Help Center

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The help center provides you with a list of frequently asked questions and answers. Please contact us in case you have additional questions.

  • General
  • FlowTeams
  • Integrations
  • Installation & support

General Questions:

Here, we answer general questions about FlowLabs, our workshops and learning more about developer productivity, focus and experience.

FlowLabs is a spin-off project of the Human Aspects of Software Engineering Lab of the University of Zurich, Switzerland. It was created by Dr. André Meyer and Prof. Dr. Thomas Fritz.

Questions on FlowTeams

This section provides answers to the most commonly asked questions on installing FlowTeams and its key features.

At present, FlowTeams supports the following USB lights:

Connecting one or more compatible USB LED lights (aka FlowLights) is easy: just plug-in the FlowLight to your device where FlowTeams is already running. 

FlowTeams will automatically detect and connect to it. Under settings, you can see an overview of all connected FlowLights and their status:

FlowTeams allows you to create one or multiple teams and assign team members to them.

When adding a team member, you can select them from the list of other FlowTeams users at your company and send a connection request. Only after they approve the connection request, you will see their current Flow Status, planned sessions, and planned work hours/locations.

Create Team and add Connection Requests

  1. Open FlowTeams and in the "..."-menu click "Add/Edit team(s)".
  2. One left side of the window, you can create a new team or delete existing teams.
  3. On the right side of the window, you can search for team members by typing their name.
  4. In the appearing results, click "Add". This will send a connection request to them (if they did not already approve you as a connection) and add them as a team member to the currently connected team.
  5. Once you're finished with managing your team and connections, click "Done" to save the changes.

Review and approve Connection Requests

  1. Whenever you have an open connection request, you'll see a red dot in the task tray icon (on Windows) or the menubar icon (on macOS).
  2. Open FlowTeams and in the "..."-menu click "Connection Requests".
  3. In case there are open connection requests, they will be listed in this window. You can then either 'approve' or 'reject' them.
  4. Approving a connection will automatically add it to the team that is selected in the dropdown.

Note that this feature requires the "FlowTeams" or "FlowTeamsPro"-license.

FlowTeams allows you to schedule and structure your workday in advance. A few minutes before the scheduled start of your workday, the workday planning pop-up will automatically appear. You can also open it anytime by right clicking the FlowTeams icon and selecting "Plan Workday".

In case you've connected your calendar, FlowTeams will automatically load your planned meetings and sessions for the day from your calendar. In the window, you can now adapt your work hours and location, and add or modify your planned sessions.

You can add, modify or remove planned sessions by multi-clicking the cells in the "You"-column. Note that only sessions during your active work hours are considered.

In case you already have team members added, you can also see their planned work sessions to better align with their workdays.

Once you're satisfied with your workday plan, click "Save". In case you've connected your calendar, it will also sync back the added, removed or modified sessions to your calendar.

Note 1: Use the keywords "Focus", "Flow" or "Deep Work" for calendar appointments to let FlowTeams detect them as Personal Focus Sessions. Use the keywords "Interaction", "Teamwork" or "Collaborate" in your calendar appointments to let FlowTeams detect them as Interaction Sessions.

Note 2: If you want to plan personal focus or interaction sessions at the same time every day (or other patterns), you can plan them as 'recurring events' in your calendar app.

Note 3: Calendar appointments of the type 'Meeting' are only synced from your calendar, but not back, to avoid accidentally deleting any data that is stored as part of a meeting.

FlowTeams can visualize your and your co-workers' Flow States through a variety of options, depending on what best fits your workflow:

  • FlowTeams app (current and upcoming Flow States)
  • FlowLight (current Flow States)
  • Team Donut Chart in the tasktray (on Windows) or menubar (on macOS) (current Flow States)
  • Connected Communication Apps (current Flow States)
  • Connected Calendar (upcoming Flow States)

 

The following states can be visualized within the FlowTeams app and by the FlowLight:

  • Dark Red / Pulsating Red: I am very focused, please do not disturb
  • Red: I am busy, either focused or in a meeting
  • Green: I am available for interactions
  • Blue/Yellow: I am away from the computer during work hours
  • Gray: I am away from the computer outside work hours

 

Example: The following screenshot shows the overview of the 'Hasel' team over the next 3 hours of work. It visualizes the people who are available for an interruption and not working focused right now (i.e. Remy, Roy and Larissa), who is currently in a meeting (i.e. Peter) and working focused (Alexander, Anastasia). The teams' upcoming planned personal focus sessions, interaction sessions and meetings are visualized in the calendar-like table view.

Note 1: When you hover over a co-worker's name in the FlowTeams window, you see their planned work hours and work location for the next few days.

Note 2: When you click the "..." of a person in the FlowTeams window, you can create a new meeting with them, as well as directly connect them through their connected communication apps (unless they are currently working focused).

Note 3: The Flow Status is automatically set based on your work hours, planned sessions, presence state (of connected communication apps), and you can manually overwrite it anytime in the FlowTeams app.

Questions on Integrations with FlowTeams

This section explains how to connect FlowTeams with Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zoom, the Microsoft Calendar and the Google Calendar, and how to manage these integrations.

FlowTeams allows you to connect to the most frequently used communication apps, including Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Slack. Connecting to these apps will allow you to sync the presence status of these apps to FlowTeams (e.g. online, away, in-meeting, in-call), so you'll need to change your Flow Status less frequently manually. In addition, it can also sync your Flow Status back to these communication apps, so their presence state is more accurate and detailed, and also visible to your co-workers. Of course, you are free to choose which apps you want to connect and which status sync you want to allow.

Syncing your presence state back to communication apps also has the advantage that during focused times (i.e. DND/focus Flow status), these apps will disable showing you notifications for new chats or calls, further reducing interruptions at times of focus.

Note 1: The IT department of your organization might have blocked access to these connectors by default. Contact us to receive instructions for the IT department to approve FlowTeams.

Note 2: If you connect communication apps to FlowTeams, they are only accessed directly from your computer and NOT from the FlowTeams server.

  1. Open the settings and navigate to "Connected Apps".
  2. On the right hand side under "Connect new app", click on "Microsoft".
  3. In case you want to allow FlowTeams to receive your Microsoft Teams presence state, select the 'Retrieve presence status' checkbox.
  4. In case you want to allow FlowTeams to sync your Flow Status back to Microsoft Teams, select the 'Set presence status' checkbox.
  5. In case you want to allow FlowTeams to receive your appointments from the Microsoft Calendar, select the 'Retrieve calendar appointments' checkbox.
  6. In case you want to allow FlowTeams to sync your personal focus and interaction sessions back to your Microsoft Calendar, select the 'Sync planned sessions to calendar' checkbox.
  7. Select "Requests Permissions" and sign-into your Microsoft (Work) account in the pop-up that opens.
  8. On the permissions-page, select "Yes". You can also review the information that FlowTeams will access. This is the minimum information required to sync your sessions and meetings to FlowTeams.
  9. After a moment, the authentication window will close and you should be able to see that your Microsoft Account was successfully connected and is now shown under the Connected Apps (in the left panel), where you can manage and/or remove it anytime.

Note 1: The IT department of your organization might have blocked access to these connectors by default. Contact us to receive instructions for the IT department to approve FlowTeams.

Note 2: After approving the FlowTeams app, Microsoft sends a confirmation email to your account:

Note 3: Should you ever want to revoke FlowTeams' access to the Microsoft Calendar, you can do so on the My Apps page (for Microsoft Work Accounts) or Apps and Services list (for Microsoft Personal Accounts).

  1. Open the settings and navigate to "Connected Apps".
  2. On the right hand side under "Connect new app", click on "Slack".
  3. In case you want to allow FlowTeams to receive your Slack presence state, select the 'Retrieve presence status' checkbox.
  4. In case you want to allow FlowTeams to sync your Flow Status back to Slack, select the 'Set presence status' checkbox.
  5. Select "Requests Permissions" and sign-into your Slack account in the pop-up that opens.
  6. On the permissions-page, select "Approve". You can also review the information that FlowTeams will access. This is the minimum information required to sync your Slack presence states to and from FlowTeams.
  7. After a moment, the authentication window will close and you should be able to see that Slack was successfully connected and is now shown under the Connected Apps (in the left panel), where you can manage and/or remove it anytime.

Note 1: After approving the FlowTeams app, Slack sends a confirmation email to your account: 

Note 2: Should you ever want to revoke FlowTeams' access to Slack, you can do so on the Slack App Page (under "Installed Apps").

  1. Open the settings and navigate to "Connected Apps".
  2. On the right hand side under "Connect new app", click on "Zoom".
  3. Select "Requests Permissions" and sign-into your Zoom account in the pop-up that opens.
  4. On the permissions-page, select "Approve". You can also review the information that FlowTeams will access. This is the minimum information required to sync your Zoom presence states to FlowTeams. Note that Zoom does currently NOT allow to sync the Flow Status back to Zoom.
  5. After a moment, the authentication window will close and you should be able to see that Zoom was successfully connected and is now shown under the Connected Apps (in the left panel), where you can manage and/or remove it anytime.

Note 1: After approving the FlowTeams app, Zoom sends a confirmation email to your account: 

Note 2: Should you ever want to revoke FlowTeams' access to Zoom, you can do so on the Zoom Marketplace.

FlowTeams allows you to connect your Microsoft or Google calendar with FlowTeams. Connecting your calendar allows you to sync your planned meetings and (personal focus or interaction) sessions to and from your calendar, to save time when planning your workday.

Note that the calendar sync only accesses your appointments of the current day and if they were NOT marked as "private". No other data received from your calendar is stored nor processed, other than the start/end times of the appointments and if they classify as a meeting, personal focus session or interaction session.

Note 1: If enabled, the calendar connector syncs your meetings and sessions with FlowTeams automatically every 15 minutes (when the app is running) as well as whenever you open the "Plan Workday" window.

Note 2: You can currently only connect one calendar to FlowTeams and only the default calendar can be synced.

Note 3: The IT department of your organization might have blocked access to these connectors by default. Contact us to receive instructions for the IT department to approve FlowTeams.

Note 4: If you connect your calendar to FlowTeams, it is only accessed directly from your computer and NOT from the FlowTeams server.

  1. Open the settings and navigate to "Connected Apps".
  2. On the right hand side under "Connect new app", click on "Microsoft".
  3. In case you want to allow FlowTeams to receive your Microsoft Teams presence state, select the 'Retrieve presence status' checkbox.
  4. In case you want to allow FlowTeams to sync your Flow Status back to Microsoft Teams, select the 'Set presence status' checkbox.
  5. In case you want to allow FlowTeams to receive your appointments from the Microsoft Calendar, select the 'Retrieve calendar appointments' checkbox.
  6. In case you want to allow FlowTeams to sync your personal focus and interaction sessions back to your Microsoft Calendar, select the 'Sync planned sessions to calendar' checkbox.
  7. Select "Requests Permissions" and sign-into your Microsoft (Work) account in the pop-up that opens.
  8. On the permissions-page, select "Yes". You can also review the information that FlowTeams will access. This is the minimum information required to sync your sessions and meetings to FlowTeams.
  9. After a moment, the authentication window will close and you should be able to see that your Microsoft Account was successfully connected and is now shown under the Connected Apps (in the left panel), where you can manage and/or remove it anytime.

Note 1: The IT department of your organization might have blocked access to these connectors by default. Contact us to receive instructions for the IT department to approve FlowTeams.

Note 2: After approving the FlowTeams app, Microsoft sends a confirmation email to your account:

Note 3: Should you ever want to revoke FlowTeams' access to the Microsoft Calendar, you can do so on the My Apps page (for Microsoft Work Accounts) or Apps and Services list (for Microsoft Personal Accounts).

  1. Open the settings and navigate to "Connected Apps".
  2. On the right hand side under "Connect new app", click on "Google".
  3. In case you want to allow FlowTeams to receive your appointments from the Google Calendar, select the 'Retrieve calendar appointments' checkbox.
  4. In case you want to allow FlowTeams to sync your personal focus and interaction sessions back to your Google Calendar, select the 'Sync planned sessions to calendar' checkbox.
  5. Select "Sign-in with Google" and sign-into your Google (Work) account in the pop-up that opens.
  6. On the permissions-page, select "Yes". You can also review the information that FlowTeams will access. This is the minimum information required to sync your sessions and meetings to FlowTeams.
  7. After a moment, the browser will show you a pop-up and ask if you want to return to FlowTeams. Select "Open" to return to FlowTeams. Note that the Google authentication-screen will keep spinning, but you can ignore that.
  8. After returning, you should be able to see that the Google Calendar was successfully connected and is now shown under the Connected Apps on the left, where you can manage and/or remove it anytime.

Note: Should you ever want to revoke FlowTeams' access to the Google Calendar, you can do so on the Google Account Permissions Page.

Installation, updates & support:

This section provides guidance on installing FlowTeams on Windows and macOS, updates and receiving additional support.

  1. Download FlowTeams from our release server. Your operating system or browser might block the download; it is save to confirm the download.
  2. Double click the downloaded EXE file (format: "FlowTeams-Setup-1.x.x.exe").
  3. Follow the FlowTeams installer; you may change the install location.
  4. After a successful installation, an onboarding window opens that guides you through registration/sign-in, and setting up FlowTeams according to your preferences.
    Note: If you do not yet have a license, contact us.
  5. After completing the onboarding, you are ready to use FlowTeams and reduce interruptions at times of focus!
  1. Download FlowTeams from our release server, either for intel-based Macs or ARM-based Macs. 
  2. Open the downloaded EXE file (format: "FlowTeams-1.x.x.dmg").
  3. Drag and drop the FlowTeams icon to the Applications folder. Wait a few moments until FlowTeams is installed.
  4. Navigate to the Applications folder and open the installed FlowTeams app.
  5. Follow the  onboarding window that guides you through registration/sign-in, and setting up FlowTeams according to your preferences.
    Note: If you do not yet have a license, contact us.
  6. After completing the onboarding, you are ready to use FlowTeams and reduce interruptions at times of focus!

We are here to help! Contact us in case of questions directly via support@flowlabs.ch or via our contact form.

The FlowTeams software can update itself automatically. Upon app-start and every few hours, it checks with our update server and notifies you in case an update is available. After installing the update, the FlowTeams software restarts and opens a pop-up to explain the most recent changes and improvements to the software.

Please contact us in case you have questions or need support for updating FlowTeams.

FlowTeams is storing most data locally on your computer. This includes your team and connections, computer interaction data, the flow state history, and FlowLight usage data. In case you are interested, you can access it anytime by opening the settings and selecting "Open Collected Data" in the "Account"-tab. The file "database.sqlite" is what you are looking for. SQLite is a local database that you can open by using the DB Browser for SQLite.

Besides the locally stored data, we are operating a server that transfers and stores data that is needed to exchange with your co-workers. This includes your current focus state (but not the history), your planned work hours (start and end time), your planned work location (no tracking, just the dropdown where you select Office, Home, Remote, or Not Working), and your approved team members. The server is operated by the University of Zurich (in Switzerland) and transfers the data encrypted.

Note that if you connect your calendar and/or communication apps, they are only accessed directly from your computer and NOT from the FlowTeams server.

You can find more information on data privacy and security in our privacy policy and terms of use document.