Add and track your time using iCal

I like simple. For Mac users, iCal is simple. It tracks To-Do items, notes, and, importantly your daily schedule, and it does it on multiple calendars. What would make iCal even better? Since iCal captures my daily schedule, wouldn’t it be handy to pull up all that data and calculate the time spent on various events, projects, meetings, and tasks? That’s what TimeTable does.

Simple Is Better

There are many Mac applications which track time for professionals. Most are complicated with a hefty learning curve. iCal is simple. So, why not use iCal to track your time instead? After all, iCal is already on your Mac.

The problem with iCal is that it stores all the events as data on your Mac but it doesn’t give you the data. You’re literally required to point at events on each day and use a calculator to add up the time.

But the data is still in iCal. You just need a way to get it out. That’s what TimeTable does.

TimeTable Reads iCal

This is such a simple, elegant solution that I’m surprised there are not more applications like it. If you plan your day with iCal, all your events, projects, tasks, meetings, and time are already in iCal.

The process is simple. Open TimeTable, select an iCal calendar from the pop out pane, then search and sort the details. Even add an hourly rate for specific projects. Total hours are calculated automatically from iCal data.

Searches can be made by dates or events or both, and totaled accordingly. TimeTable gives you a good idea of where your time is going, and, if you put a dollar amount on the time, how much money you’re making (or losing).

Even the calendar date selections are, well, calendars. Point and click to select a date range. The simple video Screencast will walk you through the basic steps, so you’ll be able to pull data from iCal within minutes of installing it.

TimeTable can send results to Apple’s Mail, export results to text (for inclusion in a spreadsheet), or export details to another, more comprehensive billing, or time tracking application.

That’s it. TimeTable doesn’t do more and it doesn’t do less and it never mucks with your iCal data, so however you’re backing it up for safekeeping, continue to do so. It’s highly recommended and very little money well spent.