Your first session.

1. Download and run the Windows installer from the app page.
2. Open Pomodoro Bar from your desktop or Start menu. Both windows appear.
3. Choose 30 minutes for 25 minutes of focus plus 5 minutes of break, or 60 minutes for 50 plus 10.
4. Press play on the bar. Press it again to pause. Space also works when the bar has focus.

Presets and additions create a fresh paused cycle. They do not add time to a running countdown.

Click the editor’s large countdown. Enter minutes such as 23, minutes and seconds such as 12:34, or hours, minutes, and seconds such as 1:02:03. Enter or clicking away saves; Escape cancels. Values can range from one second to 24 hours.

Saving changes the length and remaining time of the current focus or break section. Running stays running; paused stays paused. The other section keeps its duration. Your draft remains protected while the real timer continues.

The end-time preview updates as you type a valid value. It rounds to the nearest minute. For a paused timer, it means “if started now”; for an unsaved running edit, “if saved now.”

The +1, +5, and +10 buttons preserve a 5:1 focus-to-break ratio. For example, adding one minute to the 30-minute preset makes focus 25:50 and break 05:10. There is currently no separate ratio selector or simultaneous focus/break input pair.

Enable Resize using the bar’s edges in the editor, drag an edge or corner, then turn resizing off to lock it. The circle, text, controls, and hit targets scale together. Reset size returns to 280 × 52 DIPs without moving the bar or changing the timer.

Drag the digits or background to move the bar. The pencil opens the editor. The Show floating bar switch hides or restores the bar independently.

The 25-minute focus preset reminds you at 10 and 5 minutes remaining. The 50-minute focus preset reminds you at 30, 10, and 5 minutes remaining. Adjusted cycles retain their reminder percentages.

Sounds work backward: the last reminder always has the strongest three-note sound, the second-last has a rising two-note sound, and an additional earlier reminder has one softer beep. The bar pulses for four seconds.

At completion, flashing and repeated audio wait for acknowledgement. Any bar interaction silences audio; the circle, play, or skip button also advances to the next section. The editor has a completion acknowledgement control and the tray offers Silence alarm.

Skip advances to the next section, preserving whether the timer was running or paused. After sleep, delayed reminders are coalesced so you hear the most urgent one rather than a queue.

The editor and bar are two windows belonging to one app. Closing either window hides only that window. Closing both leaves the timer and tray running.

Launch Pomodoro Bar again to reopen both windows without resetting the session. Double-click its tray icon to reopen the editor; Show floating bar in the tray restores the bar. Quit in the tray or bar’s right-click menu exits the app.

A fresh app launch starts a paused focus period using your saved configuration. Timer progress is not restored after quitting.

The editor has one Check for updates button. While checking or downloading, it is disabled and shows progress. When a downloaded update is ready, the same button becomes Update and restart.

Startup checks can apply an update before you interact with the app. After interaction, and during periodic or manual checks, updates download for later. A restart starts a fresh paused focus period. No terminal window is needed.

For a command-line update, run the installed PomodoroBar.exe with --update; --check-for-updates checks and downloads without restarting. See the repository for the full command and troubleshooting paths.