Plans 💳 : Everyone
User Permissions 👥: Everyone
Memory is Timely's tool that automatically records everything you do to your own, private timeline. It captures the time you actively spend in files, on apps, browsing websites, your calendar events, attending meetings, and more - the sky's the limit! By capturing everything you do, you get a complete picture of what you work on each day.
Below you’ll find everything you need to get Memory for Mac:
Getting Started with Memory for Mac
Customizing Memory
🙋 FAQs
🔔 Important Memory for Mac Update
As of July 2023 we're excited to announce a complete "under the hood" overhaul and re-design of the Memory for Mac app. This has been a key initiative for us and will allow us to delivery a consistent, and amazing, experience no matter the platform or device you use.
⚒️ While we gradually roll out this update to all of our Mac customers, there may be some who are still using the legacy version of Memory for Mac.
If your Memory application window looks like this:
Please refer back to the Help Center article HERE for more information or troubleshooting steps.
You can also update to the latest version of Memory manually by downloading the Memory installer from our downloads page.
Getting Started with Memory for Mac:
1️⃣ Downloading Memory for Mac
So you've signed up for Timely and have dived into learning about all the amazing features available to you. Fantastic!
Now as you dive into your work you are ready to install the companion Memory for Mac app, so you can automatically capture all the tasks and activities you plug away at throughout the day. It's time to "set it and forget it" 😁.
👉 Head on over to Memory download page and select the Memory for MacOS option to begin your download.
2️⃣ Installing Memory on your MacOS Device
After downloading the Memory installer file, double click the .DMG installer file that was saved to your "Downloads" folder, or wherever you choose to save files from the internet.
Then, follow these steps and best practices to get up and running in no time at all:
1. Once you've opened the installer file, click and drag the "Memory" app to the folder right next to it titled "Applications". This will move the Memory app directly into your Mac's app folder.
2. Double click the "Applications" icon to open that folder
3. Scroll down until you see the "Memory" app and double click it to get started
🎉 Success! You've installed the Memory for Mac app on your device.
3️⃣ Signing into the Memory for Mac app
The first time you run the Memory for Mac app you'll be prompted to sign in:
Click the "Connect account" button which will open your browser and take you to the Timely website. If you've already logged into Timely in your current browsing session, your account will be connected to the Memory app automatically. If you are not, you'll be asked to sign in.
Once your account has been connected, you'll be asked to "allow accessibility access". It's important that you click this option to approve those permissions, as the Memory app will not be able to capture your activity otherwise.
3. Next, you'll see a system prompt letting you know that the Memory app would like access to control "System Events" and should click the "OK" button to proceed.
This permission is needed in order for Memory to capture information such as the app name, window information, and other bits that paint the picture of what you are working on throughout the day. This information is only ever visible to you.
4. When asked, click the "open system settings" button, enter in your computer's user name and password, then click the toggle next to the Memory option.
5. All set! You'll see a message that "Memory is now recording your web and desktop activity" to let you know the process has been completed. You can go ahead and dive back into your work as normal!
Here's what that set up process would like:
Customizing Memory:
🙅 Pausing or turning off Memory tracking
All done with work for the day? Want to take a break for a bit? No problem! You can easily control when or if Memory is capturing your activity. Go ahead and click the Memory (brain icon) at the top of your screen in the menu bar.
From the drop down, you can turn the Memory Track "On" or "Off" via the options at the top.
That said, it can be super easy to turn Memory off for a bit, hop back into work, and forget to enable it once again. So as to not loose any of that activity, there is a handy Pause option where you can select specific time intervals for your break:
You can also enable a custom schedule to set specific times and days where you want Memory to capture your activity.
⚙️ General settings
After clicking the Memory icon in your Menu Bar, you'll see the option for "Settings" listed right below your account email. This will open a new window where you can select the different options available:
Along the top you'll see those same options to pause or disable the Memory tracker where needed under the Tracking header.
From the Recent Activity section you'll see what Memory has captured on your device over the last while. If you hover over any of the items listed you can see the additional context that will become available on your timeline after processing.
Under the Account header you'll find the email address you are logged in with along with a Log out and Reset settings option if needed.
Under the General settings you'll find the default options to Launch on Startup and Install updates Automatically. We always recommend leaving both options enabled at all times, to ensure the best possible experience.
In this section you'll also find the current version number and status for the Memory app, along with the option to manually check for updates.
📅 Creating a custom Schedule for Memory
If you have specific days and times where you are in "work mode", Memory has a handy little feature that let's you set those specific times where you want it to keep track of your activity. Memory will not capture your activity outside of that set schedule once enabled.
👩💻 This is especially handy if you use your personal computers for work, ensuring that any personal browsing or desktop activity outside of work isn’t recorded.
From the Settings < Schedule section within Memory, click the "Enable Schedule" option and select the days of the week and time frames that you are working:
💤 Idle time detection for Memory
Sometimes things happen and you have to step away for a bit, maybe it's time for lunch or you have an "IRL" water cooler meeting - life happens! But your laptop is still running regardless.
Idle time detection is a handy feature, that's enabled in Memory by default, that will discard any activity captured if you've been away from your computer for about 15 minutes or so. For full screen apps, such as Zoom windows or media players, idle time will not kick in until an hour or so has passed.
This feature can be disabled if needed from the Settings < Idle time section within Memory:
🙈 Creating rules for Memory to Ignore & Rewrite specific activities
Every activity, website, or app doesn't necessarily need to be captured by Memory. Some folks might have certain commons items that would be a pain to constantly discard from their main timeline or would just prefer not to capture this app or that website. We've got you covered!
From the Settings < Ignore section within Memory, you can create specific rules that instruct Memory to discard any activities that match a specific app name, website title, or URL. You can be extremely precise, or use more open options and wildcards to cast a wider net:
It's always best practice to configure and then test each new rule as it's created, to ensure it functions as expected. We'd also recommend starting the rule broadly, with the "Contains" option, then narrowing the scope to other options if needed.
Do you still want to capture an activity, but perhaps the way it displays on your timeline isn't quite how you'd like it? No problem! From the Settings < Rewrite section within Memory you can configure rules to rewrite specific activities instead of totally ignoring them:
Like when creating criteria to ignore, input the Title, URL, or App name in question, along with the relevant text - then configure how you would like for that activity to then display on your timeline.
An important note on creating rules to Ignore or Rewrite activities: You need to finish writing a rule and save it before you can create a new one. Rules are then displayed in chronological order and can be reordered by dragging/dropping in the UI.
Rules are then applied in the order they appear in the list, meaning that if you have set up a rule to ignore Spotify followed by a rule that changes the name of Spotify memories to “Music”, the rule to ignore Spotify will be applied first.
Keep in mind that rules apply only to the desktop or website version of the app in question. As an example, if you have a rule to ignore Zoom memories from the desktop application, a memory will still appear in your timeline whenever you launch Zoom or open a Zoom tab/window from a web browser. In this case, you would need to set up two rules—one for blocking web app activity and one for blocking desktop app activity—to stop all Zoom memories from appearing in Timely.
Uninstalling Memory for Mac 🚫
First, make sure that you've logged out of the Memory for Mac app by clicking the Memory icon in your menu bar, clicking the Settings option, and then "Log Out" option under the "Account" header:
Once logged out, click the Memory icon again and then "Quit".
Now you can go ahead and navigate to the "Applications" folder on your Mac and simply drag the Memory icon to your trash can. Poof! It's all gone 🥲.
Important Note: Within the Timely Ecosystem settings you'll see Memory listed as shown here:
Clicking the "Remove" button in this area will NOT uninstall Memory from your device. This option will log you out of Memory and will delete any existing un-logged memories captured to-date.
This option should only be used if you no longer have access to the physical device where Memory is installed and/or you would like to remove any of the captured memories associated with account you've logged in with.
🙋 FAQs
What are the OS requirements? 🖥️
Memory for Mac supports macOS Monterey 12.0 and above.
What do I do if Memory isn't able to automatically update?
If you receive an update error or are otherwise unable to update your Memory for Mac app, please follow the steps outlined below:
1. Open the "Applications" folder on your device and locate the Memory app
2. Right click the Finder icon in your Doc and click the "Go to Folder..." option
3. Type the following into the search bar: ~/applications
4. Clicking the top result should open a new window
5. Drag the Memory for Mac app from the regular "Applications" folder to this new window
6. Reboot your Mac and try updating again
If you'd have further issues or questions, please reach out to Support Team for further assistance.
What do I do if memories aren’t appearing on my timeline? 🤔
It's always best practice to make sure that the Memory for Mac app is running on your Mac. You should see the Memory (Brain) icon in your menu bar at all times while it's running. If you don't, head over to your "Applications" folder and double click the app to start things up.
It's also a good idea to double check that you are logged into the Memory for Mac app using the same email address linked to your Timely account. You can see your email listed in the Memory menu as shown here:
Finally, just to cover all the basics - have you tried turning your computer off and back on again? Is it a cliche? Yes. Does it magically fix issues some of the time? Also, yes. Give it a try!
Still having issues from there? Check out our dedicated article for troubleshooting issues with Memory that has all the info you need to get started.
Need more help?
Click the chat icon at the bottom of your screen
or send an email to support@timelyapp.com