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Focus Mode

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Focus Mode helps you cut distractions in Wavebox by turning off notifications, hiding unread badges, and muting audio. You can quiet everything, or just the Spaces and Groups you name, for a set time or until you turn it off. You can also set quiet hours that run on their own, so a client goes quiet outside their working day without you remembering to do anything.

Start a Focus session

  • Open the Focus Mode panel: Click the bell icon in the bottom-left corner of the Wavebox window.
  • Choose how long: 25 minutes, 50 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, a set time, or until turned off.
  • Choose which apps and tabs: Click to confirm which apps to include - see Focus Zones below.
  • Choose what to mute:
    • Desktop Notifications: stops banner alerts,
    • Unread Badges: hides the red unread counts on app icons
    • Sounds: mutes sounds from Wavebox. Each one is a separate toggle.
  • Keep sound for calls and media: Toggle ON or OFF. Calls and videos stay audible. Their notifications stay quiet.
  • Choose what to hide:
    • Tooltips: Hide space, group, app and tab pop-over (hover) menus.
    • Sleep quiet apps: If selected, quiet apps will also sleep.
    • Full window focus: If selected, the screen will be covered with the timer.
  • Focus Sounds: Choose sounds like rain, quiet cafe, fireplace, ocean, white noise.
  • Start the session: Click the button to start.

While a session is running you can add time to it or stop it from the same place, so a 25-minute session that needs to be 40 does not have to be restarted.

When Focus mode is enabled

  • The bell icon shows a countdown ring as the session runs.
  • The menubar icon (macOS) or tray icon (Windows) shows the same countdown, so you can see where you are without opening Wavebox.
  • Hovering the bell tells you how long is left.

When a Space or Group is quiet, its webdock icon is dimmed and shows a small moon, so you can see which clients are paused at a glance.

Focus Zones

Focus Zones apply Focus Mode to parts of Wavebox instead of all of it. A zone can now include whole Spaces as well as Groups, so you can quiet two client Spaces completely while your own work carries on as normal.

  • Create a Focus Zone. In the Focus Mode panel, open the scope dropdown and select Create. Name the zone and choose the Spaces and Groups it includes.
  • Use a Focus Zone. Choose your zone in the scope dropdown, set the mute options and duration, then start the session. Only what is in that zone is muted.

Calls and media keep their sound

If an app is on a call or playing audio when focus starts, or starts doing so during a session, its sound stays on. You will not join a meeting to silence because focus was running. The app's other notifications stay muted.

Let an app or Group through

Any app or Group can be let through for the rest of a session from its right-click menu, so one client stays audible while everything else stays quiet.

What you missed

Wavebox Mini has a Missed tab showing everything that arrived while you were focused, so nothing is lost and you can deal with it in one pass rather than hunting through apps.

  • Mark done clears an item once you have handled it.
  • Summarize with Brainbox turns the list into a short summary. Brainbox reads only what you point it at.

Start a Pomodoro session

Pomodoro runs focus in rounds, with short breaks between them and a longer one after every fourth.

  • Open the Focus Mode panel: Click the bell icon in the bottom-left corner of the Wavebox window.
  • Click the Pomodoro tab: at the top of the pop-up.
  • Set how long:
    • Set the session lengths: Enter a number or click the up/down arrows
    • Break lengths: Enter a number or click the up/down arrows
    • Long-break lengths: Enter a number or click the up/down arrows
    • Sessions per cycle: Enter a number or click the up/down arrows
  • Auto-start:
    • Sessions: Choose whether the next session and breaks start automatically or wait for you.
    • Breaks: Stop, skip a break, or end the cycle at any point.
  • Choose which apps and tabs: Click to confirm which apps to include. Pomodoro can use a Focus Zone, so each session quiets only that zone and breaks lift focus completely.
  • Start Pomodoro: Click the button to start.

Setup Quiet hours

Quiet hours run by themselves, so a Space or Group goes quiet outside the hours you keep for it. You can set them per Space or per Group, so one client can be quiet outside 9:00 to 17:30 while everything else carries on. When you need an app that is inside its quiet hours anyway, use Open Anyway. Schedules follow your computer's clock and time zone.

  • Open the Focus Mode panel: Click the bell icon in the bottom-left corner of the Wavebox window.
  • Click the Quiet Hours tab: at the top of the pop-up.
  • Click on + Add Quiet Hours
    • Which Space or Group: Click on a space or group
    • Quiet hours on: Every app in this Space goes quiet. Toggle ON/OFF.
    • Days: Choose days of the week the schedule applies to.
    • Hours (start and end): Add the times it should be quiet. Enter a number or click the up/down arrows
    • Add another time range: Add another "Hours" range.
  • Choose what to mute:
    • Desktop Notifications: stops banner alerts,
    • Unread Badges: hides the red unread counts on app icons
    • Sounds: mutes sounds from Wavebox. Each one is a separate toggle.
  • Save Quiet Hours: Click the button to save. Your new Quiet Hours range is displayed.
  • Edit: Click the Quiet Hours range, make your changes and click "Save" button.
  • Remove: Click the Quiet Hours range, followed by the trash can icon in the top-left corner.

Ways to start and stop focus

The bell icon is the quickest route, and there are others:

  • The menubar icon (macOS) or tray icon (Windows).
  • Wavebox Mini.
  • Quick Switch.
  • A keyboard shortcut you set in Settings > General > Keyboard Shortcuts.
  • Chat with Settings, in plain language. It can start, stop and extend a session, and set up zones and quiet hours for you. Try "Focus for 50 minutes", "Give me another 20 minutes", or "Quiet Client B after 6pm on weekdays".

Exit Focus Mode

  • Manually. Click the bell icon and stop the session. Notifications and badges come back straight away.
  • Automatically. A timed session ends on its own when the time runs out.

Tips and troubleshooting

  • Still getting alerts? Check the mute options in the panel. Notifications, badges, and sound are separate toggles, so one can be on while the others are off.
  • An app is making noise during focus. It is probably in a call or playing media, which keeps its sound on by design.
  • A Space is quiet when you did not expect it. Check whether it has quiet hours set. Use Open Anyway if you need it now.
  • Catching up afterwards. Open Wavebox Mini and use the Missed tab.
  • Keep Wavebox up to date. Make sure you are on the latest version to get all the Focus Mode features described here.

Focus Mode is a quick way to get an hour of quiet, and quiet hours mean you only have to decide once. Click the bell to try it.