How do I install and update the agent on Windows?

The Windows agent is a single installer you download from the Worktivity website. Everything it needs to run travels inside that file, so there is no runtime to put on the machine first, and once it is installed it updates itself from inside the app.

Where the installer comes from

Two files sit on the download page, and they are the same application packaged two ways. The .exe is the installer for the computer in front of you. The .msi is for an IT team putting the agent on many machines at once with Group Policy or a device management tool. If you are installing it on your own PC, take the .exe.

There is no Microsoft Store listing for the Windows agent. The download page is the only place it comes from.

The file name carries the version number, so it is a different name at every release. That is deliberate: it means the browser cannot hand you a stale copy of an older file it had already cached.

What it needs

• Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11.
• A 64 bit machine. There is no 32 bit build, and no separate build for Windows on ARM.
• A Worktivity account that belongs to an organization. The agent records against your employer's settings, so it has nothing to do without one.

Nothing else. The installer carries the whole application, so there is no framework or runtime to install beforehand.

Installing it

1. Download the .exe from the download page.
2. Double click the file you downloaded.
3. Windows asks for administrator approval. Approve it. The agent installs once for every account on the computer rather than separately for yours, and that is what the approval is for.
4. The installer offers a folder to install into. Accept it, or choose a different one.
5. When it finishes, open Worktivity from the Start menu.

That approval is asked once, while the installer runs. Using the agent afterwards needs no administrator rights, and you never have to start it as an administrator.

Signing in the first time

1. Open Worktivity.
2. Type the e-mail address and password of your Worktivity account and press Sign in. If you do not have an account yet, Create an account at the bottom of the same screen opens the sign up form.
3. One setup screen appears, headed What Worktivity records. It lists the active app, the window title, the browser address, the periodic screenshot and your activity level, and it says plainly that recording runs only while your timer is running. Read it and press Finish.
4. On the Track tab, press Clock in when you start working.

That setup screen is the whole of the first run on Windows. It is shown once per account on the computer, so on a shared machine each person sees it for themselves.

If you land on a screen headed No organization yet instead, the sign in worked but no employer has attached your account to theirs. Ask whoever invited you to finish that, then press Check again.

The version you are running is printed at the bottom of the sign in screen, which is useful precisely when you cannot get past it, and again in Settings under About.

Does Windows ask you to allow anything?

No. Apart from the administrator approval while the installer runs, Windows asks for nothing, and there is no switch to go and find in Windows settings afterwards. The agent can name the app in front of you, read the address of the page open in your browser and take a screenshot without being granted anything first.

This is the one place Windows and macOS genuinely differ. On a Mac the same app has to be granted Screen Recording and Accessibility before it can do any of that, and the first run walks you through two extra screens to get them. On Windows those two screens are never drawn at all, because there is nothing to grant. What that means in practice is covered in which permissions macOS asks for.

Updating

The Windows agent updates itself, and it never does so without being asked.

1. Open Settings in the app.
2. Scroll to About. The Version row is what you are running right now.
3. Press Check for updates. If there is nothing newer, the button reads Up to date.
4. If there is something newer, an Install button appears. Press it once and the percentage runs while the file comes down.
5. When the download finishes the app offers to restart, and the new version is in place after the restart.

The app also asks the release server quietly on its own, at most once every six hours. When it finds something a strip appears across the top of the window with the same Install button. One press is enough: pressing it again while a download is running does nothing, on purpose.

Nothing comes down and nothing is installed until you press that button. If you close the app instead of restarting it, a downloaded update is applied the next time you open it.

Starting when you sign in to Windows

Worktivity can open by itself once you sign in to Windows, so a day is not missed because the app was closed. It is a switch inside the app, and it is off until you turn it on. The last screen of the first run offers it, and it is in Settings afterwards as Start Worktivity when I sign in. The same switch turns it off again.

Windows keeps its own list of the programs that start with it, in Task Manager under Startup apps and in Windows settings under Apps, Startup. Switching Worktivity off there is not the same as switching it off in the app, and it is worth knowing the difference: a choice you make in the Windows list is final as far as Worktivity is concerned. The app cannot put itself back on the list afterwards, and the switch in Settings stops working. Only you can undo it, in the same Windows list where you turned it off.

There is a third case. If the switch says starting at sign-in is not available on this PC, the choice was never yours: a policy on the machine controls it, which usually means an administrator set it. Nothing inside Worktivity can override that, so ask whoever manages the computers in your organization.

Closing the app

On Windows the agent has no icon in the notification area, so closing the window closes the app. If your timer is running when you close it, it asks first and shows you how long you have worked today and how many records are still waiting to upload. The two answers are Clock out and quit, which closes today's session before the app exits, and Keep working, which leaves the app open and the timer running.

If the window disappears by itself when you clock in, that is not a crash. Your organization has turned on background mode, which is explained in what background mode is.

Removing it

Uninstall Worktivity from the list of installed apps in Windows settings, the same way you remove any other program. Because it was installed for every account on the computer, Windows asks for administrator approval again.

Clock out before you do, and give the Queue tab a moment to empty. Everything still listed there is a record that has not reached the server yet, and uninstalling the app does not send it. Once the queue is empty, nothing is lost by removing the agent: your hours are already on the server and are read in the Worktivity web app, not here.

Related

• Which desktop app should I install?
• How do I update the desktop app?
• What happens if my computer goes offline?