Getting started · 4 of 5

The easiest way to track your time (no timer required)

By Brittany Downey, founder of Margin · August 2026

You don't have to track your time to get value from Margin. Planning alone is useful. But tracking is where it pays off, because it shows you how close your plans were to what actually happened.

Log it as you go

On the Track tab, type what you did in plain language and hit enter:

Type @ to pick the category, add the hours, and anything else you type sticks to the entry as a note.

Margin's quick-log with the category dropdown open after typing @
Type @ and pick your category.
A fully typed Margin quick-log entry showing the parsed category and hours chips
Margin parses the category, the hours, and keeps the rest as a note.

Everything lands in Recent entries

Every log drops into the Recent entries list just below, where you can click in and fix anything. I do this once a day. I glance at my calendar, type a few quick lines, and I'm done in under a minute.

Margin's Recent entries list showing logged time with notes and weekly averages by group
Recent entries, with weekly averages by group up top.

Or wrap up the whole week at once

Don't want to log day by day? You don't have to. At the end of each week, Margin pops up a quick recap called Wrap up last week. It lists each category with its planned hours next to what you tracked, and you confirm or adjust the totals right there. Think of it as a two-minute gut check instead of daily logging.

Margin's Wrap up last week dialog showing planned versus tracked hours per category
The weekly recap: confirm what you did, or skip.

Margin is a capacity planner for people who run a business and a life from the same desk.

Start planning →
Next in the series
Connect Margin to Claude: plan and track by asking