Key takeaways
- The agent reads a yes/no input signal and system lock, sleep and wake events, never what was typed.
- Admins set the idle threshold per organization, from a few seconds up to an hour.
- Breaks pause tracking, so a break is never counted as idle time.
Active and idle time is the backbone of workforce reporting: it shows how much of a working day was spent at the keyboard versus away from it. The usual objection is that measuring it means logging keystrokes. It does not have to.
How the agent tells active from idle
The desktop agent reads a simple hardware signal: is keyboard or mouse input happening right now? That is a yes/no answer. The agent never sees which keys were pressed or what was typed or clicked. It also listens for system lock, unlock, sleep and wake events, which mark clear boundaries in a work session.
The idle threshold
A device is marked idle when there has been no input for longer than the idle threshold. Admins set it per organization, anywhere from a few seconds up to an hour. There is no universally right value. A short threshold surfaces brief pauses, while a longer one tolerates reading, thinking and calls, so start from how your team actually works and adjust.
Breaks are not idle time
Employees start and end breaks from the agent, and a break pauses tracking so it is never mistaken for idle time. Each day's report then splits cleanly into working, idle and break time.
What happens when a device goes quiet
The agent sends batched events and heartbeats, at most one batch every 30 seconds. If a device stops reporting, it is marked offline, and managers and admins can be alerted once it has been silent for a while.
What a daily report shows
Working time, idle time and break time for the day
The applications and website domains in use, classified as Productive, Neutral or Unproductive by your own rules
What idle detection does not do
It is based on input presence only. It does not read screen content, record keystrokes or use the webcam.
Learn more on the activity level tracking and breaks and meetings pages.