Productivity

#What it is

Productivity is Octoolo's app for planning a day on the PC: a to-do list, reminders typed the way you would say them ("call Mum tomorrow at 6pm"), notes, a habit tracker, a Pomodoro (focus) timer, countdown timers, a stopwatch, an alarm clock, a subscription tracker, screen time and a shutdown timer. It takes the place of apps like Microsoft To Do, Google Keep, Windows Clock or a separate shutdown-timer tool. Everything runs on the PC and is kept on the PC: Productivity has no account, no sync and sends nothing anywhere. What rings (reminders, alarms, timers, the end of a focus period, a subscription renewal, the shutdown timer's warning) rings as a Windows notification, also while the Octoolo window is closed, as long as Octoolo keeps running in the corner of the taskbar.

#Opening it and what it costs

• Productivity is free: it opens without Octoolo Cloud (the subscription) and without its trial. The free apps and the prices are in Prices and limits.
• On Octoolo's home screen it is in the Every day group. The home screen's search finds it by its name and by its tools ("reminder", "pomodoro", "alarm", "screen time"...). The home screen's quick action Set a reminder opens Reminders.
• Inside, a list down the left has Today first, then the groups Plan (To-do list, Reminders, Notes, Habit tracker), Time (Pomodoro timer, Timer, Stopwatch, Alarm clock), Money (Subscription tracker) and Your PC (Screen time, Shutdown timer). A Find box above the list filters it.
• Addresses: #/app/productivity (opens on Today), #/app/productivity/<task> for a tool, for example #/app/productivity/reminders. Octoolo.exe --open=app/productivity/reminders opens Octoolo on that tool.
• Other ways in: clicking a Productivity notification opens the tool it is about; the Octoolo icon in the corner of the taskbar has a Productivity item.

#Tasks

• To-do list (todo-list): lists of tasks with due days, steps, repeats, notes and reminders. Type a task in the box at the top of To-do list and press Enter or Add.
• Reminders (reminders): type "call Mum at 6pm" in the Remind me to… box and press Remind me; a Windows notification rings on time with Snooze 10 min and Done.
• Notes (notes): notes with headings, lists, checklists, quotes and highlights, kept as you type; deleted notes wait in a bin for 30 days.
• Habit tracker (habit-tracker): habits for every day or chosen weekdays, once or several times a day, ticked off in a week grid, with streaks and an 18-week history.
• Pomodoro timer (pomodoro): 25-minute focus periods with 5-minute breaks and a 15-minute break after every 4 focus periods (all adjustable), with the focus time of today and the last 7 days.
• Timer (timer): as many countdown timers as you like at once, each ringing when done, also with the Octoolo window closed.
• Stopwatch (stopwatch): times to a hundredth of a second, with laps.
• Alarm clock (alarm-clock): alarms once or on chosen weekdays, with snooze.
• Subscription tracker (subscription-tracker): what each subscription costs, the monthly and yearly totals, the next charge, and a reminder before each charge or before a free trial ends.
• Screen time (screen-time): what the PC is used for, by app, by kind of use and by hour; off until you turn it on.
• Shutdown timer (shutdown-timer): shut down, restart, sleep, hibernate, sign out, lock or turn the screen off at a time, after a countdown, when nobody uses the PC, or when a program closes.

All eleven tasks work. None of Productivity's tasks is "coming".

#Today

Today is Productivity's first page. It greets you ("Good morning", "Good afternoon", "Good evening", "Working late") with the date, how many things are due today and how many are late. Its cards each open their tool:

• Due today: open tasks due today or late, and reminders set for today (the first 7, then "and N more"). The round box ticks a task off.
• Habits: today's habits; clicking one counts it.
• Focus: the Pomodoro time left, or the minutes focused today.
• Alarms and timers: running timers and the next alarm, or "No alarm is on."
• Subscriptions: charges in the next 7 days.
• Screen time: the time used today, once screen time is on.
• Shutdown timer: shown only while a shutdown timer is set.

#How to add a task or a reminder in plain words

In Productivity, both the To-do list box ("Add a task (try “pay rent on the 1st every month”)") and the Reminders box ("Remind me to… (try “call Mum tomorrow at 6pm”)") read days, times and repeats out of what you type. The words it understood are taken out of the task's title, and a line under the box shows what it understood before you press Enter. Words it does not understand stay in the title.

What it reads (examples typed on Saturday 10 October 2026 at 14:30):

Where the table shows a day without a time, Reminders rings at 09:00 that day and To-do list sets it as the due day without ringing.

The rules behind it:

• In some time: "in 10 minutes", "in 10 min", "in 2 hours", "in 2 h", "in 3 days", "in 2 weeks", "in an hour", "in half an hour", "after 10 minutes"; numbers as digits ("in 1.5 hours") or as the words one, two, three, four, five, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty. Only minutes, hours, days and weeks: "in 2 months" is not understood.
• Times: "at 6pm", "6 pm", "9am", "9 a.m.", "6:30 pm", "18:30", "at 18:30", "at 6". A bare hour from 1 to 6 ("at 5") means the afternoon (17:00); 7 to 11 mean the morning ("at 7" is 07:00); "at 12" is noon and 13 to 23 are read on the 24-hour clock. "noon" or "midday" is 12:00, "midnight" 00:00, "morning" or "in the morning" 09:00, "afternoon" 15:00, "evening" 18:00, "tonight" 20:00 today. "at 12am" is midnight and "at 12pm" noon. A dot ("at 6.30") and "18h" are not read as times in English; impossible times ("at 25:00") stay in the title.
• Days: "today", "tomorrow" (also "tmrw", "tmr"), "the day after tomorrow", a weekday ("on Friday", "friday", "fri"), "next Friday", a date ("Oct 12", "October 12th", "12 October", "12th of October") and "on the 12th". A weekday means the next one to come; today's weekday means today only while the time is still ahead, otherwise a week later; "next Friday" said on a Friday is a week later. A date that has passed this year is next year's; "Feb 29" waits for a leap year; "the 31st" goes to the next month that has a 31st.
• Repeats: "every day", "daily", "each day", "every weekday", "on weekdays", "weekdays", "every weekend", "weekends", "every week", "weekly", "every month", "monthly", "every year", "yearly", "annually", "every 3 days", "every 2 weeks", "every 6 months", "every 2 years" (up to 999), and weekdays: "every Monday", "every mon, wed and fri", "every Tuesday and Thursday". "every other week" and "next week" are not understood: write "every 2 weeks" or a day.
• No time given: a day or a repeat without a time is 09:00 in Reminders. A time that has already passed today, with no day named, moves to tomorrow.
• Other languages: when Octoolo's language (Settings, Language) is Spanish, Portuguese or German, the box also understands that language's words, for example "llamar a mamá mañana a las 6", "pagar el alquiler el día 1 de cada mes", "pagar o aluguel todo dia 5", "ligar amanhã às 18h", "Miete zahlen am 1. jeden Monat", "Mama anrufen morgen um 18 Uhr". In the English app, Spanish, Portuguese and German words are not read as times.

The to-do list and Reminders use what was understood differently:

• In To-do list, a day alone ("buy milk tomorrow") or a repeat alone ("pay rent on the 1st every month") sets a due day, without a notification. A time ("at 6pm", "in 20 minutes") also sets a reminder that rings. A new task goes into the list you are looking at when it is one of your own lists, otherwise into Tasks; added in Important it is starred; added in My day without a day it is due today. When the new task is not in the list on screen, a line says where it went: "“pay rent” is planned for Sun, Nov 1: see Planned." or "“buy milk” is in Tasks."
• In Reminders, every entry rings. If nothing in the words says when, it shows "Say when: “in 20 minutes”, “at 6pm”, “tomorrow 9am”, “every Monday at 8”." and adds nothing.

Things to know: a short word that is also a weekday's name is read as that day: "buy sun cream" becomes "buy cream" on Sunday, "sat exam prep" goes to Saturday, "get wed" to Wednesday. When the whole entry is a time ("at noon on friday"), the title is the whole text. Check the line under the box before pressing Enter, and change the day or time in the task's details if needed.

#The to-do list

In Productivity's To-do list, the left side has the smart lists My day (due today, late, reminders set for today, and what you ticked off today), Important (starred), Planned (with a due day or a reminder), All tasks and Tasks (tasks on no list of your own), then your own lists. New list asks for a List name and a color, then Add list. Delete list asks "Delete the list “Name”? Its tasks move to Tasks." Each list shows how many open tasks it has.

• Click the round box to tick a task off; ticked tasks go to Completed (click it to see them; the latest 200 show). Click a ticked box again to bring the task back.
• The star marks a task Important.
• Click a task to open its details on the right: the title; Add a step (steps tick off on their own); Remind me (a date and time, or In an hour, This evening (18:00 today), Tomorrow 9:00, Next week (next Monday 09:00), and No reminder); Due (a date, Today, Tomorrow, No date); Repeat (Never, Every day, Every weekday, Every week, Every month, Every year, Custom…: every 1 to 99 days, weeks, months or years, and for weeks the weekdays); List; Add a note; Delete.
• A repeating task is never ticked off for good: Done moves it to its next time (its due day and reminder move together), unticks its steps and counts "done N times". A monthly task on the 31st falls on the last day of shorter months.
• Delete removes the task at once. There is no bin and no undo for tasks.

#Reminders

Productivity's Reminders shows every task that has a reminder, in the order they ring, grouped Late, Today, Tomorrow, Next 7 days and Later, and Done this week below. Reminders and to-dos are the same tasks: a reminder made here is also in To-do list (in Tasks), and a to-do with a reminder shows here.

• Snooze on a reminder offers 10 min, 1 hour and Tomorrow (09:00 tomorrow).
• The round box marks it done (a repeating one moves to its next time).
• The notification has Snooze 10 min and Done. Clicking the notification opens Reminders. A reminder that rings more than 5 minutes late (Octoolo was not running) says "Due at 18:00" and the first line of the task's note.
• When more than 3 reminders are due at the same moment (for example when Octoolo starts after the PC was off), they ring as one notification, "N reminders", with Open.
• A reminder rings once. A missed one still rings when Octoolo runs again.

#Notes

Productivity's Notes has a list of notes on the left (pinned first, then the most recently edited) and the open note on the right.

• New (or Ctrl N) starts a note. A note keeps itself half a second after you stop typing; there is no Save button. A note left empty is not kept.
• The bar above the note: Bold (Ctrl B), Italic (Ctrl I), Underline (Ctrl U), Strikethrough, Highlight, Heading, Subheading, Checklist, Bulleted list, Numbered list, Quote, Code. Web addresses typed in a note become links.
• Find a note searches titles and text. A note can have a color (eight, or none) and Pin to the top.
• Save as a text file saves the note's title and words as a .txt file through a Save dialog; the formatting (bold, headings, checkboxes) is not kept in it.
• Move to the bin puts a note in the Bin, shown at the bottom of the list with its count. In the bin a note says when it will be deleted for good. Put back restores it; Delete for good asks "Delete this note for good? It cannot be brought back." Notes are deleted for good 30 days after they went into the bin (the next time Notes is opened after that).
• One note can hold up to 4 MB.

#Habit tracker

In Productivity's Habit tracker, New habit asks for the habit ("Drink water, read 20 pages, walk…"), On (the weekdays it is for; none picked means every day), Times a day (1 to

20. and a color, then Save.

• The grid shows the last 7 days. Click a day to count it once; a habit done several times a day fills up ("1/3", "2/3"); clicking a full day clears it. Days it is not meant for are greyed out; future days cannot be ticked. You can tick any of the last seven days you missed.
• Streak counts the days in a row it was done on its days, up to today (or yesterday while today is still open).
• Clicking a habit's name shows 18 weeks of history, the streak now, the longest streak, the days done, and Change (to edit, or Delete habit, which asks "Delete “Name” and its history?").
• Habits have no reminders: nothing rings for a habit.

#Pomodoro timer

Productivity's Pomodoro timer runs focus periods and breaks: Focus, Short break and Long break.

• Defaults: 25 minutes of focus, 5-minute short breaks, a 15-minute long break after every 4 focus periods. Change them under Lengths: …: Focus 1 to 180 minutes, Short break 1 to 60, Long break 1 to 90, Long break after 1 to 12 focus periods. Start the next period on its own is off by default.
• Start, Pause, Go on, Start over and Skip (to the next period). What are you working on? is a note for yourself.
• When a period ends a notification rings: "Focus period done" ("Time for a 5-minute break.", with Start the break and Later) or "Break's over" ("Ready for 25 minutes of focus?", with Start focusing and Later). With Start the next period on its own on, the next period starts and the notification has Open.
• Only finished focus periods count: the side shows the time focused today, the periods done, the total in the last 7 days and a bar per day. A skipped focus period is not counted.
• While a period runs, the window's title shows the time left.

#Timers and the stopwatch

Productivity's Timer runs countdowns. The buttons 1 min, 3 min, 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 20 min, 30 min, 45 min and 1 hour start a timer at once; or set hours (0 to 99), minutes and seconds, a Name (optional), and Start. Any number of timers can run at once. Each card has Pause, +1 min, Go on, Reset and a cross to delete it. When one ends its card says "Time's up" with Again and Dismiss, and a Windows notification "Time's up" rings ("Tea is done") with a looping alarm sound until you act on it, with Restart and Dismiss. A timer that ended while Octoolo was not running rings when Octoolo runs again ("Tea ended at 18:05").

Productivity's Stopwatch counts to a hundredth of a second, with Start, Stop, Go on, Lap and Reset; the laps table shows each Lap, its Time, the Total, and the Fastest and Slowest lap. Keys: Space starts and stops, L marks a lap, R resets. It keeps counting while you use other tools, and also while Octoolo is closed, because it remembers when it started. The stopwatch does not ring.

#Alarm clock

Productivity's Alarm clock shows the time and the next alarm ("Next alarm tomorrow at 07:30, in 16 h 05 min" or "No alarm is on.").

• New alarm asks for the time, a Name (optional), Repeat (the weekdays; none picked means Once), and Snooze for (5, 10, 15, 20 or 30 minutes; 10 by default), then Save alarm. Click an alarm to change it; the switch turns it on or off; the bin icon deletes it at once.
• An alarm rings as a Windows notification with a looping alarm sound until you press Snooze or Dismiss. A one-time alarm turns itself off after it rings.
• The sound is Windows' own alarm sound at Windows' volume; it cannot be changed in Octoolo.
• An alarm does not wake a sleeping PC, and an alarm missed by more than 10 minutes (the PC was off or asleep, or Octoolo was not running) is skipped, not rung late.

#Subscription tracker

Productivity's Subscription tracker adds up what you pay for. Add a subscription asks for:

• Name (it suggests common services such as Netflix, Spotify, Microsoft 365, iCloud+ or Octoolo Cloud and fills in their category; it never fills in a price), Price and its currency, Charged every (1 to 36 weeks, months or years), A charge day (the last or the next), Category, Remind me (Never, On the day, 1 day before, 2 days before (the default), 3 days before, A week before), It is a free trial (with the day the trial ends; "The first charge comes when the trial ends."), Status (Active, Paused, Cancelled), Paid with (optional) (a name such as PayPal or Visa, never a card number), Where to manage it (optional), a Note and a color.
• Currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, INR, JPY, TRY, CHF, SEK, NOK, DKK, PLN, BRL, MXN, ZAR, AED, SAR, PKR, NZD, SGD, HKD, CNY, KRW. There are no exchange rates: totals in different currencies are shown side by side ("$25.97 + €9.99"), not converted.
• The top shows the cost a month, on average, a year, the number of active subscriptions, and a month saved by cancelling. Charges in the next 30 days lists what is coming. Where it goes splits the monthly cost by category (in the main currency only).
• Current (active and paused), Cancelled and All filter the list.
• The renewal reminder is a Windows notification at 09:00, the chosen number of days before the charge: "Netflix renews tomorrow" or "Netflix's free trial ends tomorrow", with "$15.49 will be charged. Cancel before then if you no longer need it." and Open. Paused and cancelled subscriptions never remind.
• Octoolo does not see your bank, card or accounts: the prices and days are only what you typed, and it cannot cancel a subscription for you.

#Screen time

Productivity's Screen time shows what the PC is used for. It is off until you press Turn on screen time; the box Also keep window titles, to see sites and documents is off by default.

• What it records: once a second, which program is in front (and, with window titles on, its window's title, for example the web page or document). Time with no keyboard or mouse for longer than the Away after limit (2, 3, 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes; 5 by default) is left out, unless a video plays in a browser or a media player, or something fills the screen (a game, a film). The lock screen and the sign-in screen are never counted. It records only while Octoolo runs.
• Day view: the time used, how it compares with the day before, the most used app, the first and last use, the time watching or playing without typing, Hour by hour, By kind of use and Apps. Week view: the total in these 7 days, a day on average (days with use), Day by day and Most used apps. The arrows move between days or weeks.
• Kinds of use: Work and study, Browsing, Social and chat, Entertainment, Games, Creative, Development, Other. Click an app and change Counts as to put it in another kind. Don't record it stops recording that app ("Stop recording Name? Its time so far stays until the history is deleted."); it is listed under Not recorded in the settings, where clicking it records it again.
• The pencil (Settings) holds Away after, Keep window titles (sites and documents), Keep history for (30 days, 90 days (the default), A year, Always), Turn screen time off and Delete history ("Delete all screen time history on this PC?").
• When this PC was on (shown with screen time on or off) draws the last 7 days from Windows' own System event log: when Windows started, slept, woke and shut down. It includes time nobody used the PC, and marks a span that ended without a clean shutdown.
• Privacy: screen time is kept on this PC only and never sent anywhere.

#Shutdown timer

Productivity's Shutdown timer does one of: Shut down, Restart, Sleep, Hibernate, Sign out, Lock or Screen off. Sleep or Hibernate shows "Not available on this PC" when Windows' power settings switch it off.

1. Pick what to do.
2. Pick when: After a while (15 min to 3 h buttons, or hours and minutes, at least 1 minute), At a time (the next time the clock shows it, today or tomorrow), When I'm away (once nobody has used the keyboard or mouse for 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 45 minutes or 1, 1.5, 2 or 3 hours; any key or mouse move starts the wait over) or When a program closes (pick one of the programs with a window open; Look again refreshes the list).
3. For Shut down, Restart and Sign out, Close apps even if they have unsaved work is off by default: then apps are asked to close as Windows normally does, and only apps that stop responding are closed by force.
4. Press Start the timer.

While it is set, the page shows "Your PC shuts down at 23:00" with a countdown and Cancel it; the tray icon's menu shows a line such as "Shuts down at 23:00" with Cancel the shutdown timer. A minute before, a notification "Your PC will shut down in 1 minute" ("Save your work, or cancel the shutdown timer.") offers Cancel it. A program closing or the away time being reached starts that last minute.

• Limits: a time within a month; "away" between 1 minute and 24 hours. Messages: "That time has passed.", "Choose a time within a month.", "Choose between 1 minute and 24 hours.", "That program is no longer running.", "This PC cannot go to sleep: it is switched off in Windows' power settings."
• It works with the Octoolo window closed (Octoolo stays in the tray) and stops if you quit Octoolo. If Octoolo restarts, a timer whose time is still ahead, or an "away" timer, is kept; a time that passed while the PC was off never fires afterwards, and a "when a program closes" timer is dropped. The timer is cleared just before it acts, so it never fires again after the restart it caused.
• If Windows refuses, a notification says "The shutdown timer could not finish" with Windows' reason.

#Notifications, the tray and starting with Windows

Productivity's reminders, alarms, timers, focus periods, renewal reminders and the shutdown warning are Windows notifications made by Octoolo's shell, not sounds in the window. Reminders and focus notifications stay on screen until you act, with Windows' reminder sound; alarms and timers stay and loop Windows' alarm sound. A notification that moved to Windows' notification center keeps working buttons while Octoolo runs. Ticking off, snoozing or deleting a task in the app takes its notification away; so do switching off or deleting an alarm, and Again, Dismiss or deleting a timer.

They ring only while Octoolo runs:

• Closing the window: while anything is planned (a reminder still ahead, an alarm that is on, a running timer or focus period, an active subscription with a reminder, a shutdown timer, or screen time turned on), closing the window leaves Octoolo running with its icon in the corner of the taskbar (the notification area). The first time, a notification says "Octoolo is still running" ("So your reminders, alarms and screen time keep working. Quit it from its icon in the corner of the taskbar."). With nothing planned, closing the window closes Octoolo.
• The tray icon: a left click opens the window; its menu has Open Octoolo, Productivity, the shutdown timer's line and Cancel the shutdown timer (when one is set), and Quit Octoolo. After Quit Octoolo, nothing rings until Octoolo is opened again.
• Settings, Reminders and the background: Keep running after the window closes, while something is planned (on by default) and Start Octoolo when you sign in to Windows (off by default). Starting with Windows starts Octoolo without its window, so reminders and screen time work after a restart; if nothing is planned (or Keep running after the window closes, while something is planned is off) it closes again after two minutes. The same card shows whether Windows shows Octoolo's notifications, Test a notification (it shows "Notifications work") and Windows' notification settings.
• The tools that ring show a note at the top: the Start with Windows and Test a notification buttons (while Octoolo does not start with Windows), "Reminders only ring while Octoolo's window is open: running in the background is off in Settings.", or, when Windows blocks them, "Windows will not show reminders." with the reason and Open notification settings.
• Starting Octoolo again while it runs in the tray opens the running copy: only one Octoolo runs at a time.
• Times are shown as Windows shows them, in 12-hour or 24-hour form.

#Files it opens and saves

Productivity opens no files. The only file it writes is a note saved with Save as a text file (UTF-8 .txt, the note's title then its words). There is no import from other to-do or notes apps, and no export of tasks, habits, subscriptions or screen time.

#Options and settings

• In Octoolo's Settings, the card Reminders and the background: Keep running after the window closes, while something is planned, Start Octoolo when you sign in to Windows, Test a notification, Windows' notification settings.
• In Pomodoro timer: the lengths and Start the next period on its own.
• In Screen time: the pencil's settings (above).
• In Alarm clock: each alarm's Snooze for.
• The to-do list remembers which list was open; the subscription form remembers the last currency.

#Keyboard shortcuts

#Where it keeps things

Productivity keeps everything in Octoolo's local data folder, %LOCALAPPDATA%\com.octoolo.app\, in the productivity folder, one JSON file per list:

• tasks.json (to-dos and reminders), lists.json (your own to-do lists), notes.json (notes, also those in the bin), habits.json, alarms.json, timers.json (timers and the stopwatch), focus.json (the Pomodoro timer and its history), subscriptions.json, settings.json (the background switch, screen time's settings and your kinds of use) and shutdown.json (a shutdown timer that is set).
• Screen time: productivity\usage\<date>.json, one file per day (for example 2026-10-10.json), deleted after the Keep history for time.
• Each file is written whole and then swapped in, so a crash leaves the old file or the new one. A file that cannot be read is renamed <list>.unreadable-<date>-<time>.json (for example tasks.unreadable-20261010-143000.json) and kept, and the list starts empty.
• Limits: one item up to 4 MB, 50,000 items per list.
• Start with Windows is a value named "Octoolo" under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, and Task Manager's Startup apps switch for it is respected.
• Uninstalling Octoolo removes the start-with-Windows value. The productivity folder stays unless you tick "Delete the application data" on the uninstaller's first page.
• Backup and moving to a new PC: there is no backup button. Quit Octoolo (also from the tray icon), copy the productivity folder to the same place on the other PC (with Octoolo not running there), then start Octoolo.

#Downloads it needs

None. Productivity needs no download and works offline.

#Privacy

Nothing leaves the PC because of Productivity. Tasks, notes, habits, subscriptions, screen time (with or without window titles) and the power history stay in the files above. "When this PC was on" reads Windows' own System event log on the PC. Octoolo's usage statistics (Settings, What leaves this computer, where they can be turned off) say which tools were opened, never the tasks, notes, subscriptions or screen time in them.

#Troubleshooting

#A reminder, alarm or timer did not ring

Productivity rings only through Windows notifications, and only while Octoolo runs. In order:

1. Open the tool (for example Reminders). If a note says "Windows will not show reminders." with a reason ("Octoolo's notifications are turned off in Windows' settings.", "Notifications are turned off for every app in Windows' settings." or "Your organization turned notifications off on this PC."), press Open notification settings and turn notifications on for Octoolo.
2. Press Test a notification (in Octoolo's Settings, Reminders and the background). If "Notifications work" does not appear, Windows is holding notifications back. Windows' Do not disturb (Focus assist on Windows 10) does this and Octoolo cannot see it, so the app still says notifications work: turn Do not disturb off, or let Octoolo through it in Windows' notification settings.
3. Check that Octoolo was running: if it was quit with Quit Octoolo, or the PC restarted, nothing rings until Octoolo starts again. Turn on Start Octoolo when you sign in to Windows (Settings, Reminders and the background, or the Start with Windows button).
4. Check that Keep running after the window closes, while something is planned is on. Otherwise closing the window closes Octoolo.
5. An alarm does not wake a sleeping PC, and one missed by more than 10 minutes is skipped. A reminder missed while Octoolo was not running rings when it runs again ("Due at 18:00"); a timer says "ended at".

#A reminder shows as late as soon as I add it

In Productivity's Reminders, a day without a time means 09:00. "buy milk today" typed after 09:00 is due at 09:00 today, which has passed, so it rings at once and shows under Late. Add a time ("buy milk today at 6pm") or change Remind me in the reminder's details.

#Productivity read my words wrong

The box understood a word as a time or a day. Look at the line under the box before pressing Enter. Common cases: "at 5" is 17:00 (hours 1 to 6 without am or pm are the afternoon); "sun", "sat", "wed", "fri" alone are weekdays ("buy sun cream" becomes "buy cream" on Sunday); "next week", "every other week", "in 2 months", "6.30" and "18h" are not understood in English. Fix the task in its details: Remind me, Due, Repeat. Spanish, Portuguese and German phrases are understood only when Octoolo itself is in that language.

#Octoolo stays in the tray and does not close

That is how Productivity keeps reminders working. Octoolo stays while something is planned: a reminder still ahead, an alarm switched on, a running timer or focus period, an active subscription with a renewal reminder, a shutdown timer, or screen time turned on. To close it, right-click its icon in the corner of the taskbar and choose Quit Octoolo. To stop it staying, turn off Keep running after the window closes, while something is planned in Settings, Reminders and the background (then things ring only while the window is open).

#Octoolo starts by itself when I sign in

Start Octoolo when you sign in to Windows is on. It starts without a window and closes again after two minutes if nothing is planned. Turn it off in Octoolo's Settings, Reminders and the background, or in Windows' Task Manager under Startup apps.

#A note, task or habit is gone

• A note moved to the bin is under Bin at the bottom of the notes list for 30 days: open it and press Put back. A note deleted with Delete for good, or more than 30 days in the bin, cannot be brought back.
• A task deleted with Delete cannot be brought back; there is no bin for tasks. A ticked-off task is under Completed (or Done this week in Reminders).
• A habit deleted with Delete habit goes with its history.
• If a whole list is empty after a crash or a disk problem, look in %LOCALAPPDATA%\com.octoolo.app\productivity\ for a file named like tasks.unreadable-20261010-143000.json: Octoolo kept the file it could not read. Send it to support through Help and feedback.
• An error "Octoolo could not save your tasks: ..." means Windows refused the write (a full disk, or the folder is read-only or locked by another program).

#Screen time shows nothing, or less time than I spent

Productivity's screen time records only when it is turned on and while Octoolo runs (start Octoolo with Windows to record from sign-in). Time without keyboard or mouse for longer than Away after is left out (videos in browsers and media players, and full-screen apps, still count), the lock screen is not counted, and apps under Not recorded are skipped. Today's time shows a few minutes late: "Use the PC for a few minutes: time shows here once Octoolo knows you were there (after 5 minutes)." A past day says "Screen time was not on yet." or "Octoolo was not running, or nobody used the PC." When this PC was on is hidden when Windows' event log cannot be read.

#The shutdown timer did not shut down

The Productivity shutdown timer needs Octoolo running: it stops if Octoolo was quit, and a "when a program closes" timer is dropped if Octoolo restarts. If Windows refused, a notification "The shutdown timer could not finish" gave Windows' reason. Without Close apps even if they have unsaved work, an app with unsaved work can hold the shutdown up. To stop a timer, press Cancel it on the page or in the warning notification, or Cancel the shutdown timer in the tray menu.

#The subscription totals look wrong

Productivity's subscription tracker adds each currency on its own and never converts: "$25.97 + €9.99" is two totals. The monthly figure is an average (a weekly price × 52 ÷ 12, a yearly price ÷ 12). Paused subscriptions count as current but not in the totals; cancelled ones show under Cancelled with what they save.

#Limits and what it cannot do

• It cannot sync tasks, notes or anything else between PCs or with a phone, and has no account or cloud storage. Octoolo Cloud (the subscription) does not sync Productivity.
• It cannot import from or export to Microsoft To Do, Todoist, Google Keep, OneNote or calendars (no .ics), and cannot show a calendar view.
• It cannot ring while Octoolo is not running, cannot wake a sleeping PC, and has no sound of its own: without Windows notifications nothing rings. Alarm and reminder sounds cannot be changed.
• Habits cannot ring reminders; tasks cannot be shared or assigned to other people.
• Notes cannot hold pictures or attachments, and save only as plain text (.txt).
• The subscription tracker cannot see bank or card charges, convert currencies or cancel anything.
• Screen time cannot limit or block apps, cannot record time while Octoolo is not running, and cannot see other PCs or phones.
• The shutdown timer cannot repeat on a schedule (it runs once) or run while Octoolo is quit.
• Deleted tasks cannot be brought back.