SuperMemo Plan Timer is an easy-to-use add-on to the SuperMemo 2000/2002 schedule manager . This small standalone application is our warranty you will not lose the sense of time while being swept away by creative endeavors of your daily plan. It will help you keep the balance reflected in your schedule by unintrusive reminding about approaching activities and raising alarms when their due times come.

Quick reference guide

Table of contents:

• Program overview

• Key features
• Screenshots

• How-tos

• Use SuperMemo Plan Timer in the Manual mode
• Use SuperMemo Plan Timer in the Automatic mode
• Use SuperMemo together with SuperMemo Plan Timer without taking your hands off the keyboard

Program overview

Key features:

• Timer to precisely measure your activities in the SuperMemo schedule manager.
• Progress bar displaying the expected time, at which alarm will go off, as well as providing the visual feedback about how much of the current activity has elapsed.
• Two modes for setting alarm: Manual and Automatic (to simplify the SuperMemo Plan Timer routine).
• Option to play reminder at a specified time before the current activity's end.
• Option to play alarm at the current activity's end.
• Option to either display a notification message prompting you to switch to SuperMemo, automatically run SuperMemo, or play alarm only (if you would like to use SuperMemo Plan Timer for timing other activities than those in your schedule, e.g. egg boiling) at the current activity's end.
• Option to specify the default length of time to count down in case your schedule is composed of many activities of the same optimal lengths.
• Option to specify the default amount of time (in minutes or as the percentage of a given activity's duration) at which the reminder sound will be played.
• Option to extend the current slot (by up to 20% of the original activity's duration) in case you are not finished with the activity yet.
• Possibility to assign your own sounds to the Reminder and Alarm events.
• Screen snapping to easy dock SuperMemo Plan Timer to the edges of your monitor screen.

Screenshots:

• SuperMemo Plan Timer: Main window
• SuperMemo Plan Timer: Set Alarm dialog box
• SuperMemo Plan Timer: Confirm Switching to SuperMemo dialog box
• SuperMemo Plan Timer: Options | General tab
• SuperMemo Plan Timer: Options | Events tab

How-tos

Use SuperMemo Plan Timer in the Manual mode:

1. Run SuperMemo.
2. On the Tools menu, click Plan to start the schedule manager (press CTRL+P to perform this action with a single shortcut key).
3. In the schedule manager, choose the schedule template in the drop-down box in the top-left corner of the schedule manager (press CTRL+ALT+T to select the schedule using your keyboard).
4. On the schedule manager toolbar, click the Menu drop-down button, then click Save As to save the active schedule template with a different file name (press CTRL+SHIFT+S to perform this action with a single shortcut key).
   By default, SuperMemo will name your today's schedule by using today's date (e.g. Sep 17, 2003, Wed).
5. In the schedule manager, click the first row to select today's first activity.
6. On the schedule manager toolbar, click Set to set the current time as the beginning of the currently selected activity.
7. Glance at the currently selected activity's cell in the ActLen column. Its value is the actual length of time (in min) allocated for this activity. Keep it in mind as you will use this length to set up SuperMemo Plan Timer.
8. Close the schedule manager (press ESC to perform this action with a single keystroke). You can also close SuperMemo if the current activity does not require you to keep it running (e.g. exercising as opposed to working on a creative project; press ALT+F4 to perform this action with a single shortcut key).
9. Run SuperMemo Plan Timer.
10. In the program main window, click the Set Alarm button to set the duration of the current activity as indicated in your schedule (press F4 to perform this action with a single keystroke).
11. Select the Manual option button.
12. In the Length [1..999] box, enter the length of time that you remember from the Step 7. You could optionally subtract a minute or so from the end to prevent constant delays in the schedule).
13. In the Remind at [1..10] box, enter the number of minutes prior to the alarm to play the reminder sound.
14. Click Set to start the countdown to the beginning of the next activity.
15. When the length of time allocated for the current activity elapses, SuperMemo Plan Timer will prompt you to run or restore SuperMemo so you could mark the beginning of the next activity in your schedule.
16. Upon alarm, repeat the same procedure for successive activities until you reach the end of the schedule.

Use SuperMemo Plan Timer in the Automatic mode:

1. Run SuperMemo.
2. On the Tools menu, click Plan to start the schedule manager (press CTRL+P to perform this action with a single shortcut key).
3. In the schedule manager, choose the schedule template in the drop-down box in the top-left corner of the schedule manager (press CTRL+ALT+T to select the schedule using your keyboard).
4. On the schedule manager toolbar, click the Menu drop-down button, then click Save As to save the active schedule template with a different file name (press CTRL+SHIFT+S to perform this action with a single shortcut key).
   By default, SuperMemo will name your today's schedule by using today's date (e.g. Sep 17, 2003, Wed).
5. In the schedule manager, click the first row to select today's first activity.
6. On the schedule manager toolbar, click Set to set the current time as the beginning of the currently selected activity.
7. Close the schedule manager (press ESC to perform this action with a single keystroke). You can also close SuperMemo if the current activity does not require you to keep it running (e.g. exercising as opposed to working on a creative project; press ALT+F4 to perform this action with a single shortcut key).
8. Run SuperMemo Plan Timer.
9. In the program main window, click the Set Alarm button to set your today’s schedule for execution (press F4 to perform this action with a single keystroke).
10. Select the Automatic option button.
    SuperMemo Plan Timer will automatically set your today’s schedule (i.e. Sep 17, 2003, Wed) for execution.
11. Click Set to start the countdown to the beginning of the next activity.
12. When the length of time allocated for the current activity elapses, SuperMemo Plan Timer will prompt you to run or restore SuperMemo so you could mark the beginning of the next activity in your schedule.
13. Upon alarm, SuperMemo Plan Timer will automatically set the length of the next activity (as indicated in your schedule). You will only have to click the Start button to begin the countdown for the next activity (press F5 to perform this action with a single keystroke).
    Keep pressing the Start button for successive activities until you reach the end of the schedule.

Note Since SuperMemo Plan Timer in the Automatic mode uses optimal lengths as opposed to actual lengths to set durations of individual activities, choose this mode only if you do not experience permanent and significant delays during execution of your daily plan.

Use SuperMemo together with SuperMemo Plan Timer without taking your hands off the keyboard:

1. In SuperMemo, CTRL+P opens the schedule manager.
2. In the schedule manager, move to the next/previous activity using these keys:
• DOWN ARROW moves the focus down to the next activity.
• UP ARROW moves the focus up to the previous activity.
3. In the schedule manager, ALT+S sets the current time as the beginning of the currently selected activity.
4. ESC closes the schedule manager.
5. ENTER saves the current schedule with changes you have made.
6. Optionally, if a given activity does not require you to keep SuperMemo running, ALT+F4 closes SuperMemo.
7. ALT+TAB switches between SuperMemo and SuperMemo Plan Timer.
   Tip: If you there are more open programs, press ALT+TAB without releasing the ALT key and keep pressing the TAB key repeatedly until the focus moves to the Hourglass icon , and then release the ALT key.
8. In SuperMemo Plan Timer, F4 opens the Set Alarm dialog box.
9. In the Length [1..999] box, enter a desired length of time before the alarm is raised when the next activity, as indicated in your schedule, should begin.
10. Press TAB to move to the Remind at [1..10] box.
11. In the Remind at [1..10] box, enter the number of minutes prior to the alarm to play the reminder sound.
    Tip: If the default value of the Remind at [1..10] box suits you, you can skip steps 10 and 11 and go directly to the Step 12.
12. In the Set Alarm dialog box, ENTER sets the entered duration to count down and closes the dialog box.
13. In SuperMemo Plan Timer, F5 starts the countdown until the next activity.
14. In the Confirm SuperMemo Run dialog box, when the alarm is raised, ENTER switches to SuperMemo.

Note If you use SuperMemo Plan Timer in the Automatic mode, you no longer need to manually set lengths of time until the next activity. This makes it possible to skip steps from 8 to 12 and go directly to the Step 13.

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