Assistant Modes

The Assistant has five operating modes: work, meeting, Focus Session, recharge time, and pause.

Work

Work time starts automatically based on your schedule, which was set during onboarding and can be edited from Account Settings > Work Schedule. During work mode, RescueTime tracks all of your computer activities (except ignored activities). Your Focus Work during this time will count toward your Focus Work Goal.

Meeting

Meeting mode starts automatically based on the Google and/or Outlook calendars you connected to RescueTime. You can connect your calendar through Account Settings > Calendar Integrations.

During meeting mode, you'll see a meeting pinned alert. If you have a Google Meet, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams link in the calendar event, you'll see a Join meeting button in your pinned alert. Clicking this button will take you directly to your meeting.

If a meeting is canceled or changed, you can edit the event in your connected calendar and RescueTime will update your reports and Timesheets Timeline. If your meeting ends earlier than expected, click on the This meeting ended early button. The Assistant will re-enter work mode.

Focus Session*

Focus Sessions can be started by clicking the bullseye button in the lower right corner of the Assistant.

During a Focus Session, desktop apps and websites listed as Personal/Distracting activities will be blocked. Your activities during a Focus Session will be recorded and reported in the Apps & Websites Report and Focus Session Goal Report.

After your Focus Session is complete, the Assistant displays a summary for that session. You can learn more about Focus Sessions here.

Recharge Time

Recharge Time begins automatically at the end of your scheduled work day. You can edit your scheduled work time from Account Settings > Work Schedule.

During Recharge Time, your activities will still be tracked, but you'll be able to filter your reports by "All time" or "Work hours only". This gives you a better understanding of your work/life balance by letting you know how much you are working after-hours.

If you're working during Recharge Time, click the Back to Work button in the Assistant to return to work mode. Work done after clicking the button will count toward your Focus Work Goal.

Pause

Use the toggle at the bottom-left of the Assistant to pause RescueTime, which will stop the app from recording any activities. During this time, RescueTime will not record any of your activities and this time cannot be recovered. You may want to use this feature during a vacation, holiday, or any other time you don't want your activities recorded.

Note: Toggling this option to PAUSE will pause the app, whether or not you choose the length of time to pause.

* RescueTime Premium features