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Quick Start Guide

Welcome to Focust! This guide will help you get started with your first break reminders in just a few minutes.

First Launch

When you first launch Focust, you'll find it in your system tray icon. The application is already running in the background and will start reminding you to take breaks based on the default schedule.

Understanding the Default Setup

Out of the box, Focust is configured with:

  • Mini breaks: Every 20 minutes (20 seconds duration)
  • Long breaks: After every 4 mini breaks (5 minutes duration)
  • Active time: Fullday through the week
  • Language: Automatically detected from your system

Basic Configuration

1. Adjust Break Intervals

If you want to change how often breaks occur:

  1. Go to the Break Schedules tab
  2. Find the "Default Schedule" section
  3. Under Mini Break:
    • Change "Interval" to your preferred time (e.g., 30 minutes)
    • Adjust "Duration" if you want longer/shorter breaks
  4. Under Long Break:
    • Change "After mini breaks" (e.g., 3 instead of 4)
    • Adjust "Duration" (e.g., 10 minutes instead of 5)
  5. Click Save changes at the top

2. Customize Break Appearance

To make breaks more visually appealing:

  1. Stay in the Break Schedules tab
  2. Scroll down to Theme section (under Mini Breaks or Long Breaks)
  3. Choose a background:
    • Click Solid Color and pick a color
    • Or click Single Image and browse for a background image
    • Or click Image Folder to select a folder of images for random backgrounds
  4. Adjust text color, blur, and opacity sliders
  5. Click Save changes

3. Add Break Sounds

To get audio notifications:

  1. In the Break Schedules tab, find the Audio section
  2. Select "Built-in Sound" and choose from:
    • Gentle Bell
    • Soft Gong
    • Notification
    • Bright Notification
  3. Adjust volume slider
  4. Click "Preview" to test the sound
  5. Click Save changes

4. Set Up Timed Reminders (Optional)

For specific time-based reminders (like drinking water):

  1. Go to the Timed Reminders tab
  2. Click Add Reminder
  3. Fill in:
    • Name: "Water Reminder"
    • Title: "Hydration Time"
    • Message: "Drink a glass of water!"
    • Reminder times: Add times like "10:00", "14:00", "16:00"
  4. Choose which days it should appear
  5. Click Save changes

Using Focust

During a Break

When a break appears:

  • Timer shows time remaining
  • Suggestion gives you ideas (stretches, eye exercises, etc.)
  • Resume button: Finish the break early
  • Postpone button: Delay the break by 5 minutes (configurable)
  • Keyboard shortcuts: Press Enter to finish, or your configured key to postpone

System Tray

Focust lives in your system tray (notification area):

  • Left click: Show settings window
  • Right click: Menu with options:
    • Show Settings
    • Pause/Resume
    • Quit

Pausing Breaks

Sometimes you need to pause all breaks (important meeting, presentation, etc.):

  1. Click Pause button at the top of settings
  2. Or right-click tray icon → Pause
  3. Click Resume when you're ready to continue

Postponing a Break

If a break interrupts at a bad time:

  1. Click Postpone button in the break window
  2. Or press your configured postpone shortcut (set in General settings)
  3. The break will reappear in 5 minutes (or your configured postpone duration)

Tips for Beginners

1. Start with Longer Intervals

If 20-minute intervals feel too frequent, increase to 30 or 45 minutes while you adjust.

2. Enable Notifications

Turn on "Notify before" (5-10 seconds warning) so breaks don't surprise you.

3. Use Strict Mode Sparingly

Strict mode prevents skipping breaks. Only enable this if you really need the discipline!

4. Customize for Your Schedule

Create different break schedules for:

  • Work hours (frequent breaks)
  • Evening (less frequent)
  • Weekends (optional, or different timing)

5. Experiment with Themes

Try different background images that relax you. Nature scenes, minimalist patterns, or solid calming colors work well.

Common Questions

"How do I test break reminders without waiting?"

  • You can use the Preview feature in the Break Schedules tab to see how your breaks will look and feel without waiting for the actual reminders
  • If you want to see the real break/reminder window, or if you have selected "Image Folder" for backgrounds and want to see the random effect:
  • Go to the Advanced Settings tab and click the icon to show the Debug area, where you can manually enable short breaks, long breaks, reminder windows, or skip the current break (v0.2.3+)

"Cannot resume scheduler from paused state via settings/tray icon"

  • This is because the scheduler is paused by some monitor (e.g., DND monitor), not manually by the user
  • Manual resume only works when no monitors have sent pause commands, i.e., manual resume can only recover from pauses caused by manual pausing

"The breaks are interrupting important work!"

  • Use the Postpone feature liberally at first
  • Set a global postpone shortcut for quick delays
  • Consider increasing your break intervals
  • Use system idle detection (under General) to auto-pause when you're away

"I want breaks to appear on all my monitors"

  • Go to General Settings tab
  • Enable "Show breaks on all monitors"
  • Click Save changes

"How do I make breaks fullscreen?"

  • Go to General Settings tab
  • Set "Break window size" to 100%
  • Breaks will now fill the entire screen

"Can I disable suggestions?"

  • Go to Break Schedules tab
  • Under your schedule's Suggestions section
  • Uncheck "Show suggestions during breaks"
  • Click Save changes

"I want to use my own audio files"

  • Go to Break Schedules → Audio
  • Select "Custom File"
  • Click Browse and select your MP3/WAV/OGG file
  • Adjust volume and save

"Scheduler status frequently pauses on Windows"

  • This may be due to the "Do Not Disturb Mode Detection" option being enabled, as Windows automatically enables "Do Not Disturb" in certain scenarios by default
  • You can open settings with Win + I, navigate to "System" → "Notifications", and configure the automatic rules for "Do Not Disturb" yourself
  • Or disable this detection option in Focust

Next Steps

Once you're comfortable with the basics:

  1. Read CONFIGURATION.md for detailed options
  2. Create multiple break schedules for different times of day
  3. Add timed reminders for specific tasks
  4. Customize themes for different break types
  5. Experiment with suggestions by editing the TOML files

Getting Help

Important Notes

  • Config location: Open via Advanced tab → "Open configuration directory"
  • Logs location: Open via Advanced tab → "Open log directory" (for debugging)
  • Save regularly: Always click "Save changes" after modifying settings

Enjoy healthier work habits with Focust! Remember: Regular breaks improve focus, productivity, and well-being. 🎯💚