Account & Support
Understand Tracking and Data Privacy
Learn what ZMorning records during tracking, who can review it, where screenshots and pending data are stored, and how to make a privacy request.
What does ZMorning record during tracking?
While the employee desktop timer is running, ZMorning can record tracked time, the selected employer and task, minute-level keyboard and mouse hit counts, and randomized screenshots when those settings are enabled. It does not record the text typed, mouse coordinates, application names, or visited URLs through the current activity-count workflow.
See how tracked work becomes records
- Work context
- The employee account, selected employer, selected task when one exists, capture identifiers, and local tracking timestamps.
- Minute activity
- A keyboard-hit count and mouse-button count for each recorded minute, subject to the employer's saved settings.
- Ten-minute slot
- A fixed time record used to group minute activity and screenshots and to calculate tracked duration.
- Screenshot
- An image of the selected display scope, its capture time, capture identifier, task context, and storage reference.
- Manual time
- A user-created ten-minute slot. It is marked manual and does not create keyboard, mouse, or screenshot evidence.
- Reports and invoices
- Tracked slots contribute duration. Billing settings and rate history determine work-invoice amounts; screenshots and activity counts do not determine those amounts.
Understand who controls tracking settings
Manager view, shown as Client in ZMorning
Configure settings for each employee
The employer can configure screenshot capture, keyboard-hit counts, and mouse-click counts for an employee relationship. Saving customized choices requires the plan access described in the tracking-settings guide.
Employee view, shown as Employee in ZMorning
Track under the selected employer
The desktop app loads that employer's settings when Start is selected. In the desktop app, a linked Client account represents the employee's employer, and the selector chooses an employer—not a workspace.
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Select the correct employer
The selected employer becomes part of the session context and receives the uploaded tracking records.
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Select the assigned task
Choose the task for the work before starting. That task is included with minute activity and screenshot uploads.
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Select Start
The desktop app retrieves the current employer-specific settings before beginning the session.
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Select Stop when work ends
Stop ends activity counting and cancels scheduled screenshot timers for that session.
Understand keyboard and mouse counts
Keyboard setting enabled
Count keydown events
ZMorning increments a counter while tracking. It records the count, not the key value or text produced.
Mouse setting enabled
Count mouse-button events
ZMorning increments a counter while tracking. It records the count, not the pointer coordinates or clicked content.
Understand screenshot capture
When screenshot capture is enabled, the desktop app schedules one randomized capture within the remaining part of each ten-minute interval. A capture event can produce one image per included display.
One display
Capture the available display
No display-choice prompt is needed when the desktop app detects one display.
All monitors
Create several image records
One randomized capture can include a separate image for every matched display.
Active monitor
Capture one determined display
The desktop app determines the active display at capture time and requests that image.
Understand data stored on the employee's computer
The desktop app keeps a saved session and a separate pending-tracking queue in its application data directory. The queue allows minute activity and screenshots to survive a connection problem and upload later.
- Saved session
- The app attempts to protect the saved session with operating-system secure storage. If that protection is unavailable, the session may be stored without encryption.
- Pending minute activity
- The local queue retains the employee, employer, task, timestamp, activity counts, retry status, and authorization data needed for another upload attempt.
- Pending screenshot
- The local queue retains the captured image data and its work context until the upload succeeds.
- Successful upload
- The corresponding item is removed from the pending queue after ZMorning accepts it.
Understand uploaded screenshot storage
- Default storage
- When no external provider is active, ZMorning stores the uploaded image through its default screenshot-storage path.
- Dropbox or Google Drive
- An employer with the available feature can connect a provider and enable it for future screenshot uploads.
- Provider upload failure
- ZMorning attempts default storage for that screenshot rather than automatically discarding the capture.
- Provider folder structure
- Successful external uploads are organized by capture month and employee email under a zmorning.com folder.
Learn how screenshot-storage routing and external-file deletion work.
Know who can review workplace records
Manager view, shown as Client in ZMorning
Review records for the employer
Today and reporting workflows load time and activity associated with that employer and its linked employees.
Employee view, shown as Employee in ZMorning
Review personal records under the employer
The employee view, shown as Employee in ZMorning, limits Today records to the signed-in employee under the selected employer.
- Task comments, attachments, reports, and invoices can expose additional information beyond desktop tracking.
- A manager should grant dashboard and connected-provider access only to people authorized to review workplace records.
- An employee should confirm the intended employer before Start because uploaded records keep that employer association.
- Removing an employee relationship does not delete the person's ZMorning account or automatically erase all historical records.
Understand deletion and retention boundaries
- Remove a screenshot-bearing slot
- Removing it deletes the whole ten-minute slot and its related activity records, not only the selected image.
- Delete a default-storage screenshot record
- The ZMorning deletion flow also attempts to remove its corresponding default-storage file.
- Delete a provider-backed record
- The Dropbox or Google Drive file remains and must be deleted separately through that provider when required.
- Disconnect provider storage
- Disconnecting stops ZMorning from using that provider but does not remove files already created there.
- Remove an employer relationship
- This removes access to that employer relationship; it is not whole-account deletion.
- Retention period
- ZMorning does not show one fixed retention duration for every record. Employer policy, record type, provider settings, and applicable requirements can differ.
Make a privacy or data request
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Identify who manages the records
For workplace data controlled through an employer, begin with that employer when appropriate.
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Describe the request precisely
Include the account email, employer, record type, relevant dates, and whether the request concerns access, correction, export, restriction, or deletion.
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Use the privacy contact route
Follow the current Privacy Policy, which lists on@zmorning.com and the contact page.
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Do not send unnecessary sensitive content
Do not include passwords, verification codes, reset links, access tokens, or unrelated employee screenshots.
Frequently asked questions
Does ZMorning record what an employee types?
No. When keyboard tracking is enabled, ZMorning sends a count of keydown events for the recorded minute. It does not send the key values or typed text.
Does mouse tracking record where an employee clicks?
No. When mouse tracking is enabled, ZMorning sends a count of mouse-button events. It does not send pointer coordinates or the content that was clicked.
Can a screenshot contain private information?
Yes. Anything visible on an included display can appear in the image, including messages, credentials, customer information, personal content, or notifications. Close or move sensitive content before tracking.
What is stored locally during a connection problem?
The desktop pending queue can retain minute activity, work context, authorization data, and captured screenshot image data until upload succeeds. That pending-tracking file is not encrypted by the desktop app.
Does signing out of the desktop app remove pending tracking data?
Not currently. Signing out removes the saved session, but the pending tracking queue remains so unsynchronized records can retry. Let work synchronize and use the organization's device-erasure process before transferring or disposing of the device.
Does deleting a ZMorning record delete an external provider file?
No. A screenshot stored in Dropbox or Google Drive must be deleted separately through that provider. Disconnecting the provider also leaves previously created files in place.
How do I make a privacy or data request?
For employer-managed workplace records, begin with the employer when appropriate. The ZMorning Privacy Policy also lists on@zmorning.com and the Contact page. Describe the account, employer, record type, dates, and requested action without sending passwords, codes, tokens, or unrelated screenshots.