Key takeaways
- The idle threshold is set per organization in Preferences, from a few seconds up to an hour.
- A threshold that is too short marks reading and thinking as idle. One that is too long hides real gaps.
- Choose with your team's real work in mind, then review after a week.
Every idle detection tool needs a rule: how long can a device be quiet before it counts as idle? That number quietly shapes every report, so it deserves a deliberate choice.
Where it is set
An administrator sets the idle threshold in Preferences. It is a per-organization setting, anywhere from a few seconds up to an hour, and it applies to everyone in the organization.
What goes wrong at each end
Too short: an employee reading a document, thinking through a problem or listening to a colleague shows as idle. The numbers punish the thoughtful.
Too long: a person can step away from a desk for a long time before the report notices, so the data stops reflecting real working time.
Other tools that fix part of the problem
You do not have to cover everything with the threshold. Breaks pause tracking completely, and meetings count as active time even without keyboard or mouse input, so lunch and calls never need to be hidden inside a long threshold.
How to choose
List the kinds of work on your team: mostly typing, or a lot of reading, design and calls.
Pick a moderate starting value rather than the shortest or longest.
Ask a few employees to compare their report with their own memory of the day.
Adjust once, then leave it alone so reports stay comparable over time.
Be consistent
Avoid comparing people on idle time alone, especially across different roles. A designer and a data-entry clerk will look very different at the same threshold.
See active versus idle time, breaks and meetings and the activity level tracking page.