We’re happy to announce that Toggl Desktop version 0.9.3 has a new and intriguing feature. It now has the ability to learn.
What do you mean by “learn”?
It works like this:
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Toggl Desktop memorizes the titles of the windows you use and connects these words in the title with the projects you track.
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After a short learning period it can give you suggestions on the project to track.
Can you give me an example?
Of course! For example, if you are tracking a task in project A and open a window that you used when tracking a different project, let’s say B, then Toggl Desktop will show you a little popup suggesting you to track project B. You can ignore the popup or agree with the suggestion and Toggl Desktop will automatically start tracking on project B.
How can I try it?
If you noticed, then you see the new autopilot bar at the bottom of Toggl Desktop main window:
It is turned off by default so you have to turn it on by clicking on the black triangle or the text “Autopilot off” itself.
After turning it on, it starts memorizing the titles of the windows you use when working on your project. You will also see study progress while Toggl Desktop is learning.
After some time, when enough information has been gathered, Toggl Desktop can start suggesting which project to track. If you see this “Studying complete” status message, then you know that Toggl Desktop is ready to start helping you.
So, how does Toggl Desktop contribute to my projecttracking?
If Toggl Desktop thinks (based on the information memorized) that you should be tracking a different project from the current project, then a small popup window emerges. It asks if you want to start tracking the project it suggests. If you ignore the window, it will go away automatically after a few seconds but if you click “Yes” then Toggl Desktop will start tracking the project suggested.
As you see in the picture, Toggl Desktop is offering you to start tracking an existing task:
If you have not tracked a task under this project in the current session then Toggl Desktop will suggest you to start a new task:
I don’t want to use this new feature, how can I make it disappear?
Of course, if you are not interested in this feature then simply turn it off if it is on (default is off) and you can hide the autopilot bar from the settings:
Can anybody see the memorized data?
If you are worried about your privacy then don’t be because no information that is collected will be sent to our server or anywhere for that matter. All the data will stay in your computer under your user account.
Try it out and see how it works for you ! 
P.S. We would very much appreciate any feedback on how our new feature is functioning! Thanks!
P.S.S. Oh, and did I mention that the new version also has many bugfixes?
This sounds like a fantastic new feature!
Hopefully it’ll see when I switch to different instances of Visual Studio, with different projects loaded, and be able to remind me to switch projects.
I do wish there was some manual way to take control — ie let me pick from a list of active windows and tell it that this window is this project…
Hi, this new feature looks awesome. though mostly ill be using the same apps over and over. (browser, dreamweaver, photoshop, illustrator), so it will be interesting to see what results it turns up!
Thanks for the update. Bug fixes FTW.
Thanks for adding the “New Project” entry into the Desktop app! Will you be adding a way to add a new client as well?
Thanks for such a helpful tool!
Hi Stan and you’re welcome!
Yes, in the next Desktop release 0.9.4, there is a possibility to add clients as well.
This feature is a great asset, however the logged data (i.e. study data) should be kept on the server for two reasons:
1) I use multiple computers; it would be nice to see the app “learn” from the other installed instance
2) I just recently rebuilt one of my system and now I have to “study” all over again for my test…
Other than that I think it’s a fabulous idea.
I wish I could just modify the applications it thinks it learned afterwards. Or better yet, just specify them manually, would be great if I could either point & click or specify a keyword of the windows title. Autopilot is quite unusable for me right now, I don’t seem to get it right at all. Where are it’s settings located so I could atleast try to manually teach it?
Another feature I’d like is:
“[x] Automatically switch projects when autopilot is on without asking me.” Those popups annoyed the hell out of me very fast.
hi Toggl team. Just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done. I find Toggl a highly useful tool in my work.
I work in a Project Management company, designing, installing & commissioning engineering works for the railway industry. As such, I have to carry our multiple tasks on multiple projects. Toggl has proved invaluable for me to track my time used for these tasks. The weekly report is exactly what I needed as I need to file in a weekly Time Sheet on my work done on various projects. Previously, all my tracking was done manually (i.e. using the watch & recording in my diary, summarizing at the end of the week). However, with Toggl, not only do I get a more accurate time taken, the weekly reports generated are in about 90% the format that I use. Therefore, it has reduced my work & end-week report writing considerably.
I have recommended using Toggl to my colleagues but it hasn’t caught on properly. Nevertheless, you have a staunch supporter in me, to keep propagating Toggl’s use in the company. Keep it up, guys ! Thank you for a great product.
Thanks for releasing the new version closer to the original, it is a much better UI/UX. The rollover feature in the list previously was extremely hard to adjust to. It is much better this way!
Hi Jaanus,
Thanks for your prompt feedback. Sorry, missed out the article on the Autopilot feature. Thanks for pointing in the right direction.
Seems that anything with O-G-G-L in its name is a winner !!
OK, just noticed this. I’m using Toggl Desktop ver 1.0.1 & this is what I’ve done :
1)Go to ‘My Settings’ >> ‘General’>>Clear check box for ‘Show autopilot bar in main menu’ >>’Save’.
The pop-up windows I mentioned earlier should have disappeared, right ? WRONG ! It’s still coming up ? Why, I wonder ? Something I’m doing wrong ?
Hi Jeyaraj. Did you turn the autopilot off, before you hide the autopilot bar?
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