Features
Timer Modes
| Mode |
Description |
| Countdown |
Set hours / minutes / seconds; alert fires at zero |
| Stopwatch |
Counts up with centisecond precision; paused state persists across restarts |
| Date / Time |
Count down to a specific date and time; supports early reminders |
Alerts
| Feature |
Details |
| Alert color |
16-color palette per timer (8 pastels + 8 vivid) |
| Alert title color |
12-color palette for the name text inside the alert |
| Alert style |
Lens (small floating popup), Fullscreen flash, or Both |
| Alert sounds |
Beep, Chime, Alarm, Bell, Ping, Silent — with Preview button |
| Alert text size |
Adjustable font size (12–60 pt) per timer |
| Auto-dismiss |
Configurable timeout (0 = manual dismiss only) |
| Auto-reset |
Restart countdown automatically after each alert |
| Dismiss / Escape |
Click alert popup or press Escape to dismiss |
Early Reminders (Date/Time mode)
| Feature |
Details |
| Lead time |
Set a reminder up to 72 hours before the target |
| Repeat interval |
Repeat the reminder every N minutes between lead time and target |
| h/m input |
Enter hours and minutes directly, or use the slider |
| VALARM auto-import |
Reminder lead time is auto-populated from ICS VALARM data |
Calendar Import
| Feature |
Details |
| ICS file |
Import events from any calendar app (Outlook, Google, Apple, etc.) |
| Outlook direct |
Read upcoming events directly from Outlook desktop via COM |
| RRULE expansion |
Recurring events (daily/weekly/monthly/yearly) are fully expanded |
| Location field |
Event location shown in picker and auto-imported into Notes |
| VALARM |
Pre-event alarm triggers auto-populate the reminder lead time |
| Multi-select |
Select multiple events at once; each creates its own timer card |
| All-day events |
Imported at 9:00 AM on the event date (adjustable after import) |
Per-Timer Notes
Each timer card has a collapsible 📝 Notes panel for free-text notes or descriptions. Calendar imports auto-populate from the event's DESCRIPTION and LOCATION fields. Notes persist across restarts.
Quick Presets
A Quick preset dropdown in the alert settings applies common configurations instantly:
Pomodoro (25 min), Short break (5 min), Long break (15 min), 1 hour, End of day (5:00 PM), Midnight.
Window & UX
| Feature |
Details |
| Multiple timers |
Run unlimited timers simultaneously |
| Drag to reorder |
Drag a card's header row to change its position |
| Duplicate timer |
⧉ button copies all settings to a new card |
| Collapsible cards |
▾ collapse individual cards to save space |
| Persistent timers |
All timers and settings saved automatically, restored on restart |
| Export / Import |
Back up timers to JSON; import on any machine |
| Always on top |
☆ Pin keeps the window above all other windows |
| Hide / Show |
⊘ Hide collapses all cards; alerts still show a banner |
| Dark / Light theme |
◑ Theme toggles between dark and light mode |
| System tray |
Closing minimises to tray; timers keep running |
| Tray reminders |
Balloon tooltip fires when an early reminder triggers |
| Taskbar progress |
Windows taskbar button shows countdown progress and turns red on alert |
| Start with Windows |
Optional startup entry in Windows login sequence |
| Window position |
Position and size persist across restarts; clamped on monitor disconnect |
| Ctrl+N |
Global shortcut to add a new timer |
Accessibility
- Full
AutomationProperties.Name and HelpText on every interactive control
- WCAG 1.4.3 AA contrast met by both dark and light themes (body text ≥ 7:1)
- WCAG 2.5.5 touch target minimum 44×44px on all position grid buttons
- Keyboard navigation: Escape dismisses alerts and cancels name edits; Enter commits names
- Windows Reduce Motion respected: pulse animation suppressed when animations are off
- Windows High Contrast: automatically switches to light theme when HC is active
Project Structure
| File |
Purpose |
App.xaml / .cs |
WPF entry point; theme switching; single-instance guard; High Contrast detection |
MainWindow.xaml / .cs |
Main window; toolbar; tray; global tick; drag-to-reorder; taskbar progress |
TimerCard.xaml / .cs |
UserControl per timer; all state machine, alert, reminder, preset, notes logic |
TimerModel.cs |
Data model: all fields, state machine, display formatting, progress |
TimerPersistence.cs |
Atomic JSON save/load; self-test; stopwatch restore |
AppPrefs.cs |
Window geometry and theme persistence |
LensPopupBase.cs |
Shared base class for all floating alert/reminder popups |
LensAlertWindow.cs |
Final "Time's up!" lens popup |
LensReminderWindow.cs |
Early reminder lens popup |
FlashOverlayWindow.cs |
Fullscreen alert overlay |
AlertSoundPlayer.cs |
Windows Beep API tones — zero external audio dependencies |
CalendarImporter.cs |
ICS parser (RFC 5545, RRULE, VALARM, LOCATION) + Outlook COM reader |
CalendarEventPickerDialog.xaml / .cs |
Calendar event picker with checkbox multi-select |
AboutDialog.xaml / .cs |
Version info, startup toggle, Export/Import |
WhatsNewDialog.xaml / .cs |
What's New shown once per version |
Themes/Dark.xaml |
Dark colour tokens (Catppuccin Mocha–inspired) |
Themes/Light.xaml |
Light colour tokens |
app.manifest |
DPI awareness (PerMonitorV2) + UAC |
installer.nsi |
NSIS installer script (requires NSIS 3.x) |
Settings Files
| File |
Location |
| Timers |
%AppData%\TimerStudio\timers.json |
| Preferences |
%AppData%\TimerStudio\prefs.json |
| Version seen |
%AppData%\TimerStudio\seen_version.txt |
| Timers backup |
%AppData%\TimerStudio\timers.json.bak |
