Scheduling screenshots

Set when Kronolog captures screenshots so you can reconstruct billable work later.

Kronolog does not run a live timer. Instead it takes screenshots on a schedule you control, then stores them locally so you can reconstruct your day when you invoice.

Choosing a schedule

Use a cadence that matches how you work. Many freelancers capture every few minutes during work hours. You set the schedule with a cron expression in the app, so you can limit captures to weekdays, specific hours, or custom intervals.

How the interval becomes logged time

The gap between screenshots—the schedule’s span—also sets how many minutes each logged screenshot is worth. If captures run every 10 minutes, each time you Confirm a screenshot in the main window, Kronolog adds 10 minutes to that project and task. A tighter schedule means finer chunks; a looser one means larger blocks per confirm. Settings shows this in plain English under your cron expression (for example, that each screenshot counts as 10 minutes).

Cron expressions in plain English

A cron expression is five fields separated by spaces: minute, hour, day of month, month, and weekday. Each field answers when a screenshot should fire.

  • */10 in the minute field means “every 10 minutes”
  • 9-18 in the hour field means “from 9:00 through 18:00”
  • * means “any” (every day of the month, every month)
  • 1-5 in the weekday field means Monday through Friday (Sunday is 0 or 7)

The default schedule, */10 9-18 * * 1-5, takes a screenshot every 10 minutes between 9:00 and 18:00 on weekdays—so each confirmed screenshot logs 10 minutes. See Reviewing and logging for how Confirm uses that interval.

What gets stored

Frames are saved on disk on your Mac. There is no cloud upload and no account sync. You decide what to keep when you review and log time.

Tips

  • Prefer a schedule that covers your billable blocks rather than 24/7 capture.
  • Turn off the schedule while you are editing the cron expression to avoid capturing screenshots you do not want.
  • After you edit the schedule, check the plain-English preview under the field. It will show an error if the expression is invalid.