Syncing custom sub-categories in RescueTime

I can’t figure out if RescueTime integration supports custom sub-categories or not. Based on some messages on this forum they seem to be supported, but drop list doesn’t show any of my custom subcategories for some reason, though it clearly reads all of my activities from RescueTime, so it is not an account connectivity issue.

1 Like

Not sure how to do it, but I can attest that I used to have a Do Less goal for tracking time on Facebook using auto-data from RescueTime. It at least used to be possible.

1 Like

It looks like it eventually syncs the sub-categories, but it takes hours.

Also, I’m still not sure if it can sync new sub-categories that you’ve created or I can only rename & repurpose one of the existing subcategories.

It would be nice to hear something definite from the authors.

1 Like

Rescuetime integration does total Productive time, total Unproductive time, Categories, Subcategories, and individual activities/sites. My custom subcategories are showing up, or, well, I’m assuming these things I’m seeing are subcategories that I created at some point in the past, because they are highly specific.

What part do you mean is taking hours?

Bethany

2 Likes

If you create a new sub-category in RescueTime and then go to the Beeminder and try to create a new RescueTime goal, then this new sub-category will not show up in the list.
Now, I’ve seen some of them showing up eventually (like next day, that’s why I mentioned that it takes hours), but some of the subcategories that I have created in RT a long time ago still don’t show up in Beeminder.

This is quite a show stopper for me, since I’d love to be able to create more fine-grained goals based on RT data, but right now it seems like it’s quite inconsistent. I’m happy to be a guinea pig, if you need one for debugging this issue.

2 Likes

OK, possibly what is happening is that you need to log some time in the category before it will show up in the reports that we pull from Rescuetime. The request that we make to rescuetime pulls in all logged categories from the past month, so if the category hasn’t logged any data in a long time, or if it’s a totally new category, it won’t get sent along, even though it is a category that exists in your account.

2 Likes

That makes sense. Most of the time, I would indeed try to setup a new RescueTime category and Beeminder goal for it at the same time, so category won’t get any time logged. Logging some time first is an easy enough workaround, but it’s probably worth mentioning it somewhere in the FAQ or right there on the RT-specific goal screen.
Thanks for clarifying it for me though.

2 Likes