Free tool
Process readiness check Ten quick questions on how you keep your drafts, versions and notes.
Runs in your browser. Your answers aren’t saved or sent anywhere, and closing the page clears them.
For writers, artists, musicians and students. Answer ten questions about your habits and get a readiness level with three to five next steps and a checklist you can copy. It takes about two minutes.
Worth knowing: this checks your habits, not your work. It can’t tell anyone whether AI was used, and no school, prize or publisher has to accept any record. Results are general guidance, not legal advice.
What is a process record?
Short answer: it’s everything that shows how a piece of work came together: earlier drafts and versions, working files, notes and sketches, and dated records of when each version existed. If someone asks how you made something, for example after an AI accusation, a dispute or a competition check, your process record is what you can show them.
A good record is mostly habit: keeping versions instead of saving over them, saving working files, dating your notes, backing up, and keeping some record outside your own devices. None of it proves who made a work on its own. It lets you show, step by step, how the work developed.
What is TimeBinder®? TimeBinder is a blockchain timestamping service. It shows that a digital file existed no later than a specific time, and that it still matches its fingerprint, by anchoring the file’s SHA-256 fingerprint to the Bitcoin blockchain. Files are hashed in your browser and never uploaded, and each TimeBind comes with a Proof of Time Certificate that can be checked later. It does not prove who created a file or that its contents are true.
What the ten questions cover
The questions fall into five areas. Each one is a habit you can start today.
| Area | Questions | Why it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Versions | Keeping drafts, version history, clear file names (1, 2, 4) | Shows how the work changed over time, in order |
| Working files | Layered files, project files, source documents (3) | Holds the steps that a finished export hides |
| Notes | Notes, sketches and research, and whether they’re dated (5, 6) | Shows your thinking before and alongside the work |
| Backups and order | Two copies, one folder per project (7, 8) | Means your record is still there, and findable, when you need it |
| Outside record | A dated record kept by someone else, and knowing what you’d show (9, 10) | Gives dates that don’t rely only on your own computer’s clock |
What a TimeBind shows, and what it doesn’t
What it shows
- That this exact file existed no later than the time recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain
- That a file shown later still matches its fingerprint: the same file gives the same fingerprint, and any edit gives a different one
- A dated record kept outside your own devices
What it doesn’t show
- Who created, wrote or drew the file
- That the contents are true or original
- Whether AI was used to make it
- How a school, prize, publisher or court will treat it: that depends on their rules. It isn’t legal advice
Some TimeBinds can also be checked independently, without TimeBinder’s website, using the Bitcoin transaction ID. Others are checked through TimeBinder’s own verification. Either way, checking is always free.
Process readiness check: FAQ
Is my data collected?
No. Your answers stay on this page in your browser. They aren’t saved, sent to TimeBinder or stored on your device, and closing the page clears them. The site’s analytics count page visits and when the check is used, without your answers, field or result.
Does a good result protect me if someone says I used AI?
No. The check looks at your record-keeping habits, not your work. It can’t show whether AI was used, and no school, prize or publisher has to accept any record. Results are general guidance, not legal advice, and they promise no outcome.
How is my level worked out?
Each Yes scores 2 points, each Sometimes 1 and each No 0, out of 20. 0 to 9 points is Getting started, 10 to 15 is Solid and 16 to 20 is Well kept. Your next steps come from the questions you didn’t answer Yes, starting with the No answers.
What counts as a record kept outside my own devices?
Anything held by someone else that carries its own date, such as a draft you emailed or submitted, the version history of a shared drive, or a TimeBind. A TimeBind records that a file existed no later than the recorded time, and lets you check later that the file still matches its fingerprint.
Is the check free?
Yes, and there is no sign-up. TimeBinding files is separate: the Free plan is $0 and includes 1 Token a month. Paid plans start at $20 a month for 5 Tokens and replace the Free plan’s Token. See pricing.
Related tools and guides
- How to keep a dated draft historyThe guide for writers
- Draft StreakLog each writing day with a dated fingerprint
- Can file metadata show AI use?What file dates and metadata can and can’t show
- Check a file still matches its fingerprintStep by step, free
- Commission Process PromiseA process clause for your commission terms
- All free toolsEvery TimeBinder free tool
Start a dated record of your work
When you reach a milestone, such as a finished draft, a submission or a release, TimeBind the files that matter. Each TimeBind records that the file existed no later than the recorded time.
Start free →The Free plan is $0 and includes 1 Token every month. See pricing