User's Manual

Getting started

A new diagram starts empty. Add a clock, a signal, or a bus from the toolbar, and the canvas builds around whatever you add.

Every row you add — clock, signal, bus, or separator — appears below the last one, with its name on the left and its waveform to the right. Click a row's name to open its properties, or click anywhere in its waveform area to select the row or one of its segments.

The toolbar

Everything you need to build and edit a diagram lives in one row at the top.

Signals, clocks, buses & separators

Four row types cover everything a timing diagram needs to show.

The time ruler

Click the ruler itself, at the top of the canvas, to customize how time is labeled across the whole diagram.

This changes only the labels along the ruler — it doesn't rescale your diagram or move any transitions.

How do I set a signal high or low with a double-click?

Double-click anywhere on a signal or bus row to add a transition at that point in time.

Where you click on the row matters: double-clicking the top half of a signal row sets it High; double-clicking the bottom half sets it Low. On a bus row, double-clicking always adds a new segment, which you can then type a value into directly.

To change an existing transition's value rather than add a new one, click the segment right after it and use the Segment Value dropdown in the properties panel.

How do I show a High-Z or glitch state in a timing diagram?

A plain signal supports more than just 0 and 1 — every real-world logic state has its own, distinct look.

Selecting & editing edges

Click directly on a transition (not a segment) to select the edge itself.

Drag a selected edge left or right to move it in time — the segments on either side stretch or shrink to follow.

Segment properties

Click inside a segment (between two edges) to select and style it directly — signal and bus segments both work the same way.

Signal-wide options

Click a signal's own name (not a segment) to set defaults that apply across its entire row.

Clock properties

A clock is defined by its parameters, not hand-drawn transitions — click its name to set them.

How do I set a bus value in TimeGen 5?

A bus shows a value as text inside each segment, with a crossing mark at every transition to show where the value actually changes.

Double-click a bus row to add a new segment, then type directly into its Segment Text field to set the value — any text works, not just hex. See Segment properties for the full list of per-segment styling options (fill, colors, alignment), which apply to bus segments exactly the same way they apply to signal segments.

Arrows & Bezier curves

Draw a straight arrow, or a curve, between any two points to call out a relationship in your diagram.

Pick Arrow or Bezier from the toolbar, click a start point, then an end point. Both endpoints snap to real signal edges as you draw — so an arrow pointing at a transition stays attached to it even if you later drag that edge in time.

A Bezier curve additionally has a Reset Control Points button — if you've dragged a handle far enough that you can't easily grab it again, this brings both handles back to a modest curve between the two endpoints.

How do I add a setup/hold time label?

A bracket between two points, for calling out a specific measured interval — a setup or hold time, a delay, or anything else you want to put an exact label on.

By default, a new bracket is ready for your own label — type it directly, no extra step needed. Turn on Auto time label to have it calculate and display the actual time between its two ends instead.

Text notes

A free-floating text label, for anything that doesn't need a line or a bracket.

How do I show a gap in the timeline?

Marks a gap in the timeline — useful for skipping a long, uneventful stretch without stretching your whole diagram to fit it.

Pick Time Break from the toolbar and click a single row to break just that row, or hold Shift while placing it to break every row in the diagram at once.

Pick Time Break from the toolbar and click a single row to break just that row, or hold Shift while placing it to break every row in the diagram at once.

What are TimeGen 5's keyboard shortcuts?

Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y — the only two keyboard shortcuts in TimeGen 5.

Every edit — adding a transition, moving an edge, changing a property — is a single undo step. There's no separate shortcut for switching tools; every tool is one click away in the toolbar.

The File menu

New, Load, Save, and Export all live under File in the toolbar.

Themes

Switch between dark and light from the toolbar — your choice is remembered the next time you open TimeGen.

What's included in TimeGen 5's free plan?

TimeGen 5 has two free ways to try it, and two paid tiers once you need to save, export cleanly, and go beyond the row limits.

Sandbox needs no account at all — open the app and start drawing immediately. Free Registered gets you a few more rows and PNG export, still at no cost, once you've signed up with an email. Professional adds saving, clean vector export, and removes every row limit. Enterprise is the same Professional feature set, running entirely on your own machine instead of in a browser — for offline use or floating team licenses.