Settings

Settings change how Grindstone behaves on this computer. This topic goes through every setting, tab by tab (General, Away and Stopwatch), and explains where settings apply.

Opening Settings

Open the main menu and choose Settings, or press Ctrl+, (Ctrl and comma). When no workspace is open, choose Open Grindstone Settings on Your Workspaces.

Choose a tab on the left to see its settings. Your changes take effect when you choose OK. Cancel closes Settings without changing anything.

Where settings apply

Settings belong to this computer, not to a workspace. They apply to every workspace you open here, and they don’t travel with a folio when you move it to another computer. For moving folios, see Moving a folio to another device.

Some things that feel like settings are kept in the workspace instead, such as your working hours in Find Gaps.

General

Backdrop

Backdrop chooses what’s shown in the background of Grindstone’s window: None, Grindstone Logo, Grindstone Sparking or Parallax Stars. It starts as Grindstone Logo.

Greetings

Your Workspaces greets you. These switches choose what the greeting mentions, and all of them start on:

• Acknowledge the time of day when selecting a workspace: the greeting is Good Morning, Good Afternoon or Good Evening. Off, it’s Hello.
• Acknowledge meals and bed time when selecting a workspace: around mealtimes, early in the morning and late at night, the greeting adds a remark about it.
• Acknowledge special days when selecting a workspace: on certain days of the year, the greeting adds a note about the day.

Privacy

• Send Epiforge anonymous usage counts: Grindstone sends Epiforge a short daily count of which versions and operating systems are in use, and nothing from your workspaces. It starts on. Turning it off stops it completely. See Privacy.

Startup

• Start Grindstone when you log in: Grindstone starts when you log in to this computer. When it starts this way, it opens the workspace you used last.
• Start minimized when you log in: when Grindstone starts as you log in, its window starts minimized. You can only turn this on while Start Grindstone when you log in is on. It starts off.

Your computer keeps the final say over which apps start when you log in:

• On Windows, if starting Grindstone when you log in was turned off in Windows’ settings, only you can turn it back on there. Grindstone says so, and Open Startup Settings opens the page where you can.
• If your organization decides whether Grindstone starts when you log in, Grindstone says so, and you can’t change the switch.
• On a Mac, turning this on may need your approval in your Mac’s settings. Grindstone says so, and Open Startup Settings takes you there.

Away

These settings decide when Grindstone thinks you’ve stepped away, and when it asks about it afterward. Away settings explains how they work together.

• Minutes without input: how long you can go without using the keyboard or mouse before Grindstone decides you’ve stepped away. Zero turns this off. It starts at 5.
• Seconds away before it counts: shorter absences are forgotten, and coming back for less than this before leaving again continues the same absence. It starts at 60. See Short absences.
• Count this computer sleeping as being away: starts on.
• Count this computer locking as being away: starts on.
• Count a remote session disconnecting as being away: on Windows only. Starts on.
• Count someone else signing in to this computer as being away: starts on.
• Ask about time the workspace wasn’t open while something was being timed: starts on. See Time the workspace was closed.
• Ask even when nothing was being timed: starts off.

Stopwatch

The stopwatch shows what you’re timing and lets you stop or switch it without Grindstone’s window. On Windows, that’s Grindstone Stopwatch. On a Mac, it’s Grindstone’s item in the menu bar (see On the Mac). The stopwatch explains what it shows and how to use it.

• Show the stopwatch: Never, When Grindstone is in the background or Always. It starts as When Grindstone is in the background. See When it appears.
• Seconds in the background: with When Grindstone is in the background, how long Grindstone has to be in the background before the stopwatch appears. Minimizing Grindstone shows it right away. It starts at 15.