# Timer widget > A countdown on your desk. Set the minutes and seconds, start, pause or reset it, and hear beeps in the last minute and an alarm at zero. Source: https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-timer Section: Widgets > Plan and track Plans: All plans Updated: 2026-10-10 The Timer is a single countdown that sits on a desk. Use it to give a task a fixed amount of time, to keep one part of a meeting to time, or to set yourself a short break. You set the minutes and seconds, press **Start**, and watch the ring around the time shrink and change colour as time runs down. Near the end it beeps, and at zero it sounds an alarm and shows **Time's up**. Each Timer keeps its own time, so you can put more than one on a desk, for example one per item on an agenda. More about this widget ## Before you start - The Timer is on every plan. - You need a desk open. The **Add widget** button and the quick-add key work only on an open desk. - The beeps and the alarm follow your sound settings. See [Sounds and haptics](https://plexiidesk.com/help). ## Add a Timer 1. Open the desk you want the Timer on. 2. Click **Add widget** in the centre of the header. 3. Click **Timer**. The **Add widget** menu groups widgets into columns by what they are for. **Timer** is in the **Plan & track** column, with Tasks, Calendar and Attention. You can also type timer in the search box at the top of the menu and press `Enter` to add it. A new Timer is a small square (224 × 224) set to 10 minutes. It shows **10:00** inside a ring, the full time on a smaller line underneath, a **min** and a **sec** box for setting the time, and a **Start** button. ### Faster ways to add one - **Press `I`.** On an open desk, click an empty part of the desk so that no widget is selected and you are not typing, then press `I`. A Timer appears straight away. The **Add widget** menu shows this key in grey beside **Timer**. - **Use the command palette.** Press `⌘` `K` on a Mac or `Ctrl` `K` on Windows, type timer and choose **Add Timer**. - **Start a desk from a template.** When you create a desk, the **Daily Focus** and **Weekly Plan** templates under **Start from a template** each include a Timer already set to 25:00. See [Create a desk](https://plexiidesk.com/help/desk-create). ### Change the quick-add key 1. Press `⌘` `/` on a Mac or `Ctrl` `/` on Windows to open **Keyboard shortcuts**. 2. Under **Canvas quick-add**, click the key chip beside **Add Timer**. 3. Press the letter you want to use instead. Press `Backspace` instead of a letter to turn the Timer's key off, or `Esc` to leave it as it was. **Reset to defaults** puts every quick-add key back. See [Add widgets with a single key](https://plexiidesk.com/help/quick-add-keys). ## Set the time You can set the time whenever the Timer is stopped: when you first add it, and after you press **Reset**. 1. Click the **min** box and type the minutes, from 0 to 999. 2. Click the **sec** box and type the seconds, from 0 to 59. 3. Press `Enter`, or click anywhere outside the box. The time inside the ring and the full time underneath change to match. > **Tip:** > The minutes and seconds boxes are hidden while the Timer is running or paused. To change the time, press **Reset** first. ## Start, pause and reset 1. Click **Start**. The countdown begins and the button changes to **Pause**. 2. Click **Pause** to stop the countdown where it is. The button changes to **Resume**. 3. Click **Resume** to carry on from the same point. 4. Click **Reset** at any time to stop the Timer and put the full time back. The time you set is kept, ready to start again. When the time runs out, the Timer shows **Time's up**. Click **Again** to run the same length of time again from the start, or **Reset** to go back to a stopped Timer, where you can change the time. ## Read the ring The large number in the centre is the time left, in minutes and seconds. The smaller line underneath shows the full time you set. The coloured ring is the time left: it starts as a full circle and shrinks as time passes. Its colour tells you how far through you are: - **Green** for the first half. - **Yellow** once half the time has gone. - **Amber** once three quarters of the time has gone. - **Red** for the last 10 seconds. The number turns red too, and the ring pulses. At zero, the ring and the words **Time's up** stay red until you press **Again** or **Reset**. ## Sounds While the Timer is running, it beeps when there are 60, 30 and 10 seconds left, then once a second for each of the last five seconds. The beeps get higher in the last ten seconds. At zero it plays a short three-note alarm. The sounds follow **Settings > Advanced > Sounds**. To get there, click the gear at the right end of the header, then the **Advanced** tab. - **Sound effects** turns all of PlexiDesk's sounds on or off, including the Timer's. - **Volume** sets how loud they are. - **Quiet while widget active** silences sounds while you are working inside a widget. If you are typing in another widget when the Timer reaches a beep, you will not hear it while this is on. See [Sounds and haptics](https://plexiidesk.com/help). > **Tip:** > The beeps and alarm play while the Timer is on screen. On a large desk, pin the Timer to a corner of the screen so it stays in view as you move around. The pin is in the Timer's title bar, described below. ## Leave the desk and come back The countdown is saved with the widget, so time keeps passing when you go to another desk, switch to another app, or quit and reopen PlexiDesk. When you come back, the Timer shows the time that is really left. If the time ran out while you were away, it shows **Time's up**. ## See it large 1. Rest the pointer on the Timer so its title-bar buttons appear. 2. Click **Expand** (the outward arrows). 3. Choose **Focus mode**. The Timer fills a pane on its own, with a larger ring and larger numbers. **Start**, **Pause**, **Resume**, **Reset** and **Again** work just as they do on the desk. Press `Esc`, or click the close button, to go back to the desk. See [Open widgets full screen and side by side](https://plexiidesk.com/help/canvas-focus-mode). Choose **Larger on desk** instead to make the widget bigger where it is. ## The title bar The title bar's buttons appear when you rest the pointer on the Timer. The ones you are most likely to use with a Timer are: - **Rename** (the pencil), or double-click the name, to call the Timer after what you are timing, such as "Draft intro" or "Agenda item 2". Press `Enter` to save. - **Pin** (the pin) to keep the Timer in a corner of the screen while you move around the desk. Pick **Top left**, **Top right**, **Bottom left** or **Bottom right**. To put it back, click the pin again and choose **Unpin — return to canvas**. - **Expand** for **Larger on desk** or **Focus mode**. - **×** removes the Timer from the desk. PlexiDesk asks **Remove from the desk?** first. Right-click the title bar for the menu that every widget shares. See [The controls on every widget](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-title-bar) and [Right-click menus](https://plexiidesk.com/help/right-click-menus). The title bar starts with an **AI** button (the sparkle). The Timer has no AI of its own, so on a Timer this button opens the Plexii panel, where you can ask Plexii a question. See [Use a widget's AI button](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-ai). ## Sharing When you publish a live view of a desk, the Timer is shown on it. Visitors can see it but cannot start, pause or reset it. See [Publish a live view of a desk](https://plexiidesk.com/help/share-live-web-view). The Timer holds only its time and whether it is running, so it has nothing to import or export. ## Timers, focus sessions and the Home focus timer The Timer widget is a plain countdown on a desk. It keeps counting whatever else you do, and it does not start a focus session. - To start a focus session on the desk, use **Focus** in the header. See [Start a focus session](https://plexiidesk.com/help). - To start a short focus session from Home, use the Focus timer tile. See [Focus timer widget](https://plexiidesk.com/help/home-widget-focus-timer). ## Good uses - **Time-box a task.** Set 25:00 for a first draft, start it, and stop when the alarm sounds. - **Keep a meeting to time.** Add one Timer per agenda item and rename each one after its item. - **Take a proper break.** Set 5:00 or 10:00 before you step away, so you know when to come back. - **Get started on something you have been avoiding.** A short countdown, such as 2:00 or 5:00, makes a start feel small. - **Pair it with your list.** Keep a Timer beside a [Tasks widget](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-tasks) and give the task at the top of the list a fixed amount of time. ## Common questions **Where did the minutes and seconds boxes go?** They show only while the Timer is stopped. Click **Reset**, set the new time, then click **Start**. **I pressed I and nothing happened.** The key works only on an open desk, when you are not typing and no widget is selected. Click an empty part of the desk and press `I` again. If you changed the key or turned it off, check it in **Keyboard shortcuts** (`⌘` `/` on a Mac, `Ctrl` `/` on Windows). **I do not hear any beeps.** Check **Settings > Advanced > Sounds**: **Sound effects** should be on, **Volume** above 0%, and **Quiet while widget active** off if you are often working in another widget while the Timer runs. Check your computer's own volume as well, and keep the Timer on screen, or pin it, while it runs. **Does the Timer keep going if I close PlexiDesk?** Yes. The countdown is saved with the widget, so the time keeps passing. When you open the desk again, the Timer shows the time left, or **Time's up** if it has run out. **Can I run several Timers at once?** Yes. Each Timer keeps its own time and settings. **Can people who view my live desk control the Timer?** No. On a live view, the Timer is for display only. ## Related tasks - [Plan and track widgets](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widgets-plan-and-track) - [Add a widget to a desk](https://plexiidesk.com/help/add-a-widget) - [Add widgets with a single key](https://plexiidesk.com/help/quick-add-keys) - [The controls on every widget](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-title-bar) - [Open widgets full screen and side by side](https://plexiidesk.com/help/canvas-focus-mode) - [Sounds and haptics](https://plexiidesk.com/help) - [Start a focus session](https://plexiidesk.com/help) - [Attention widget](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-attention)