Occasionally, you might notice that screenshots are missing on your activity page even though you expect them to be there. This can be frustrating, but rest assured, there are usually logical explanations for screenshots to be missing that are related to simple things like organization settings, connectivity issues, or even which Hubstaff timer you chose to track the time. In this article, we’ll explore the most common reasons for missing screenshots, along with steps to identify and resolve those issues.
Connectivity issues
If you are facing internet connectivity issues, an unstable connection, or slow upload speeds, this may be the reason why screenshots are missing from your account. As soon as Hubstaff finds a good/stable internet connection all the queued screenshot data will get uploaded. Screenshots are not lost, they will get uploaded as soon as the app detects a stable internet connection. Recorded data is stored locally on the member’s computer prior to upload. Therefore ,when noticing screenshots are missing on the activity page, you may see the message “No screenshot” in these cases, even if screenshots were captured and are just waiting to be uploaded.
If this issue keeps affecting you, here are some steps you can try:
- Leave the timer open for a few minutes after you finish your work day (you can stop the timer, just leave it open. Don’t close the app). This will allow it some extra time to upload the data.
- Close and re-open the timer to force it to refresh and attempt a connection to our servers.
- Click the refresh button in the bottom left corner of the app.
- Identify and address any internet issues you may be facing where you are working.
The timer app being used doesn’t support screenshot capture
Not all of our timer apps can record screenshots. If you need this activity to be tracked, you will need to use our Desktop timers on Windows, MacOS, or Linux. The web timer, chrome extension, and the mobile applications (iOS/Android) cannot track screenshots (this is also true for Apps and URLs recording). To learn more, here is our guide: https://support.hubstaff.com/time-tracker-apps-overview/
If you are seeing the message “Mobile time”, “Browser time”, or “Web Timer” where you were expecting to see screenshots, the reason is that the member is using one of the apps that doesn’t support screenshots to track time.
Screenshots are still pending upload
The Hubstaff timer applications upload time and activity in a particular order, with full sized screenshots being near the end of the list. If your internet connection isn’t very stable or is slow, the app may be having difficulty uploading the screenshots. If you are viewing timesheets and seeing the message “Not yet uploaded” where the screenshots should be, this means that the screenshots were captured but just haven’t made it to our servers yet (they are still stored on your computer). If the data isn’t uploading yet from the desktop app, try clicking the Refresh button located at the bottom left of the app, and/or restarting the app.
Screenshot capture (frequency) is turned off in the settings
If screenshot frequency is set to “0” in the organization settings (either across the whole organization, or for particular members), then you will not see screenshots captured or showing.
To check if Screenshot capture is on:
- Go to Settings
- then Activity and Tracking
- and finally Screenshots (It can be set on an organizational level or by member)
Idle Time
When idle time (time with no activity of the mouse or keyboard) is tracked, screenshots are not recorded. If the Idle time was kept by the member or kept due to organization settings, instead of screenshots on the Activity page on the website, you will see the message “No screenshot – Idle time”. If the idle time wasn’t kept when it was tracked, then it was discarded and you will simply see “No Activity” during those timespans on the Activity page on the site.
Companies are able to decide how Idle time is handled when members are using the timer application. There are two possible reasons why idle time that the timer tracked wouldn’t have been saved:
- The company has the Keep Idle Time setting set to Never. This means that any idle time tracked on the timer is automatically discarded and not saved.
- The company has the Keep Idle Time setting set to Prompt, but when the member returned from being idle and the app asked them how they wanted to handle the idle time, they didn’t check the box to Keep idle time. When they pressed the button for the timer to resume, the idle time was discarded.
The project was archived
When projects are archived in Hubstaff, the screenshots associated with the time tracked to those projects will no longer be visible. Historical time for the project would remain accessible in reports and visible in the timesheets of the team members, but screenshots will be not be viewable. This also applies to other activity data such as Apps and URLs records. If you archived a project, but want to see the activity data for it, you will need to go to the archived projects area and restore the project.
The time the screenshots were associated with was deleted
If time is deleted in Hubstaff, the screenshots are also deleted along with it. When you delete time entries, screenshots and activity levels are permanently removed from the server and cannot be restored. Please exercise caution when deleting time and activities in Hubstaff.
The screenshots were deleted
When screenshots or time is deleted, they can no longer be retrieved as they are automatically deleted from the server.
If you are an owner or manager role and want to see who deleted screenshots, the reports for those actions can be found in the Manual time edits report
If you are seeing time still in the timesheets, but no screenshots for that time frame (even though you remember seeing them there before), it may be that the screenshots were deleted. Only Owners/Managers can remove screenshots, but keep the time that was associated with them (Project Managers can also delete screenshots from time tracked to the projects they are a manager of). Users can remove blocks of activity (both the screenshot and the time associated), not just the screenshot.
Manual time
If you are seeing a message where you are expecting to see screenshots that says “Manual time”, then this means that the time was added manually by the team member instead of being tracked on the Hubstaff timer applications.
Your computer or the timer application crashed
An abrupt shutdown of the Hubstaff Desktop Tracker could be triggered by various factors, the most common ones being:
- Unexpected system shutdowns due to power outages
- System reboots or shutdowns for updates
- Forced app closures from the Task Manager
- App closures initiated by system settings, such as firewall or antivirus actions
These abrupt shutdowns may cause the desktop app to crash or close improperly. As a result, when you restart the app, it will detect you as resumed, as no activity was being tracked, and automatically resume tracking since the timer wasn’t manually stopped. Any time recorded during this period following an abrupt shutdown will appear on your activity page as “Resumed Time“.
If you re-open the timer within 1 hour of the shutdown, you will be prompted with a choice to retain or discard the time it tracked. However, if the timer was resumed more than 1 hour after it shutdown, the time will be automatically discarded. If you are missing time and activity from your timesheet and recall having to start up the timer again during your work day even though you didn’t remember closing it, it may be because it was discarded under this scenario.