In searching for the ideal time-tracking software, you must not only look into what it is and how much it can offer but also the aspects that make it stand out from the rest. We all know that not all time trackers are created equal. Therefore, it’s important to stack up and determine which among the contenders is worthy enough to be given a try.
We must not forget to consider our personal feelings. The final decision you make will affect your personal feelings and impact the productivity of your team.
Out of all the top apps taking over today’s productivity scene, Time Doctor has teams and solo users in a trance for its jam-packed time- and task-monitoring capabilities. But has it caught us the same way? Read this comprehensive review to find out.
For those of you who prefer a more visual experience, here is a video review from Frank on his YouTube channel Franklin Rivera. You can still read our article to get a complete overview of Time Doctor.
A Closer Look at Time Doctor Doctor Zhivago Book Review
Time Doctor is a time-tracking and project-monitoring platform best suited for large or small businesses, teams who work remotely, and freelance professionals. Its lineup of tools and features aims to help teammates and individuals improve their productivity by an average of 22%.
Launched in 2012, around a decade earlier already, Time Doctor has slowly gained a large following, becoming a popular time management tool among companies everywhere, whether they’re established or just starting in the industry. It has also become a hit among freelancers who often work for multiple clients thanks to its convenient client portal feature.
Time Doctor has accumulated a user base that exceeds 250,000 over its 20-year history. Among those who’ve used the service for time and employee management matters include Apple, Ericsson, Better Business Bureau (BBB), Verizon, Boost Media, and Thrive Market.
Time Doctor is well-known for its time and activity tracking functions, as well as advanced capabilities such setting reminders to remind you when the timer should be started and stopped. These features alone may be enough for the platform to position itself way ahead of other time management apps. However, it is unable to do so because of its lack of consistency in user useability.
Despite this, we believe that Time Doctor has the potential to be a wonderful addition to any individual or team looking to expand their productivity levels. Keep reading to know more about what else this one-of-a-kind platform has to offer and how well each of them works! Doctor Zhivago Book Review
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The Pros
- Time Doctor is best recognized for its excellent, easy-to-use time and activity management tools and functions.
- It includes outstanding features like pinpoint-accurate reports, idle alerts and automatic reminders.
- The user-friendly and extensive client portal makes it easy for freelancers to interact with clients.
- It allows for a large and seamless integration with third-party platforms.
The Cons
- The platform’s confusing user interface makes navigation difficult for many users, particularly first-timers. Doctor Zhivago Book Review
- Despite its potential, its mobile apps don’t provide the same flexibility as the desktop and web versions.
- It does not allow for smooth switching between web-based client apps and desktop apps, particularly if you are both the administrator or the user.
- You can only access the time tracking feature if you download and install the desktop app or web extension.
Pricing and plans
Let’s first discuss the plans and their cost. Time Doctor currently offers three paid subscription tiers, each with a distinctive set of features and tools that become more advanced and packed as the cost increases.
The pricing will also increase according to the number of users added to one team. Let’s check out the following three available plans in the Time Doctor platform.
- Basic – $70/user per year or $7/user per month
The Basic tier of Time Doctor includes access to core platform features such as task and project management and time and activity tracking. It also allows unlimited screenshots. You can only access them if the web extension or desktop application is downloaded. You can only store one month of data.
- Standard – $100/user annually or $10/user monthly
Standard plans allow you to access advanced features such as tracking your team’s apps and URLs, the payroll tool, reporting and 60 additional integrations with third-party applications. It also sees upgraded time limitations to its customer support hotline – from three days to 24 hours.
- Premium – $200/user annually or $20/user monthly Doctor Zhivago Book Review
The Premium tier is the most complete yet out of the three. Subscribers to the Premium tier have access to all the Time Doctor features. They can explore the client portal and take screen recordings.
Paying annually will get a complimentary charge for the first 2 months. Unfortunately, Time Doctor does not offer a free plan; however, each of the three plans has a limited 14-day free trial for those who want to test the waters and see if it’s the perfect tool.
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The User Interface
Time Doctor is a robust tool for managing time and activities. However, it’s well-known for its awkward and poorly designed user interface. In most cases, going through the platform can be such a hassle – it’s even much harder if you explore its dashboard and features for the first time.
For instance, many who’ve used Time Doctor have found issues accessing its range of functions. They’ve complained about the lack of in-app centralization, which would have saved a lot of time and effort. Until now, users can only access the time tracking feature through the desktop app or web extension. The website version only has project management, reporting, as well as other admin features. With that in mind, switching between the two portals is more frequent – you usually wouldn’t see this on other time management platforms.
Time Doctor users also need to be helped with the overall design and look. The website-based dashboard lacks key features that would make it easier to use, except for the desktop app. It also needs the diversity of data graphs used for reporting – sure, and the bar graphs are great and all, but what about the circle graphs? Pie graphs, as well? Line graphs, perhaps?
It’s already clear that Time Doctor’s user interface and design don’t shine as brightly as its features – we’ll review that very shortly! However, despite their combined lackluster appeal, they’re not strong enough to fully soil the experience of tracking work activity, which the platform was designed for in the first place. Some users aren’t bothered by the UI problems, while others adjust to it quickly. Doctor Zhivago Book Review
There’s still a glimmer of hope that the UI and UX issues in Time Doctor could be resolved and improved in the future. For now, however, new users will need to learn the platform’s inner workings.
Time Doctor: Key Features
Let’s now dive into the tools and features you might want to explore when you log in to Time Doctor.
Project and Data Management
With Time Doctor’s project management capabilities, individuals or administrators within a team can create tasks and group them into groups with just a few clicks. Admins may also utilize this feature to assign their employees tasks to offload and maximize their teams’ productivity. You can create tasks as standalone tasks. However, you can group them together if necessary into larger projects. This is a great option for large companies whose stability depends on many departments below them.
Time Doctor knows that a clear workboard is a great way to get things done. With that in mind, admins may opt to limit access to select tasks or projects by assigning them to only a specific employee or group of employees within the team. Do you want to check out who’s working on the task or project now? The dashboard allows you to track their progress and see how long they have been working.
Unlike the few other time management platforms out there, Time Doctor allows users to create permanent trackable tasks that can be easily adjusted, edited, or even deleted without having to worry about adding one day by day. People who are used to repetitive tasks no longer have to deal with this problem every day. All they have to do is make them permanent! Doctor Zhivago Book Review
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Time Tracking and Alerts
As already established, Time Doctor’s signature time-tracking tool can only be accessed through either its desktop application or Chrome web extension. Despite not being available in the web dashboard, its capabilities are surprisingly well-versed enough to make it stand independently. It’s quite straightforward – just add in the task you’re assigned to work on and click the timer’s start button to track your progress. It’s that simple!
All your activities and actions will be recorded as the timer runs through your task. These actions and activities will be recorded and saved to the dashboard. Administrators can then access the dashboard to monitor their employees’ progress. If you’re working solo, you may go through it in the same manner.
One unique trait of Time Doctor’s time-tracking tool that we can’t help but appreciate is allowing users to customize their set-up according to their liking until they’re content enough to work well. The software also has a reminders function that reminds you when it is time to start and stop work. Another function is the “idle time” function. This allows users to convert the time they’ve been off work into work hours and then reassign it.
The timer will stop the tracking if there is no user activity after a few minutes. If you ever spot something like this and you’ve gone to attend to other things beforehand, you may manually click the play button to resume tracking. You can also pause the timer if you need to take a break from work. Time Doctor allows you to create time intervals between daily tasks if you feel you need some space.
While Time Doctor can track your progress and work hours online, did you know it could also do this offline? Like some time monitoring apps such as Hubstaff, which have this function, Time Doctor can record your activity and the hours you spend on your task even without the presence of an internet connection. Doctor Zhivago Book Review
Monitoring Website and App Usage
It’s not just the amount of hours that Time Doctor is keen on monitoring, as it also applies to the other desktop apps you’ve visited, the websites you’ve explored, and even the keystrokes and mouse movements you’ve made as you work. If the platform sees that the mouse cursor or keyboard hasn’t moved for longer, it will pause instantly and stay that way until you do something with it.
Often, it’s hard to tell whether someone seems productive until you find out what they’ve been doing. If they’ve been focusing on their tasks, that’s a sigh of relief. It’s not the same story if they have been procrastinating and going to other platforms to distract from what they should be doing. No matter if you’re strict or relaxed with it, Time Doctor allows users to check which kinds of websites or applications their fellow teammates have used during work hours and how long they’ve glued their eyes to them.
Time Doctor has a number of monitoring features that allow admins to easily see if employees are wasting their time or attending to a task. This feature can be used to identify if the URL or application name, and the status it is in, are some of the many. This feature is available to managers and administrators to adjust the platform’s productivity rating to any one of the three ranks.
- Productive if it serves the purpose of a project/team as a key driver for its tasks.
- If it serves no purpose and is therefore inefficient, it will be a time-waster
- If it is neither productive nor unproductive, it will be considered neutral.
These statuses can be assigned to any app or website and can be set to be restricted to a single user, group/team or company. It is extremely convenient for those who work in specific jobs, such as content writing, to be able to monitor website activity and set productivity statuses per user. For what it’s worth, Time Doctor may be lucky this time to have this crucial function included, unlike other time-tracking software. Doctor Zhivago Book Review
Screen Recordings and Activity Screenshots
Remember when we told you about Time Doctor being able to record your tracked time and activity in the background while they’re posting the data to the web dashboard for admins to see? This is why it has built-in snapshot capabilities.
Administrators can specify a time period for screen capture across their project/team. It could be set to 10 minutes, 30 or even 30 minutes. They can also choose to allow access to any of their colleagues if they wish.
Each image is equipped with additional information on the level of keystroke and mouse cursor activity as a way to determine user productivity. Premium subscribers have unlimited access to screenshots. Those who subscribe to Time Doctor’s Standard and Basic plans have unlimited access to screen shots. However, premium users can record video screens. The platform captures three minutes of actual work activity, instead of just taking photos of the monitor.
There may be rare instances in which someone from a project/team may be at risk of a breach of privacy caused by serious circumstances. To protect their safety, they might be permitted to delete screen recordings or screenshots within the Time Doctor platform. This will likely lead to the deducting of the work hours on the recording date.
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Productivity Reporting and Analysis
Time Doctor lets users view, edit and save pre-built reports. Each contains data and insights collected by the software during their tracked work hours, all presented in the form of decent visuals and summaries. Reports can be provided as a means to help users determine which of the implemented time management and productivity habits have been working and which need improvement.
You have so much to journey through with Time Doctor’s report collection. The Web and App Usage report lets you see how much time you have spent on websites and apps that are considered productive. The Poor Time Use report shows how long you have sat on sites that have been flagged inappropriate for work. However, issues have arisen, especially from multi-screen work set-ups where one could jam to their favorite playlist on one screen while they get to their task on another. Poor Time Use includes the ability to open pop-up windows to block certain websites. This means that if someone goes to YouTube, they will be immediately reminded if they wish to continue or return to their task.
Other types of reports include the Timeline report, which displays all your tracked hours in chronological order, primarily divided into the colors yellow for manual time recording and green for automatic; the Project and Tasks report, where hours spent on assigned tasks and/or projects are broken down in full detail; and the Activity Summary in which your total work hours and the full percentages derived from a combination of all other reports are laid out for you and your admin to see. Doctor Zhivago Book Review
While Time Doctor’s accurate reporting tools may be impressive and all, some of its users have historically not liked experiencing certain issues while generating them. Firstly, the formatting of most reports is generally clunky, further affecting how they’re exported. Second, Time Doctor only offers XSL or CSV. Some may be okay with this, while others will not like the lack of options for export files diversity.
White-labeling and Client Access
Time Doctor is the one thing that solopreneurs and freelancers love the most. They can share their progress with clients even though they don’t have a Time Doctor account.
If your job is to take commissions from a wide variety of clientele, you may be glad to know that the platform’s remarkable Client Portal feature lets you do exactly that!
You simply send in the link to the portal to a client of yours, and once they gain access to its dashboard, they may be able to take a good look at how long and how far you’ve worked, the tasks you were able to finish beforehand, and even the library of recorded screenshots and reports. You have complete control over what your clients see through the Client Portal, which results in smooth, tasteful interactions.
If you own and manage a well-established business – and have enough money to pull it off – you may also take advantage of Time Doctor’s white-labeling feature by integrating its tools with your own branding.
Payroll
Planning to pay your employees based on how much they’ve dedicated their time to their respective tasks? You can do that within the Time Doctor platform through its built-in payroll feature. Turn on payroll deep in the settings of the web dashboard, and your team’s timeline will automatically be billed. You may pay your teammates based on tracked hours or on a fixed-rate basis.
Time Doctor’s payroll software supports all currencies. You can ask employees to send their salaries through PayPal, Payoneer or TransferWise. If you’re working for a larger company, you may export all the payroll info into a CSV file for purposes of batch payments (multiple payments are sent all at once).
Integrations with Third-Party Services
Time Doctor offers a wide range of integrations to various third-party platforms. These integrations are primarily focused on work, business, and productivity. With an approximate estimate of over 60 integrations, Time Doctor makes it easy for you to manage your team’s combined work in one interconnected ecosystem.
Such includes connections with project management platforms like Asana and Trello, payment services like PayPal, work messaging apps like Slack, and CRM platforms like Salesforce. On top of all this, a public API tool is made available for integrations with other apps beyond the given list – you may utilize this if you or your teammate know a thing or two about coding.
The Time Doctor Mobile App
Time Doctor’s desktop program is available to download and install on Windows PCs, Mac OS devices, and Linux OS computers. At the same time, its recent web extension is offered exclusively on Google Chrome. However, the time-tracking software also offers its users unlimited access through their smartphones: Time Doctor currently offers not one but two mobile app versions, both of which you can download on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
No matter how you look, you may be able to track your work hours and progress even if you’re out of the office. On one side, the classic version of the app lets you overview the tasks within a project that need to be done, as well as track where your teammates are through GPS – both on top of the basic time-tracking tools and limited dashboard settings.
The latest version – Time Doctor 2 – has more or less the same functionalities as the previous iteration. Only two differences distinguish the two versions: 1) TD2 can only be used on Android devices and 2) you won’t have access to other features other than time tracking – a notable downgrade from TD Classic.
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Time Doctor: How safe and secure is it?
You may be questioning whether Time Doctor is worth using as a time management tool. You may also wonder if its surveillance tools could keep track of your actions, even as you pause your timer momentarily to catch a quick break. Although the aspect of a 1984-esque work scenario may seem intimidating, we’re glad to tell you that your activities as the timer stops will not be tracked and saved to Time Doctor’s cloud-based database. It’s 100% not spyware material, so you’re in good hands.
We’d like to reiterate that your work activity may be tracked through screenshots and recordings, and we’d also like to add that there is a webcam shot feature that project managers may use to see their teammates right in front of their eyes…
Okay, maybe the thought of that may be quite concerning, especially for some who are protective of their privacy, but don’t worry – not all admins want to use this, so there’s a good reason why the webcam shots and screengrabs are optional and can be enabled or disabled depending on how the admin user feels.
Time Doctor assures that your likeness and activity will not be forced-shared in vain. The same sentiment can also be applied to payment information entered into the platform by yourself or your colleagues. These will then be automatically deleted after a while for privacy reasons.
Time Doctor also takes extreme security measures to make sure that no account is easily hacked. This includes strong password policies and 2FA protection. All data stored within the platform is protected by strong SSL encryption with maximum security. Plus, since Time Doctor is cloud-based, expect all your stored data to be backed up regularly. You may be able to have your data restored quickly in the event of an internet or power outage. This will ensure that you don’t lose any progress.
The bottom line: Do you use Time Doctor?
Time Doctor is a time management tool that can be used by freelancers and professional teams. It offers both the simplicity of a task management system and the sophistication of an advanced time tracker. This creates a harmonious balance between them.
Although the range of dynamic features in this app has left us speechless, we still found the experience to be awe-inspiring. However, it would have been much better if the UI and UX were more clear, less cohesive and lacking in functionality in mobile apps. There was also a lack of report graphics options and, to a certain extent, a disorienting UI. These issues alone may have prevented other users and us from fully enjoying it. Others don’t mind, though, because it does exactly what it was designed to do: track time.
Overall, we ultimately believe that Time Doctor has what it takes to stand on its feet, despite not offering the same easy accessibility as other apps do. Besides, every time management platform shines uniquely, right?
FAQ Doctor Zhivago Book Review
How can I approach Time Doctor’s customer service team?
Time Doctor’s customer service hotline can be approached either through e-mail or live chat. At this time, there is no telephone support. If you have a pressing matter that you need to resolve, and you feel the best way to do this is by calling the hotline. A member of the hotline will notify this and reach you any day.
You won’t find any tutorials or tips for Time Doctor anywhere else.
Though there are YouTube videos and how-to articles from independent creators that have already discussed it in full detail, Time Doctor does offer its users an alternative through its dedicated help center, where most of the information included comes from the team behind the platform themselves.
Do I need to add credit card details to apply for a free trial to any of Time Doctor’s paid plans?
You don’t have to sign up with your credit card for the limited 14-day trial. You can only bring it up once you finish the period and wish to commit to purchasing a Time Doctor subscription if you like.
Does Time Doctor comply with HIPAA?
Yes. Time Doctor follows the rules and standards of the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The platform is technically flexible enough to be used in a wide range of industries and niches. However, it can also be useful for healthcare teams.