AnyTool
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How do I time block my day?

Open AnyTool Time Blocking Planner and you get a vertical hourly timeline for today. Click an empty slot to drop a block, or drag down the rail to sweep out a start→end range, then give it a title and pick a category colour (deep work, meetings, breaks, admin, personal or health). Drag a block to move it and use the top/bottom handles to resize — every gesture snaps to your 15, 30 or 60-minute slot. Set the start and end hour in Settings, switch days with prev / today / next, and read the stats strip for scheduled vs free hours plus an overlap warning. A red “now” line tracks your device clock on today’s view. Each day is saved automatically in this browser’s localStorage, and you can export a day as JSON or a PNG image (and import the JSON back) — everything runs 100% in your browser, nothing is uploaded.

  • Vertical hourly timeline with a configurable start/end hour and 15/30/60-minute snap
  • Create blocks by clicking a slot or dragging the rail; move and resize with pointer handles
  • Colour categories (deep work, meetings, breaks, admin, personal, health) and a title per block
  • Totals: scheduled vs free hours for the day window, plus an overlap warning and a red now line
  • Per-day plans saved in localStorage; export/import JSON, export PNG and print — 100% client-side

What is

Time blocking

Time blocking is a planning method where you divide the day into named blocks and assign every task a specific time slot, so you focus on one thing at a time and avoid overload rather than working from an open-ended to-do list. A time-blocking planner shows the day as an hourly timeline on which each block has a start time, an end time, a title and usually a category colour. AnyTool’s Time Blocking Planner is a 100% client-side daily planner with a draggable hourly timeline, colour categories, scheduled-vs-free totals, a now line and per-day localStorage persistence with JSON/PNG export — no account, server, calendar sync or reminders.

Generators

Related terms

Time blockDay plannerHourly scheduleDeep workTimeboxingDaily planCalendar block

Frequently Asked Questions

Each day is saved only in your browser’s localStorage and never uploaded — there is no account, server or tracking, so your schedule stays completely private to this browser.

AnyTool Time Blocking Planner is 100% client-side. Every block for every day is stored in your browser’s localStorage under one entry per date and is never sent to any server. There is no sign-up, no login and no analytics, and the tool keeps working offline once the page is cached. Because the data lives only in your browser, clearing your browsing data or switching to a different browser or device removes it, so use Export to download a JSON backup (or a PNG snapshot) of a day that you can keep and re-import any time.

Click an empty slot to drop a block or drag down the rail to sweep out a start→end range; then drag a block to move it and use its top or bottom handle to resize — everything snaps to your 15/30/60-minute slot.

The timeline maps minutes to pixels at a fixed height per hour, so a block at a given start and end is positioned and sized from its times. To add one, click an empty part of the rail for a default block at that time, or press and drag down the rail to sweep out a custom start→end range, then type a title and pick a category. To adjust a block, drag its body up or down to move it within the day, or grab the thin handle at its top or bottom edge to change just the start or end. Every pointer gesture snaps to the slot granularity you chose (15, 30 or 60 minutes), and you can also type exact times in the block editor.

Yes — the stats strip totals the scheduled hours against the free hours in your start-to-end day window and warns you when two blocks overlap.

The planner sums the duration of every block to give scheduled hours, then subtracts that from the length of your visible day window (start hour to end hour) to show free hours, so you can see at a glance whether the day is realistic or over-committed. If any two blocks overlap in time, an “overlap” warning appears in the stats strip — overlaps are allowed (you might double-book on purpose), the tool just flags them. A red now line, drawn from your device clock when today is shown, makes it easy to see what should be happening right now.

Yes — switch days with prev / today / next or the date picker, and each date keeps its own plan; export a day as JSON or PNG and import the JSON back on any browser or device.

Each date is stored separately in localStorage, so moving to another day with the prev / today / next buttons or the date picker loads that day’s blocks and editing them never touches another day. Because this is a single-device tool with no cloud sync, exporting is how you back up or move a day: JSON export downloads the whole day (its date and every block), Import reads such a file and loads it, PNG export renders the timeline to an image with html2canvas, and Print opens your browser’s print dialog. Keep an exported JSON backup so a cleared cache or a switched browser never loses your plan.

Detailed Explanation

Methodology

The Day Model and Timeline Positioning

AnyTool Time Blocking Planner keeps one day plan per date as its source of truth: a plan has an ISO day and an array of blocks, and each block carries a title, a start and an end expressed as minutes from midnight, and a category key that drives its colour. The visible day is a configurable window from a start hour to an end hour, and a fixed pixel height per hour converts times to positions: a block’s top = (start − startHour×60) ÷ 60 × rowHeight and its height = (end − start) ÷ 60 × rowHeight, so a block is drawn exactly where its times fall and any part outside the window is clipped. New blocks are made by clicking an empty slot (a default block snapped to the slot size) or by pressing and dragging down the empty rail to sweep out a start→end range; an existing block is moved by dragging its body and resized by its top or bottom handle. Every pointer gesture snaps to the chosen granularity — 15, 30 or 60 minutes — and exact times can also be typed in the block editor.

  • Day plan = ISO day + blocks[]; each block has title, start & end in minutes from midnight, and a category
  • Visible window = start hour → end hour; a fixed pixel height per hour converts minutes to pixels
  • Block top = (start − startHour×60) ÷ 60 × rowHeight; height = (end − start) ÷ 60 × rowHeight
  • Create by clicking a slot or dragging the rail; move by dragging the body, resize via top/bottom handles
  • All gestures snap to a 15 / 30 / 60-minute slot; exact times can be typed in the editor
How It Works

Categories, Totals, Overlaps and the Now Line

Each block is tagged with one of six colour categories — deep work, meetings, breaks, admin, personal and health — so the day reads at a glance as bands of colour, and a legend maps each colour to its meaning. The tool derives running totals from the blocks: scheduled hours are the summed durations of all blocks, and free hours are the day-window length minus that total, so you can see immediately whether the day is realistic or over-committed. Overlaps are permitted but detected: if any two blocks intersect in time, an overlap warning appears in the stats strip. When the selected day is today, a red now line is drawn from the device clock at its current minute and refreshes on a timer, marking what should be happening right now. The date switcher (previous / today / next, plus a date picker) loads a different day, and because each date is stored separately, editing one day never affects another.

  • Six colour categories: deep work, meetings, breaks, admin, personal, health
  • Scheduled hours = Σ block durations; free hours = day-window length − scheduled hours
  • Overlapping blocks are allowed but flagged with a warning in the stats strip
  • A red now line from the device clock is drawn on today’s view and ticks over time
  • Prev / today / next and a date picker switch days; each date is stored independently
Privacy & Security

Local Storage, Export and Honest Limits

Everything runs locally in the browser with no account, server or tracking. Each day’s plan is serialised to localStorage under a date-keyed entry on every change, so it survives a refresh and the tool works offline once the page is cached — nothing is ever uploaded. Export downloads a single day as formatted JSON (its date and every block), Import validates and migrates such a file — clamping minutes into range, keeping end after start, falling back to a valid category — before loading it, and a PNG of the timeline is rendered with html2canvas (lazy-loaded only when you click); Print opens the browser’s own dialog. Honestly, this is a personal, single-device planner: there is no cloud sync, no calendar integration and no shared link, and it sends no reminders or notifications — the now line is purely visual and comes from your own clock. Because the data lives only in your browser, keeping an exported JSON backup is recommended, and clearing this day asks for confirmation first.

Time blocking: in-browser (AnyTool) vs typical time-blocking apps
CapabilityAnyToolTypical time-blocking apps
Where it runs100% in your browser, nothing uploadedHosted — schedule stored on a server
AccountNone — open and useUsually sign-up / login required
Hourly timelineYes, configurable start/end hour & snapYes
Create / move / resize blocksClick & drag with pointer handlesYes
Colour categoriesSix built-in categoriesYes
Scheduled vs free totalsYes, with an overlap warningSometimes
Calendar sync / remindersNo (no notifications)Often included (paid plans)
Export / backupPer-day JSON + PNG; import JSON; printCloud sync; export sometimes paid
PrivacyEach day only in localStorageData held in the vendor cloud

AnyTool runs the whole planner locally and uploads nothing; it is a private, single-device day planner with JSON/PNG export rather than a synced, calendar-integrated service with reminders.