Start with the two switches
Auto-checking has two controls on purpose. The Settings switch enables the feature for the account. The Start / Pause button in the top bar starts or stops checking for the current work period.
That split lets you keep the feature configured without leaving it running while you are writing proposals, changing search URLs, or stepping away from the machine.
Know what three saved searches means
Three is the cap, and they take turns: the extension checks one search per wake-up, so three searches share the same checks rather than tripling them. Two searches see each one half as often, three a third as often.
That is the trade worth understanding before adding a second URL. One search checked every 15 minutes usually beats three checked every 45.
Use the research slot if it earns its place
Research has its own slot, on top of your three lead searches, and holds one search. It is checked about once an hour, at a random time like the lead checks, so it adds roughly one request an hour against Upwork and never slows your lead searches.
What changes is where its results go. A research search never fills the job inbox, never triggers an auto-draft, and never pings you. Its jobs exist only to be counted on the Keywords page, which is why a broad search usually measures better than your usual narrow, filtered one.
Use it when you want to know what the market is asking for rather than what to apply to today. Remove it on the Keywords page, Demand: new market tab, whenever you are done measuring.
What the pace is, and why you do not set it
Checks land about six times an hour: a gap of five minutes plus a random one to nine, so no two gaps in a day are the same.
None of those numbers is a setting any more. They are the ones that decide whether Upwork starts showing a bot check instead of results, the member is the one who pays for a bad value, and nobody opening a settings page knows what a jitter minute should be.
Set your hours and your break
Checks run Monday to Saturday, 07:00 to 17:00, in your own time zone. Saturday runs on the same hours and pace as any weekday. Sunday is never checked.
The lunch switch adds a pause inside that window. The time is not yours to set: the break is rolled fresh each day, starting up to two hours after midday and running 30 to 60 minutes, so the quiet stretch is never the same hour twice in a week.
Keep checks sequential
The extension checks watched URLs sequentially. It opens one hidden Upwork tab, waits for the page, extracts job cards, posts the result to the app, closes the tab, waits a jittered delay if another URL remains in the same run, and only then moves to the next due URL.
Sequential checking is intentionally slower than parallel tabs. It is easier to reason about, easier to stop, and avoids creating several simultaneous Upwork page loads from the same browser profile.
Stop when the session changes
Press Pause in the top bar when you are writing proposals, manually reviewing Upwork, troubleshooting, or leaving your desk. The extension will keep polling the app for settings, but it will not open Upwork search tabs while the active session is paused.
If repeated errors happen, the extension pauses automatic checking instead of continuing blindly. Pressing Start again clears that local pause after you have had a chance to inspect the problem.