PostPro Analytics User Manual

PostPro Analytics, or PPA, is a Creative Work Analytics platform for post-production teams. It records real work sessions from supported creative applications, stores the data locally or in a Studio Collector, and turns the resulting sessions into dashboards, tables, filters, exports and support diagnostics.

This manual documents the Build 190 Release Candidate. It covers DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects and six Additional Creative Apps, first-run setup, offline licensing, Single User and Studio workflows, service startup, Session Sync, Live Presence, Privacy Mode, Demo Mode, Studio Analytics, Sessions, reporting and troubleshooting.

Verification Status

This edition is generated from the Build 190 release-candidate source baseline. Because Setup, licensing, service health, integrations and Studio Analytics changed after Build 183, obsolete screenshots are intentionally not embedded. The final signed release artifact still requires the documented practical QA and distribution gates before publication.

How To Use This Manual

Use the table of contents to jump to the area you need:

• All users and operators should first read Purpose & Privacy Statement and Data Integrity, Backups And Limitation Of Liability.
• New users should then read Welcome, Requirements, Installation and First Run.
• Studio admins should read Setup Assistant, Studio Dashboard, Studio Collector, Studio Sessions and Studio Analytics.
• Editors and artists should focus on My Dashboard, My Sessions, filters and exports.
• For a problem, start with Diagnostics, Troubleshooting and FAQ.

Purpose & Privacy Statement

PostPro Analytics (PPA) has been developed exclusively to analyze project-related workflows, production times, and resource utilization within professional post-production environments.

PPA is not an employee surveillance or monitoring solution.

The software collects only project- and workflow-related metadata that are required for analytics and reporting purposes. Depending on the configuration, this may include information such as project names, timeline names, application state, active workspace, session durations, workstation identifiers, and user identifiers.

PPA does not:

• record or store the contents of projects, timelines, media files, or documents;
• capture screenshots or screen recordings;
• log keyboard input, mouse movements, or user interactions;
• intercept communications or personal messages;
• monitor activities outside the supported applications or the configured analytics scope.

The purpose of PPA is solely to provide organizations with meaningful insights into workflow efficiency, project effort, resource allocation, utilization, and production processes in order to improve planning, transparency, and operational efficiency.

The customer or system operator is solely responsible for ensuring that the deployment and use of PPA comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including but not limited to employment, privacy, and data protection laws, as well as any applicable works council agreements or internal company policies.

DBSONIC Labs neither designs nor markets PPA as a tool for employee surveillance or performance monitoring. Any use of the software outside its intended purpose, including use for unlawful or unauthorized monitoring of individuals, is solely the responsibility of the customer or operator. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, DBSONIC Labs shall not be liable for damages, claims, or legal consequences arising from such misuse or from the customer's failure to comply with applicable legal obligations.

Privacy Mode

Open Settings > Privacy and enable Anonymize this workstation to apply Privacy Mode to new sessions. PPA asks for confirmation before enabling or disabling it.

When enabled:

• the displayed user is Anonymous;
• the displayed workstation is Network Client;
• user aliases, local account names and display host names are removed before a new session is stored or synced;
• a subtle PRIVACY MODE indicator appears in the menu bar, Dashboard, Sessions and Settings;
• the local setting cannot be disabled by a Studio administrator.

Privacy Mode applies only to future sessions. Existing historical sessions are unchanged, and disabling the mode does not restore identity to previously anonymized sessions. Changing the mode while logging creates a clean session boundary without intentionally dropping active duration.

Privacy Mode v1 retains application, project, timeline/sequence/composition, activity, time, tag, billing and sync metadata. Project and timeline names remain visible. Manually entered Notes/To-Do text is not anonymized.

PPA keeps a random, stable pseudonymous client identity in macOS Keychain so multiple private workstations can sync without colliding. It is not derived from the user, host or hardware identity and is not shown in normal UI or reports.

Privacy Mode fails closed. If PPA cannot load or create the secure pseudonymous identity, it does not start new session logging or transmit pending private data. Diagnostics reports a Privacy Mode error without revealing the removed identity or Keychain material.

Privacy Mode and Demo Mode are independent. Demo Mode pauses live collection and uses synthetic data, but it does not change the stored Privacy preference. When Production collection resumes, Privacy Mode is applied before Logger startup. In the menu bar, Privacy configuration is a dedicated top-level item; the Status submenu shows the current Privacy state as read-only text.

Data Integrity, Backups And Limitation Of Liability

PostPro Analytics is an analytics and reporting tool. It is not a backup, archive, disaster-recovery, or media-protection system. The customer or system operator is solely responsible for maintaining current, tested, and independently stored backups of project files, media, PPA databases, configuration files, exports, and any other operationally important data.

PPA processes and stores only project- and workflow-related metadata for analytics purposes. It does not collect or store media content, frames, audio or video content, document contents, or the creative contents of project files. Contextual identifiers and labels supplied by supported applications, including project, timeline, sequence, composition, workstation, and user identifiers, may be stored as metadata.

Data may be damaged, lost, corrupted, deleted, or become unavailable for reasons including hardware or storage failure, operating-system or third-party software errors, interrupted synchronization, network failure, incorrect configuration, unauthorized access, user action, device loss, or other circumstances outside the control of DBSONIC Labs.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, DBSONIC Labs shall not be liable for loss, corruption, deletion, damage, or unavailability of data, nor for any direct or indirect loss, business interruption, lost production time, lost revenue, or other consequences resulting from such events or from the use of, or inability to use, PPA. Nothing in this statement excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited under applicable law.

Welcome And Product Concept

What PPA Is

PostPro Analytics tracks real creative work in post-production tools and turns it into auditable analytics. The current product scope covers:

• DaVinci Resolve
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• Adobe After Effects
• Blender
• Cinema 4D
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe InDesign
• Adobe Illustrator
• Capture One

PPA is not only a Resolve logger. The current direction is Creative Work Analytics for post-production teams: local tracking, Studio reporting, application-level breakdowns, rule-based analysis, CSV export and support diagnostics.

Core Idea

PPA records sessions when supported applications are active. A session can include the application, user, workstation, project, timeline or sequence or composition context where available, activity state, start/end time and duration.

The data flow is:

1. Creative application activity is observed by the local logger and integration bridges.
2. Sessions are written to the local database.
3. In Studio workflows, closed local sessions can sync to the Studio Collector.
4. My Dashboard and Studio Dashboard read the selected data source.
5. My Sessions and Studio Sessions expose rule-based tables, filters, tags and CSV export where the license allows it.
6. Studio Timelines, Studio Activity and Studio Performance turn Studio data into operational and workflow-level views without employee scoring.

Dashboard Modes

PPA separates dashboard scope from install mode.

The product also separates local logging from Studio reporting. Local logging can continue even when a trial is expired, but analytics surfaces and exports are license-gated.

Supported Applications

DaVinci Resolve is tracked through the Resolve scripting and activity monitoring path. Premiere Pro uses the independently installed PPA UXP plugin. After Effects uses Startup Script Bridge 0.2.5. Blender, Cinema 4D, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and Capture One use the signed on-demand Activity Helper and macOS Accessibility to identify the frontmost saved document, project, Catalog or Session.

My Sessions and Studio Sessions use normalized labels for every supported application. Integrations Status reports installation readiness and current signal for Resolve and Adobe bridge integrations. Settings > Integrations provides compact enable/disable and status controls for each Additional Creative App.

System Requirements And Installation

System Requirements

PostPro Analytics 1.0 Release Candidate requires:

• Apple Silicon Mac
• macOS 14 or newer
• DaVinci Resolve Studio with external scripting enabled
• Adobe Premiere Pro 25.6 or newer
• Adobe After Effects 2026 with scripting/network access enabled
• macOS Accessibility permission for saved document or project names from Additional Creative Apps
• Local network access for Studio Collector / LAN workflows

For Studio use, the Collector Mac must be reachable by workstation Macs on the LAN. The default Collector port is 9000.

Install PPA in /Applications or ~/Applications. Normal startup inspects the running app, those Applications folders and PPA-owned Application Support, Preferences, Caches and Logs. It does not enumerate Desktop, Downloads or Documents. Downloads is used only after an explicit Reveal Package action needs to export a verified Premiere installer copy.

Download Package

The release package is distributed as a notarized DMG that contains the PPA app and approved public documentation.

Typical install flow:

1. Download the PPA DMG.
2. Open the DMG.
3. Drag PostPro Analytics to /Applications.
4. Eject the DMG.
5. Launch the installed app through Finder and complete Setup Assistant.

The official Release Candidate DMG and app are Developer ID signed, notarized and stapled. Verify the published SHA256 when obtaining the package outside the normal download page. An unidentified-developer warning is not expected for an official signed, notarized and stapled artifact.

The containing folder also includes the User Manual, Release Notes, Changelog and English Licensing Quick Guide. The app retains the same Manual as an offline HTML fallback.

Open About PostPro Analytics from the menu bar to confirm version 1.0.0 (BUILD 190) and the RELEASE CANDIDATE release state. The About window also provides direct Support, Manual and Legal links, which open the fixed DBSONIC LABS pages in the Mac's default browser.

Prepare DaVinci Resolve

Open DaVinci Resolve Studio and enable external scripting:

1. Open DaVinci Resolve Studio > Preferences > General.
2. Set External scripting using to Local.
3. Restart Resolve.

Network may also work, but Local is the recommended setting for normal use.

Prepare Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro 25.6 or later uses the independently distributed PostPro Analytics UXP plugin.

1. Start PPA and confirm the local receiver is running.
2. In PPA Settings > Integrations, click Install Plugin.
3. Confirm Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop's independent-plugin warning.
4. Restart Premiere Pro.
5. Open Window > UXP Plugins > PostPro Analytics and confirm Auto Send is running.

The plugin is installed through PPA and Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop; no developer tooling is required.

Prepare After Effects

After Effects uses a Startup Script Bridge.

1. In After Effects, open Preferences > Scripting & Expressions.
2. Enable Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network.
3. In PPA, open Integrations Status.
4. Use Install Bridge or Repair Bridge.
5. Restart After Effects.

Bridge 0.2.5 resumes ordinary project and Composition snapshot cycles after transient errors. Use Repair Bridge only when PPA reports missing, outdated or hash-mismatched files. Restart After Effects after an actual Bridge installation or repair when PPA says the loaded runtime is older than the installed file.

Prepare Additional Creative Apps

Blender, Cinema 4D, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and Capture One are enabled by default. App detection works without Accessibility, but document, project, Catalog or Session names normally require it.

1. Open Settings > Integrations.
2. Click Request Accessibility Access.
3. In macOS Privacy & Security, allow PostPro Analytics Activity Helper or

the exact PostPro Analytics app shown by macOS.

4. Return to PPA. The status refreshes automatically after permission is

granted; use Refresh Status only if macOS has not yet propagated it.

Only authorize the currently installed PPA app. If macOS displays an older PPA copy, remove that stale entry and request access again from the installed app. PPA does not need Screen Recording permission.

First Run, Setup Assistant And License

Setup Assistant

The Setup Assistant is the first-run onboarding flow. It can also be opened later from the menu bar with Run Setup Assistant... or from Preferences with Run Setup Assistant Again.

The flow has six steps:

1. Welcome
2. Choose How to Continue
3. Choose Current Setup and enter the workstation identity
4. Services & Logger Startup
5. Creative Integrations
6. Summary and Complete Setup

Running Setup Assistant again does not delete existing Sessions, analytics data or logs.

License Or Trial

On first run, choose one of the available actions:

• Start the 14-day Studio Trial.
• Request a License for this Mac.
• Activate an existing license.

Request a License creates a signed, machine-specific .dbslreq request. Choose Single User, Studio Host or Studio Workstation, save the request and send only that request file to the authorized license issuer. The request contains no private signing key.

For Single User, install the returned .dbsllic file. For Studio Host or Studio Workstation, install the single .dbslpkg supplied by DBSONIC Labs. The package securely contains the matching signed Studio Master and exactly one machine-bound, role-specific Seat. PPA validates product, edition, role, machine binding, dates, signatures and the complete Master/Seat relationship before atomically enabling licensed features. A Workstation package cannot enable Host capabilities.

After installation, Settings > License / Activation identifies the effective machine role as Studio Host or Studio Workstation. The technical Master and Seat relationship remains available in the detail rows, but the generic internal Seat document type is not used as the primary role label.

The older two-file sequence - Studio Master .dbsllic followed by matching .dbslseat - remains available only for existing deployments and assisted recovery. New Build 190 licenses use the single-package workflow.

If no Trial or valid license is active, Setup explains that PPA can continue in tracking-only mode. Background logging and stored data remain intact, but Dashboard, reports, Notes/To-Do, exports and Studio analytics stay locked until a valid entitlement is installed.

Single User Setup

Choose Single User when one Mac should track its own work and show local analytics. This enables My Dashboard, My Sessions, local activity tracking and local reports without a Studio Collector or network sync.

Enter a recognizable User Alias and Workstation Name. These labels identify the Mac in local reports and, when Studio is used, on the Studio Host.

Step 4 starts and verifies the Local Logger. Wait until the status changes to Running before continuing.

If verification fails, use Retry. Open Diagnostics when the failure continues; Setup cannot complete while the required Logger is unavailable.

Fresh setup recommends Start Local Logger automatically when I sign in. You can deselect it or change it later in Settings > Services & Startup. The Logger verified during Setup remains running after Setup completes.

Creative Integrations Step

The Creative Integrations step summarizes DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro, After Effects and Additional Creative Apps readiness. A supported application may be closed during Setup. Ready means its integration is installed and current; Reporting means the application is open and sending current information. Missing optional Adobe applications do not prevent Setup from completing.

Studio Setup

Step 3 offers three current setups:

Studio Host starts the local Collector and displays the address clients should use. New Hosts can operate without a Connection Key. To protect a Host with a key, open Settings > Studio & Network > Local Studio Collector and choose Configure / Change Key.... Copy Client Setup copies the address and the current key requirement only after you select it.

Studio Client requires the Studio Host address and offers Test Connection before Setup completes. The Connection Key is optional unless the Host has key protection enabled. Do not use 127.0.0.1 on another workstation because that address always refers to the workstation itself.

Settings > Studio & Network begins with a Current Setup dropdown: Single User or Studio (LAN). Studio mode displays the Studio User Dashboard or Studio Admin Dashboard role. A Studio Client sees its Collector Connection; a Studio Host sees its Local Studio Collector. Switching temporarily to Single User preserves the saved Studio configuration for later reuse.

Automatic Startup

Settings > Services & Startup controls future sign-in behavior separately from the current running state. Start Now and Stop do not change the Start at Login preference.

An optional Studio Connection Key authenticates clients only when the Host requires it. It is separate from the PPA license.

Global Service Health

The lower-left Dashboard badge, menu-bar Status submenu and Settings > Services & Startup use the same role-aware service-health result:

• Green All Systems Operational means every required service is healthy.
• Limited Functionality means an optional feature is unavailable or an

optional creative application is closed.

• Red Services Need Attention means a required component has an actionable

failure. Its tooltip identifies the affected component.

An optional integration that is not installed, a closed Premiere Pro or After Effects application and Demo Mode's intentional service pause are not treated as required-service failures. Open Services & Startup for details.

Settings > Studio & Network > Live Status contains the Live View Update Interval. It accepts 1-10 seconds and defaults to 2 seconds. This controls current application, project, timeline and activity information. Automatic Session Sync is a separate setting.

PPA uses the standard macOS Login Item mechanism. If approval is required, use the button in PPA to open macOS Login Items settings and allow PostPro Analytics.

License And Trial

PPA has a 14-day full-feature trial. During an active trial, Single User and Studio workflows are available. After the trial expires, local logging may continue, but dashboards, reports, notes, exports and Studio features are locked until a valid license is installed.

Build 190 retains protected Trial and license-clock state during an app update. Updating the app does not restart or extend a Trial. Never remove Trial, license or Keychain anchors to simulate a new user; use a genuinely clean test Mac for that test.

Integrations And Status

Open Integrations Status

Open Integrations Status... from the menu bar or select Integrations in Settings. The page shows whether each supported application is detected, installed and currently reporting.

Turn on Show Technical Details only when support asks for version or installation details. Passwords, license data and Studio Connection Keys remain hidden.

Status Labels

DaVinci Resolve

The Resolve card shows the Logger state, Resolve detection and the next useful action.

Resolve Setup Instructions

Enable DaVinci Resolve external scripting, restart Resolve and keep the Local Logger running. PPA then reads project, timeline, page and Resolve-version information through the local Resolve scripting interface.

Resolve Troubleshooting

If Resolve is open but not detected, confirm that Resolve Studio is installed, external scripting is enabled and both Resolve and the Local Logger have been restarted after the setting changed.

Premiere Pro

The Premiere card shows the plugin version, current reporting state and last signal. Installation and live reporting are separate: Premiere may simply be closed.

Available actions include Install, Update, Repair, Uninstall, Refresh Status and Reveal Package.

Premiere Plugin Install

Click Install Plugin. PPA verifies its packaged installer before Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop asks for confirmation. Adobe may display an independent plugin warning; install only the package supplied with PostPro Analytics.

Restart Premiere Pro, open Window > UXP Plugins > PostPro Analytics, then click Refresh Status in PPA. Premiere Pro 25.6 or later is required; no developer tooling is needed.

Repair Or Update The Premiere Plugin

Use Update Plugin when PPA offers a newer bundled version. Use Repair Plugin when the current plugin is incomplete or does not report. PPA does not automatically replace a newer installed plugin with an older one.

Enable A Disabled Premiere Plugin

If PPA reports Plugin Disabled, open Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop from the provided action, enable PostPro Analytics, restart Premiere Pro and refresh the status.

Premiere Restart And Activation

If PPA shows Installation Pending or Requires Premiere Restart, complete Adobe's confirmation, quit and reopen Premiere Pro, then open the PPA panel.

Premiere Troubleshooting

Keep the PostPro Analytics panel open and Auto Send enabled. Refresh Status after opening Premiere Pro. If necessary, use Repair Plugin to reinstall the verified package. Reveal Package selects the exact verified installer in Finder or creates a uniquely named verified copy in Downloads when direct reveal is unavailable.

If PPA reports Development Version Loaded or Duplicate IDs Detected, unload the development copy before using the packaged plugin.

After Effects

The After Effects card shows detected installations, Bridge status, last signal and available Install or Repair actions. Installation and current reporting are separate.

After Effects Bridge Install

Click Install Bridge, then restart After Effects. PPA installs its Startup Script Bridge into detected compatible After Effects installations.

After Effects Repair Bridge

Use Repair Bridge when PPA reports that the Bridge is missing, outdated or damaged. Repair changes only PPA's own Bridge file. A successful repair may require an After Effects restart.

Normal project or Composition changes should recover without Repair. If the installed Bridge is current but has not yet reported, keep After Effects open briefly and refresh the status.

After Effects Network Access

After Effects must allow scripts to write files and access the network:

Preferences > Scripting & Expressions > Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network

Native After Effects Rendering

During a native After Effects Render Queue job, PPA may show Busy / Rendering because After Effects temporarily pauses Bridge updates. Project and Composition information should return automatically after the render. A completed render is then recorded as a Rendering Session.

Adobe Media Encoder, external aerender processes and render farms are not covered by this version. After Effects Rendering Sessions leave the Page field empty; Resolve Rendering continues to use its normal Deliver page.

Adobe Idle Detection

Premiere Pro and After Effects use the configured macOS idle threshold. When a supported Adobe application stays frontmost without keyboard or mouse input, Live View changes to Idle and active time pauses. New input returns the application to Active. During native After Effects rendering, Busy / Rendering takes priority over Idle.

Additional Creative Apps And Accessibility

Blender, Cinema 4D, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and Capture One use the signed, on-demand PostPro Analytics Activity Helper. They are enabled by default. The helper reads only the frontmost application's window metadata; it does not take screenshots, record the screen, inspect document contents or log keyboard and mouse input.

App detection remains available without Accessibility. To read a saved document, project, Catalog or Session name, open Settings > Integrations and click Request Accessibility Access. macOS should open Privacy & Security at Accessibility. After permission is granted, PPA rechecks automatically and changes the status to Enabled. No Screen Recording permission is required.

If the status stays Not Enabled, confirm that the allowed item belongs to the currently installed PPA app rather than an older or portable copy. Remove a stale entry, request access again from PPA and keep the installed app in its final Applications location so macOS can retain the correct identity.

Enable Or Disable An Additional App

Each Additional Creative App uses a compact two-line card: application name, then its Enable checkbox and status. Green means Enabled, orange means Disabled and red means Error. Disable only the apps you do not want PPA to observe. Existing sessions remain unchanged.

PPA temporarily receives a full window title only to normalize and redact it. Full paths are never stored as analytics. The saved normalized value is the document, project, Catalog or Session name shown as the Session project.

Capture One Name Handling

Capture One reports only a Catalog or Session database name when PPA can identify one safely. Image filenames and full paths are rejected. When no safe Catalog or Session name is available, PPA records the app without inventing a project name.

Demo Mode

Demo Mode lets you explore PPA with realistic synthetic post-production data. It includes 72 My Sessions and 60 Studio Sessions across DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro and After Effects, plus Custom Tags, inherited tags, Notes/To-Do, Billing, filters, reports and exports.

Demo Mode is available during an active or expired Trial and with Single User or Studio licensing. It does not unlock or expose locked Production analytics.

Enter Demo Mode

Use either the Demo Mode... item directly below Run Setup Assistant in the menu bar, or Settings > Demo Mode > Enter Demo Mode.

PPA asks for confirmation. It then safely finishes and stops live collection, opens a separate copy of the bundled example dataset and changes the Dashboard and Sessions data source. A persistent DEMO MODE label appears in Dashboard, My Sessions and Studio Sessions.

While Demo Mode is active:

• Local Logger collection is paused.
• Studio Collector ingestion is paused.
• Production sync is paused.
• Adobe receiver snapshots are not written as sessions.
• Production databases are not modified.
• installed Resolve, Premiere and After Effects integrations remain installed.

Your Privacy Mode, autostart, setup, license and Trial settings are not changed. Privacy Mode continues to describe how newly collected Production sessions are handled after live collection resumes.

Work With Demo Data

Tag changes, Notes/To-Do changes, billing changes, ignore/restore actions and other Demo edits are saved separately. They remain after leaving Demo Mode and are available when you return.

CSV exports use a PPA-Demo-Sessions-<date>.csv filename and include a Demo Data marker. Dashboard exports also use a Demo-specific filename.

Exit And Reset

Choose Exit Demo Mode... from the menu bar or Settings. PPA confirms the change, restores the Production data source and restarts only previously running eligible services. Demo edits are retained.

Choose Reset Demo Data to discard Demo-only changes and restore the bundled Europe dataset. PPA asks for confirmation and creates a rollback backup first. Reset never changes Production data, Privacy Mode, autostart, license/trial or integrations.

If PPA was closed in Demo Mode, it starts in Demo Mode again and does not start Logger, Collector or Production sync. Exit Demo Mode when you are ready to resume Production collection.

Troubleshooting

If activation or reset fails, open Diagnostics and retry after any reported service or Demo-data problem has been resolved. PPA does not switch data modes when it cannot keep Demo and Production data safely separated.

If Production data cannot be reopened, PPA remains safely in Demo Mode. Restore or reconnect the expected Production database, then retry Exit Demo Mode.

Dashboards And Widgets

My Dashboard

My Dashboard shows local workstation analytics. It reads the local database and is intended for a single user or a Studio User reviewing own data.

Typical widgets include:

• Total Time
• Total Amount
• Sessions
• Projects
• Users
• Time Breakdown
• Time Overview
• Top Projects
• Top Users
• Recent Activity

The dashboard uses real report data. It does not use demo projects or fake totals.

Studio Dashboard

Studio Admin Dashboard reads the Studio Collector database and shows facility-wide data. It is used by the Studio Host or admin workflow.

Studio Dashboard should be used when you need:

• All synced workstation sessions
• Studio Sessions
• Studio Reports
• Network workstation status
• Facility-wide billing/export workflows

Customize Widgets

Open Customize Widgets from the dashboard. The panel has:

• Active summary widgets
• Available Widgets
• Widget Settings

The maximum number of active summary widgets is five. Widgets can be enabled, disabled, reordered and configured.

Project Amount And Timeline Amount

Project Amount shows Time or Amount for one selected project. It includes all matching timelines, applications, activity contexts, users and work periods in the current Dashboard scope.

Timeline Amount first selects a project and then an exact Timeline, Premiere Sequence or After Effects Composition. It excludes the same visible timeline name in another project and project-only Sessions without that context.

Both widget types can be added more than once. Each copy keeps its own selection, metric and order across restarts. They use the active Dashboard date, user and application filters, My/Studio scope and Demo workspace. Amount uses configured billing; when no effective rate exists, the widget says Billing not configured instead of showing a misleading zero.

Optional Dock Mode

Under Settings > General, enable Show PostPro Analytics in the Dock to show PPA in the Dock and Cmd-Tab while retaining its menu-bar icon. The default is Off. Clicking the Dock icon, launching from Finder, using open -a, or a Stream Deck app-launch action activates the existing PPA instance and opens the Dashboard when needed. Login startup remains unobtrusive and does not open the Dashboard automatically.

Global Dashboard Toggle

Settings > General includes Enable Open Dashboard Shortcut directly below the Dock option. The default is ⌘⌥⇧D. While PPA is running, the menu item, global shortcut and a Stream Deck keyboard action all use the same toggle:

• A closed or minimized Dashboard opens or restores.
• A Dashboard hidden behind another application comes to the foreground.
• A visible, frontmost Dashboard closes.

The menu-bar title changes between Open Dashboard and Close Dashboard. The toggle activates the existing PPA instance, works in menu-bar-only and Dock modes, and never starts a second instance. Login startup remains unobtrusive and does not open the Dashboard automatically.

Click the shortcut recorder to enter another combination, or use Reset to restore the default. A shortcut must include Command, Option or Control. If macOS reports a conflict, PPA keeps the previous working shortcut and displays an error. The current assignment also appears beside the Open/Close Dashboard item in the menu-bar menu. Disable the toggle to turn off global registration without changing Dock mode.

Application Widget

The Application widget is a normal optional widget. It should appear under Available Widgets when inactive and should not be hardcoded into the dashboard.

When active, it shows the top applications for the current scope, date and filter, including enabled Additional Creative Apps when matching sessions exist.

Application is one of the configurable summary widgets. It can be enabled, disabled and reordered with the other active summary widgets.

Time Breakdown

Time Breakdown can group tracked time by:

• Page
• App
• User
• Project
• Timeline
• Workstation
• Activity State
• Database

Use By App to compare all supported creative applications in the selected report scope.

Studio Timelines, Activity And Performance

These Studio views read the Studio Collector and are available to an entitled Studio Host or Studio Admin. They use persisted Sessions, live Presence, service state, sync evidence, Notes/To-Do and billing configuration already held by PPA. They do not inspect creative content.

Studio Timelines

Studio Timelines groups work by project and timeline-like container: a Resolve Timeline, Premiere Sequence, After Effects Composition or the normalized document/project context supplied by another supported app.

Use the date range and project, user, application or status filters to review:

• total, active, rendering, idle and other tracked time;
• participating users, applications, workstations and Session count;
• last activity and current production presence;
• page or activity distribution where the integration supplies it;
• billing totals where a valid rate is configured; and
• linked Notes/To-Do and their status.

Selecting a row keeps the project and container identity together, so an identically named timeline in another project is not merged accidentally.

Studio Activity

Studio Activity combines two clearly labeled forms of evidence:

• Live events from current Presence, Session Sync and service state.
• History reconstructed from stored Sessions and Notes/To-Do changes.

The historical view is an operational summary, not a complete forensic audit log. Use its filters to focus on a project, user, application, workstation, event type or time range. Live Presence is independent of Automatic Session Sync: a workstation can appear live before its completed Session reaches the Collector.

Studio Performance

Studio Performance describes workflow patterns for the selected Studio scope. It shows active, rendering, idle and other ratios; average Session length; application and Resolve-page distribution; daily trend; and workload rows by project or timeline.

Indicators are transparent prompts for operational review, not employee scores. Current descriptive thresholds flag high idle time at 30 percent or more, high rendering time at 35 percent or more, fragmented work at at least 12 Sessions averaging under 10 minutes, unusually broad daily context at five or more timelines, and unclassified other time at 10 percent or more. A flag is not proof of poor performance; renders, reviews, meetings, conform work and integration limits can all explain the pattern.

Privacy And Responsible Use

Privacy Mode replaces user and workstation identity before local storage, pending sync and transport. It does not automatically hide creative project or container names, Notes/To-Do text, application, activity, tags, billing or time. Use non-identifying project and container labels where policy requires it.

PPA is not designed for employee surveillance, ranking or automated personnel decisions. Operators remain responsible for lawful deployment, transparent policy and appropriate interpretation of aggregated workflow data.

Sessions, Filters, Rules And Export

My Sessions

My Sessions shows the local workstation's session table. It is the best place to inspect personal work, confirm tracking and export visible filtered rows.

Studio Sessions

Studio Sessions shows the Studio Collector table and is intended for Studio Admin workflows. It can include sessions from multiple users and workstations.

Expand Grouped Sessions

The first narrow table column contains the disclosure arrow for each grouped row. Click anywhere in that cell to expand or collapse the underlying Sessions. The disclosure column is always visible, remains first and cannot be hidden, resized or reordered. Hiding the separate Ignore column therefore never removes the expansion control. The same behavior applies to My Sessions, Studio Sessions, filtered results and Show Ignored.

Ignore, Show Ignored And Restore

Use Ignore Visible to mark every Session represented by the currently visible rows as ignored. Rows excluded by filters, sorting limits or the current result page are not changed. If Show Ignored is off, affected rows disappear from the active view after the database update; no Session is deleted.

Enable Show Ignored to include ignored rows. Their Ignore checkbox remains checked from the persisted database state after refresh, filtering and app restart. Restore Visible clears the Ignore state only for ignored Sessions represented by the current visible rows. Changing a row checkbox writes the new state immediately. Local and Studio Sessions use the same contract.

A grouped row is checked when all of its child Sessions are ignored, unchecked when none are ignored and indeterminate when only some are ignored. Clicking an indeterminate group checkbox ignores all child Sessions in that visible group. CSV export continues to contain exactly the currently visible rows.

App Column And App Filter

The Sessions table includes an App column. Current app labels include:

• DaVinci Resolve
• Premiere Pro
• After Effects
• Blender
• Cinema 4D
• Photoshop
• InDesign
• Illustrator
• Capture One

PPA normalizes supported application identity consistently for display, filtering, Time Breakdown, CSV export and the Application widget.

Expected filter behavior:

• After Effects filter finds visible After Effects rows.
• Premiere Pro filter finds visible Premiere rows.
• DaVinci Resolve filter shows Resolve rows only, not every app.

The application filter uses the same normalized application identity as the App column and CSV export.

Rules

Rules let you narrow the Sessions table. Supported rule fields include:

• Date
• User
• Project
• Timeline
• Flags
• Custom Tags
• Comments
• Description
• Page
• Status
• Workstation
• Database
• App

Common operators include equals, not equals, contains and does not contain. Date rules accept ISO-style and German-style date input.

Text rules normalize both the displayed Session value and the entered filter to Unicode NFC before case-insensitive comparison. This means composed and decomposed macOS text match consistently for contains, equals, starts with and ends with. Names such as FÖRDERER, ÄNDERUNG, ÜBERARBEITUNG and words containing ß can be entered normally; PPA does not rewrite the stored value or require replacements such as oe.

The same comparison applies to Project, Timeline / Sequence / Composition, User, Machine, Application, Page / Activity, Custom Tags and the other textual Session rule fields. It is used by both My Sessions and Studio Sessions and by Match All and Match Any.

Tags And Notes

Custom Tags are part of the reporting model. Up to ten colored tag definitions can be stored. Tags can be visible in Sessions rows and can be used in rules.

Notes / To-Do is a native dashboard area for project-linked production notes and tasks. It can reference project, timeline, user, tags, due dates, priority, status, comments and descriptions.

Direct Session tags are editable. A tag inherited from a project or project-plus-timeline Notes / To-Do source appears as an effective tag and remains visible while that source still assigns it. Removing a direct copy does not alter the Notes / To-Do source. Archive/complete is preferred for normal Notes / To-Do cleanup; permanent delete removes the source and its inherited contribution.

CSV Export

Use Export CSV in My Sessions or Studio Sessions to export the current session table.

CSV export follows the visible filtered-row policy and uses the user-facing App label. The permanent disclosure column is a table control and is not exported as a data column.

Quick Reports

The menu-bar Quick Reports submenu creates an immediate CSV for the current local PPA user without opening the Dashboard:

• My Day starts today at 00:00 local Mac time.
• My Week starts Monday at 00:00 in the current calendar week.
• My Month starts on the first day of the current calendar month at 00:00.

Every range ends at the export time. Quick Reports use the canonical Sessions CSV columns and include persisted sessions from all supported applications, including reconstructed After Effects Rendering Sessions. They exclude ignored Sessions under the normal reporting policy. Current Sessions filters, sorting and row limits do not affect them, and creating a report does not interrupt the active logging Session.

Production Mode reads Production data; Demo Mode reads the bundled Demo data. The configured local User Alias is used when available. Privacy Mode uses the effective anonymized identity and does not expose another Studio user.

After the user explicitly selects My Day, My Week or My Month, PPA writes a collision-safe file such as PPA_EXPORT_alex-editor_2026-07-24_18-42-15.csv to the Desktop and reveals that exact file in Finder. PPA does not inspect or access the Desktop during startup. If direct Desktop access is unavailable, a Save dialog opens with the Desktop and generated filename preselected; PPA does not silently use another folder. When the selected period contains no matching Sessions, PPA reports that no Sessions were found and creates no empty file.

Practical Workflows

Track A Single Resolve Work Session

1. Start PPA.
2. Confirm the logger is running.
3. Open DaVinci Resolve Studio.
4. Work in a real project and timeline.
5. Switch pages such as Edit, Color, Fairlight or Deliver.
6. Open My Dashboard.
7. Open My Sessions.
8. Confirm the session shows the expected project, timeline, page and duration.

If nothing appears, check Resolve external scripting and run diagnostics.

Compare Resolve, Premiere Pro And After Effects Time

1. Open My Dashboard or Studio Dashboard.
2. Confirm sessions exist for the relevant apps.
3. In Time Breakdown, choose By App.
4. Optionally enable the Application widget in Customize Widgets.
5. Use the date filter or rules to narrow the period.

This workflow helps answer how much tracked work happened in each creative application.

Track An Additional Creative App

1. Open Settings > Integrations and leave the required app enabled.
2. Grant Accessibility when document or project names are needed.
3. Open a saved document in Blender, Cinema 4D, Photoshop, InDesign or

Illustrator, or open a Capture One Catalog or Session.

4. Bring the creative app to the front and work normally.
5. Open My Sessions and confirm the normalized app and project name.

If only the app appears, check the Accessibility status. PPA does not store a full path or window title, and Capture One deliberately ignores image names.

Review A Studio Timeline

1. Open Studio Timelines on the Studio Host.
2. Choose the reporting date range and optional project, user, app or status

filters.

3. Select a timeline, Sequence or Composition.
4. Review active, rendering, idle, user, app and billing totals.
5. Open linked Notes/To-Do or the underlying Studio Sessions when more detail is

needed.

Export A Filtered Client Report

1. Open My Sessions or Studio Sessions.
2. Apply a quick date filter such as This Week or This Month.
3. Add rules for project, user, app or status.
4. Confirm the visible rows match the intended report.
5. Click Export CSV.
6. Open the CSV in a spreadsheet tool and confirm only visible rows are included.

Use this workflow for practical billing review or production reporting.

Studio Host Setup For A Small Team

1. Install PPA on the Studio Host Mac.
2. Run Setup Assistant and start the 14-day Studio Trial in Step 2 when no

Studio entitlement is active.

3. Choose Studio Host.
4. Confirm the local Collector address and whether a Connection Key is configured.
5. Use Copy Client Setup.
6. On each workstation, run Setup Assistant and choose Studio Client.
7. Enter the Collector Host IP Address as an IP, host:port, or HTTP URL and

leave Connection Key empty unless the Host is protected, then run Test Connection.

8. Confirm closed sessions sync to Studio Sessions.

Use the LAN IP of the host Mac, not 127.0.0.1, on client workstations. If the Host requests a key, enter the configured Host key and test again. Settings > Studio & Network can later switch between Single User and Studio (LAN) inline without reopening Setup Assistant or erasing the saved connection.

Recover From A Premiere Plugin Restart

1. Start PPA and confirm the receiver is running.
2. Start Premiere Pro.
3. Open Window > UXP Plugins > PostPro Analytics.
4. If Integrations Status shows Needs Attention, refresh status or use Repair Plugin.
5. Confirm the panel shows sending status.

No live signal while Premiere is closed is expected and does not mean installation failed.

Recover From An After Effects Bridge Stale State

1. Open Integrations Status.
2. Confirm the Bridge installation is current.
3. If Runtime says Reconnecting or Not Reporting, wait for the bounded automatic retry and click Refresh.
4. Confirm scripting/network access is enabled.
5. Use Repair Bridge only for missing, outdated or hash-mismatched files. Restart After Effects only when PPA explicitly reports that the newly installed Bridge must be loaded.

Diagnostics And Troubleshooting

Diagnostics

Open Diagnostics when tracking, dashboards, sync or integrations do not behave as expected. Start with the visible service and integration status; enable Show Technical Details only when support asks for it.

My Sessions and Studio Sessions intentionally do not show a technical diagnostics strip. This keeps reporting controls separate from troubleshooting.

Create A Support Bundle

Use Export Diagnostics or Create Support Bundle when a screenshot is not enough. The bundle contains sanitized configuration and log information for startup, integration, sync or display problems. Review its location before sending it to DBSONIC Labs support.

Useful details to include with a support request:

• macOS version and Mac model
• PPA version and Build number from About
• Creative application version
• Whether the issue appears in My Dashboard or Studio Dashboard
• A screenshot of Integrations Status
• The active filters and an exported CSV for report-related issues

Common Issues

Resolve Is Open But No Sessions Appear

1. Confirm that DaVinci Resolve Studio is installed.
2. Enable external scripting in Resolve.
3. Restart Resolve after changing that preference.
4. Confirm that the Local Logger is Running.
5. Check that the expected Production or Demo data mode is active.

Studio Client Does Not Sync

1. Confirm that the Studio Host and its Collector are running.
2. Use the Host Mac's LAN address and port 9000.
3. Do not use 127.0.0.1 on a different workstation.
4. Leave the Connection Key empty for a keyless Host.
5. Enter the configured key when the Host requires one.
6. Use Test Connection and check the local firewall if the Host is not

reachable.

Completed Sessions remain stored locally when the Collector is unavailable and can sync after the connection returns. Live Presence and completed Session sync are separate; a workstation can be visible before its latest Session is synced.

Startup Service Does Not Run After Sign-In

Open Settings > Services & Startup and check the Login Item and the affected component.

• Requires Approval: open macOS Login Items settings from PPA and allow

PostPro Analytics.

• Registration Error: confirm that PPA is installed in a normal Applications

location and open it once manually.

• Collector unavailable: confirm that this Mac is configured as the Studio

Host.

• Stopped: use Start Now, or enable Start at Login for the next sign-in.

Premiere Shows Needs Attention

Premiere may simply be closed. If it is open:

1. Complete any pending Adobe Creative Cloud installation.
2. Restart Premiere Pro.
3. Open Window > UXP Plugins > PostPro Analytics.
4. Confirm Auto Send is enabled.
5. Refresh status in PPA.
6. Use Repair Plugin if the installed plugin is incomplete.

After Effects Shows Needs Attention

1. Enable

Preferences > Scripting & Expressions > Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network.

2. Use Install Bridge when the Bridge is missing.
3. Use Repair Bridge only when PPA reports an outdated or damaged Bridge.
4. Restart After Effects after an installation or repair.
5. Keep After Effects open briefly, then refresh status.

Busy / Rendering is expected during a native After Effects Render Queue job. Project and Composition updates return after the render. Snapshot Stale or Bridge Runtime Error outside rendering indicates that the Bridge has stopped reporting; create a Support Bundle if it does not recover.

Native After Effects Render Is Not Shown

Only the native interactive After Effects Render Queue is supported. Completed renders appear afterward as backdated Rendering Sessions. Stopped, failed, queued or paused items do not produce reconstructed time. Adobe Media Encoder, external aerender jobs and render farms are outside this version.

Premiere Or After Effects Never Becomes Idle

Keep the supported Adobe application frontmost and avoid keyboard or mouse input until the configured idle threshold is reached. Live View should change to Idle while keeping the current project and Sequence or Composition. New input returns it to Active. Native After Effects rendering uses Busy / Rendering instead.

Studio Workstation Has No Live Details

Confirm that PPA is running on the workstation and that the Host is reachable. Live Presence updates independently from completed Session sync. If PPA reports Client Update Required, update the client to the current supported build. Use a Support Bundle when the status remains unavailable.

App Updated But An Older Service Is Still Running

Quit other copies of PostPro Analytics, open the current app and check Settings > Services & Startup. If the issue continues, use the repair workflow below.

Additional App Has No Document Name

Open Settings > Integrations and check Accessibility. App detection can work while document-name access is unavailable. Request Accessibility Access opens the macOS Privacy & Security Accessibility pane and PPA rechecks the permission automatically after it is granted.

If an enabled entry belongs to another app path, old build or portable copy, remove that stale entry and request access from the installed PPA app again. Do not grant Accessibility to sshd-keygen-wrapper; that name can appear only when a remote test shell itself asks macOS for access and is not a normal PPA end-user component.

Sleep Or Wake Creates An Unexpected Long Session

Build 190 closes active accounting at the system sleep boundary and recovers services after wake. A Session must not include the time while the Mac was asleep. If a long Session spans sleep, export Diagnostics and include the sleep and wake times plus the affected Session UUID. Do not edit the database.

License Installation Repeats Keychain Password Prompts

Stop the repeated action and contact support. Normal device-key and license clock access is serialized and should not create a prompt loop. Do not delete the Trial, license-clock, device-key or Keychain items. A support bundle must not include passwords, license signing keys or license file contents.

Repair The PPA Installation Safely

Open Settings > Advanced > Reset & Recovery > Clean and Repair PPA... when background services or Adobe integration files remain unhealthy after an update. Choose only the components that need repair, then confirm Start Repair.

Repair preserves Sessions, Notes / To-Do, Custom Tags, Billing data, settings, Privacy and Demo choices, license and Trial state. Adobe may still ask you to confirm a Premiere plugin installation, and an After Effects Bridge repair may require an After Effects restart.

Privacy Mode Error

Privacy Mode fails closed. If PPA cannot establish its protected anonymous identity, new logging and pending private-session sync remain stopped. Open Settings > Privacy, refresh Diagnostics and retry. Do not disable Privacy Mode unless you intentionally accept identifiable future Sessions.

Demo Mode Cannot Start Or Exit

PPA does not switch modes if it cannot keep Demo and Production data separate or stop the required live services. Open Diagnostics, resolve the reported problem and retry. If Production data is unavailable, PPA remains in Demo Mode instead of creating an empty Production workspace.

CSV Contains More Rows Than Expected

Export CSV follows the visible rows in the current Sessions table. Quick Reports ignore the table filters and row limit by design. If a normal Export CSV contains unexpected rows, record the active filters and send the CSV plus a Sessions screenshot to support.

Known Limitations

• Build 190 requires Apple Silicon and macOS 14 or newer.
• Studio is designed for a trusted local network.
• Premiere Pro 25.6 or later is required for the packaged plugin.
• After Effects requires scripting/network permission and a restart after

Bridge installation or repair.

• Native After Effects Render Queue work is reconstructed after completion;

Adobe Media Encoder, external aerender and render farms are not covered.

• Privacy Mode anonymizes new user and workstation identity but does not hide

project, timeline, sequence, composition or Notes / To-Do text.

• Additional Creative App document names require Accessibility; app detection

can remain available without it.

• Capture One records only a safe Catalog or Session name, not an image file.

FAQ

Is PPA only for DaVinci Resolve?

No. Build 190 supports DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Blender, Cinema 4D, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and Capture One.

Why is an Additional Creative App detected without its document name?

Document and project names require macOS Accessibility. Open Settings > Integrations, request access and allow the current PostPro Analytics item. The status refreshes automatically. PPA never requires Screen Recording for this feature.

How do I request an offline license?

In Setup Step 2 or Settings > License, choose the required role and create a .dbslreq request. Send it to the authorized license issuer. Single User uses the returned .dbsllic. Each Studio Host or Workstation receives one complete .dbslpkg containing its matching Studio Master and machine-bound, role-specific Seat. Install that one package in PPA.

Does Setup Assistant delete my data?

No. Setup Assistant stores configuration and does not delete analytics databases, sessions or logs.

Must I set up Single User before starting the Studio Trial?

No. Step 2 of the first-run Setup Assistant can start the existing protected 14-day Studio Trial directly. After activation, Studio Host and Studio Client become available immediately.

Why does Integrations show Ready while an application is closed?

Ready means the supported integration is installed and current. Reporting means the host application is open and sending current status. A closed Resolve, Premiere Pro or After Effects application is not an error.

How do I start the Logger or Collector automatically?

Open Settings > Services & Startup. Enable the Local Logger, the Studio Collector, or both. Collector startup is available only on the configured Studio Host. The Adobe Integration Receiver is managed automatically and Activity Helper details are shown only with Technical Details enabled. macOS may ask you to approve PostPro Analytics in Login Items.

The Dashboard Collector indicator can start a stopped Collector on the eligible Studio Host. The lower-left overall service indicator opens Services & Startup without changing any service automatically.

How quickly does Studio Live View update?

Choose 1-10 seconds under Settings > Studio & Network > Live Status; the default is 2 seconds. Each workstation keeps its own value. This setting does not change Automatic Session Sync or pending-session retries.

Does Stop disable automatic startup?

No. Stop changes the current running state only. It does not change the Start at Login preference, and PPA does not immediately restart a manually stopped component. Disable the corresponding toggle to change future sign-in behavior.

Why can logging continue after a trial expires?

PPA preserves activity data. After expiration, local logging may continue, but analytics surfaces and exports are locked until a valid license is installed.

What is the difference between My Dashboard and Studio Dashboard?

My Dashboard reads local workstation data. Studio Admin Dashboard reads the Studio Collector and is intended for facility-wide reporting.

Why should clients not use 127.0.0.1 as the Studio target?

On a workstation, 127.0.0.1 means that same workstation. A Studio client must use the LAN address of the Studio Host Mac.

Why does After Effects need a bridge?

After Effects uses a Startup Script Bridge to send project/composition snapshots to PPA. It also needs the After Effects scripting/network permission.

What does Needs Attention mean?

Services Need Attention is reserved for a required, actionable service failure. Open Settings > Services & Startup for the exact component reason. A closed optional creative application is shown as Limited Functionality, not as a red failure.

Does CSV export include all database rows?

No. CSV export follows the currently visible filtered-row policy.

How do I open PPA from another application?

Use the default global shortcut ⌘⌥⇧D, or configure another shortcut under Settings > General. The same assignment appears beside Open/Close Dashboard in the menu-bar menu. The action opens or restores a hidden Dashboard, brings an obscured Dashboard forward, and closes it only when it is already visible and frontmost. It activates the existing PPA instance rather than starting a second copy.

What is the difference between Export CSV and Quick Reports?

Export CSV follows the visible Sessions rows, filters and row limit. Quick Reports exports the local user's Day, Week or Month regardless of the table state. Weeks begin Monday; ignored Sessions and the active Production, Demo and Privacy rules still apply.