For Members: Getting Started with Focus for Teams
Welcome to Focus for Teams.
Your organization is using RescueTime to better understand work patterns, protect focus, and improve how your team spends their time. You get your own personal productivity tools, plus you contribute high-level information to team reports that help the whole organization work better.
Accept your invitation
You'll receive an email invitation from your organization. Open it and follow the prompts to create your RescueTime account or sign in if you already have one.
Can't find the invite? Check your spam folder, or ask your admin to resend it from Organization Settings → Members.
Install RescueTime
Download and install the RescueTime desktop app, then follow the steps to activate the Assistant. The app must be installed and running to track your activity; signing in on the website alone won't record any data.
RescueTime supports:
- macOS — Big Sur or later
- Windows — Windows 10 or Windows 11
On macOS, you will be prompted to grant RescueTime permissions in System Settings under Privacy & Security. These permissions are required for tracking to work correctly.
Let RescueTime collect your first data
Once installed, RescueTime runs quietly in the background. As you work, it automatically organizes your activity into categories and builds a picture of your day.
Give it at least one full workday before expecting meaningful data. Team reports become more useful as more members install the app and begin tracking.
Review your personal Dashboard
Your RescueTime account has its own personal Dashboard separate from anything your team sees. Use it to:
- See where your time actually goes throughout the day
- Review productivity patterns over time
- Track progress toward personal goals
- Understand your own work habits and peak focus hours
Your dashboard is for you. Your other team members cannot see this page.
Use your Focus features
As part of Focus for Teams, you get access to the full set of individual Focus features. You don't need to do anything to unlock them; they are all included with your team membership.
These include:
- Focus Sessions — block distractions for a set period of deep work
- Goals — set targets for time spent in specific categories or on certain tools
- Alerts — get notified when you've spent too much time on a distracting activity
- Personal reports — detailed breakdowns of your day, week, or month
- Assistant features — insights and suggestions based on your patterns
None of these features is visible to your team. They're entirely personal tools for managing your own focus and productivity.
What your team can see
RescueTime is designed to give your organization useful, high-level information — not a minute-by-minute log of your day. Here's what team reports include and what they don't.
| What your organization can see | What stays private to you |
|---|---|
| Time summaries across the organization | Your full personal activity history |
| High-level category totals (e.g., Communication, Software Development) | Non-work apps, websites, and documents |
| Time spent in key tools selected by the team | Your Focus Sessions, goals, and alerts |
| High-level individual summaries (when filtered by user in reports) | Your personal dashboard and detailed reports |
Personal or non-work activities can be designated on your Activities page. Use the arrows that appear next to an activity to move it to the Personal column.