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2Timer Help

Practical guides for humans, with structure that is easy for AI systems to parse.

Starting a Meet

Purpose

Help operators choose the right home-screen workflow when they are starting a meet in 2Timer.

The Three Main Starting Paths

From the main app screen, 2Timer gives you three primary ways to start:

  1. Create a new meet from scratch
  2. Import a .2t backup
  3. Create a new meet from a semicolon-delimited meet-data file

Each path is useful for a different kind of starting point.

Option 1 — Create a New Meet from Scratch

Use New Meet when:

  • this is a brand-new event
  • you want to choose sport, genre, dates, venue, and structure manually
  • you will build the event list in 2Timer
  • you plan to import athletes later from CSV, RunSignUp, or another source

Best for:

  • first-time setup
  • custom road race setup
  • XC or T&F meets where you want to use the built-in wizards

This is the most flexible option, but it also asks you to define more of the meet yourself.

Option 2 — Import a .2t Backup

Use Import 2T Backup when:

  • you already have a 2Timer meet from a previous season or another machine
  • you want to restore a full backup
  • you want to copy a prior meet as a starting template
  • you want to merge selected data into a newly created meet

Best for:

  • reusing last year’s meet
  • recovering a meet from backup
  • carrying forward structure, teams, events, or setup from an existing 2Timer file

This is usually the fastest option when your starting point is already in 2Timer.

See Importing a 2Timer Backup.

Option 3 — Create a New Meet from a Semicolon File

Use HY-TEK Semicolon Delimited when:

  • you have a semicolon-delimited meet-data export file
  • your registration platform or meet software can export the common semicolon format
  • you want to create a fresh 2Timer meet from that file instead of importing into an existing meet

Best for:

  • track and field meets coming from meet-registration or meet-management software
  • cross country setups coming from semicolon-format entry files
  • workflows where the source file already defines much of the meet structure

Although the button still says HY-TEK Semicolon Delimited, in practice this format has become a common interchange standard used by more than HY-TEK itself.

This path creates a new meet and lets you confirm meet details, divisions, and event mapping before import.

See Creating a Meet from a Semicolon File.

Which One Should I Choose?

Choose New Meet if you are building the meet yourself.

Choose .2t backup if your best starting point is already a 2Timer meet.

Choose the semicolon file path if your best starting point is a semicolon meet-data export and you want 2Timer to build the new meet around that file.

Practical Recommendation

If you ran the same meet in 2Timer before, start with a .2t backup.

If your best source file is a semicolon-format meet export, start with that path.

If neither of those is true, start with New Meet.