How it works
How to automate reports?
On Reports page you have an option to run reports for any number of users, save it, download PDF, Excel and email reports on schedule.
What information is being collected?
The app collects job’s Start and Stop time, screenshots (images), IP address, activity level, active applications & URLs, selected project name, task name and notes. Nothing else – no key logging, no spying. The app collects nothing if it was loaded, but tracking was not started. The tracking starts when Start button was pressed, or when AutoStart option is selected and user starts using the computer. In any case we make every precaution to make sure users are clearly aware when they are being tracked and when a screenshot is being taken. By design there is no way of running Screenshot Monitor in stealth/spy mode. See details in our Privacy Policy.
Can Screenshot Monitor run in stealth/spy mode?
By design there is no way of running Screenshot Monitor in stealth/spy mode. See What information is being collected
When does the app take the screenshots?
During the work the app takes screenshots at random intervals. The frequency depends on the selected plan: 3 screenshots per hour (~every 20 minutes) on a Free plan, 6 screenshots per hour (~ every 10 min) on Standard and 30 screenshots (~ every 2 min) per hour on Professional. The screenshot are taken at random and it is very hard to cheat – see more details in our blog post: Can freelancer cheat time tracking?
Note that your plan limits the upper number on how often the screenshots are taken. You can always choose to make it less or disable at all in Settings.
Why does the program allow employees to delete the screenshots?
There may be some private information on screenshots that an employee may not want to share. To protect employee’s privacy we will always allow them to delete their own screenshots. After a screenshot was deleted, a corresponding time is deleted as well, so company won’t be charged for it. Moreover, all of the changes like this are logged in “History of Changes” – a link to it is available on every timeline. See more details on Why Screenshot Monitor will always allow employees to delete their screenshots?
Can you take webcam / camera pictures?
Question:
Can your software take webcam pictures?
One of the primary reasons for using Screenshot Monitoring software is not only to make sure that someone is working but that the person doing the work is the person you believe is doing the work. We have seen many cases when users attempted user substitution on projects. It is very important for us to be able to verify user identity.
Answer:
No. We understand the desire to use webcam, but even if optional, such feature would alienate many freelancers/employees. We want to make sure that our every user is certain that we would never access their webcam under no circumstances.
Does the app collects anything if it wasn’t started?
The app collects nothing if it was loaded, but tracking has not been started. In other words a user should press Start button for tracking (and data collection) to start.
Does the desktop app auto update?
Windows Desktop application will periodically check for updates and automatically download and install the latest version – user does not need to do anything.
Can a manager delete employee’s time?
Both manager and employee can delete the employee’s screenshots or activity periods. All of the changes are being logged and accessible in “History of Changes” – see the link at the bottom on the Timeline page. The history page has all of the manual changes ever made.
For how long the data and the screenshots are stored? Can it all be downloaded?
We keep the tracking data indefinitely for as long as your account is active. The screenshot images are kept for 1 year for Professional plan, 6 months for Standard and 2 weeks for Free plan. The data is always available for download from the Reports page in Excel format. The screenshots can only be downloaded individually using browser’s standard “Save As” dialog. We plan to allow bulk download in the future.
If I work for 2 companies, will they know about each other?
You (a freelancer) can track your time for many companies on ScreenshotMonitor assuming they have added you to their “Teams”. But these companies will only see the time and screenshots you have tracked for them. They would not know if you are working for any other companies.
What if employee connection with the server gets interrupted/lost for some time – do they loose all offline time?
All the logged time and screenshots will appear on ScreenshotMonitor.com whenever they come back online. Nothing is lost – ScreenshotMonitor is designed to preserve all offline work.
Let’s say an employee has forgotten to hit the start button – are they able to add that time manually?
Yes. We have an offline option on the timeline page. Employees can add their time manually by clicking “+ Add offline time” link on their Timeline on the web.
Are screenshots being saved locally on the desktop computer?
Screenshot Monitor sends screenshots directly to screenshotmonitor.com. If it fails to send (usually because of a connectivity problem / working offline), then it keeps the screenshots in a local database temporarily and uploads them to screenshotmonitor.com when the Internet connection is restored.
Does your product integrate with Basecamp / Asana / Pivotal Tracker / Liquid Planner / Freshdesk?
We currently have a semi-automated way of integrating with project management services by using references.
This method is very simple and serves well to most of our customers. We are working on full-scale integration with many popular services now.
Do you monitor keyboard and mouse activity?
Yes, we do. Note that we monitor the activity level only. We do not record specific keystrokes, so no passwords or other sensitive data would be captured. Also see what information is currently being collected.