Pomodoro Timer¶

If you write a lot, you likely have experienced writing fatigue due to excessive long hours of working. To combat this, Francesco Cirillo devised a technique called the Pomodoro technique which breaks down long sessions into intervals (with breaks). This allows the brain to refresh itself and helps avoids burn-out. It works as follows:

1. Work (typically 25 minutes)
2. Short break (typically 5 - 10 minutes)
3. Repeat (3 times)
4. Long break (typically 25 - 30 minutes)
5. Repeat from Step 1

Zettlr simplifies this process with a built-in Pomodoro timer.

Using the Pomodoro timer¶

Access the Pomodoro timer by clicking on the circle in the top right corner of the screen, inside the Toolbar.

The Pomodoro timer, has 3 core settings that can be altered.

• The length of the Work, Short Break and Break duration's can be adjusted by entering the time (in minutes) in their respective text boxes.
• After each phase, a Sound Effect is played, which can be chosen using the drop down menu (either Glass, Digital Alarm and Chime).
• The volume of the chosen sound is adjusted using the volume slider (fully left is no sound). You can either drag or click to choose the desired level (this will preview the sound).

This is not your system volume, so if your system's volume is only at 20 percent, even a volume of 100 percent inside Zettlr will only sound as loud as 20 percent.

Finally, you can also choose which sound Zettlr will play when a phase ends: The known, soft glass sound, an alarm clock, or a chime.

Click on Start to begin the timer. Then, the circle will be filled with the color of the current phase (either red, yellow, or green). Once it is full, the next phase will begin.

To Stop the timer or simply review the current status of the timer, click the circle. A small popup shows the remaining amount of time for the current phase, the type of the current phase and will give the option to stop session.