Statuses and alerts

A status is a formula Grindstone works out for each person, such as the hours you’ve tracked today or a reminder to take a break. A status can alert you when it starts saying something. This topic covers adding and editing statuses, when a status alerts, turning its alerts on and off, and the Break Time and Workaholic Deterrent statuses the built-in presets set up.

Managing statuses

Open the main menu and choose Statuses. Each status has:

• Name, which is how the status is listed and the title of its alerts.
• Formula, which works out what each person’s status says. It’s worked out for each person separately, so a total of time slices counts only that person’s own time.
• Visibility, an optional formula.
• Alert by default, which decides whether the status alerts people unless they choose otherwise. See Alert by default and the Alerts menu.

Beside each status are buttons for Change Answers (when the formula came from a pattern), Save as Pattern (once the formula is complete), Undo (after you change an existing status) and Delete Status. A deleted status stays listed, struck through, with Restore, until you choose OK.

Nothing changes until you choose OK. Cancel discards your changes.

Adding a status

Choose Add Status. Grindstone offers patterns first: Work Reminder gives a message once more than an amount of work has been tracked within a recent stretch, and is blank otherwise. You’ll also find patterns such as Time on This and Last Worked, and any patterns you’ve saved for people. Choose Write a Formula to start from an empty formula instead. See Formulas.

A status you add starts with Alert by default off. Turn it on if it should alert people, or turn on its alerts just for yourself in the Alerts menu.

When a status alerts

A status alerts you when what it says changes from a value that counts as false to one that counts as true, and you have its alerts turned on. Nothing at all, empty text, No, zero and a duration of zero count as false, and so does a formula that can’t be worked out. It doesn’t alert again while it stays true, even if what it says changes. Once it goes back to false, the next change to true alerts again.

When you open your workspace, each status that alerts you and already counts as true alerts right away, or, if Grindstone first asks you about time away, once you’ve answered Welcome Back or chosen Decide Later. Turning a status’s alerts on doesn’t alert for what it already says; it alerts at its next change from false to true.

A status that uses Now() is worked out again as the clock moves on, whether or not you’re timing.

So a status meant to alert at a threshold should give nothing until the threshold is reached. Break Time, for instance, gives empty text until you’ve worked long enough, then says “It’s time to take a break!” The Work Reminder pattern makes statuses that work the same way.

While Grindstone thinks you’ve stepped away, it holds alerts. When you answer Welcome Back, or choose Decide Later, it shows the held alerts whose statuses still count as true and still alert you. See When you step away.

Alert by default and the Alerts menu

Alert by default sets whether a status alerts people who haven’t chosen for themselves.

To choose for yourself, open the main menu and expand Alerts. It lists your statuses, with a check beside each one that’s alerting you; choose one to switch it. The status tile on your dashboard offers the same choice as Alert Me or Stop Alerting Me. See The Dashboard.

The Alerts menu appears once there’s at least one status.

How an alert appears

An alert’s title is the status’s name, and its message is what the status says.

On Windows, when Grindstone’s window is in front, the alert appears inside the window. When it isn’t, the alert appears as a Windows notification; clicking the notification brings Grindstone forward. Grindstone Stopwatch also shows a softly flashing bell for the alert; point at it to read the alert, or click it to open Grindstone. See The stopwatch.

On a Mac, alerts that arrive while Grindstone isn’t in front appear as macOS notifications, and Grindstone’s item in the menu bar shows a bell; see The stopwatch. macOS asks whether to allow Grindstone’s notifications the first time. If they aren’t allowed, alerts appear inside Grindstone’s window instead.

Break Time and Workaholic Deterrent

The built-in presets set up two statuses that alert by default:

In the Personal Life: Areas and Weekly Goals preset, both count only time in areas whose Counts as Work isn’t turned off.

To change the times or the message, open Statuses and edit the formula. In most presets, Break Time’s formula, typed, reads:

If(GreaterThan(Sum(TimeSliceRange, Subtract(Now(), #0:53:00#), Now()), #0:52:00#), "It's time to take a break!", "")

To stop one alerting you without changing it for anyone else, switch it off in the Alerts menu.

Alerts from views

Views can alert you too, when something is added to them. See Views.