Toggldesktop: Screenshots

[jayvdb]

A lot of other similar apps are including screenshots periodically / randomly, even uploading them and making them available to managers/clients. I would be quite happy if there was screenshots being taken and residing in the desktop app only, as they can be useful to reflect on during the process of revising the days time allocated to each project.

[IndrekV]

Not having screenshot functionality has been a conscious decision to not intrude the user's privacy. First step in taking the timeline feature to another level would be to make it possible to see timeline data in the app. After that we'll consider if this feature is something that would offer the value needed. This would be a local feature without any data upload to the servers.

[abdulhannanali]

Some clients do require screenshots moreover for people who work with Freelancing platforms such as Upwork this could be a very valuable feature. Making screenshot an optional feature would only add to the value of the great time tracking solution toggl already provides to it's customers. This is a blocker for one of the projects where I need to take screenshots, so I would like to know if there's any new progress on it.

Thanks for making toggl.

[IndrekV]

We have not pushed this forward and this is not in our near future plans. I'll leave this open as we might come back to it when planning some of our future developments.

Could you maybe be more detailed how you would like it to work? How often should the screenshots be taken and how long they should be stored?

Thank you for showing your interest in this feature.

[seltix5]

Hello,
I wold find the periodic screenshots a great extra feature to toggl.
In my case i wold use it locally with screenshots taken at the beggining and ending of every task and each X minutes and stored until it is not older than Y ( both values should be setup in settings.)
This wold be usefull for self revews of the work done during the day and/or if any adjustments wold be needed in the recorded timing or details.
Thanks!

[IndrekV]

Thank you for sharing your explanation how this feature would be useful in your workflow. We've still not put this to our development map, but I'll keep this open so we can do so if we decide to.

[Sanabria]

This also would help me. I need to work intermittently in multiple tasks from different lists on Trello for which I use the Chrome extensions and start/stop the timer. This leads to some tasks having several sessions logged during days/weeks until the task is closed.

So far, so good, however without the possibility of adding notes to a time session it's hard for me to go back after some time has passed and remember what I was doing during a particular session. If I had some screenshots (or at least notes) I could add some sort of meaning to those sessions.

[att1sb]

Any updates on this feature request?

[ttodua]

Actually, I (as a freelancer) don't think that it's intrusion into my privacy if I get screenshoted.
When I work for someone remotely, then my work should be similarly as if i went to my employer's office and worked in front of its computers (where I should feel and work, as If i were under supervision - and even if i were working under cameras, it is still not intrusion into privacy, as when i work for client for what I am paid per hourly - then my work should be dedicated and owned by client, and I am not against.) Saying that "tracking makes employees to loose trust in team.. etc etc" are not always true, as in modern world of remote freelancing (let's see the reality) , when you assign some 3-week task to a freelancer , s/he doesn't care or wonder about having a "trusty teams and environment" for your one month job. That is a clear business - s/he wants to get paid and that's all. And if so, then client also needs to be sure in his/her work.

Yeap, there might be some cases (but rare) when monitoring might not be comfortable for employee, but personally most cases I've seen such claims, the reasons turned out related to some cheating desires (yeah, everyone wants to scroll facebook, read some stories and watch youtube upon the shoulders of the "office hours", but that is illegal and immoral. Sorry, but that's true.). So, tracking the work with screenshots should not be considred in any way as an intrusion to privacy.
I have separate desktop setup for my work, and when I work (being tracked with screenshots and etc), i have to admit that I don't feel intruded.

So, if you had revised this in deeper, that functionality might have added some good to the program. However, that should be optional, and might work the following manner - There should be an option for project owner (client) to enable screenshots for task. So:
A) If owner turns that ON, then freelancer will be get screenshoted periodically (owner chooses the period, i.e. 5 mins, 10 mins interval or any custom interval, even 1 min).
B) If owner doesnt turn ON that feature (because s/he trusts the freelancer), then that option might be left to freelancer, in case if freelancer wants himself/herself to be more under discipline and to express a good will to get screenshoted (i.e. upwork has something like that, to "track" work even if you are not obliged, i.e. for fixed-price tasks). So, freelancer can even turn on/off from time to time, as s/he wishes as an expression of a good will.

However, there should be some kind of popup message to owner (when s/he tries to enable tracker), like "Hey, we recommend to think once again about this feature - are you sure that would gain more trust with your employees? Researches say that freelancers who are not being tracked .... bla bla bla"... So, i mean, you should just give your decision as a recommendation (and not software limitation) to clients.

well, that's my 2 cents.