Many of the more powerful and interesting features of MultiTimer Pro are accessed through its log windows. Click in the log window button (illustrated below)...
 
...or select “Open This Module’s Log” under the File menu, and MultiTimer Pro will open the log for the current module. Here’s an example of a log window:
 
Log windows come in two configurations: narrow and wide. This illustration shows a narrow log window. The wide log window contains additional columns for an hourly rate, a total charge (usually based on the hourly rate), and a “category”. You can widen a log window by clicking the right-pointing arrow button at the upper right of the log window, or by selecting “Show Rate, Charge, Category” under the Log menu. We’ll take a look at the features of wide log windows in the next chapter.
As you can see, the log shows a list of all the sessions you have timed for that module. It also shows you the running totals for days, weeks, months, years (turned off in the example above), and the grand total for the module. All of these, except the grand total, are optional and can be turned off by un-checking the checkboxes at the top of the window.
A Running Session:
if MultiTimer Pro’s timer is running (“On”) when you open a log window, or if you start the timer while the window is open, that “running” session will appear in the log window. To distinguish this session in the log window, a small clock image appears next to the word “Session” in the “Total For...” column:
 
If you stop the timer before one minute of time has accumulated, the session will disappear from the log window when you stop the timer.
Session Adjustments:
The log window also shows “Session Adjustments”. Whenever you adjust a session manually, the amount of the adjustment is tracked, so you can see it separately from the total time of the session. In the window above, the true time of the first session was 2 hours and 27 minutes. This was manually adjusted upward to 2 hours, 40 minutes by a 13 minute manual adjustment. There are two ways to manually adjust the time of a session. The first was discussed in Chapter 4; while a session is running, you can click on the session time in MultiTimer Pro’s main window, and then use an arrow control to adjust the time. Session times can also be adjusted within the log window, and this can be done at any time -- not just while the session is running. Click on the hours or minutes number in a session time in the log window, and the arrow control can be used to adjust the time.
 
 
The “Ignore” Column:
To the right of the “Total Time” column in the log Window is the “Ignore” column. This functions as you might expect; if you click in the Ignore column for a session, an “X” will appear in the column and that session’s time will no longer be added to the totals for the log. You can also mark a day, week, or other time period to be ignored. If you click in the Ignore column for a day, for example, then all the sessions that occurred on that day will automatically be marked with ignore marks. Conversely, if all the sessions in a day are ignored, then an X will automatically appear in the Ignore column for that day.
Records that are marked to be ignored will be displayed in gray, if the preference for this is set. See the “Preferences” chapter.
 
If you mark a session adjustment to be ignored, then the amount of that adjustment will no longer be added to that session’s total:
 
Log Notes:
At the far right of the log window is the “Note” column. Each record in the log window can have a brief note attached to it. To enter a note, click the triangle control in the note column. A blank field will appear below that record. Click in this field, and you can then type a note into it:
 
After adding a note to a log window record, you can hide the note by clicking the note control again to close the note field. When a record has a note but the note field is closed, the note control will appear red rather than blue:
 
 
Selecting and Copying Data in a Log Window:
You can copy some or all of the data in a log window, and then paste it into any application that accepts text. You could do this to transfer the information in a log to a database or spreadsheet, or to paste it into a billing document. To select log window data for copying, click and drag anywhere in the content of the log window. This will create a “marquee” rectangle that delineates the data that will be copied when you select “Copy” under the Edit menu:
 
Note that you can choose which columns, as well as which records, will be copied. For example, in the illustration below, only the text “3 hr, 15 min” will be copied to the clipboard.
 
If you want to include a record’s note in a selection, the note must be visible in the log window.
As an alternative to copying and pasting, you can transfer MultiTimer Pro log data to another application via drag-and-drop. Select the data in MultiTimer Pro, then place the mouse pointer inside the selected area and drag the mouse to the window of another application. If that application is drag-and-drop “aware” and can accept text, the MultiTimer Pro data will be inserted into the window.
When log data is copied, it is in the form of tab-separated text. The fields, or columns, are separated by tab characters, and the records, or rows, are separated by return characters.
 
Creating New Records in a Log:
You can create a new session record for a log without using the timer. Select “New Session/Expense Record” under the Log menu (expense records will be discussed later). A window will appear in which you can enter the time and date of the session and its total time. Click OK, and this session will be added to the log window, in the correct chronological position relative to existing sessions.
Deleting Sessions From a Log:
You can permanently remove any session record from a log file. First select the record by clicking and dragging over it or command-clicking in the “Total for...” field of the record. Then choose “Delete Selected Record(s)” under the Log menu. This menu item will be dimmed if nothing is selected or if you select anything other than a session or expense record. For example, if you select a “day”, you will not be able to delete it. Days, weeks, etc. will disappear from a log if all the sessions that occurred on that day are deleted. Note that there is no “Undo” command for deleting records, so the only way to restore the records would be to revert the log file (see below).
Editing the Date and Time of a Session:
If you double-click on the date and time shown in the “When” column of a session, or click on it once and then select “Edit Record’s Date & Time” under the Log menu, a window will appear in which you can change the date and time of that session.
Saving Your Changes (Or Not):
After editing a log window in any way, you must save the log file to make the changes permanent. This is done via “Save” under the File menu, as with any other Macintosh file. Alternatively, to undo all the changes you made since the log was opened or last saved, select “Revert Log File” under the File menu.
Saving a Log as Text:
You can also save a log file as text, by selecting (logically enough) “Save As Text...” under the File menu. The log data will be saved with tabs separating the fields (columns) of the log. In this format, the MultiTimer Pro data can be imported into most database and spreadsheet applications. If you have a portion of the log selected, as described above, you will be given the option to “Save Selected Area Only”.
