A stopwatch for drawing time. Start it against a project and an activity, stop it when you move on, and each spell is written to a file with who, what, when and how long. For billing, for job costing, or simply for finding out where the week actually went.
What TimeLog does
LOGFILE choose where entries are written, and open it
LOGSTART start the clock
LOGSTOP stop it and write the entry
LOGSHOW how long the current spell has been running
The file is comma separated, so it opens straight into a spreadsheet.
How to use it
- Load the routine with
APPLOAD, or put it on your support file search path. - Type
LOGFILEonce to choose where entries go. - Type
LOGSTARTand name the project and activity. - Type
LOGSHOWany time to see how long you have been at it. - Type
LOGSTOPwhen you move on.
How it works
The file is opened for appending. Opening it with "w" empties it, so every session throws away every entry from the session before — which is a time log that only ever holds today.
Stopping the log stops the log. The original ran (command "END"). END was the old name for save-and-quit and was removed from AutoCAD after Release 12; on anything newer it is an unknown command, and on anything older it closed the drawing. Either way it is not what “stop logging” should do.
LOGSHOW exists so you can tell whether the clock is running, and pressing LOGSTART twice is warned about rather than silently restarting the spell.
There is no autosave in it. AutoCAD has saved on a timer itself since Release 13, controlled by SAVETIME, and a second one fighting it is worse than none.
Notes and limits
- Entries are appended, never overwritten.
- Comma separated — opens in any spreadsheet.
- Set the file once with
LOGFILE; it is remembered. - No autosave. Use
SAVETIME.
Download and details
| Name | TimeLog — record time spent on a drawing to a file |
| Download | TimeLog.lsp — 6.8 KB, plain AutoLISP source. Downloads directly; no zip to unpack. |
| Type | AutoCAD AutoLISP routine |
| Commands | LOGFILE, LOGSHOW, LOGSTART, LOGSTOP |
| Requires | nothing beyond a CAD platform with AutoLISP. |
| Source size | 6.8 KB, 164 lines |
| Error handling | None. |
| Undo | Not needed — this routine only reads the drawing and changes nothing. |
| Compatibility | AutoCAD (any release with AutoLISP), BricsCAD, ZWCAD, GstarCAD, ProgeCAD and other IntelliCAD-based platforms. AutoCAD LT needs a LISP enabler. No .NET, no ObjectARX, no installer. |
| Author | YZ, August 2026 |
| Licence | Free to use, supplied “as is” with no warranty. |
References
- STOPWATCH LISP — timing a single command rather than a work session
- USAGELOG LISP — logging which commands get used
- GANTTCHART LISP — planning the time you are about to record
- More free AutoLISP routines on this site
- Wisey’s Steel Shapes — free structural steel section drawing program