".
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Q. Can I add Tax to my Project?
Yes you can add tax to your project, you will need Job Timer 2
or Job Timer 3 (Job Timer does not have this feature) You will
need to download and install the Job Timer Invoice program, this
program will allow you to open up Job Timer 2, 3 projects and then
you can add tax. More on this Program can be found here.
Q. My ergonomics feature is missing. How do
get it back?
Provided you have the recommended requirements to
run the ergonomics feature you can go to "Administrator Options"
( Tools - Administrator Options) and put in code "alsdfoansldfmalhnmlw"
then click on "Enable" then save your settings. Go Back to the
Administrator Options and click on "Ergo ON".
Q. I just downloaded the new
Project Data. Where are my invoices?
First you will have to create a new invoice with
Job Timer 3. You can create a new invoice by printing an invoice
or going to "Reports" and clicking on "Track this project" this
will create a new invoice for you. Open Project Data by going to
"Reports" and clicking on "File" in the top left hand corner and
then click on "Project Data" this will open the project data program
and your invoice will be there.
How many computers
can I use Job Timer on?
If you buy 1 copy of Job Timer then you can install
it on two computers. Every computer has a unique computer ID and
in order for this computer to be unlocked you have to request a
key. You computer ID's are stored here in a database. You can get
new keys every three months free. If you need more than 2 computers
then you will have to buy another licence (which you can have two
more keys for two more computers) If you buy three licence's then
you will get a "Special" key that will unlock your Registration
codes and you will be instructed to enter in your own computer
ID (Your Name) and you will have your own Special Key. This way
you can install Job Timer on as many of your
own computers as you
wish just the same way the purchased CD does.
Q. Can I get Job Timer on a CD?
Yes you can, for now it's only available for Job
Timer 3 and 4. Included in the CD is Job Timer Invoice and Project Data.
Everything will be installed and you can put Job Timer 3 and 4 on as
many computers as you wish. For more information on the purchase
of a CD click here. Job Timer 4 will now be available on CD Click here for more information.
Q. What
happened to my "Update Reminder"
Check box?
You may have been prompted to update your software
at sometime and you selected "Never" this will remove this check
box. To get this back Click on "Tools" then click on "Administrator
Options" and then type in this code - "knasojaoghennoguyher" (without
the quotes) then press "Go". This will bring back your update option.
Q. When do I
need to re-register Job Timer? and if I do, how do I do this?
The only time you will need to re-register your software
is if the following conditions have been made to your computer:
1. If you changed the name of your computer.
2. If you re-formatted your hard drive.
3. If you replaced your hard drive.
4. If you un-install Job Timer.
If your hard drive remains intact while you change
any part of your computer then Job Timer will be just fine. Your
registration material is located within Job Timer and will not
change until you either delete the folder that Job Timer is located
in or if you strip the Registration settings using the stripper
tool.
If you need to re-register your software because
of the above mentioned reasons then re-install Job Timer with
the latest trial release, when the registration box appears then
click on "Email Computer ID" then a email will filled out for you
and all you have to do is send it. If you add text or alter the
email in any way then it may take some time to get your registration
material to you or if your email address has changed since the
time of your purchase. Then it could take up to 12 hours to get
your registration material to you.
If the email button does not create an email for
you then manually create an email and copy and paste the computer
ID in the body of the email and type in the subject line which
Job Timer release you have (ie: Job Timer, Job Timer 2 or Job Timer
3). Note: Do not type in the Computer
ID number, if you do then the registration program on the server
will not work correctly and it will send you the wrong registration
code.
If you uninstall Job Timer and you want it back then
install the update only!, if you decide you want to un-install
the program and re-install with the trial version it will not work
because the registration material is for the update and not for
the trial version. The update password changes the program to allow
you to update your software without anymore passwords once this
has taken place the trial version can't be used again. You will
have to re-register the program again.
Q. Job Timer
seems to be using a lot of CPU, Is there a way to fix this?
Yes there is, on some laptops your CPU will seem
to be working overtime. To get Job Timer to run normally on your
machine then turn off the Ergonomics feature, Idle Feature and
the Reminder Feature. This will turn off the ability to read your
mouse movements. The code in Job Timer reads your mouse movements
and in some laptops that means it's reading that mouse pad. The
Drivers for the mouse pad are not the same as the drivers for a
normal mouse. So therefore Job Timer will have to work harder to
look for those mouse movement changes. So far this hasn't effected
a desktop machine. I will work on solving this issue but it seems
to be that running those features on a laptop are not advisable
at this time.
Q. I tell
Windows XP to keep my System Tray icon to show all the time but
it disappears.
You will have to tell Windows XP to keep both the
"Red" and the "Green" System Tray icons to "Always show" to do
this go to your task bar, right click and choose "Properties" go
to "Customize" and choose the red or green Job Timer icons then
in the drop down menu click on "Always Show" if your Job Timer
clock is running then the green icon will be showing, stop the
clock and do this all over again with the red icon. Now Windows
XP will keep the Job Timer icons in the system tray.
Q. Why are there 7 different versions
of Job Timer?
This is a great question: During the course over
the years of creating Job Timer, Job Timer was lacking some features
that customers wanted. So I created Job Timer 2, This was great
but then I got a request to be able to add notes to the projects
and some sort of log of your activity, I couldn't change Job Timer
2 so I created Job Timer 3 during the course of these two programs
I was asked for other features and so those got added. Because
the added time it went into Job Timer 3 and the fact that my previous
customers didn't want a database added to Job Timer, Job Timer
2 and Job Timer 3 became separate programs. Last year I was asked
to add the ability to network Job Timer. I tried to network Job
Timer 3 as a Network Version but I couldn't get to work and still
have previous customers enjoy the product they already had. So
Job Timer 4 was created to be either a stand alone program or
share projects over a network. Because of all the extra coding
and all the features that Job Timer 4 has the price went up. So
to get the price down I decided to create a LITE Version of Job
Timer 2, Job Timer 3, and Job Timer 4. In the lite versions there
are several features that have been "Removed" not disabled. The purpose of deleting
these features in the program was to keep the file size down so
when you run these lite versions they are not as bulky as their
predecessors keeping the CPU and Memory down to a minimum. These
lite versions are how Job Timer was originally created and not
with all the extra added stuff that customers wanted. As a result
these new versions are cheaper and more efficient to run the way
Job Timer was intended to be in the first place. Ok now I have
made all of my beta testers happy and customers threw out the years
asking for features and now there are 7 versions of Job Timer.
They all do the same thing just a little different. Why not just
have one Job Timer fit all? Some don’t want the big bulky
program (Job Timer 3 – Job Timer 4) some don’t want
to network (Job Timer 4) so to make everyone happy you can choose
which program will fit your needs. Sometimes when I have had a
program for years and I update this program a lot of features that
I really don’t need get added to this program and I end up
not liking this new product and I search else where for a replacement
or re-install the older version. I didn't’t want this to happen
to Job Timer so when you get either one of these programs and it
fits your needs then you won’t get a surprise when you update
your product, these updates will only contain any fixes that I
have made between versions. Oh sure there may be a little change
or added feature that won’t effect the performance of the
product you already own.
Q. What does "Total Hours" and the Job Timer Clock have in common and why are they different?
The "Total Hours" will be added up by all of the timed services and will be displayed as a decimal just like the Timed Services. The Job Timer Clock will display Days, Hours, Minutes and Seconds as you add time to your project. They an be different if you add a minimum amount to your project, or if you manually add time to your project. The Job Timer Clock will only display the time that was actually added by clicking "Start" and "Stop". More info can be found here with pictures and explanations.
In Job Timer 4 how do I create a new Database set for the new Year?
Some like to keep their Databases separate from year to year. I designed Job Timer to be able to use different databases. You don't have to use different databases for each year but just in case you do then you can copy ALL information to the new folder. Download the new databases here. Unzip this folder to your "Default Unzip folder" DO NOT unzip them into the new directory that you just created. Copy and paste "db1.mdb" into your new network directory. Open Job Timer and access your network settings, find your new network path and save your settings. If you would like more information on how this is done then please click here.
I have been sitting in front of the computer for 8 hours. How come the 6 hour reminder hasn't gone off yet?
Good question. If you have the 6 hour reminder checked then you are letting Job Timer know that you want to be informed when 6 hours of Computer usage has been met. (This has been determined by the US Government policies to be the amount of time that an individual should be sitting at a computer for any given day.)
This is what's happening, If you walk away from the computer for more than 2 mins this feature pauses then resumes when you come back to the computer. If you receive this 6 hour reminder window then you should remain off of the computer for the rest of the day.
History of Job Timer.
I work for myself, I draw in AutoCAD and I needed some way to keep
track of my time and it had to be accurate.
When I first thought of this program in 1995 I turned to the internet
to find a program that would suit me. Actually there were no programs
like this. After this exhaustive search I decided to just create
it myself. I never intended to sell it, I just needed some simple
program that will keep track of my time. Some family members saw
what I have done and told me that it was so cool that I really should
sell it. After some consideration I did just that. Now we come this
far and Job Timer has grown up to be a cool program that people
really love. I have kept the original program intact and people
can still download it and buy it even after this many years later.
I wanted to keep the three versions separate because not everyone
will want all the features that Job Timer 3 has to offer so therefore
they can buy the cheaper one if they wish. Some will want the latest
version because it's just plain cool.
There are three versions of the program, I first made Job Timer
years ago and it was a big hit. As time went on and thinking of
ways to improve Job Timer, I came up with Job Timer 2. This was
even a bigger hit and still to this day it's the most popular program.
Job Timer 3 was created a year later and just now coming out of
infancy. I have had some customers requesting more features with
Job Timer 2 so Job Timer 3 was born. Job Timer 2 couldn't be updated
with all the features that was requested so I had to re-create the
program, that's why there is another version. Job Timer 2 and Job
Timer 3 may look the same but Job Timer 3 does a lot more than Job
Timer 2. For some People Job Timer 2 will do just fine and has a
proven track record. Issues that I have found in Job Timer 3, I
have fixed in Job Timer 2. I use this program everyday and if I
find a problem it gets fixed right away, if a customer finds a problem,
then either it has already been fixed and I instruct them to update
the program, or if this is a new incident then I will fix the problem
right away and get a new update uploaded. This is why it is so important
to check back for updates.
Updated 6-29-10:
I wrote the above statement back in 2003, now that it's 2020 I would like to thank everyone that has purchased Job Timer and for all of the Suggestions on improving the program.
Job Timer 4 and all of the features like Networking, Keeping track of the total by the second and the CPU Monitoring were direct results of comments and or suggestions from my customers that have purchased the program. I do listen to all suggestions and if they seem like a good idea I will implement them in to the program. If the suggestion proves helpful and people can't live without the feature then that makes Job Timer even more valuable and the person or persons will receive a percentage (royalty) check for their efforts. Even though I'm the one that coded the program, I can't take all of the credit for Job Timer 4 since it was more of a community effort.
Thank you Job Timer Community.
