ZoneTick World Time Zone Clock User Guide

Installing

ZoneTick after installation

Launch

Exiting

Getting Familiar with ZoneTick World Time Zone Clock

Right-click menu provides context-sensitive configuration options for ZoneTick World Time Zone Clock

• Options - gives you access to various options in ZoneTick configuration as explained below.
  • Clock or timer settings - allows to change the time zone or city for your clock. Also allows to configure other clock settings such as an action on double-click and whether to display your clock or timer in taskbar or on desktop.
  • Appearance - brings up a page allowing you to change the appearance (skin) for your clock. All taskbar clocks use one skin. Desktop clock skins are configured individually for each clock. This option is context-sensitive. It will show you a different page depending on whether you right-clicked a taskbar or desktop clock.
  • Time and date display options - allows you to select various time and date display options for your clock. For example, time and date display formats are defined here. If your clock is mechanical you can define whether to show the seconds hand and AM/PM indicator or not.
  • Alarms - brings up a page where you set up and configure alarms and reminders. They are configured individually for each clock.
  • Highlights - allows you to configure time-sensitive highlights for your clock. By default clocks have light green highlight during office hours (Monday through Friday 9 am - 6 pm) and light blue highlight at other times but you can easily change that.
  • Time synchronization - provides options to configure time synchronization for your computer. For example, you can set which server to synchronize time with and how often.
  • General - brings up a page with common settings for ZoneTick World Time Zone Clock. You can change the language of the user interface here, auto-start on Windows logon, and configure automatic update options.
• Adjust system Date/Time - takes you to the native Windows clock settings.
• Add clock - adds a new clock.
• Add timer - adds a new countdown timer.
• Add stopwatch - adds a stopwatch that can count time passed since a specific moment.
• Put clock on desktop / Put clock in taskbar - puts a taskbar clock on desktop or a desktop clock in taskbar, depending on where you click.
• Set alarm - allows you to set a new alarm.
• View city photos - takes you to http://cityphotos.info where you can view city photos for the clock location. For example, when invoked from a London clock you will see London photographs.
• World map - shows an interactive globe which you can rotate, zoom, and see current local time in any location in the city database.
• Calendar - shows ZoneTick Calendar on desktop.
• Time converter - shows ZoneTick Time Converter on desktop.
• Time table - brings up ZoneTick Time Table where you can see 24-hour interval for each clock side by side to each other.
• Show notifications - displays ZoneTick Notifications window.
• Read news - allows you to read news from RSS news feeds of your choice.
• Buy now (trial or promotional edition only) - allows you to buy the product.
• Check for updates - checks a web site for updates to the product.
• Online help - forwards the product to online help (this page).
• About ZoneTick - provides information about the product.
• Exit - exits ZoneTick program.

The ToolTip shows up when the mouse is hovered over the clock

Adding a New Clock, Timer, or Stopwatch

Use the Add button to add additional clocks

Removing or Re-ordering Clocks, Timers, and Stopwatches

Configuring

General

ZoneTick World Time Zone Clock General options window

• Interface language – sets the language that ZoneTick World Time Zone Clock will use.
• Auto-start ZoneTick on Windows logon - toggles whether ZoneTick will auto-launch on windows start-up.
• Check for updates every N days – ZoneTick will automatically check for program updates at the interval (in days) that you set here. The default is every 10 days.
• Install updates automatically – determines whether ZoneTick will automatically install any new updates, or allow you to choose when to install updates yourself.
• Notify after updates – ZoneTick can notify you after it has been updated.
• Check for updates now – forces ZoneTick World Time Zone Clock to check for updates immediately when clicked.
• Update clouds image every N hours – checks for updates to the clouds on the world map at the interval (in hours) that you select. The default is 3 hours.

Time Synchronization

• Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server – allows you to specify the intervals in which ZoneTick will synchronize the system time to be accurate to the second. Choices are every day, every hour, every 15 minutes, 5 minutes before alarms (the alarms that you have configured), and 5 minutes after Windows starts (after restarting your computer).
• Server – allows you to choose which internet time synchronization server ZoneTick will synchronize the time with. There are several servers around the world, and you can type in another if you have a preferred server that is not listed. You can also type an IP address in this field.
• Update Now – forces ZoneTick to synchronize the time immediately when pressed. You will see the results and the last time ZoneTick successfully synchronized the time below this button.

News Reader

• Channels – shows the news channels (RSS feeds) that ZoneTick World Time Zone Clock is currently configured to check. A check in the box next to the channel indicates that ZoneTick will check for updates to the feed, and removing the check will disable checking for that feed. You can add new feeds by clicking the Add button and entering the URL to the RSS feed you want included, and remove a channel by highlighting it in the window (click on it) and then click the Remove button. You can also enable or disable all channels shown in the window with the Enable all or Disable all buttons.
• Channel settings – shows you the URL for the currently highlighted news channel. You can set the interval (in minutes) in which it will check for updates, or allow ZoneTick to automatically determine the best time interval to check for updates.
• Disable notifications – determines whether ZoneTick will display a pop-up notification on your desktop when there are new articles available in the news channels that are configured.
• Do not show ads – determines whether ZoneTick automatically removes adds from articles or not.
• Fade out automatically – determines whether pop-up notifications of new articles will automatically fade out after a few seconds.

Appearance in Taskbar

• Skin – allows you to choose which skin clocks will use when displayed in the taskbar. You can see a preview in the "Example" window in the center of this page.
• Use transparent skins – determines whether clocks should use a transparent background that blends into the taskbar or display the opaque background defined in the skin.
• Overlay labels on analog clocks – allows you to choose whether ZoneTick will show labels on top of analog clocks, instead of next to them. Overlaying labels can save space. See the example for the clock you wish to use.
• Show all clocks in tooltip – if selected, ZoneTick will show all the clocks in the tooltip anytime the mouse is hovered over any clock. If not selected it will only show the details for each clock that the mouse is hovered over.
• Show only N clocks in taskbar – allows you to change the maximum number of clocks shown in the taskbar. Any clocks set to be shown in the taskbar but not displayed will still show in the tooltip. Note that the first clocks in the list will be the first omitted when the number of clocks shown is less than the number configured – for example if you have 3 clocks configured (labeled "1", "2", and "3"), and this setting is set to show only 2 clocks in the task bar, clock "1" will not be displayed (except in the tooltip).

Clocks, Timers, and Stopwatches

ZoneTick clock options

• Clock, Timer, or Stopwatch – When a clock, timer, or stopwatch is selected, a few general options for how that item is displayed are shown, including:
  • Location – shows the current time zone for the selected clock, which can be changed by clicking the "Change..." button to the right.
  • Label – shows the name of the clock, which can be seen in the leftmost side clock itself. To change the label simply type in this box.
  • Adjust for daylight saving time – determines whether ZoneTick will automatically adjust the time for daylight saving time for this clock.
  • Action on double-click – determines what ZoneTick will do when you double-click on this specific clock.
  • Show this clock – if "in taskbar" is selected, this clock will be shown in the taskbar where the standard Windows clock would normally be. If "on desktop" is selected, this clock will appear on your desktop, where it can be moved to any location.

• Appearance on desktop – allows you to change how clocks that are configured to appear on the desktop (rather than on the taskbar) will appear.
  • Skin – allows you to set the skin that particular clock will use. This skin setting is separate from all other clocks.
  • Background – determines whether that clock will use a the background set in the skin, or just show the clock face with a transparent background.
  • Transparency – allows you to choose the level of transparency for that clock. Moving the slider to the left will make the clock less transparent (opaque), and moving it to the right will make it more transparent until it is nearly invisible. Note that if you wish to change the size of the clock you can do so by clicking on the clock on your desktop and moving the mouse wheel or using the Page Up / Page Down keys (often abbreviated PgUp / PgDn).

• Time and date display options – determines how the time and date will be formatted for the selected clock.
  • Time – allows you to select how the time of day is formatted for that clock. There are several options to choose from including hours, minutes, seconds, and AM/PM. You can use the following strings:
    • HH – hours in 24-hour format (military time)
    • hh – hours in 12-hour format time (AM/PM)
    • mm – minutes
    • ss - seconds
  • Date – allows you to select how the date is formatted for that clock. There are several existing options to choose from, however if your preferred format is not listed you can type it in manually. You can use any characters between strings You can use the following strings:
    • dddd – day of the week, full word (eg "Friday")
    • ddd – day of the week, abbreviated (eg "Fri")
    • dd – numerical day of the week, with leading zero if single digit (eg "01" for the first of the month)
    • d – numerical day of the week with without leading zero (eg "1" for the first of the month)
    • MMMM – month, full word (eg "January")
    • MMM – month, abbreviated word (eg "Jan")
    • MM – numerical month with leading zero (eg "01" for January)
    • M – numerical month without leading zero (eg "1" for January)
    • yyyy – four digit year (eg "2008")
    • yy – last two digits of year (eg "08")
    • \n – places any following information on the next line. Note that this will only work if there is room in the clock to display another line. For example a single-row clock will not usually display a second line.

• Alarms – allows you to create new alarms for that clock. To create a new alarm, click on "Alarms" under the clock you wish to add an alarm to and click the "Add" button below. You can also highlight an alarm and click "Remove" to delete it, or click "Move up" or "Move down" to change the order of occurrence / priority.
  • Description – allows you to change the description for that alarm.
  • One-Time, Daily, Weekly, etc. – allows you to change the recurrence interval for that alarm. Click on the item corresponding to select how often you wish for that alarm to be triggered.
  • Time – determines the time of day that the alarm will be triggered. Click the down-arrow in the right-hand side of this field to select a time or type it in manually. Underneath the Time field will be the options available for the interval you selected to the left. Use these options to specify the precise time(s) you wish for this alarm to trigger.
  • Reminder – allows you to select whether ZoneTick will display a reminder before the actual alarm is triggered. Options range from 1 minute to 7 days.
  • Action – determines the action that will be taken when the alarm is triggered. ZoneTick can do the following:
    • Show a message (of your choosing)
    • Play a sound (of your choosing, once)
    • Play a sound indefinitely (of your choosing, until you stop it)
    • Open a picture (using the default graphics viewer)
    • Open a webpage (using the default browser)
    • Launch an application or script (of your choosing)
    • Open a document (of your choosing)
    • Shut down the computer
    • Put the computer into "Hibernate"

• Highlights – allows you to create new highlights that change the colors of each clock during the time period you specify. The most common use for highlights is to change the clock to a brighter color during working hours.
  • Tooltip – allows you to change the text that will appear in the tooltip while that highlight is active (only if "Show all clocks in tooltip" is NOT checked).
  • Start time / End Time – allows you to set the time period that the highlight will be active.
  • Days – allows you to select which days the highlight will activate. You can, for example, only select work days so that a "working hours" highlight is not active on your weekend days.
  • Change Color – allows you to select the color that the clock / timer / stopwatch will change to while the highlight is active. You can see a preview in the "Example" window.
  • Strength – allows you to change the strength (transparency) of the highlight color.

ZoneTick Stopwatch options

ZoneTick Timer options

Using Stopwatches and Timers

Always on Top

Pinning Desktop Clocks and Timers Together

Displaying Calendar

ZoneTick World Time Zone Clock Calendar

Using Time Converter

ZoneTick Time Converter

Technical Support

• Please read the FAQ about ZoneTick World Time Zone Clock first.
• Consider looking in the product support forum. Could it be that someone else had a similar problem and the solution is already available?
• If your question is not answered in the FAQ and the forum consider sending it to us using the form below.
• The best way to reach us is via the product support form or by sending an email to support @ wrconsulting.com. However, if you have a serious problem you can try calling (425) 296-6777. We do not monitor this number 24/7 but if someone is around we will try to help you.

Technical Support Form