---
name: "timew-annotate"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "timew"
version: "1.9.1-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/timew-annotate"
---

# timew-annotate(1)

add an annotation to intervals

## NAME

timew-annotate - add an annotation to intervals

## SYNOPSIS

```
timew annotate [<id>...] <annotation>
```

## DESCRIPTION

The 'annotate' command is used to add an annotation to an interval.

See the 'summary' command on how to display the *\<id\>* and *\<annotation\>* of an interval.

## EXAMPLES

**Annotate a single interval**

Call the command with an *id* and the *annotation*:

```
$ timew annotate @2 'Lorem ipsum'
Annotated @2 with "Lorem ipsum"
```

**Remove an annotation**

Annotating an interval with an empty string removes the annotation:

```
$ timew annotate @1 ''
Removed annotation from @1
```

**Annotate multiple intervals**

You can annotate multiple intervals with the same *annotation* at once, by specifying their ids:

```
$ timew annotate @2 @10 @23 'Lorem ipsum'
Annotated @1 with "Lorem ipsum"
Annotated @10 with "Lorem ipsum"
Annotated @23 with "Lorem ipsum"
```

**Annotate the current open interval**

If there is active time tracking, you can omit the ID when you want to add an annotation to the current open interval:

```
$ timew start foo
...
$ timew annotate bar
Annotated @1 with "bar"
```

This results in the current interval having tag 'foo' and annotation 'bar'.

## BUGS & LIMITATIONS

The summary command truncates annotations longer than 15 characters. To display longer annotations, one can use the 'export' command, or a custom report.

Currently, the annotation command picks the last token from the command line and uses it as annotation. I.e. using no quotes in an annotation command like

```
$ timew annotate @1 lorem ipsum
```

will result in interval @1 having only 'ipsum' as its annotation. Use quotes to avoid this.

## SEE ALSO

[**timew-export**(1)](/timew-export/1.md), [**timew-summary**(1)](/timew-summary/1.md), [**timew-tag**(1)](/timew-tag/1.md)