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Desktop Activity Timeline

This guide covers how to automatically record the apps and windows you use, and convert them directly into time entries via Timeline on the desktop app. 

The Activity Timeline is a desktop feature that automatically records which apps and windows you use, and lets you convert that activity into time entries directly from a visual timeline view.

Where to find it

Open the Toggl desktop app and go to My Activity in the nav bar. This is where the Activity Timeline lives.

Before you start: Enable the feature

The Activity Timeline will not record anything until it is switched on. Go to Settings → Desktop Settings → Activity Timeline and turn on Enable Activity Recording.

All Activity Timeline settings are found in this same section.

Settings

Activity Block List

The block list shows every app that has been detected while the desktop app is active. Ticking an app in this list will exclude it from recording. Activities from that app will no longer appear in your timeline. Leave apps unticked to include them.

Recording Detail

Controls how much information is captured for each activity:

  • Apps and window titles: records both the application name and the specific window or document title (e.g. "Notion : Weekly meetings" or "Chrome : PRD, Calendar"). This gives you the richest level of detail.
  • Apps only: records the application name only (e.g. "Google Chrome", "Notion"). Use this if you'd prefer not to capture window-level content.

Group Activities

  • Dynamic Grouping (default): consecutive activity blocks from the same app are grouped together into a single chunk, making the timeline easier to scan.
  • Fixed Grouping: each individual activity block is shown as a separate item. This gives maximum granularity but produces a more dense view.

Auto-Assign Tasks

When enabled, the timeline uses Smart Suggestions to automatically populate task information when you log time. This is most useful once you have established usage patterns. Smart Suggestions improves over time as Toggl learns from your tracked activity.

Logging time from the timeline

Hover over any activity block on the timeline to reveal the Log Time option. You can also right-click a block to access the same action.

When logging time, you can:

  • Add a description
  • Assign a project
  • Drag the edges of the block to adjust the duration. The time display on the left updates automatically

When a project is assigned, the activity block changes colour to match that project, making it easy to see at a glance which blocks belong to which project.