Record time as you spend it with the new timer

Version 2.0.45 · All release notes

Until now Time Log has asked people to remember how long something took. This release adds a start/stop timer, so time can be recorded as it is spent — on My Time Log and on the work item itself. It is switched off until an administrator turns it on, so nothing changes for your organisation until you decide it should.

At a glance

• ⏱ A timer on My Time Log — start one from today’s column and watch it run above the grid
• 📋 A timer on the work item — at the top of its Time Log tab
• 🔒 Off by default — one admin setting turns the whole thing on

⏱ A timer on My Time Log

Each of today’s cells on the My Time Log grid now has a ▶ next to the familiar +. Click it, pick a time type, and that work item starts timing. A bar above the grid shows what is running, for how long, and when it started, and the work item’s own cell shows the clock ticking in place of the ▶.

On My Time Log, stopping opens the Add dialog. The timer running there may be for a work item that isn’t on screen, so the ordinary Add Time Log dialog opens with the elapsed time and the type already filled in, and you can check the details and write a comment before saving. Every rule your administrator has set still applies — minimum comment length, the lock date, no logging to closed work items — and the work item’s Completed and Remaining update exactly as they do for a typed entry. Cancel the dialog and the timer simply keeps running; there is a separate Discard if you want to throw the time away, and it asks first.

📋 A timer on the work item

For people who work from the work item rather than the weekly grid, the timer sits at the top of its Time Log tab: pick a type, press Start timer, and stop it from the same place when you’re done. Stopping there just logs the time — the timer already knows the work item, the type, the day and how long it ran, so there is nothing to fill in and no Add to press. If your administrator has set a minimum comment length, the Add Time Log dialog opens pre-filled instead, ready for the comment that is required — and cancelling it leaves the timer running rather than losing the time. Nothing to install or configure: the tab is already there.

It is the same timer in both places. Only one runs per person, and it is stored against your Azure DevOps account rather than in the browser — so it survives a reload, follows you to another machine, and shows the same elapsed time whether you look at it on the grid or on the work item. Starting a second timer asks first — and by default logs the running one’s time against its own work item before the new timer starts, so switching tasks never quietly throws work away. Discarding it instead is still offered, just never the default. And a timer left running for more than twelve hours is flagged with a gentle “did you forget to stop it?” — it is never stopped for you.

🔒 Off until you turn it on

The whole feature sits behind a single admin option, Enable the time log timer, in Project Settings › Extensions › Time Log Admin. It defaults to off: until it is ticked, no timer appears anywhere and no timer data is read or written, so organisations that are happy entering time the way they always have see no change at all.

Full change list

2.0.45

My Time Log and the work item form: add a start/stop timer, so time can be recorded as it is spent rather than remembered afterwards. A ▶ appears in each of today’s cells on My Time Log: pick a time type and the work item starts timing, with a bar above the grid showing what is running, how long for, and when it started. The same timer sits at the top of each work item’s Time Log tab, where stopping it simply logs the time: the timer already knows the work item, the type, the day and the duration, so there is nothing left to fill in and no Add to press. Where Minimum comment length is set, stopping opens the Add Time Log dialog pre-filled instead, ready for the comment your organisation requires — and cancelling it leaves the timer running rather than losing the time. Only one timer runs per user: starting a second one asks first, and by default logs the running timer’s time against its own work item before the new one starts — the Add dialog opens for that work item, pre-filled, so the time is recorded rather than thrown away. Discarding it instead stays available, but it is never the default. The timer is stored against your Azure DevOps account rather than in the browser, so it survives a reload, follows you between machines, and reads the same on both surfaces — the elapsed time is counted from the moment the server recorded, not from when the page opened. On My Time Log, where the running timer may be for a work item that is not on screen, stopping opens the ordinary Add Time Log dialog pre-filled with the elapsed time and the type it was started with, so the entry can be checked and a comment written. Either way every existing rule (minimum comment length, the lock date, no logging to closed items) still applies, and the work item’s Completed / Remaining update exactly as they do for a typed entry. Cancelling that dialog leaves the timer running; Discard throws the time away after confirming. A timer left running for more than twelve hours is flagged rather than stopped for you. The whole feature is behind a new admin option, Enable the time log timer, which defaults off — until it is turned on nothing is shown and no timer data is read or written. Backed by three new REST endpoints (GET / POST / DELETE /{organisationId}/timer/{userId}).