💡 This article describes the new To Do window, currently in beta. Using the previous design? See How does the To Do screen work?
📂 Opening the To Do window
You can open it from three places:
The To Do screen. Click Add New on the day you want the work to happen.
The Schedule. Click into a day in a team member's row. See How to Schedule for your team.
A job. Use the job's Create menu.
To edit an existing To Do, click it on your To Do screen, or double-click the block in the Schedule.
🔍 Choosing what you're working on
Start typing in What are you working on? to search every active job and item at once. Results are ordered to keep your own work near the top:
Recently logged sits at the top, so work you've been logging against is one click away.
Your assigned jobs come next, with a count of how many items are assigned to you, for example 2/4 items.
All jobs follow underneath. Expand a job to see its items.
The job name and number sit above each item, so items named the same on different jobs are easy to tell apart.
👁️ Show all items: searching beyond your own work
By default, search shows only the items you're assigned to. Turn on Show all items in the dropdown to see every item on every job.
This matters in two situations:
Your jobs are planned by role, not by person. If work is assigned to a role like Designer rather than to you by name, the items you need won't be in your assigned list. Show all items is how you find them.
You need to create a new item. If you can edit jobs, turning Show all items on reveals the option to create one.
If you pick an item you're not assigned to, a message confirms that creating the To Do will assign you to it.
🔐 When there's no item to pick
What you see here depends on whether you can edit jobs. The two paths are different by design.
If you… | You'll see | Why |
Can edit jobs | The option to create a new item | Naming the work keeps the job's numbers meaningful, so this path doesn't offer unallocated hours |
Can't edit jobs | The option to log to the job without an item | You can still capture the time as extra hours against the job |
Creating a new item. Turn on Show all items. A Create new item button appears at the bottom of a job's item list. You can only create items while creating a To Do, not while editing one.
Logging to the job instead. A note confirms you're logging to the job, not an item, and the time records as extra hours against that job.
💡 If a colleague sees a different option to you, this is why. It's down to job permissions, not a fault.
💼 Creating a New Job
If the work isn't in Streamtime yet, you can set it up without leaving the To Do window.
Type the job name into What are you working on?. Once you've typed a name, Create new job appears in the results. Choose it, and a Company field appears. Pick an existing company, or type a new name to create one alongside the job.
To name the work at the same time, choose Create new item and give it an Item name. Because creating a job needs permission to edit jobs, the log-to-job option isn't offered on this path.
The dropdown beside Create offers Create and plan, which saves the To Do and opens the new job so you can plan it.
Nothing is created until you click Create. These options only appear if you can edit jobs, and aren't available when editing an existing To Do.
📊 What you see once you pick an item
Picking an item brings in its context, so you can judge how much time to spend:
A progress bar showing Done, To Do, Left to spend, the Deadline, and how many people are assigned to that same item.
The item description, if there is one. Descriptions support bold, italics and bullet points.
The scheduler's notes, if someone scheduled this work for you. These are read-only here and can only be written from the Schedule.
The item's checklist, if it has one. Tick entries off and Streamtime records who completed each one and when. Turn on Show all to see every entry, and use the small button beside an entry to pre-fill your Notes with that checklist item's name.
⏱️ Setting a duration
Under Duration, either type an amount or use the quick select options: 15m, 30m, 1h, 2h and 4h.
Rest of day fills whatever's left of your working day. It only appears when you have time left for that date, so a full day won't show it. It isn't offered when editing a To Do or setting up a repeating one.
The progress bar updates as you type, so you see the effect on the item before committing. Enter more time than the item has left and it's flagged straight away, so you can adjust before you create. When editing an existing To Do, only your change counts, so nothing is double counted.
🙋 Personal To Dos
Select Personal, in the top-left corner of the window, for work that isn't attached to a job. Training, internal meetings and appointments all count, and they're included in your availability.
Set Personal first if you can. Selecting it clears any job, item, title and duration you'd already entered, though it keeps the date.
For the full walkthrough, see Personal To Do's.
🔁 Repeating To Dos
Switch on Repeat, in the top-right corner, for work that comes back regularly. Unlike Personal, turning Repeat on keeps everything you've already set and adds the repeat options.
A repeating To Do needs a title and at least one assignee. If you don't add anyone, it defaults to you.
You can repeat Weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly, Working day, Quarterly or Yearly, and end it never, on a date, or after a set number. Working day repeats can't use a set number, because working days differ between people.
You get the same quick duration options and live progress bar here. Because a repeating To Do can add up quickly, Streamtime also flags when a series would run past what's left to spend or past the deadline, and offers to end it at the deadline for you.
For more information, see Repeating To Dos.
✅ Saving, and starting a timer
Click Create in the bottom-right. You can also press ⌘ + Enter, or Ctrl + Enter on Windows.
To start a timer instead of logging time now, use the dropdown (▾) beside the button and choose Start timer. See Streamtime's Timer for how timers behave once running.
✏️ Editing an existing To Do
Editing works the same as creating, with three differences: you can't create a new item from the search, you can't create a new job, and Rest of day isn't offered.
Editing one occurrence of a repeating To Do. Opening a To Do from your To Do screen edits that single occurrence, not the whole series. To change every occurrence, open the series with the 🔁 button.
Changes that split an occurrence from its series. Logging, rescheduling, resizing, moving or reassigning can separate an occurrence from its series. If the change would leave it incomplete, Streamtime checks first and offers to Continue, Edit series, or Cancel. Smaller edits split off without a prompt.
👀 To Dos you can't edit
Some To Dos open as a read-only view instead of the edit window. This happens when the time has been billed, the job has been archived, or you don't have permission to change it. You can still see the detail, including notes.
❓ FAQs
Why can I create a new item, but a colleague can only log to the job? That difference is by design and comes down to job permissions. People who can edit jobs are prompted to create a new named item, and don't get the unallocated option. People who can't edit jobs get the option to log to the job as extra hours instead.
I can't see the option to create a new item. Check that Show all items is turned on, since that's what reveals it. If it's on and you still can't see it, you likely don't have permission to edit jobs, in which case you'll have the option to log to the job instead.
Can I book time in the past? Yes. Past dates are accepted, and Streamtime won't warn you or flag public holidays.
Why can't I see Rest of day? Either your working day is already full for that date, you have no working hours set for it, or you're editing rather than creating.
Why is Create greyed out? The most common reason is a duration of zero. Repeating To Dos also need a title and at least one assignee.
Can I create a new item or job while editing a To Do? No. Both can only be created while you're creating a To Do.
What's the difference between the two notes fields? The grey box near the top holds the scheduler's notes, written by whoever scheduled the work. The Notes field at the bottom is your own.