How to track time in Todoist without constantly running a timer
Todoist is very good at remembering what you planned to do and what you eventually finished. It does not tell you how long the work took.
If you bill for your time, that leaves you with a second job: remembering to record it somewhere else.
For some people, a timer solves that perfectly. Start it, do the work, stop it. For others, especially when the day is split between small tasks, meetings and several clients, the timer is often the thing that gets forgotten.
There is another way to approach it: use the tasks you already complete in Todoist as a reminder of the work that happened. That is the idea behind Tidst.
Three ways to track time around Todoist
There is no single method that works best for every kind of work.
Use a timer
Start a timer when you begin and stop it when you finish. This is useful when you are working on one thing for a clear block of time and want an exact duration.
The only real requirement is that you remember the timer.
Add the time afterwards
You can also look back through completed Todoist tasks and enter the time manually. This keeps time tracking out of the work itself, but it becomes less reliable the longer you wait.
A task called Fix mobile nav may be perfectly clear on Tuesday afternoon. By Friday, remembering whether it took 15 or 45 minutes can be harder.
Let completed tasks wait for review
Tidst uses a third approach. Connect the Todoist projects that contain client work. When a task from one of those projects is completed, it can appear in The Queue in Tidst.
The task is not automatically turned into billable time. It simply waits there as a reminder that the work happened.
When you are ready, you review it, confirm or change the duration and decide whether it belongs on your timesheet.
Using Todoist with Tidst
The setup is deliberately small. Connect a Todoist project to the client it belongs to in Tidst.
For example, Acme website in Todoist can be connected to Acme in Tidst.
You only need to connect projects that contain work you may want to log. Your personal Todoist projects can stay out of it.
After that, keep using Todoist normally. Create tasks, complete them and move on with your day. When Tidst finds a completed task from a connected project, it can leave it in The Queue for you.
What happens when a task reaches The Queue?
Suppose you complete Fix checkout bug on mobile. Tidst knows the task existed, which Todoist project it came from and when it was completed.
It does not know whether it took ten minutes or an hour, so it makes a suggestion rather than a claim.
- If you used a time label
- That duration is filled in.
- If you did not
- Tidst suggests a duration based on what past entries on that project have typically taken. On a project with no history yet, it starts at fifteen minutes, which is a starting point rather than a measurement.
Either way the number is a suggestion you can change. Adjust it, mark the work billable or non-billable and log it. If the task should not be on the timesheet at all, dismiss it.
The Queue is there to help you remember. It is not there to make billing decisions for you.
Add the duration in Todoist when it makes sense
Sometimes you already know roughly how long a task took. Tidst supports a few simple Todoist labels for that:
Add one before completing the task. A task like Prepare monthly report @30min can then arrive in The Queue with 30m already filled in.
You still review it before logging it. The label just saves you from working out the duration again, which works particularly well for small recurring tasks where the time is easy to judge while the work is fresh.
You do not have to use one method for everything
A four-hour design session may be easiest to track with a timer.
A handful of small Todoist tasks may be easier to review afterwards.
An unexpected phone call may simply need a manual entry.
That mix is normal. Tidst includes a timer and manual entries alongside The Queue, so the way you record time can depend on the work rather than the other way around.
What about meetings?
Client work does not all live in Todoist. Meetings are a good example.
Tidst can connect to Google Calendar and Outlook, where an event already has a start and end time. A relevant client meeting can then appear in The Queue with its scheduled duration, so a 45-minute meeting does not need to be recreated from scratch just because it was never a Todoist task.
Todoist can cover the tasks. Your calendar can help with meetings. The timer and manual entries cover the gaps.
An ordinary Tuesday
At 09:30 you finish Write landing page copy @45min in Todoist. At 11:00 you have a 30-minute client call in Google Calendar. Later, another client phones unexpectedly and you spend 15 minutes helping them with something that was never added to Todoist.
When you open Tidst, the completed task and the calendar meeting can already be waiting in The Queue. You add the unexpected call manually, check the durations and log the work that belongs on your timesheet.
You still track time. You just do not have to start from a blank page and your own memory every time.
Is this better than using a timer?
Not necessarily.
If you already remember to start and stop a timer consistently, and it fits the way you work, there is little reason to stop. A timer is still one of the most precise ways to measure elapsed time.
The Queue solves a different problem. It is useful when the difficult part is not measuring the work, but remembering all the things that should have made it onto the timesheet in the first place.
You can read more about how the two approaches compare.
Todoist and Tidst have different jobs
- Todoist
- Plan the work and mark it done.
- Tidst
- Review the work that may need time attached to it.
Once the time is logged, Tidst can use it for client reports and exports, and hand the billable work to whatever you invoice with. Todoist does not need to become an invoicing tool, and neither does Tidst.
Frequently asked questions
- Does Todoist have built-in time tracking?
- Todoist is primarily a task manager. If you need a separate record of billable time, you will normally need to use a timer, manual logging or another tool alongside it.
- Does Tidst automatically turn completed Todoist tasks into time entries?
- No. Completed tasks from Todoist projects connected to clients can appear in The Queue. You review them before anything becomes logged time.
- Does Tidst know how long a Todoist task took?
- Not by itself. A task arrives with a suggested duration: one of the supported time labels if you used one, otherwise what past entries on that project have typically taken. You confirm or change it when you review the task.
- Does every Todoist project need to be connected?
- No. Choose the projects that contain work you may want to log. Personal projects can stay outside your Tidst setup.
- Can I still use a timer?
- Yes. Tidst has a regular timer, and there is no problem with using a timer for some work and The Queue for other work.
- What if the work never existed in Todoist?
- Calendar meetings can come from Google Calendar or Outlook. Other work can be measured with the timer or added manually.
- Do I have to create my Tidst account with Todoist?
- No. You can sign up with email and connect Todoist afterwards from your profile.
- Is Tidst free?
- Yes. Everything currently available in Tidst is free to use.
Your completed tasks already tell part of the story.
Tidst gives you somewhere to pick that story up when it is time to fill in the hours.
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Related: How Tidst works · The Queue · Todoist integration