Getting Started

Installation:

• Go to: Edit → Preferences → Add-ons → Install from Disk
• Select the downloaded zip file

Once installed and enabled:

• Open Scene Properties → Time Tracker
• Or open the 3D Viewport sidebar (N-Panel) → Time Tracker tab
• The N-Panel can be turned on or off in Edit → Preferences → Add-ons → Time Tracker → Show N-Panel
• Time tracking starts automatically as soon as Blender opens

Updating from 1.x

Your tracked data is stored in Blender's configuration folder, not inside the add-on. Installing 2.0 over 1.x keeps all of your tracked time. Exporting a backup first is still recommended (see Import & Export).

Time Categories Explained

Total Time

The total amount of time Blender has been open for a project.

This includes:

• Active time
• AFK time
• Render time

Active Time (True Work Time)

Active Time = Total Time − AFK Time − Render Time

This represents the actual time spent working in Blender:

• Mouse movement
• Keyboard input
• Viewport interaction

This is the most accurate indicator of productive work.

AFK Time (Away From Keyboard)

AFK time is counted when:

• No input is detected for longer than the AFK Threshold
• Any mouse or keyboard activity immediately stops AFK tracking

AFK Threshold

• Adjustable in Time Tracker → Settings (or in the add-on Preferences)
• Default: 60 seconds
• Range: 10–600 seconds

Example:
If the AFK threshold is set to 60 seconds, Blender must receive no input for 60 seconds before AFK time begins counting.

AFK time never counts during rendering.

Render Time

Tracks the time spent rendering:

• F12 renders (still images and animations)
• Canceled renders are still counted correctly

While a render is running, the status line shows Rendering.
Render time is excluded from Active Time.

Wasted Time (Unsaved Work)

Time is counted as wasted when:

• You open Blender
• Work on a file that has never been saved
• Close the file or Blender without saving

That session, minus the time spent AFK, is added to Global Wasted Time.
AFK time is never counted as wasted, because it's not really wasted time in Blender if you weren't using it.

This helps identify how much time you spent on ideas you ended up abandoning.

While a file is unsaved, the panel shows the warning:
"File not saved — time will count as wasted!"

Status & Controls

Status Line

At the top of the panel, the status shows what Time Tracker is doing right now:

• Tracking – time is being counted normally
• AFK – no input detected for longer than the AFK Threshold
• Rendering – a render is in progress
• Paused – tracking is paused

Pause / Resume

• Click Pause to stop tracking completely (no Total, Active, AFK or Render time is counted)
• Click Resume to continue

Today: Day Streak & Weekly Goal (new in 2.0)

Day Streak

The number of days in a row on which you did real, active work in Blender.

• A day counts toward your streak once you reach the Streak Minimum of active time
• Streak Minimum: adjustable in Settings, default 5 minutes (range 1–480)
• The fire icon means your streak is active today

Rest Days (Streak Freeze)

Missing a day does not immediately break your streak. Instead, the streak is frozen (snowflake icon):

• Up to 2 rest days are allowed in any 7-day span
• Never more than 2 rest days in a row
• Rest days do not add to the streak count, but they keep it alive

This means working 5 days a week keeps a streak alive forever.
Hover the fire or snowflake icon to see how many rest days you have left this week.

Active Today

Shows how much active time you have worked today (all projects combined).

Weekly Goal

• Set a target number of active hours per week in Settings → Weekly Goal (hours)
• A progress bar appears under Today, for example: Week: 4.7h / 8.0h (59%)
• The week runs Monday to Sunday
• Set it to 0 to hide the goal

Session vs Project vs Global Time

Current Session

Tracks time since the file was last opened:

• Total
• Active
• AFK
• Render

You can reset this using Reset Session (does not affect saved data).

Project (Current Version)

Displays the time spent across all sessions on the project version that is currently open:

• Total
• Active
• AFK
• Render

The Earnings Calculator button is also available here.

All Projects Ever (Statistics)

Tracks the total time across all projects:

• Total Blender time
• Active time
• AFK time
• Render time
• Wasted time
• Current day streak
• Highest day streak

Project Leaderboard

The leaderboard lets you compare and organize your projects.

What Is a Project?

A project is identified by its filename, without the version suffix.

Examples:

• scene_v1.blend
• scene_v2.blend
• scene3.blend

All versions are grouped under the same project (scene).

Version Naming Rules (Important)

Supported naming patterns:

• _v1, _v2, _v3, etc. (upper or lower case V)
• Plain numbers at the end: project1, project2
• Numbers separated by a space, dot, dash or underscore: project_3, project-3, project.3

Examples:

• character_v1.blend
• character_V02.blend
• environment3.blend

Each version:

• Has its own tracked time
• Appears under the same project group

New Versions (Auto-add)

When you save a file that looks like a new version of an existing project (for example Suzanne_v02 while Suzanne is tracked), Time Tracker asks:

• Add as a new version of the project
• Rename (choose a different name)

Tick "Always add new versions of this project without asking" to skip the question next time. The same setting is available on each project as the Auto-add new versions checkbox.

Opening Projects from the Leaderboard (new in 2.0)

• Click a project name to open its latest version
• Click a version name to open that exact version
• If your current file has unsaved changes, you are asked whether to save it first

Notes (new in 2.0)

You can add notes to:

• Projects
• Folders
• Individual versions (for example "v06: new eye", "v08: lighting setup")

Click the note icon next to a project, folder or version. Use Add Line to write several lines or paragraphs. Notes are shown directly in the leaderboard.

Leaderboard Sorting

You can sort projects by:

• Total Time
• Active Time
• AFK Time
• Render Time

Sorting changes both the displayed value and the order.

Searching Projects

• Use the search bar at the top of the leaderboard
• Press Enter after typing to apply the search
• Searches project and folder names
• Clear the search with the X button next to the search bar

Expand / Collapse

• Expand individual projects to see their details and versions
• Expand or collapse all projects at once with Expand / Collapse All
• Each version shows its own time
• Open or closed folders and projects are remembered between Blender launches (new in 2.0)

Deleting Projects

• Click the trash icon next to a project
• Removes all versions of that project from the leaderboard
• Requires confirmation
• Cannot be undone
• Your .blend files on disk are never deleted

Deleting a Single Version (new in 2.0)

• Click the trash icon on a version row
• Removes only that version and its tracked time from the leaderboard
• Requires confirmation
• The .blend file on disk is not touched

Merging Projects

You can merge two projects into one.

In the leaderboard, click the merge icon on the project you want to get rid of. You will then be asked which project to merge it into. The target project keeps its name and receives all versions and time of both projects.

Renaming Projects

Click the rename (pencil) icon next to a project's name and type the new name.

By default, the project's .blend files on disk are renamed too. Untick "Also rename .blend files on disk" to rename it only in the leaderboard.

Organizing Projects with Folders

• Click the new-folder icon at the top of the leaderboard to create a folder
• Click the new-folder icon on a folder to create a subfolder inside it
• Use the move icon on a project to put it in a folder (leave the field blank to remove it from its folder)
• Folders can be renamed and deleted
• Deleting a folder also deletes its subfolders; the projects inside simply become ungrouped (no time is lost)
• Folders show the combined time of everything inside them

Earnings Calculator (new in 2.0)

Click Earnings Calculator on a project to see what your time is worth.

• Hourly Rate – shows how much you have earned (active hours × rate)
• Project Budget (fixed price) – shows your effective hourly rate (budget ÷ active hours)
• If a project has no rate of its own, the Default Hourly Rate from Settings is used
• The currency symbol can be changed in Settings (default $)

The earned amount or effective rate is also shown in the project's details in the leaderboard.

Name Conflict Warning (Save As Protection)

If you save a file under a name that is already used by a different .blend file in the leaderboard, Time Tracker pauses and shows a warning.

You are given three safe options:

1. Merge with the existing project's time
   The time of both files is combined under that name
2. Rename (choose a different name)
   The Save As window opens again so you can pick another name
3. Discard the old file's time
   The old file's tracked time is removed and the new file starts fresh under that name

While the warning is open, no time is given to either project. Your answer decides where the time goes (Rename even carries it over to the new name).

If you close the warning or quit Blender without answering, it defaults to Merge so no time is ever lost.

Statistics

Fun Stats (new in 2.0)

• Default cubes destroyed
• Renders launched
• Frames rendered
• Times saved
• Undos and redos pressed
• Blender launches
• Longest session

Time per Workspace (new in 2.0)

Shows how long you spend in each workspace: Layout, Modeling, Sculpting, Shading, Geometry Nodes, Animation, and so on.

Node-editor time is counted whenever a node editor is open in the active window.

Year in Review / This Month (new in 2.0)

Your Blender year, wrapped. Click Year in Review (or This Month) in Statistics to see:

• Total hours and real, focused (active) hours
• How many days you showed up
• Longest streak
• Busiest day and power month
• Top projects
• Where you lived (your most-used workspaces)
• Renders, frames rendered, saves, cubes destroyed, undos, render time and AFK time

Use the year and month fields at the top to view any year, or any single month (month 0 shows the whole year).

On the first launch of a new month (or year), the recap of the period that just ended pops up automatically. This can be turned off in Settings → Monthly / Yearly Recap Pop-up.

Calendar (new in 2.0)

A month grid of every day you opened Blender.

• Use the arrows to change month, and the reset button to jump back to the current month
• Click a day to see its Total, Active, AFK, Render and Wasted time

Achievements (new in 2.0)

There are 36 achievements to unlock, 5 of them hidden.

• Unlocked achievements are shown with their icon
• Locked achievements show your progress (for example Cube Slayer (47 / 100))
• Hover any achievement to read its description
• Hidden achievements stay secret until you unlock them
• A small pop-up appears when you unlock one. This can be turned off in Settings → Achievement Pop-ups (unlocks are recorded either way)

After Render (new in 2.0)

Let a long render finish without you.

Save & Close After Render

When the next render completes, the file is saved and Blender closes.

Then (optional)

• Do Nothing – just close Blender
• Sleep the PC – put the computer to sleep after Blender closes
• Shut Down the PC – power off the computer after Blender closes

Safety

• A 30-second countdown with a Cancel button runs before anything happens
• These options reset every time Blender restarts, so you can never shut down your PC by accident days later
• On Windows, sleep uses a proper suspend request (it will not hibernate by mistake), and pending wake timers are suppressed so the PC does not wake itself back up

Settings

Available in the Settings section of the panel and in Edit → Preferences → Add-ons → Time Tracker:

• Achievement Pop-ups – show a pop-up when an achievement is unlocked
• Monthly / Yearly Recap Pop-up – show Year in Review automatically at the start of a new month or year
• AFK Threshold (seconds) – default 60, range 10–600
• Streak Minimum (minutes) – active minutes needed for a day to count, default 5
• Weekly Goal (hours) – 0 disables it
• Default Hourly Rate and Currency Symbol – used by the Earnings Calculator
• Show N-Panel (Preferences only) – show Time Tracker in the 3D Viewport sidebar

The add-on Preferences also show Global Statistics (Total, Active, AFK, Render and Wasted time).

Import & Export

Found in Edit → Preferences → Add-ons → Time Tracker → Backup / Restore.

Export Time Data

• Saves all tracked data to a backup file (.json)
• Includes:
  • Projects and versions
  • Folders and notes
  • Earnings rates and budgets
  • Daily history (calendar, streaks, Year in Review)
  • Fun stats, workspace time and achievements
  • Global stats and wasted time

Import Time Data

• Restores a previous backup
• Importing replaces the current data with the backup (no need to reset first)
• Backups made with Time Tracker 1.x can be imported too

Perfect for:

• Blender upgrades
• Moving to another computer
• Keeping a safety copy

Reset Options

Reset Session

• Resets only the current session
• Does not affect saved project data

Reset All Time Data

• Completely wipes all tracked data
• Clears:
  • Leaderboard (projects, versions, folders, notes)
  • Global time and wasted time
  • Daily history, streaks, fun stats and achievements
• Requires confirmation, and reminds you to export a backup first
• Cannot be undone

Uninstalling Time Tracker

From the add-on Preferences:

• Click Uninstall Time Tracker and confirm
• The add-on is disabled and removed
• Its tracked data is deleted from disk as well, so export a backup first if you want to keep your time
• A Blender restart is recommended afterwards