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Retrace My Steps

Instantly see what you were doing in the 30 minutes before any moment in your current timeline view.

Updated August 2026

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What Is Retrace My Steps?

Retrace My Steps builds a 30-minute activity summary ending at the moment you're viewing on the timeline. It answers the question: What was I doing before this?

The summary appears in a sidebar with the apps you used, notes and labels you added, and useful window titles from that period. Click any item to jump directly to that moment in the timeline.

Note
Retrace My Steps uses your current timeline view. If search or filters are active, the summary includes only the moments that match them.

How to Open

There are two ways to open Retrace My Steps:

  • Right-click any frame in the timeline or player area and select "Retrace My Steps…" from the context menu
  • Press ⌘ + I while viewing any moment on the timeline

The panel slides in from the right edge with a smooth animation. Press the shortcut again or click the close button to dismiss it.

Tip
The ⌘ + I shortcut can be customized in Settings → Shortcuts.

What's Inside

Duration Bar

At the top, a proportional color bar shows how your time was split across apps. Wider segments indicate more time in that app — a quick visual fingerprint of your recent activity.

Apps

Each app you used during the lookback window appears with its icon, name, and time spent. Click an app to jump to a representative moment from that session.

Notes and Labels

Notes and labels from the 30-minute window help you spot the moments you marked as important. Click one to return to the screenshot where it appears.

What You Were Looking At

Useful window titles appear with their time and source app, making it easy to recognize the document, conversation, or task you were working on.

Every item in the sidebar — apps, notes, labels, and key moments — includes a chevron indicating it's tappable. Clicking an item:

  1. Closes the Retrace My Steps panel
  2. Scrolls the timeline to the corresponding frame
  3. Updates the player to display that exact moment

Retrace My Steps never clears your active search or filters. If the moment you want is not available, adjust or clear those filters and open the summary again.

Details

  • Lookback window: 30 minutes before the currently selected timeline moment
  • Current view: respects the search and filters already applied to your timeline
  • Data source: computed entirely from your local Retrace history
  • Footer: shows total active time within the lookback window