What tally records

This page describes what the software on your computer does, in plain words. It is written from the program itself, and it changes when the program does.

What it notes

Every few seconds, while you are at your computer, tally notes what is in front:

• The app, and the title of its window. That is usually the name of the document or the subject of the email.
• The address of the page, when the app is a web browser.
• Whether you are there. After three minutes without the keyboard or mouse, or when the screen is locked, it records that you are away.
• A note about time away, if you write one. When you come back after ten minutes or more, tally asks what the time was for. Answering is up to you.

What it never takes

• No screenshots and no recording of your screen.
• Nothing you type. tally does not watch the keyboard; it only reads how long the computer has been idle.
• Not the contents of your documents, your email or your files. Only the names shown in the window's title.
• Nothing from an app or a site you have hidden. A hidden app is recorded only as "Private". A hidden site is recorded only as your browser.

Where it goes

The record is kept on your computer first. If you choose to send it, it goes over an encrypted connection to your firm's tally workspace, where it is turned into draft time entries. You see your own time. Your firm decides who else can.

A language model writes the first draft of each description from that record. Which model is used, and where it runs, is your firm's choice. Nothing is billed, and nothing leaves for a billing system, until you approve it.

Once a part of the record has been sent, the copy on your computer is removed after thirty days.

The controls you have

• Pause for fifteen minutes, an hour, or the rest of the day. Nothing is recorded while it is paused, and tally does not ask about that time afterwards.
• Hide any app or site, from a list of the ones you have used. It takes one click, and it applies from then on.
• See what is sent. The app shows your latest activity exactly as it is recorded, line by line.
• Keep it on this computer. In that mode tally records your day for you alone and sends nothing.
• Turn it off. Off means nothing is recorded at all.

The phone companion

If you pair a phone, your computer tells it only whether you are active, idle, away or paused, and how busy the last minute was on a scale of zero to three. It is never told an app, a title, an address, a client or a matter. The phone also shows your day's total.

Updates

The app checks tally.cat for a newer version every four hours and installs it when you step away. That check says which version you have and nothing about your work.

This website

This site sets no cookies and runs no analytics or advertising scripts. Like any website, the company that hosts it keeps ordinary logs of requests.

Questions

Questions about how your firm has set tally up, or about your own record, go to the person at your firm who looks after tally.

Describes tally 0.7.1 for Windows, October 13, 2026.